'Rude' French are worst tourists

It's from a travel booking website, so it's obviously completely
accurate, but... mon Dieu!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8143780.stm?lsf

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle (RIP 2009)

On Jul 10, 2:20*pm, (David Horne, _the_ chancellor
(*)) wrote:
It's from a travel booking website, so it's obviously completely
accurate, but... mon Dieu!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8143780.stm?lsf

I've heard some negative comments about French bus tours and buffets
here . Quite a difference from the politiness I find in France or
when I toured in Egypt with a French touring party.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
It's from a travel booking website, so it's obviously completely
accurate, but... mon Dieu!

Several years ago, while living in Germany, we decided to go to Italy on a
camping holiday. When we went to sign up at the desk, the owner of the small
campgrounds, seeing my French last name, gasped and said, "Are you FRENCH?"
When I said "No, I'm American." She relaxed and told me they always have
trouble with the French campers. She said they stay up until all hours of
the night, drinking and carousing and making a lot of noise, bothering
everyone else and that they were always rowdy and uncooperative with the
campground help. Do they do this today? Dunno. But, we did find the French
have a reputation of that sort.

Pat

In article
,
John Kane wrote:

On Jul 10, 2:20*pm, (David Horne, _the_ chancellor
(*)) wrote:
It's from a travel booking website, so it's obviously completely
accurate, but... mon Dieu!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8143780.stm?lsf

I've heard some negative comments about French bus tours and buffets
here . Quite a difference from the politiness I find in France or
when I toured in Egypt with a French touring party.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

What about the claim that 90% of them travel only in-country?

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
It's from a travel booking website, so it's obviously completely
accurate, but... mon Dieu!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8143780.stm?lsf

Interesting how the British are seen as the second best worldwide, but the
worst behaved in Europe. It's obviously down to the sort of holidays
different types of people go on rather than any national stereotype. For
instance British ****heads going on a stag weekend, or a cheap package week
getting burnt all day on the beach and clubbing all night, will tend to go
Europe rather than further afield.

Also national culture, for instance Americans being most generous and most
likely to complain is obviously down to the US tipping culture and
consequent expectation of good service, and the French being "penny
pinching" probably just means they're more resistant to being ripped off
like paying £1.50 for a stale cup of coffee or hotels marking up phone,
broadband, mini bar, room service costs by ridiculous amounts, which British
and American suckers are happy to pay.

--
Andy

Andy Pandy wrote:

Interesting how the British are seen as the second best worldwide,
but the worst behaved in Europe. It's obviously down to the sort of
holidays different types of people go on rather than any national
stereotype. For instance British ****heads going on a stag weekend,
or a cheap package week getting burnt all day on the beach and
clubbing all night, will tend to go Europe rather than further afield.

Also national culture, for instance Americans being most generous and
most likely to complain is obviously down to the US tipping culture
and consequent expectation of good service, and the French being
"penny pinching" probably just means they're more resistant to being
ripped off like paying £1.50 for a stale cup of coffee or hotels
marking up phone, broadband, mini bar, room service costs by
ridiculous amounts, which British and American suckers are happy to
pay.

Well, if I read your post right, you are saying only the French know when
they are being ripped off. Surely, no one would be so ignorant as to write
that....

Pat in TX

Pat wrote on Jul 11, 2009:

Andy Pandy wrote:

Interesting how the British are seen as the second best worldwide,
but the worst behaved in Europe. It's obviously down to the sort of
holidays different types of people go on rather than any national
stereotype. For instance British ****heads going on a stag weekend,
or a cheap package week getting burnt all day on the beach and
clubbing all night, will tend to go Europe rather than further afield.

Also national culture, for instance Americans being most generous and
most likely to complain is obviously down to the US tipping culture
and consequent expectation of good service, and the French being
"penny pinching" probably just means they're more resistant to being
ripped off like paying £1.50 for a stale cup of coffee or hotels
marking up phone, broadband, mini bar, room service costs by
ridiculous amounts, which British and American suckers are happy to
pay.

Well, if I read your post right, you are saying only the French know when
they are being ripped off. Surely, no one would be so ignorant as to write
that....

No, most people know when they're being ripped off, it's just that the French
complain more.

I must admit to being one of the 'British suckers' in this respect. I'm not
happy but I do pay and don't usually complain. My rational for this is that
whilst I'm quite prepared to have arguments and conflict in my everyday life,
when I'm on holiday I want to have a nice time rather than a nasty one. So I
would far rather pay £1.50 and leave without drinking the rotten coffee than
waste my time (and raise my blood pressure) having an argument about it with
some disinterested employee.

Of course I do try not to put myself in a position where I have to accept a
rip-off of any kind more than once. That's why I don't book hotels in advance
for more than a night unless absolutely necessary, and I avoid pre-paid
package holidays of any kind like the plague.


--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

"Pat" wrote in message
...
Andy Pandy wrote:

Interesting how the British are seen as the second best worldwide,
but the worst behaved in Europe. It's obviously down to the sort of
holidays different types of people go on rather than any national
stereotype. For instance British ****heads going on a stag weekend,
or a cheap package week getting burnt all day on the beach and
clubbing all night, will tend to go Europe rather than further afield.

Also national culture, for instance Americans being most generous and
most likely to complain is obviously down to the US tipping culture
and consequent expectation of good service, and the French being
"penny pinching" probably just means they're more resistant to being
ripped off like paying £1.50 for a stale cup of coffee or hotels
marking up phone, broadband, mini bar, room service costs by
ridiculous amounts, which British and American suckers are happy to
pay.

Well, if I read your post right you are saying only the French know when
they are being ripped off.

What part of "more resistant to" didn't you understand?

Surely, no one would be so ignorant as to write
that....

Surely no one would be so ignorant as to think "more resistant to being
ripped off" means "the only ones who know they are being ripped off".

--
Andy

"Mike Lane" wrote in message
dia.com...
Pat wrote on Jul 11, 2009:

Andy Pandy wrote:

Interesting how the British are seen as the second best worldwide,
but the worst behaved in Europe. It's obviously down to the sort of
holidays different types of people go on rather than any national
stereotype. For instance British ****heads going on a stag weekend,
or a cheap package week getting burnt all day on the beach and
clubbing all night, will tend to go Europe rather than further afield.

Also national culture, for instance Americans being most generous and
most likely to complain is obviously down to the US tipping culture
and consequent expectation of good service, and the French being
"penny pinching" probably just means they're more resistant to being
ripped off like paying £1.50 for a stale cup of coffee or hotels
marking up phone, broadband, mini bar, room service costs by
ridiculous amounts, which British and American suckers are happy to
pay.

Well, if I read your post right, you are saying only the French know
when
they are being ripped off. Surely, no one would be so ignorant as to
write
that....

No, most people know when they're being ripped off, it's just that the
French
complain more.

I must admit to being one of the 'British suckers' in this respect. I'm
not
happy but I do pay and don't usually complain. My rational for this is
that
whilst I'm quite prepared to have arguments and conflict in my everyday
life,
when I'm on holiday I want to have a nice time rather than a nasty one. So
I
would far rather pay £1.50 and leave without drinking the rotten coffee
than
waste my time (and raise my blood pressure) having an argument about it
with
some disinterested employee.

Which is exactly why they get away with in the UK. When in France you'll get
a decent cup of coffee for half the price because most people there will
complain if they get overpriced rubbish.

So if you're in France, the fact that other people would complain means you
can get a decent cup of coffee with no arguments.

And if you're in the US it'll probably be decent because it'll affect the
tip.

Of course I do try not to put myself in a position where I have to accept
a
rip-off of any kind more than once. That's why I don't book hotels in
advance
for more than a night unless absolutely necessary, and I avoid pre-paid
package holidays of any kind like the plague.

Short haul packages can be good value, eg to Spain, Greece etc. Long haul
(like to somewhere "exotic", but cheap) are usually a rip-off.

--
Andy

Andy Pandy wrote on Jul 11, 2009:


"Mike Lane" wrote in message
dia.com...

No, most people know when they're being ripped off, it's just that the
French complain more.

I must admit to being one of the 'British suckers' in this respect. I'm
not happy but I do pay and don't usually complain. My rational for this
is that whilst I'm quite prepared to have arguments and conflict in my
everyday life, when I'm on holiday I want to have a nice time rather than
a nasty one. So I would far rather pay £1.50 and leave without drinking
the rotten coffee than waste my time (and raise my blood pressure) having
an argument about it with some disinterested employee.

Which is exactly why they get away with in the UK. When in France you'll get
a decent cup of coffee for half the price because most people there will
complain if they get overpriced rubbish.

So if you're in France, the fact that other people would complain means you
can get a decent cup of coffee with no arguments.


I appreciate what you're saying and I'm not trying to defend the
'non-complaining' culture but just trying to explain it. However I'm not
totally convinced about 'half the price' - I've sometimes been astonished by
the price of a coffee in France. When driving through Italy though, I've
often stopped on the motorway and been amazed by the excellence of the
espresso sold for a euro. (Mind you that's the only thing I'm amazed about -
the motorway service areas are dreadful on the whole.)

I think the poor quality of coffee in Britain is more down to the
tea-drinking culture than anything else. I know several people who claim to
like 'real coffee' and make it using ground coffee beans. However they do it
using so little actual coffee that the result is a revolting weak infusion
that I find quite undrinkable.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire