My Dutch girlfriend was working on reception recently when a backpacker came over for a chat. He did the usual question "so which country are you from".
After telling him she was from the Netherlands he continued to tell his travel stories and show off his knowledge of Europe. Unfortunately, his bragging was short lived when he asked her if Ikea was the capital....
Amazing and worrying at the same time? Have you had similar??
Have a good weekend everyone.
14 years
I haven't seen anything that serious... IKEA?
I wonder if Swedish backpackers could have fun with that -- just tell people IKEA is named after the capital of Sweden and see how many people believe it. Put it on YouTube and it could be the next Internet meme. :D
14 years
The general population knowledge of geography is like fun at best, ridiculous at worst. It's just that geography is not on top of list of preferred subjects I guess. I find the geography dumbs everywhere. Like for instance I was in India and the touts kept asking "which country, which country" to which I replied I was from Brazil. They always put on a true psichologists "landscape face", showing clearly they were learning about Brazil for the very first time. Here in Brazil I came to conclusion that 99% of population is complete ignorant of geography, even our own country state names, capitals, regions, etc.
13 years
I met people that think Transylvania is either a). a fictional location like "neverland" or b). they think transylvania is a Country somewhere in asia.
while helping with the staff in Transylvania Hostel, some of these Guests asked me why is the hostel named like that? after learning that Transylvania is a region of the country Romania they start with questions like... "is it okay to go out at night?", "is the city downtown safe?" or "do you guys have vampire bats in this city?" Some of the receptionist there even painted on themselves vampire bite marks just for fun.
13 years
I was making small talk with a guest whilst on reception and he did the old "where you from" I replied California. I work at a backpackers in Sydney so I suppose he was trying to further conversation by saying "Oh you're governor is from Australia!" I was really confused and asked him which governor he was referring to and he looked at me like I was stupid and answered back "Arnold Schwarzenegger." I said don't you mean Austria? and he waved his hand dismissively and was like "Ah, whats the difference any way?" Oh I dunno how about two entirely different countries in every shape and form? :P
13 years
I wonder if Swedish backpackers could have fun with that -- just tell people IKEA is named after the capital of Sweden and see how many people believe it. Put it on YouTube and it could be the next Internet meme. :D
While backpacking in Argentina, myself and another Irish lad told some American girl's a particularly great (albeit entirely fictional) story.
We told them that since the recent election of Barak Obama in the US, a similar trend has begun in Ireland, whereby leprechauns have got an electoral candidate. We told them that in the past, much like black people in America, leprechauns were originally slaves for rich white land owners and has only been in the last 50 years or so that they have began to integrate and become accepted in Irish society. The relations between them and normal sized people are steadily improving and the are gaining equality in employment etc etc. Obviously being so gullible they were lapping it all up. My personal favourite detail of the story which seemed to really shock them was when we told them that leprechauns and normal sized people have began to start families with each other which is causing a lot of controversy. They asked us if the children turned out mutated or deformed and we simply replied that, strangely enough they produced medium sized children! It was very hard not to laugh at how serious they were taking all of this! The icing on the cake was that while I was away getting a beer, my friend told them that the leprechaun running for presidency in Ireland was called Seamus O'Toole. When hearing this they suspected it was ruse, so when I came back they asked me what the presidents name was, I looked at my friend, literally read his mind (not his lips as the Americans were looking at both of us) and guessed Seamus O'Toole. Absolutely hilarious! We lived off free beers from telling that story all around our travels.
Anyone got any other good stories about the gullibility of other backpackers?
13 years
Here is a couple we use at checkin, when people are very subsceptible
"Hurry up down to the Falls as the Americans turn the falls off at midnight to divert water back into the Great Lakes to fill them back up"
"The internet is free but we do in fact charge $10 for Facebook"
We wait far too long to start laughing which adds to the believability!
13 years
We told them that since the recent election of Barak Obama in the US, a similar trend has begun in Ireland, whereby leprechauns have got an electoral candidate.
Oh no... :D
"Hurry up down to the Falls as the Americans turn the falls off at midnight to divert water back into the Great Lakes to fill them back up"
"The internet is free but we do in fact charge $10 for Facebook"We wait far too long to start laughing which adds to the believability!
Does anyone fall for it?
13 years
The falls gag depends on the person. Usually 100% believe the facebook rule except the smug few that exclaim that they do not use facebook. Both gags depend on the person. Very fun icebreaker.
13 years
Drop Bears.
Its a national joke - one of those stories EVERY australian knows about and continues to spread on their travels. I'm really not sure if I want to spoil it...
11 years
This has to take the cake.
We had a dumb American stay here who was chatting in the social area. I told him that I have been living in Asia the last 3 years.
With a completely earnest face he asked me, 'Asia, that's in Europe, right?'
Related Pages
Log in to join discussion