In Defense of Bad Holiday Experiences

You've had them. I've had them. We've all had them. Bad holiday experiences. How are we reacting to them?

I don’t have the “right” answers. There are no right answers. I do have the right questions, though.

When having a bad holiday experience, we usually do at least one of these:

a.     Negative word of mouth

-    “Don’t go there”

-         “I’ll never go back to that place”

o  These are influencing people that care about us and people that we care about. Mostly friends and family.

b.     Ranting online – bad reviews and posting in our social media circle

c.      Looking back to our trip with a sort of regret

But what if we dig deeper than that?

We might’ve blamed the hotel, the receptionist, the weather, the city, the country, the government, the cook... and so on.

Only that what we experience is only a symptoms. The real cause might be something different. For example, it can be one or more of these:

1.      The higher management of the restaurant, hotel or attraction (objective factor)

2.      Bad luck (pure chance – bad weather!)

3.     But most importantly, your state of mind

Try to remember your last bad vacation experience. Were you tired, stressed, sad, anxious? Maybe expecting too much? :)

How relevant is a poor restaurant service when you have the most interesting discussion?

How annoying can the queues be when you’re waiting with your best friends?

How rainy would it “feel” when you’re with the love of your life?

What I’m trying to say here is that any travel experience will be influenced by our perception and state of mind to a certain degree. That degree can vary quite a lot.

We all know the person that complains about everything. Or the other that is not bothered by anything.

The conclusion?

Remember why you wanted to take that trip in the first place. Oh, and don’t forget to gauge your expectations.

Feel free to comment below with fresh points of view.

Thanks!