Bad travelers – either you hate them, or you are one. I’ve backpacked through central America for a year and spent occasional months in different countries worldwide…
I’m pretty good at spotting them, and here’s how you can to. I’ve also mentioned the solution to each bad quality for you to feast upon.
1. They won’t do anything that’s not recommended online.
They stick their noses into the mobile Google search box and can’t make one decision without other people’s online opinion. These travelers are far from being spontaneous, they take too long toto make plans and generally are annoying. Going across the street to grab a bite can take 5 minutes, but Googling for lunch recommendations can take well over an hour. If you still want your mobile phone to make decisions for you, then do what I do and use location-based App discovery apps.
Last time I traveled I had an iPhone, and there is Apple’s discovery engine in iOS8 for that very purpose.
2. They are short sighted people who travel to european rock festivals without eyeglasses.
In the past couple of years, wearing glasses started being cool again and hipsters are considered to be groovy as hell. Despite that, most people are short sighted and still won’t wear their contact lenses or glasses to rock concerts, so that they won’t reduce their coolness level. I was in a rock festival just last month at London’s Hyde Park, i stood in the front row out of 60,000 people and I still wouldn’t be able to see The Strokes rocking without my glasses. I mean, you travel thousands of miles to a rock festival, don’t you even want to see the bands first hand?
I’m not saying you should wear a batman shaped sunglasses but you can indeed check out really good sites that can deliver eyeglasses and sunglasses within just a few days.
3. They leave their mobile phones off-guard.
Being naive as for local thieves’ motivation and ability to hijack our mobile phones with all our precious selfies in it, is one of the worst qualities a traveler could have. I’ve lost my mobile devices, twice, when traveling – and the worst thing for me wasn’t losing the actual device which could easily be replaced, but all of my personal content that was in it. I have too many email and social accounts to remember, some of them I barely even remember my passwords to.
So, until they come up with an App that lets your phone explode in the filthy hands of your cellphone’s lifter, use Apps that alert you the minute an unauthorized persona is suddenly using all of your accounts – i was a LastPass fan until its giant meltdown the other week, now I use LogDog as it lets me change multiple passwords at once.
4. They are whiners.
Head ups – no solution here. Whiners will be whiners, and if it’s raining, if it’s sunny and even if it’s just plain nice – they will complain about the weather. Everything is expensive to them, nothing makes them happy and they will always find little black holes in your trip. Just stay clear of those, because negativity is a magnet to more negativity, and the only way to break the chain is by finding someone positive to travel with.
5. They take way too many selfies.
You saw this one coming, didn’t you? I’m a real hater of the selfie fad, needless to say I have never taken one and have refused to a couple more. There’s nothing wrong with taking a casual photo of yourself rather than asking bypassers to take one for you, just as if we were still in the 80’s – but don’t overdo it. Instead of taking a million selfies, take just a few photos of yourselfs and invest in their editorial process. I usually use Instagram but there’s also FilterBaker for iOS that lets you use some pretty nifty editorial tricks.
6. They are not respectful to local behavior.
I come from Tel Aviv, where people aren’t polite, always in a hurry and always frustrated – unless they are chilling at the beach or at a party, that is. When I visited London for a month I had to let all of my Tel Avivian instincts go, and became very patient to the local culture. British people are helpful and generous, and I found out it’s easy to be one, so why not? Bad travelers bring their bad qualities from home and insist on keeping them throughout the trip.
To solve this, I would recommend an App called “World Customes” – however I noticed it recently went off the air, and would love to hear any suggestions you might have for similar Apps in the comments.
7. They are cheap.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t travel on a budget, and I don’t think everyone share the same income. That said, it’s the little things that can make a huge difference on one’s trip. Sometimes it makes more sense going for quality rather than price, even on stuff like Headphones for those long bus rides. Just think of it this way – you are traveling to that place once in a lifetime, is it more important to have a great time or saving 10-20 bucks?
8. They prefer using dating Apps than meeting people, even when traveling.
If you’re looking for your soulmate or just a casual fling, nothing beats the vibes of freedom people only feel when they travel. Don’t sit at night with your face staring at your common dating App, get out there and mingle. If you won’t meet awesome people doing it, it’s the place’s fault and not yours. You are awesome.
If you do insist on making your mobile phone a part of your night out, then consider any App from this list compiled by Mashable.
I’m sorry if you feel you are part of those 8 personas – I promise that I admire any traveler that finds the time to visit new places for the first time – but if you are, this is probably what your companions are thinking of you.
Featured photo credit: flickr via flickr.com
