This Isn’t What I Expected!
While walking through Venice, Italy, we heard a very loud voice talking into a mobile phone from a woman standing on one of the many beautiful canal bridges:
“No one told me that I had to walk everywhere! There are no cars here! I have had to walk all day. Just steps and alleys everywhere you go!”
I don’t want to judge (and by saying that I have obviously done so already). She might have had a hurt foot or maybe her travel agent told her there were people movers or golf carts here. Either way, it highlighted to us that people may set the wrong expectations for their trip and why it is important to do some research before you go.
Another example was the man who was standing in a castle on the coast of Ulcinj, Montenegro
and again, talking loudly enough for all of us to feel his pain.
“I can’t wait to go home! I’m so tired of not having working air conditioning.”
Once again, maybe he had a bad day. Maybe his room was very hot, but here we were in Ulcinj, in a castle, on the coast of a very beautiful setting.
There are many posts about holiday makers complaining about some crazy things, and we all like to laugh about them and at them on occasion. That being said, if you plan on dropping your hard-earned dollars on a holiday, you certainly don’t want to be disappointed.
Why We Whinge
We all whinge occasionally as it seems to be part of our nature. We got caught off guard in a beautiful area of Nicaragua when we didn’t anticipate the start of local holiday season and spent a week listening to explosions, loud celebratory gatherings on the streets and Christmas music that shook the windows of our apartment. We whinged and then with a head slap realized that we didn’t do the same thing we tell others to do. We didn’t do our research and ask the right kind of questions about where we were going and the best time for us to be there (some people would have enjoyed every minute of loudness). We acknowledged our mistake and then went outside to watch the homemade fireworks land on top of our apartment from seven p.m. till midnight (for about two weeks). Turned out to be fun with some wine and cake.
9 Tips to Set Your Travel Expectations
So here are 9 ways to set travel expectations for a more enjoyable trip and to avoid disappointment. The “you” below is a general you, not you specifically. Unless it is you.
