I've decided that despite my own innate sarcasm and self deprecation I'm going to attempt to isolate my negativity from the rest of my experience. However, one thing remains constant, my negative experiences all stem from the same place whether abroad or at home : stupid people.
Thus by isolate I mean, to contribute entire posts to poor behavior, fulfillment of negative stereotypes and just plain awful. I will devote the series "On Crappy travelers" to all those people out there who just suck. Cause lets be honest, I'm pretty spectacular are pointing out people's flaws, criticizing, correct, nit-picking... whatever you want to call it.
The first archetype we will address is the "Cheap Tourist". These kind of people frustrate me abroad and at home. They're the "mentally broke".
Don't get me wrong, I love to save a buck (literally, every dollar counts). But the kind of travelers who scoff or are offended by the prices to get into museums, temples, and World Heritage sites frustrates me. For those of you who haven't traveled much in the developing world, you'll often encounter a "local price" and a "foreigner price". This can range from locals being free to dramatically cheaper.
This kind of tourist reared its ugly head early on in my trip. Following Anuradhapura, I made my way to Sigiriya, a stunning rock (pictures to follow another time) amid the Sri Lankan plans that housed a monastery and perhaps a monarchy from the 4th century AD to the 15th. Cost to tourists : 3,700 rupees to enter or about $30USD. Definitely over my daily budget. But damn it, I'm in Sri Lanka and I took two, TWO buses to get here! I'm going to the top!
Not the attitude of the two cheap German girls and the cheap cheap British guy I walked up with. Horrified that it would be that expensive (common! Look at a guidebook!) they refused to pay the fee after trying to haggle with the ticket agent, they conceded to "walk around the outside of the gardens" and not do the hike. What they really did was sneak in the back way and only hike half way up, just before the second ticket check.
What really pisses me off about this is imagining what I, or they, would spend that $30 dollars on back home. I mean, I tip people more than that most nights out in Clarendon! Its a couple pints, or a short taxi home in London. Furthermore, the whole point of charging foreigners more is WE CAN AFFORD IT. You're talking about traveling in a country that was devastated by a tsunami in 2004 in the midst of a civil war that lasted 29, yes 29, years (it ended in 2009). But seriously, they're trying to maintain their landmarks, preserve, even reconstruct.
It just angers me when people will pay whatever costs to fly around the world, travel, vacation, eat out, whatever but then are angered that we are asked to occasionally pay more for the betterment of the sites we're seeking to enjoy.
I encountered more of these travelers at Lankatilake Temple. Two Canadian guys who'd paid a tuk-tuk driver (probably 2500rupees, maybe each) to take them around. But didn't want to pay the 250rupee fee to go into the shrine. They walked around, disrespectfully avoiding the grounds attendant because they were mad that they thought it would be free. It's a whopping $2!!! A whole 10% of what you paid some dude to drive you and you can't give it to a Buddhist temple?!?!
Something is wrong with the world.
Okay yes, I realize I don't like paying to have someone drive me around and will stubbornly take the bus, bike, walk whatever partly for my own benefit and partly because I don't want to pay someone to take me places I can take myself. But when it comes down to paying the posted fee or cheating and perpetuating a horribly negative stereotype about travelers.... pay or stay home.
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