Top travel tips and advice for flying, hotels and money: The 20 most annoying things about travel

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This was published 7 years ago

Top travel tips and advice for flying, hotels and money: The 20 most annoying things about travel

By Michael Gebicki
Updated
There are frustrations when travelling, but you can deal with them.

There are frustrations when travelling, but you can deal with them.Credit: iStock

Does familiarity breed content, or contempt? That's not places I'm talking about, it's the background business of flights, hotels and hire cars that goes into getting us there.

There's the inevitable kerfuffle at the airport, the invasion of privacy and person in the name of security, the close proximity of fellow travellers with varying notions of what constitutes polite behaviour among strangers, and landing – kerplonk – in an alien culture, most likely in an airport terminal packed with people whose primary reason for getting up that morning was parting you from some of the contents of your wallet. And that's just day one.

Charming as our destination might be, is it any wonder there are some aspects to travel that grate, that annoy us deeply and yet despite all our foreknowledge we are prepared to suffer for the sake of being somewhere wondrous? Here's a selection.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

THE GRIPE

Duty-free "bargains"

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... Duty-free liquor is a good deal, cigarettes are a steal but just about anything else is probably not. The duty we pay on electronics, perfumes and clothing is just 10 per cent, and a low Aussie dollar and retailers who must compete with overseas suppliers who pay no GST keeps prices at major retailers here low. Airport prices are inflated to cover the high rents that terminal retail space commands and the warranty you get with an item bought overseas will probably hold no currency in Australia.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

THE GRIPE BUSTER Check prices at home before you flick out your credit card.

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See also: How to get the best price on duty free

THE GRIPE

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

The unexplained flight delay

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... We've all boarded the aircraft, the doors are shut, we're buckled in and waiting patiently as the minutes tick by … and nothing happens. We've been frozen at the gate for an hour but there's no announcement from the flight deck to tell us why. Anything please, just a few jolly words from the captain. "Apologies for the delay folks, we're working on the paperwork/the engineering problem/the engine that you can see burning out the window and we expect the aircraft to be pushed back in 5/10/30 minutes/tomorrow." See? Don't you feel better now?

THE GRIPE BUSTER There are rules against consuming your own liquor on board but a nip would surely calm you down.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

See also: 13 of the weirdest reasons for flight delays

THE GRIPE

Dynamic currency conversion

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

Illustration: Jamie Brown.

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... You're paying for a meal or making a purchase in a foreign airport and the salesperson asks whether you'd prefer to pay in Australian dollars or local currency. Although the Aussie-dollar option sounds like a sprightly suggestion, you are entering into a form of robbery known as dynamic currency conversion, with you as the sucker. DCC employs a manipulated rate of exchange that adds another layer of fees to your purchase, anything up to 5 per cent, split between the retailer and the DCC facilitator. Aussie-dollar payment still sound like a good idea?

THE GRIPE BUSTER I know, the salesperson is only doing this because the boss tells them to but I'm going online while I hold up the queue at the cashier's desk, check the current exchange rate using my currency converter rather than yours, convert the local currency payment to Aussie dollars and show you the difference, just so you can see how much more I'd be paying were I to opt for paying in Australian currency. I may be preventing you from making another sale but your store is prepared to rip me off so I'm prepared to waste your time.

THE GRIPE

"I'm saving money by using a travel money card"

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... Sorry but no. Multiple financial institutions have rushed to embrace the travel money card and invented all sorts of spurious claims to persuade you that this is a great way to access your cash overseas. Does their enthusiasm not tell you something? Because banks and their like are not in the business of doing you financial favours. These cards all come with various fees designed to milk your cash cow. Also, you're locking in your Aussie dollars at the current exchange rate, in effect lending them your cash with no interest, and if our dollar should rise between the time you buy and the time you redeem as it has recently done, you've lost out.

THE GRIPE BUSTER Have no truck with these snake-oil sellers. Your regular ATM card will do the job, but the gold standards are the Citibank Visa Debit Card and 28 Degrees MasterCard.

See also: The 10 most common travel rip-offs

THE GRIPE

The tour guide's cut

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... Your guide leads the entire tour into a shop that sells carpets/pashminas/panama hats, the salespeople turn on the aircon, pop open the soft drinks and put the squeeze on you. Although your guide might tell you this is the best place to buy and the prices are the lowest around, you're hurrying through so you never get to find out. Take it as a given that your guide will get a slice of everything that's bought, and the price is thereby inflated.

THE GRIPE BUSTER Buy nothing, or bargain hard.

THE GRIPE

Any photographic device elevated above head height

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... That's you selfie stick, but there's a new horror hovering in the skies, the personal drone. This buzzing monster has become the latest must-have toy for the traveller with the works and it's the airborne equivalent of the jet ski. Once aloft they're up to all sorts of mischief as they soar above beaches, ancient monuments and natural wonders, humming and blinking as their operator films God-knows-what, and they're impossible to ignore.

THE GRIPE BUSTER Is there a miniature version of the Stinger Air-Defence system?

See also: Why drones are more annoying than selfie sticks

THE GRIPE

The competitive traveller

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... "How many countries have you been to?" Gee, I'm sorry because I don't know. Never counted. Does it really matter? Does the fact that you've been to 50 or 100 – and you're just dying for me to ask – does that make you a superior kind of traveller? Are you happier, bolstered in mind and spirit because you spent two nights in Burkina Faso? Collecting countries is like collecting fridge magnets. Your thing, not mine. Get over it.

THE GRIPE BUSTER "You'll have to excuse me, toilet break, I'm still suffering from that sheep's milk I drank with those shepherds in Montenegro."

See also: The world's best passports for travellers named

THE GRIPE

The hire-full, return-empty car-hire rip-off

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... You're paying for a full tank of petrol, maybe at a slight discount on the pump price, but you'll win on this deal only if you return the vehicle with the tank near empty. Your car-hire operator knows that's next to impossible when you're returning it in a strange city and not too sure where the next petrol station might be. Since you don't want to risk running out you're likely to return your hire with a decent amount in the tank, which is their win.

THE GRIPE BUSTER Hire from an operator that lets you drive away on a full tank and return it the same way.

THE GRIPE

Resort chair wars

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... Your fellow resort guest rises with the birds, throws a towel on the best poolside lounges and traipses back to bed and a leisurely breakfast, to return hours later and claim "their" lounges. Reserved seating for up to an hour is reasonable, a longer absence is not. It's selfish, rude and just not cricket.

THE GRIPE BUSTER You can toss their towels but be prepared for a violent reaction. A friend once did and was tipped out of her lounge by an indignant European fellow. Better to tell management and let them deal with it.

THE GRIPE

If I talk louder they'll understand me

WE'RE ANNOYED BECAUSE ... Tourist: "Do you speak English? Parisian shop assistant: "Non"

Tourist (speaking louder): "OK. We want 2 per cent milk. Do you have that? TWO PER CENT MILK?" The whole world does not speak English. That surely is part of the reason you're here.

THE GRIPE BUSTER I can help you out in my basic French, although I'll also append une petite suggestion to the effect that a little linguistic effort on your part might enhance your enjoyment of Paris, as well as making your life run more smoothly.

See also: The T-shirt that lets you speak any language

FIVE FLYING ANNOYANCES

PAY-FOR-USE LOUNGES You've got a couple of hours to kill between flights and you need a spruce-up and some quiet comfort. The main terminal is crowded and noisy so you've shelled out $50 for lounge access yet the seating is packed together, there's a queue for the shower and the buffet looks tired. Only rarely does the pay-for-use item come anywhere near the food and facilities of a business-class lounge but you won't know until it's too late.

CREDIT CARD FEES FOR FLIGHT BOOKINGS You're at the payment page for the flight you've booked online and you're offered a choice of payment via PayPal, credit or debit card – but whichever you choose, the system is going to add anything from $7 to $30 a booking.

UPGRADE RESTRICTIONS FOR FREQUENT FLYER POINTS I've been a loyal customer of your airline for several years and I now have a substantial number of frequent flyer points but because I've bought the thriftiest class of economy ticket I can't use those points to upgrade to business class. From now on I'll just fly with whoever offers me the cheapest deal.

THE FIRST-ON-BOARD-AT-ALL-COSTS PASSENGER My seat is at the back of the aircraft and since we're boarding by rows I'm one of the first called to board. When I march down the aisle the passenger seated in 12A has stopped and is blocking everyone behind as they heave several over-the-limit bags into the overhead compartment.

HEADPHONE LEAKAGE So you're really into Megadeth, I get that, but the volume on those fancy headphones is cranked to the max and since this airline seat puts my ears just 20cm from yours, I'm being aurally assaulted. Note that "noise cancelling" applies to only your ears, and those headphones leak sound. Also, you're most likely to suffer hearing impairment in time to come and yes, I'm talking to you, that's why my mouth is moving.

See also: The 20 secrets to enjoying flying economy class

FIVE HOTEL ANNOYANCES

PRE-AUTHORISATIONS You're checking in and the receptionist asks for your credit card, saying "We're placing a hold against your card of X dollars per day." The "X" can be anything from $50-150 a day and it's meant to cover any incidentals you might charge to your room account. The problem is that this amount will magically vanish from your credit or debit account. It's not converted to a charge until you check out, but your reservoir of available funds is reduced.

THE 10 AM CHECKOUT Common in Australia, rare overseas, this injects haste and bustle into my day from the get go, and it's the antithesis of the relaxation that the word "holiday" suggests. Hotels are meant to be a service industry but this early chuck-out serves your needs at the expense of mine.

RESORT FEES You've just arrived at your hotel, you're at the check-in desk and the receptionist smiles sweetly and advises you that your bill will be topped up with a daily $25 resort fee. "What for?" you ask. For the use of the pool, Wi-Fi, daily newspaper, the tennis courts and no, you can't dodge it even if you have no intention of using those facilities. Hotels like resort fees because they make their rates look lower but it's a slimy trick. Now common at hotels in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Florida.

HUNT THE POWER SOCKET All I want is a socket so I can power up my devices, which is why I'm scrabbling around on the floor like a caffeinated cockroach. Power for the TV and desk lighting comes from behind a huge and immobile console, the socket in the bathroom says "shavers only" and it's not until I heave the bed away from the wall that I experience a Eureka! moment. From the same electrical misfortune department, room lighting. Please, one master switch beside the bed and another by the door that controls each and every light.

UTTER CLUTTER When I get to my room there's a welcome note from the hotel manager, several back copies of the hotel's own branded magazine fanned out on the desk, a brochure to inform me of the two-for-one happy-hour special, a folder full of suggested sightseeing tours and other miscellaneous junk covering every flat surface bar the bed.

See also: The rules of stealing toiletries from hotels

FIVE THINGS ABOUT TRAVEL THAT PLEASE US

THAT EMPTY FEELING You've been assigned to an empty central row with three economy seats across on a long-haul flight and they're all yours. If it's four across your fast-beating heart might leap from your chest.

TOWEL ART Coming back to your hotel room and finding a towelling crocodile on the bed or an elephant with a hibiscus flower in its raised trunk.

EXIT-ROW STRATEGY "Yes we do have a spare exit-row seat, shall I put you there?" Wonder of wonders, the heavens just opened for you at the check-in desk.

SURVIVAL INSTINCTS Discovering that the New York diner where you had the amazing bagel with lox 10 years ago or that favourite antique shop in Prague is still in business.

PEACE OFFERING Finding a tranquil corner in an airport terminal with a decent cafe nearby and muscular Wi-Fi when you're on a two-hour layover.

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