Travel Snobs

My husband and I have been using Airbnb's a lot in the last couple of years and we love being part of a home rather than just staying in some impersonal hotel.
However a couple of people I know have both said "nothing less than 5* would do for them! In fact all the homes we have been in are at least 5* with the added knowledge that we are paying less and we get to hear about where the "secret" places are

I don't like the use of the word snobs. On various holidays I've found it very interesting to hear other peoples' experiences and its been a good chance to pick people's brains for top tips and things to avoid. Other people are often the making of a good holiday for me. Just because others might have been to more places than me doesn't make them travel snobs. Similarly, these trips can be very expensive so the food should be good!

No Monica, annoying people can ruin a holiday. What is annoying depends on the individual, incessant chatter whilst the guide is talking is infuriating. Not people but I hate things hanging down from overhead shelves.

Am I a travel snob? We too have just returned from an organised holiday in Northern Spain (and southern France). One of the main subjects of conversation among the group, was the absence of such irritating people, whom we had all experienced in the past.

I think you can get people of that ilk in any large-ish group. In a book club, they're the ones who've read every book ever printed, or in a sports group such as golf have played with every golf celebrity evah, or at parties, name-drop about other, better parties they've attended in the past.

It says more about their insecurities than it does about you!

I have not been on many organised holidays, but there does seem to be a rule that any such holiday will contain a person or couple whose sole aim is to find fault and work themselves up to a complaint.

The best thing is to ignore such twits. Make your excuses and drift off. We do go on those tours and tend to keep to ourselves as people can be so tedious at times, a good morning is generally all I manage!

Jayanna We had one of those on our cruise. Been on every cruise going. I think he said it was their 5th that year. Absolute authority on ALL cruise companies. Food, excursions, entertainment etc. A terrible boor.
On the other hand there was a couple who delighted in everything. It was their first cruise, they were in their 60s and it was their honeymoon. They really lifted the spirits. When they could get a word in edgeways that is.

Yes was on a river cruise down the Danube and had to sit at a dinner table with the ultimate travel snob, who moaned all the time that she was used to much better food, had been to much more interesting places, met far more interesting people than us dull little souls who sat and watched the river go by.

We did a similar thing in the South of Spain and there were, fortunately, no "snobs" - although I do know the kind you mean.

The opposite end of the spectrum was represented in our group. There was, at least one couple who seemed incapable of being left on their own to do anything. They forgot to pick up their passports from the hotel reception before leaving, despite our having been clearly instructed to do so.

As the entire group was between 50 and 70, you would think they had been on the planet long enough to know how to take responsiblity for themselves.

It was a very worthwhile holiday, though, and the embarrassment of being herded was rewarded by the queue-jumping which we were able to do at the Alhambra, the Mosque in Cordoba, etc., as all group entrance fees were pre-booked and paid for.