10 things you only do on vacation
Some Dutch people (and perhaps also Belgians) behave differently than normal during the holidays in Thailand, for example. Think of buying crappy souvenirs, petting street dogs to wearing Speedos.
What have you ever sinned during the holidays? No idea? We give you a top 10.
Holiday misses top 10
That feels great doesn't it? Normally you would just be at work today, but no, you are on vacation! While sitting in the airport lounge with a nice drink, you undergo a somewhat bizarre character and personality transformation.
Holidays are the time to leave all worries behind, but be careful: don't throw all the brakes, you can also lose your mind a bit. From hitting the beach in a Speedo to buying crappy souvenirs, save yourself from such holiday dramas.
1. Poor clothing choices
The best example: those baggy white linen pants hanging somewhere at the back of your wardrobe. You don't look at them anymore, but as soon as you step off the plane in Bangkok you forget that they are impractical and transparent and they suddenly become a 'must-wear' item. Just because you have a nice holiday tan does not suddenly make everything look good…
2. Eat breakfast for three
On a normal day, a bowl of cornflakes will suffice, but when it's vacation time, the breakfast buffet becomes a sort of hurdle where you have to try everything (in four or five shifts). You try the fried section, followed by fruit, cake, muesli, yoghurt, orange juice and coffee. At home you should not think about eating so much, but during a holiday it seems a shame not to taste something of all that goodness. After all, the investment must pay off…
3. Wear Speedos
Hurrah! The infamous tight swimming trunks that leave nothing to the imagination. You certainly don't make a fashion statement with this. Men of this earth, ask yourselves: why are you indulging in this shocking fashion crime?
4. Growing a tan obsessively
When it is sunny in our own country, we sometimes spend an hour or two in the sun. As soon as the holidays are over, tanning becomes an obsession. You're on a mission to get as tanned as possible, even if it means ditching the sunscreen and using a color-intensifying serum. Be warned: these silly tricks only lead to the famous 'red lobster look'.
5. Fall in love with the local mutt
We all know it. You are eating at a restaurant near the beach and the local stray dog looks at you with pleading eyes. The animal will be in your head for the rest of the holiday and you hope that you will spot it again to give it some attention. When you see him walking alone on the beach again, in an unrealistic moment this flashes through your mind: “I wonder how much it would cost to quarantine him and take him home…”
6. Wear a Singha shirt
Suppose you are having a nice meal in a restaurant and an overweight tourist comes in with a Singha shirt. A view of bunches of hair and sweaty armpits immediately deprive you of your appetite. Who enters a restaurant wearing beachwear? Forgot to check in your decency at Schiphol?
7. Have a chat with someone because he is also from the Netherlands
At home you usually don't just talk to someone. But when we are traveling and we meet a Dutchman in a bar in Thailand, we are suddenly the best of friends. All inhibitions disappear like snow in the sun. It is suddenly wonderful to meet someone from your own country. You talk about where you come from, express the hope of meeting again and share a razor-thin bond because you don't understand the locals.
8. Take videos and photos you'll never look back on
Main rule: I have to record EVERYTHING. You probably take the camcorder with you or a large SLR or maybe your smartphone battery is empty every hour due to intensive use. Instead of enjoying the surroundings to the fullest, you are busy taking pictures of everything. Every sunset, monk, temple and vague tourist attraction has to suffer. Will you ever look at these pictures again? No.
9. Eating strange foods that you normally avoid
Normally a quinoa salad is exotic enough, but when we go abroad we suddenly start eating chicken legs, fried grasshoppers or other strange dishes.
10. Buy crappy, cheap souvenirs
Clogs, exotic masks, a leather camel for on the cupboard, a Buddha statue and bad-scented soaps. Why do we buy these worthless souvenirs? We don't need them and we never use them. If you have resisted the temptation of not buying any souvenirs and then suddenly want to buy something as soon as you pass through duty free, chances are you will go home with a fridge magnet, the local alcoholic drink and a postcard that you end up with. never sends.
What holiday sins in Thailand have you been guilty of? Probably some! Confess them down here.
Source: Skyscanner
Point 6 If someone gives me a free sweater I take it, I don't pay to walk around with an advertisement. Could use it to do a dirty job.
That's the point, they pay for it too.
And as so often farang prices. Humour
– Getting very angry at a misunderstanding and expressing it loudly, while I would never do that in the Netherlands (happened once to my shame)
– Thinking that I am all the man because I have the money on vacation and want to let it be known too. (I really had to unlearn).
– Score a holiday crush on vacation anyway (for the money) and be highly indignant when she runs off with someone else with more money.
– Expect extra service in a restaurant when it hardly costs anything.
Finding it normal to sit everywhere, in temples, churches, museums, and so on.
Pfft, my day is too short if I list everything that I have had to (un)learn and what I have seen others do.
The last should be:
– Finding it normal to touch everything, in temples, churches, museums, and so on.
Number 6, that annoys me the most. And it is very often Dutch people who think “that should be possible”. And then those elderly or not in monstrous outfits sit next to you in the restaurant. Those guys in shorts that are too small and dirty shirts, those bitches are still bulging out in their bikinis, but guys, we're on vacation and we don't care about anyone else.
Then I am able to sit somewhere else, afraid that people will think I belong to such a couple! You wonder if they have left their minds at home
And the other points: well, I must have been guilty of all these points – to a limited extent – I am also just an ordinary person.
It is striking that wearing sandals including socks is not listed. That seems to be one of the biggest fashion crimes you can commit. In Switzerland, Italy and France, for example, you will have to appear in tight swimming trunks in many swimming pools. There, swimming shorts with Bjorn Borg underwear underneath are often not allowed due to hygiene reasons. This morning I heard a piece on the radio that we Dutch people have become more and more prudish than, say, 1 years ago. I also find the behavior of American cheetahs very striking when I encounter them on the beach in Thailand, for example. That is the opposite of the Dutch prudery in 10.
point 2.
I have mixed feelings in a hotel restaurant. Sometimes funny like a man who tried to toast a sandwich but didn't know how it worked. I literally helped him out. Another time, three 3-year-old ladies sat almost next to the buffet. As soon as the cook came in with poached eggs, they rushed forward and these ladies completely took over. That repeated itself a few times. I feel an annoyance coming on when people load up a plate, eat half of it and walk away.
As a woman, I have also stood in front of a temple where my men went to watch, but I didn't because I wasn't wearing the right clothes. What always strikes me in tourist areas is that European men think they can touch, squeeze, caress Thai ladies and use obscene language in their own language wherever it suits them. Do this in your own country, you will be right next to your stool. When you go out to eat, dress “cleanly”. Eating a snack at a beach bar during the day is not an option. Just make sure other guests don't lose their appetite. “Went through the entire buffet in the morning – delicious. you don't have the time for that at home. That's part of a holiday. Tasting strange things is also part of a holiday, but what I would never eat at home, I don't eat in Thailand either. Furthermore, I would like to say that what you don't do at home (for the men) don't do it anywhere else. For the ladies: If it is exceptionally 30 degrees in the Netherlands, do you also go to AH in a bikini top? These are some things I noticed.
Nice cliché list that I can't recognize myself in.
1. I wear more or less the same clothes. So I'm equally well/badly dressed in NL and TH.
2. I rarely have a breakfast buffet. If I have a buffet, I might try something new, but there's no point in having a feast. If there are good, tasty sandwiches (you don't see that often outside Europe) then sometimes one is taken along for later in the day. In Thailand I almost never eat breakfast, lunch or dinner in the hotel. Nothing better than looking for a tent nearby.
3. Speedos? Haha, ouch! No.
4. I avoid the sun in Thailand more than in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands I sometimes sit down somewhere nice, in Thailand you already get enough sun when you go from A to B. And now I like looking around so it's hard enough not to catch too much sun. Would be crazy to start baking in the sun!
5. I am more of a cat person and I sometimes give something to those animals. Mostly raw meat when we are at a Korean BBQ. The thought of bringing a pet? No never.
6. I have been given a Singha T shirt (not a shirt) but never actually worn it. It's probably still in the closet somewhere. I'm not fat (wife sweet emphasized that I could have a kilo more, she herself wanted to have something more, but with a normal ration that has not been possible so far.).
7. No need to talk to other tourists or compatriots. A short spontaneous chat is fine, that can also happen in the Netherlands, but exchange entire stories? Nah. the main purpose is simply to enjoy the surroundings or something tasty.
8. Yes, I did. Shoot a lot of photos but you never look at many again. Certainly not if they disappear on the hard disk and very rarely if you print them in a photo book. So I don't take many pictures anymore, only if it really makes an impression.
9. I am always curious about trying things. Often sticks to a few times because ant eggs and grasshoppers are not a pleasure for the taste buds.
10. Not me, if I buy something it must be practical. There is a wooden set for decoration consisting of 3 curved tea light holders, pillowcases with an elephant, a practical piece of fabric (to hang on the wall) with 3 pockets (you can put papers, etc.) with elephants on it. So a Thai touch but not something that will be forgotten. My wife liked fridge magnets, not the Thai one because that was her own country, but from various European cities. They were not allowed to cost more than about a euro, otherwise it would be 'peng-mak' (very expensive) and the fun would be gone. I myself did not see the point of it, but now that my wife has passed away, when I open the fridge I always think about the nice trips with my dear.
The 'Speedo', basically the regular swimming trunks, if you
1) are not used (anymore) in an orderly manner, or
2) are too prudish for it,
then don't wear it, but also stay away from the pool and the beach.
Alternatives such as two pairs of trousers, or one with inner trousers, or large trousers that can also be worn on the street, are often no longer allowed in swimming pools. Justifiably.
The bikinis became more and more mini, despite the increased belly fat among the ladies,
The men not only got bigger and bigger, but their pants also got bigger and bigger. That instead of committing more self-conquest on points 1) and 2) above.