In 1980, as an 18 year old from a small country town in Tasmania I went on a cruise with some friends to Fiji, Noumea, etc.
On the Ship it was okay but the moment we landed at Suva I was accosted by all and sundry pressuring me to buy their wares. One local persuaded me to accompany him to a jewelry shop and I had this high pressure sales person on my back the whole time.
I continued to say I did not want a watch so the sales person tried a different tack.
“You want Girl? I have girl for you out back, you come with me out back we get you girl.”
"You want boy?
“I have boys out the back for you. You come with me out the back, we get you boy”
I ran out of the shop and ran back to the ship. It was a frightening experience.
In 1990 I went to Malaysia with a friend for a 2 week self drive holiday.
Landing at Singapore, proceeding to the train station, having to use an open squat toilet visible to other men, getting off the train at Johor Baru, we went at Hari Raya/Ramadan, the amount of people there was overwhelming.
I could not have done it on my own. My friend was a seasoned traveler, the culture shock was almost debilitating for me.
In attempting to locate the hire car office we went into the Hilton Hotel. Whilst my friend was making enquiries, I was viewing the scene outside the Hotel. Here I was inside this palatial building, outside there seemed like millions of people living in poverty. I was appalled at the spectacle.
When I arrived back home I vowed never to leave Australia again.
Why leave Australia? 10 lifetimes would not be enough to experience all there is here
Not negative as such.We are in a bar in Madrid and it was closing.The chaps behind the bar said they’d take us to another which was open.When we got in there we found lots of half naked friendly women smiling and whispering things like “2000 pesetas…if you like”.
Being from Wales we’d never been in a brothel before and made our excuses and left.
I have travelled quite extensively, some of it not the best places. Turkey, Kaiserie, was not good. Apart from anything else the electricity not very reliable.
I can’t say I have ever had any negative international travel experiences, even ones where there was difficulty I enjoyed overall.
My visit to Britain in 1988 was probably the worst, to see the country I grew up in so downright drab, smelly and dirty, that was a pretty horrifying experience - on my last visit it had much improved.
Domestically I would never again visit Scenic World in the Blue Mountains or the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, both places I have visited since the 1960s but completely spoilt now - loved to death.
No really negative experiences of any consequence that I can think of.
Although I do remember visiting The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A curator was opening a small wall mounted display case containing a bead necklace. A modest exhibit, not exactly the golden death mask of Tutankhamen so I thought I’d walk over for a closer look.
There was a police officer in attendance, he started to shout at me in Arabic and began to draw his side arm from his holster. To his credit he stopped short of actually pointing it at me. I thought it best not to argue.
It would never happen in the British Museum
On the first day of my honeymoon in the Canary Islands we had our passports stolen. What a right royal pain in the arse, the holiday was ruined.
On my last holiday to the Canary Islands I had my wallet stolen. It contained £300 all my cards and my driving license. What a right royal pain in the arse getting everything replaced when I got home.
I travel a lot
I only take two cards with me .( been pickpocketed )
I wear imitation Pearl earring a gold necklace ( kept hidden) my wedding ring as jewellery .
I an a casual dresser ( slobbish )
It doesn’t do to look too good .
Not really negative ones but there were some unexpected culture shocks I wouldn’t have needed and numerous dangerous situations. One of those unexpected events happened when I was driving back home from Iraq and Syria and needed to stop for a second night in Turkey . It was getting late, I was exhausted and looking for accommodation. Then I saw what looked like a small hotel and some people were gathering in the yard. I was too lazy to get out of the car and asked them loudly if they knew whether there were some vacancies. One guy left the group and walked over to me looking aggressive. He had a walk around my car and saw the Syrian numberplate and the international vehicle registration code. He then started shouting at me “This is Turkey, nix “Anglese”, nix Syria - you understand?” threatening to beat me up if I didn’t leave the place fast. I managed to calm him down a bit and backed off. Not sure what had made him so angry, speaking English I assume. I then treated myself to the best hotel in town which I should have done in the first place. I had deserved it anyway.
Flying to the Falklands via RAF transport many years back (gov business) had to be my worst experience ever apart from the return sometime later. The stop over at Ascension Island (RAF) was most welcome.
I had a couple of similar experiences in Turkey while on holiday. When you walk past a shop or bar they are very pushy and try to get you to go inside to buy something. On the first occasion I was ushered into a clothes shop and at first the people inside were very nice but then one of them noticed I was wearing military dog tags and the mood changed dramatically. They started questioning me about my affiliation with the US army and I could tell things were getting heated. I explained that my father had recently died and the dog tags were my way of remembering him, they had my dad’s date of birth and death stamped on them. They wouldn’t believe me and demanded I show them. After showing them they calmed down but I still didn’t feel very welcome in there and made a sharp exit.
I must add that on most occasions the Turkish people are very welcoming and usually when they get you inside they treat you like royalty. They have shown me hospitality like nowhere else in the world but on the second occasion it went wrong it was worse than the first.
I’d been going out for the day on a boat trip and passed a jewellery shop. My wife pointed to a gold bracelet in the window and after a fleeting look (we didn’t even stop walking) we carried on to our meeting point. After some hour’s we returned from the boat trip and headed back toward the hotel passing the shop on the way. We were confronted by two men who asked what we liked in their shop window earlier on in the day. They pestered us to go into the shop and were using heavy handed sales tactics but I didn’t want to buy anything. After about 20 minutes they noticed my wife was wearing rings and offered to clean them in the back room free of charge. She was having none of it and again the atmosphere was turning sour. After some cross words my wife was ushered out of the shop and the front door was locked. Three more blokes came into the shop from the back room and I was sure I was going to be robbed. My wife began screaming and banging on the glass door because she obviously thought the same as I did. I was scared but turned to the bloke who had originally ushered me into the shop and said “Oh its like that is it, I’ll ram that bracelet down your ******* throat in a minute you little***”
Luckily for me it had the desired effect and after a quick conversation in Turkish the door was unbolted and I was allowed to leave with my wallet (and my face) in tact. PHEW!!! I’ve never been so happy to leave a shop in my life.
What a story, Ralph. Thanks for sharing. Your story is one of a different kind, outright dangerous. So glad you and your BH managed to get out of there. I must say that the Turks unfortunately have that reputation of being pushy and sometimes obnoxious since some of them keep trying to sell overpriced jewellery and carpets that nobody needs. A lot of people can sing a song about it. As you are implying, despite their superficial hospitality one can’t help feeling that one is always two steps away from a rip-off. I once didn’t have their local currency nor a credit card and shops were closed. Their petrol stations would only accept local currency. Finally, I found somebody who’d be willing to exchange it against Dollars and took me to his nearby flat in the basement. Hearing your story reminded me at once of what could have happened other than getting a ridiculous exchange rate which was partly my fault anyway.
After that experience you had down there I actually wanted to tell you what a relief it must have been for you to recently spend a safe holiday on the Canary Islands of which you shared that photo showing you tanned but then I read you’d been robbed there as well. That really shouldn’t have happened to you again.
Tunisians can be pushy. My brother went out there following a relationship breakup and was co-erced into buying a leather jacket he didn’t want or need.
I went on a week’s holiday there and vowed never again. Also did two separate port calls on a cruise. Had mum with me, but I wasn’t keen on walking around.
