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And you thought Peregrinos could whine

newfydog

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Pamplona-Santiago, Le Puy- Santiago, Prague- LePuy, Menton- Toulouse, Menton- Rome, Canterbury- Lausanne, Chemin Stevenson, Voie de Vezelay
We all have seen some mention of bad travelers on the Camino...these will put that in perspective!

THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY “THOMAS COOK VACATIONS FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS” :
1. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
2. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallarta to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time — this should be banned.”
3. “On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food.”
I’ll book it but only if I can screen my fellow travelers first.
4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price”
5. “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”
6. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.”
7. “They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax.”
8. “No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.”
9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.”
10. “We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish.”
11. “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.”
12. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England . It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.”
13. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller.”
14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort’. We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service.”
15. “There were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.”
16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning.”
17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.”
19. “My fiance and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
 
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AHAHAHAHAHAHA...
I began to check the most stupid statements (no.7 was the first one of that special kind), but had to stop, because it only got worse :Do_O:confused:
 
Thanks for a big laugh ! Have just rejoined the Frances at Melide after the primitivo and will have a big smile all day !
 
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I thought so too Sixwheeler,when I sent them into Thomas Cook.......It's serious stuff,I can't under stand the reason for all the hilarity!.......:mad:.........Vicrev
 
1. I planned my Camino for the end of May, when the weather was supposed to be warm, sunny, and delightful. Instead, I walked through three weeks of cold, rain and mud every day.
2. No one told me of the poor quality of beds. Consistently, the person in the bunk bed above me made the bed squeak all night long and I feared for my life. And who let all those snorers in? Do they just let anybody in??!!
3. All of the menus were in Spanish. Really, now, how was I supposed to cope with that?
4. Some of the toilets lacked paper. I had to bring my own.
5. I saw people walking with donkeys, dogs, and, yes, a chicken. I didn't know animals were allowed on the Camino. My goldfish would have enjoyed the trip immensely and I missed him (or is it a her?) sooooooooo much!!

I have written a letter of complaint to send to the Pilgrim Office in Santiago. However, I'm having trouble finding someone who can translate it into Latin, which is apparently the only language they read or write. People should be warned about the very poor quality of this "walking holiday" in Spain. Someone must be held responsible!!!

KIDDING!!!! :p

Kathy
 
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Thank you all for making my day. Although the weather is beautiful here in Virginia today, my mood was down - post Camino depression I think - and I needed my spirit to be uplifted. Whilst crunching my budget numbers into the future, it is starting to appear that I may have to defer my planned spring-2014 repeat Camino Frances. Oh well, such is life. However, this thread did just that - it provided much needed laughter and entertainment. Muchas gracias mis amigos!

As regards the substance of the original post, and while I understand these are generic complaints filed at Thomas Cook, I suggest that their Camino experience went wrong the moment the booked their "Camino Adventure" (Or however it was advertised) through TC or any other travel agency. The essence of the Camino is spontaneity. Buying a wholly pre-planned, pre-packaged itinerary, complete with pre-booked hotel and hostal rooms and mochila transport services quite defeats the purpose I think.

It is true that there are no set rules for the Camino, and we all agree (I hope) that each person does their own Camino and in their own way as suits their personal needs and circumstances. However, and this is my opinion, once doing the Camino becomes advertised and sold by non-local third parties as a vacation / holiday destination, the entire micro-society that is the Camino is threatened. What's next, "Camino Disney," daily and weekly admission with timed access, frequent pilgrim miles?

While I agree and subscribe to the belief that sometimes bus, taxi, and / or mochila transport is sometimes necessary to allow one to complete their Camino due to illness or injury, the mere fact that someone would have the impudence to actually complain to a travel agency about their experience suggests to me that the Camino was not the holiday destination for them in the first place.

One must have a more or less humble and open spirit on the Camino. Remember, a pilgrim is thankful and grateful for little favors offered. The Camino provides. And, Saint James watches over us all, regardless of our faith or personal beliefs (and sometimes despite them). To relegate those three basic Camino precepts to commercialism beyond local entrepreneurship is - to me at least - contrary to the essence of what pilgrimage and the Camino are.

Okay, I yield the balance of my time on ye olde soapbox... ;)
 
Footek, I need to hear more about the pilgrim walking with the chicken. I just know there's a great story there.
 
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I wonder how much THOMAS COOK VACATIONS had to pay out for compensation........;)

Buen Camino!
 
Oh yeah... I've had some "interesting" complaints too. And a couple of very badly behaved group members! It's a bit disheartening, although funny too to realize what people expect.
 
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Footek, I need to hear more about the pilgrim walking with the chicken. I just know there's a great story there.
Maybe the egg they bought for supper hatched before they could cook it :)
Cause for complaint or rejoicing? There might have been more to eat if the chicken walked far enough.
 
Hello newfydog,

Thanks for making my day more enjoyable.

Have you heard about the peregrinos who complained that everybody speaks a foreign language on the camino, that the foreign language is spanish.

Thanks again and god bless.
 
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Footek, I need to hear more about the pilgrim walking with the chicken. I just know there's a great story there.
Yeah, I know. I couldn't believe it myself. I thought the chicken was just another local clucker wandering around a bar, then I saw that it was "leashed" to a backpack. The pilgrim (who was leaving soon after I arrived) picked the bird up and put it in the backpack! I think I barely have a photo which I'll post soon when I get to that day on my blog.
 
I wonder if the guy who walked with a chicken demanded a "compostela" for it as the guy with a dog did........;)
And if the chicken was part of the end of the Camino meal............ poor chicken if it was :rolleyes:

Buen Camino!
LOL!! Maybe it was being carried because it had gotten blisters. Maybe it was "The Great Escape" from Santo Domingo?? Aye Dios Mio!!
 
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LOL!! Maybe it was being carried because it had gotten blisters. Maybe it was "The Great Escape" from Santo Domingo?? Aye Dios Mio!!

Don´t think so ........that was a rooster not a chicken;)

Perhaps the chicken was some kind of anti-bedbug system;)

Buen Camino!
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Why did the chicken cross the road?............. To get another stamp on its pilgrim passport of course. :rolleyes:

Buen Camino!

Stop now you guys, I have tears running down my cheeks & I don't want to die laughing!!!!

Indyrem
 
I apologize to any of my fellow peregrinos if they are present when I come across these kinds of complainers..

Like the guy who burst in front of me at the Heathrow airport to complain about a missed connection.. "Don't mind me, who needs patience and courtesy? I've only been awake for 37 hours and spent the first 6 hours of my day in a tent in Nairobi as international departures burnt down." (May have been less tactful at the moment of delivery)

or the guy who sarcastically told a group of us at breakfast on our last morning that he knew we were "excited to be in Africa" but maybe we could avoid using the courtyard until the unheard of hour of 9pm to have group discussions(4 people uploading pictures, not 20 cackling and drinking). That still stings me. Excited to be in Africa? I just built a flippin' house you good for nothing safari-going, jambo-singing worst kind of tourist!

I'm hoping the camino will assist me with my approach to the self-centered, ignorant and entitled braggarts. Huff..Puff..Grumble
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Three-fourths through my first Camino Frances, in Melide I think, a tourist fresh off the big bus took a seat next to mine in the café and condescended to inform me and my friends of all the reasons why we weren´t real pilgrims.
It is good I was on my second glass of beer. I didn´t care.

My walking partners finally got her to go away. They took off their boots.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-

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