Some twenty five or so years ago, the family took a delightful vacation to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. A town on the east coast of Venezuela right on the Caribbean. The US Dollar went very far there and we had a wonderful time. For some reason it was an undiscovered gem as far as Americans go. Most of the tourists were from elsewhere, which gave it an additional international flavor.
But I’m not here to reminisce about my memories of that trip. This is an ugly tourist tale. We’ve all seen them: The Ugly Tourists. We all have our stories. Here is one of mine:
While sitting in the lobby, a middle aged woman was seen at the far end of the room engaging a hotel employee. As she waved her arms and made angry faces, it was clear that something was - to her - amiss. Although she was too far away to hear what was being said, it was also clear that the poor hotel employee was not saying anything close to what this woman wanted to hear.
After more than a few minutes and more than a few huffs of disgust, the woman left the poor employee and made her way back to her husband who, as luck would have it, sat close by. As she approached her husband, she told him (after a very heavy sigh), “You’d think that if they want us to come to their country, the least they could do is to learn our language!”
After all this time, I still tell that story. We can only hope that that woman (and those who share her world view) confine their travel to watching travelogues on TV.
What about you? Got an Ugly Tourist story? Want to share?
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