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They did not like walking and every sightseeing place we visited, they complained about not wanting to walk and quickly found seats where the sat the entire time while I walked around exploring the sites....When it came time for dining out when we got to a city or town, they chose national chains such as restaurants they have at home instead of choosing local food establishments so that we could try something different from our norm. That never crossed their minds and they refused to budge from it.
Because so much of my travel happens to be work-related, I am usually traveling alone or with coworkers. However for leisure travel, which is rare for me, the wrong person was my mother and once with my significant other (at that time). Not completely wrong but it made for a challenging trip when my mom and I went to San Francisco several years ago. She is an early riser and I am not when traveling for leisure. We got to the city late that evening. The next morning she got up early and went to the free breakfast in the lobby of the hotel. I attempted to sleep in some but was disrupted several times by family members calling me whom she had called from the hotel lobby to complain and report that I was "laying around sleeping all day causing her to miss the sights of the city". It was not quite 9 am when this happened.
Another leisure trip was in Denver. This was several family members including my mom and my sister. They did not like walking and every sightseeing place we visited, they complained about not wanting to walk and quickly found seats where the sat the entire time while I walked around exploring the sites. They talked about how I never stop moving, have too much energy, etc.
During the drive to Colorado, we passed near a volcanic site in New Mexico. We could see it from a distance from a two lane hwy out in the middle of the desert. I wanted us to take the detour and visit it but they weren't interested. When it came time for dining out when we got to a city or town, they chose national chains such as restaurants they have at home instead of choosing local food establishments so that we could try something different from our norm. That never crossed their minds and they refused to budge from it.
We get along great, share a lot of laughs, and enjoy each other's company but they're just not adventuresome as I am. I still love to travel with them but would need another travel partner for trips that I could really "go all out in enjoying myself". Although I do tons of travel, about 95% of it is work related. I do NOT like traveling alone as to me the new sights and experiences are better shared with someone whether that be with a significant other, family member, or friend.
Man! I'm not a morning person either (I'm almost never awake prior to 9am), love random detours to see the sights, love wandering all over the city or just hiking through the woods/mountains, and I have pretty much boycotted national chains even where I live, and when I am on vacation I want to check out local restaurants....not stuff that is everywhere. I am so with you on all these points.
Well, aside from another person being physically unfit for walking, general attitude is a major factor. It is better to take someone who is slower, but will enjoy the sights with you, be curious and positive. And of course, if you are traveling by car, attitude is the most important thing. Another important quality is just being attentive and not too careless. Noone wants to find out that some important item was forgotten and so on.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Having a navigator can be nice, having a poor navigator can be a big problem.
Schedule is also very touchy, as mentioned... Some don't like to move before 10 am. And some folks even want to stop and eat dinner before dark! That would be really tough on me. Dawn till dark are for traveling, not eating and sleeping. If on a road trip, I seldom stop before 1 AM.
Traveling with someone who whines about everything. Like a friend who invited a friend of hers on a camping trip with me. New "friend" knew nothing about camping, forgot to bring just about everything, didn't know how to cook, got mad when I picked her expensive camera up out of the beach sand and put it on the blanket, and when it was time to leave the campground, somehow she LOST her borrowed sleeping bag. We looked everywhere and never did find it. Whined all the way home about how her neighbor would kill her for losing the sleeping bag. (How can you lose a sleeping bag!?)
As an addendum to my earlier post (#34 in this thread) about the travails of traveling in Mexico with somebody whose menu choices were EXTREMELY limited, I just recalled another dining incident:
One night, none of his desired dishes were available, so I suggested that, because he liked Roast Beef, he might enjoy ordering the restaurant's Filet Mignon. That provoked a temper tantrum that I was "trying to trick him into eating fish".
Despite my attempts to explain that "filet" simply describes a piece of meat or fish that is boneless, and that Filet Mignon was an extremely tender, boneless beef steak, it was to no avail.
Nope! I was clearly "trying to trick him into eating fish".
I don't recall what he did wind up eating that night, and I sometimes wonder if he ever found out in later life that Filet Mignon isn't "fish".
No, it isn't easy traveling with somebody who hasn't advanced beyond the stage of a typical 8 year old child when it comes to food.
When my sister was 6, the family went to a restaurant and my mother said she might like the Filet Mignon, as she too was a picky eater. She asked, "what kind of fish is that?". We always thought that was hilarious.
Worst trip was England staying with college friend of husband, they were 50 years old so college was way back. He was a longtime bachelor, used to doing things his way and no one else's opinion counted. He was so generous, letting us stay with him outside London (tube ride away) and taking a week off work to drive us around the country. That's why it was hard to get mad at him but his way of traveling made me crazy.
Mainly: he would drive for 2 hours to get to an interesting spot, get out of the car to take pictures for 10 minutes then we had to get back in the car and speed off to the next place. No time to enjoy beautiful places, just take 100 record photos in 10 minutes and off again. This went on for a week. Two things made me stop talking to him for the last several days-first he did not believe in sitting down to have lunch. In Oxford he spotted a Burger King and I was happy to get a Whopper but he insisted I eat it while walking around town. OMG. He also didn't want to go anywhere he'd already visited even if we wanted to. He was US born working in UK for several years.
Lastly, one day hubby was in the back seat napping (passed out due to rigors of travel style) and I was in the front passenger seat looking through his map book (pre-Garmin days). He reached over and took it out of my hands. Why? Because I was turning the pages too loudly or too something. I didn't speak again until airport departure (except to my husband).
Believe it or not we met up with him again in Italy couple years later. He had gotten married and his wife was very pregnant so I thought that would make things better. No. We laugh about the fact that now his kids boss him around and he does exactly what they say.
Worst trip was England staying with college friend of husband, they were 50 years old so college was way back. He was a longtime bachelor, used to doing things his way and no one else's opinion counted. He was so generous, letting us stay with him outside London (tube ride away) and taking a week off work to drive us around the country. That's why it was hard to get mad at him but his way of traveling made me crazy.
Mainly: he would drive for 2 hours to get to an interesting spot, get out of the car to take pictures for 10 minutes then we had to get back in the car and speed off to the next place. No time to enjoy beautiful places, just take 100 record photos in 10 minutes and off again. This went on for a week. Two things made me stop talking to him for the last several days-first he did not believe in sitting down to have lunch. In Oxford he spotted a Burger King and I was happy to get a Whopper but he insisted I eat it while walking around town. OMG. He also didn't want to go anywhere he'd already visited even if we wanted to. He was US born working in UK for several years.
Lastly, one day hubby was in the back seat napping (passed out due to rigors of travel style) and I was in the front passenger seat looking through his map book (pre-Garmin days). He reached over and took it out of my hands. Why? Because I was turning the pages too loudly or too something. I didn't speak again until airport departure (except to my husband).
Believe it or not we met up with him again in Italy couple years later. He had gotten married and his wife was very pregnant so I thought that would make things better. No. We laugh about the fact that now his kids boss him around and he does exactly what they say.
Yes, what you described him doing would drive me nuts, too. I feel a vacation is for taking in the experience and allowing for enjoyment and spontaneity, not that some of it doesn't require scheduling. I don't like how some are so onto the next stop they are "supposed to see" that they are not in the moment. Been there and I don't want to do it again.
As mentioned earlier, it does seem we need an awareness of the traveling / lifestyle priorities of others beforehand, which would simplify things and make it more comfortable for those involved. It seems that there is a tendency for some to assume others will be so similar in tastes, habits and flexibilty when making plans, just having an interest in the same destination. Someone I know has done this with some that she regretted traveling with, yet I find she is guilty of "time restrictions", so I don't care to go with her, either. As a few have described having experienced a more mutual outlook, it would be more enjoyable or satisfying, just as how relationships in general work or they don't.
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