Cliquey Travel Groups? Mean Seniors?

LAMofOz on 18/05/2016 - 19:39

Long story short; I'm a 30-something who went on a coach day tour with a travel group today for the first time… toward the end I was told by an elderly female passenger that I should 'bugger off, and don't come back'… I replied 'Excuse me? haven't I been nice to you?' … Not a good comeback, but I was just shocked and had no idea what was going on, let alone what to say!

I made sure I was polite, considerate, friendly to my fellow passengers. Even when I felt 'grilled' about who I was and why I was there, while looking down their noses at me and asking my age.

I knew it would be mostly seniors but I didn't think it would be an issue!. This wasn't a seniors only tour, it was advertised for anyone and everyone. I was actually doing the day trip just to see how the coach line was in hopes of doing longer more expensive trips down the track. I don't like flying, and don't drive myself, so figure this would be a good option - but apparently I was wrong?

Has anyone else experienced this kind of 'cliqueyness' with travel groups?

Are coach tours just not for someone my age?

Ever experienced mean seniors while traveling?

Travel

Comments

  • Diji1 on 18/05/2016 - 20:05
    +1

    The elderly are often racist.

    • Elppa8 on 18/05/2016 - 20:44
      +3

      Was that a discriminatory remark.

    • robbyjones on 18/05/2016 - 20:46

      Ironic much?

    • AMofOz on 18/05/2016 - 21:57
      +3

      Well I'm white, and I think pretty much everyone on the tour was white so I very well doubt it was racially motivated.

      It just seemed they didn't like someone younger joining in on what they considered "their" territory, I guess. At least that's how it felt.

      I do find it funny that people always say respect your elders, and I always do - then some of the elders go and act disrespectfully to others who hadn't done anything wrong. shrug

      • outlander on 22/05/2016 - 14:33
        +1

        I do find it funny that people always say respect your elders

        Theres your problem. You gotta fight that instinct. Old people are just as bitter and twisted as everyone else, moreso actually, because as the good ones start to drop off as the years go on while the bad ones are sustained by the darkness in their hearts (evil has excellent vasodilation properties) and the discord they sow amongst others. In fact, by making you feel you bad thats probably what she was doing: it was nothing personal, she just wanted to live long enough to ride another travel bus.

        Next time, give the woman your sweetest smile, and say "Rack off you buck-toothed old hag". She'll be taken aback, but she'll respect you more for it. Probably. And if doesn't, well, you always have the option of swapping her medication for psychedelics. That should really spice things up.

  • robbyjones on 18/05/2016 - 20:48
    +4

    There are mean people is every age group.

  • eloquentloser on 18/05/2016 - 21:07
    +3

    I remember being on a bus tour in Southern England, and being thrilled at finding a minibus with a hippie driving it at the beginning of a tour to Stonehenge. Others were not so pleased, and one moderately elderly couple stormed off the bus after finding that it 'wasn't a proper bus' and went over to the Gray Line counter to buy a 'proper' tour. Good grief. I have been on a few 'Gray Line'/major tour company buses, and generally find them boring and homogeneous. Our tour was fantastic.

    I'm in my late 40's, and in 2014 my girlfriend and I did a boat tour down the Dalmatian coast in Croatia on a <35 boat. The operator suggested I might prefer one of the 'prestige' cruises. Let's be honest, I prefer drinking with backpackers at some bar in the backstreets than watching a movie in a padded drawing-room. It's not that I lack sophistication.

    I've been on numerous tours with people a lot older or a lot younger than me and had a brilliant time. I'm sorry you had that experience - but travel can definitely be confronting. I've been pick-pocketed in Ibiza, the victim of theft and scammers and corrupt police (and a randomly thrown beer bottle), but you can't let that put you off - you have to get straight back on. If you want to travel and you have an open mind and heart, then you'll find utterly amazing people of absolutely any age to hang out with.

    A friend of mine mentioned to me the other night that his 19 year old friend, having drinks at my house, expected to be intimated (by the older crowd) but felt quite comfortable. Just treat everyone the same, really, and don't be self conscious about your own age either, and you'll be fine. :-)

    • AMofOz on 18/05/2016 - 22:18
      +2

      Very true. I always try to keep an open mind and treat everyone the same and be respectful etc.

      I do find I am in this weird position where I'm not interested or doing the things people my own age are, so I don't quite fit in anywhere. I am single but not looking; No Kids, not interested. I don't drink, don't have a drivers license, afraid of flying! (Going to try and get over that) But want to travel in my spare time with my savings. Which is why I thought the bus tours would be good.

      It's not like I'm some party-crazy chick looking for a sugar daddy! LOL! I just want to take some photos and have a good time and maybe make some friends. At very least just do my thing and not step on toes!

      I'm definitely self-conscious I know, and I over-analyze everything - been going through everything I said/did to make sure I didn't do something. All I can think is this particular 'top dog' could see my insecurities and couldn't help herself.

      The tour operator apologized, but of course it wasn't their fault, and when she went to ask what happened, of course no one was talking. Didn't seem like they were going to pursue it any further. Which I get - they know where their bread is getting buttered, so they aren't going to step on the top-dog and her packs toes on the possibility a newcomer might become a regular customer… better to keep the already regular customers happy so you don't lose them.

    • voteoften on 24/05/2016 - 04:34

      Staying in cheaper accommodation is generally friendlier when travelling alone.

  • retiredfeline on 18/05/2016 - 22:10
    +3

    Just a mean old lady, nothing you did wrong. Shrug it off.

  • PJC on 18/05/2016 - 22:57
    +2

    She was probably jealous. Or, as you said so well previously, "Some people are just assholes?. It's about all the explanation I have got for you, sorry mate!"

    • pimpstimpy on 18/05/2016 - 23:46
      +4

      OP probably reminds that old cow of everything she couldn't be

  • kash1 on 18/05/2016 - 23:00
    +3

    You need to get a group of mates together and hijack their next outing ;)

  • mskeggs on 19/05/2016 - 07:18
    +3

    Cheer up, they'll be dead first.
    FWIW, I think it bizarre they treated you that way.

    • altomic on 19/05/2016 - 20:34
      +4

      at end of the tour "hey, everyone. this was really fun. lets meet up in 25 years and do it again". Stares at old meany pants lady "oh…sorry"

  • SimbaGirl on 19/05/2016 - 15:57
    +6

    It's not like I'm some party-crazy chick looking for a sugar daddy! LOL! I just want to take some photos and have a good time and maybe make some friends.

    That's a thought - I assume it was a mixed group of men and women on the tour? Were any of the older gentlemen particularly nice to you or did they talk to you a lot? A lot of "senior" gentlemen will often make a point of being friendly to younger women - some because they want to be welcoming and polite, some because they still fancy themselves a bit but are pretty harmless LOL and some … well, we won't go there! So just wondering whether the "ladies" on the coach tour got their hackles up because their menfolk were being (what they considered) "too nice" to you?

    It may not be anything to do with that at all, but I remember when my marriage broke up, I found I wasn't particularly popular with some wives amongst the couples we knew - my husband was 9 years older than me and a lot of the people we knew were older than him again. I wasn't looking for a new husband in any way, shape or form - in fact, after being in such a psychologically abusive marriage for many years, the last thing I EVER thought I'd want to do was be in another relationship again - but I found that I couldn't even have a friendly chat with their husbands/partners without getting the evil eye from these women. Thankfully I don't like to socialise much, so being "left out" of invitations and gatherings didn't bother me at all, I was quite happy to spend time by myself but I just thought it was a really stupid attitude and wondered how stable their marriages were if they saw me as THAT much of a threat (which I most definitely wasn't!).

  • altomic on 19/05/2016 - 20:32
    +1

    bikies

    • Baysew on 22/05/2016 - 14:55

      Ulysses Club ?

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