Travel Personalities You’ll See On The Road!
One of the best things about travelling the world is meeting like minded people on the road who love a sense of adventure and culture. They are usually from a multitude of different countries, and you will often make some lifelong friends that will enrich your life forever. Then again, there are others you come across who can often fall into a range of strange Travel Personalities. There are many of them, but here are just a few I have come across in my travels.
You will know them when you see them.
Travel Personality Type Number One – The Pisshead (or Alcoholic)
These people spend their entire travel time in the process of becoming drunk, being drunk, or being hungover. Every night is party night, with the Pisshead becoming an expert in the different types of world alcohol – no matter how rough it tastes or looks.
The Pisshead usually wakes up in the early afternoon, often missing out on the essential cultural experiences of a location, only to head straight for the nearest drinking establishment once again. The Pisshead is probably not a suitable future organ donor and should change their name by deed poll to Sir Osis of Liver.
Travel Personality Type Number Two – The Gadget Geek
The Gadget Geek brings every imaginable electronic device with them on holiday to make their time away from home more ‘convenient’. Gadgets of choice include the mobile phone, laptop, digital SLR camera, compact digital camera, Global Positioning System, batteries, chargers and possibly the whole of Microsoft and Google combined.
You can often hear them say ‘I can’t believe they don’t have Wi-Fi here!’, or ’this internet connection sucks!’ In fact, they may spend most of their time in internet cafes as well instead of experiencing the local culture. Remarkably, they may also bring the ‘Fart Machine’ to test if fart jokes are indeed universal.
Travel Personality Type Number Three – The Future Chiropractor Patient
Why bother doing weights when your backpack weighs 6 tonnes? This person needs to hire 15 Egyptian slaves to haul their ridiculously overweight backpacks around the globe. The Future Chiropractor patient is an avid souvenir hunter who can’t help themselves to a curio from each city they visit.
Sometimes, they bring a fresh set of clothes for each day they are away. Eventually, they may donate some of their clothes to the locals before they leave just to squeeze in an extra curio purchased at the airport. Just one world trip can contribute to permanent back damage.
Travel Personality Type Number Four – The Minimalist
A complete contradiction to The Future Chiropractor Patient. The Minimalist is so anal about travelling light, they seem to increase their backpack space by double every couple of weeks. I sort of fit into this category as I try to keep my backpack weight down to about 10-12 kilograms, or about 18-20 pounds.
However, I’m quite a hoarder compared to others – I’ve seen people travel around the world with their belongings in two daypacks! The Minimalist tends to recycle their clothes more often before washing, and can sometimes reach an extreme reading on the body odour index.
Travel Personality Type Number Five – The Root Rat
Basically, this person will aim to sleep with as many people as possible – both fellow travellers and locals – and is a one night relationship specialist. Sometimes, The Root Rat often has a Pisshead sub-personality that probably contributes to the lowering of their sexual inhibitions.
The Root Rat has a backpack full of condoms that collectively would form a pile of rubber equivalent to a Good Year tyre (pardon the pun). The Root Rat is possibly be a walking encyclopaedia of sexually transmitted infections waiting to be spread around the backpacking world.
Travel Personalities Summary
So there you go.
I’m sure there are many more Travelling Personality types, and feel free to suggest some more by leaving a comment!
Travel Personality issues have been around for ages – so check out Travels with Odysseus: Uncommon Wisdom from Homer’s Odyssey.
Nice list, funny & hits the one or other character. But come on… isn’t there perhaps also a nice guy out there traveling with a good character? 🙂
You never know! ;P
Oh My! Very funny. It would be great if you created a poll to see which category your readers fall into…just an idea…it would make for another great article!
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Thanks for the idea Rebecca. However, I’m not sure how many people would tick the ‘Root Rat’ category!
Very funny Anthony! I have definitely met up with at least one (and sometimes more) of each of these types on my travels! At the time I probably just let them annoy me, but now that I know how to recognize them, I\’m sure they will just amuse me when I meet one in the future!
Come see Rebecca\’s post on another type – the \’travel snob\’ – I added a link from that post to this one since I think they are related…..
Cheers!
I took a college tour of Europe and ran into all of those types. Down side was being trapped on a bus with Pisshead and Root Rat for 2 months. “Lucky Bikini” is still in my lexicon. Very funny. Thanks!
I suspect we’ve all run into these Travel Personality Types at one point or another. It’s worse when they’re split personalities! (eg. Pisshead and Root Rat combined!)
Great post. What if people straddle more than one personality type when they travel. I am both a gadget geek and a minimalist. You certainly called me out with the comment “the wifi here sucks!” Keep ’em coming.
I think we can expand on the list………the travelling diva, pulling their designer luggage around, usually travelling in groups of girls with overly matching outfits and gold bangles around their wrists and the latest style of Gucci sunglasses adorning their heads. They always seem to be the ones that keep the mini buses waiting while they’re busy touching up their inch think war paint, sorry makeup. They usually have such large handbags that take up entire seats on the buses to stop anyone from sitting next to them, heaven forbid that they talk to the pisshead or the dharma bums 😉 If they really want another seat they really should purchase a second ticket.
Divas certainly need to be added to the list, they are the ones carrying around real guess bags not the fakes “Hello, yes I would like to be mugged!!!” There was this one diva I knew who carried a hairdryer in her oversized handbag, I caught a her redoing her hair in a restaurant bathroom on a lunch stop, she had only done it like 3 hours prior. Strangely enough they seem to gravitate towards the Root Rats.
I think I might have multiple personalities based on your descriptions. Of course, just because I’m a paranoid pisshead, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me a drink.
So recognizable, I’m not sure what category I’m in myself, it’s easier to judge others :D.
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