We love meeting other nationalities (as well as other Brits) on holiday.
(We think it's part and parcel of the holiday.)
Like you, we don't want to be "best friends", but its nice to make new acquaintances.

Our sons have benefited greatly from this, as they now have msn "friends" in Germany,
India, Portugal, Spain, Singapore and many other places.
(Like modern day pen-pals I suppose.)

The one nationality I wouldn't want to meet would be a British group!

If you're on a package, especially with TC or TUI it could be very interesting comparing notes with the foreigners who've come with the same operator if something goes wrong. There's already a thread elsewhere showing the Dutch TUI company as more honest than the British one.

I know, it makes me cross when I read reviews and people say "there were too many germans,spanish, italians there and not many english people"

I have to say all the foreigners we have met on holiday have been very nice and polite and can speak better english than I can of their language which is quite shameful really and our girls end up playing with everyone in the pool regardless of whether they can all understand each other or not!

FCC that's how my lads started off - I love it that different languages are no barrier for kids.

Now they are older, if they ever meet up when on holiday again - which they often do - they
go out together to the beach, bars, for something to eat etc... I think it's great!

As for not wanting to meet fellow Brits abroad - why ever not?
There are good and bad in all nationalities.

Steve

Why wouldn't you want to meet a British Group?

I travelled last year through Cuba with a British group, I can't remember anyone getting drunk, acting badly or not treating the Cuban population with respect so why would someone not have liked to meet us purely because we were British.
I have travelled with German, Swiss and Austrian groups and had good and bad experiences.
When I worked as a tour guide I took lots of different nationalities on tours and some acted stupidly and some didn't but no one nation was worse than another just sometimes different in their expectations.
I often travel alone long haul and am pleased to meet up with groups of all different nations including the British. I hate stereotyping of any sort.
Yes there are resorts where one can meet up with British people whose object is to get drunk but there are resorts where the Germans who want to do the same go to and the young French can also be obnoxious on holiday. But they are only a minority.

Totally agree Judith.

Judith

Accepted - if you're going longhaul and somewhere special they're not as likely to be a problem, mainly because at that price there's more chance they will have made a bit of an effort to find out something about where they're going, and possibly even a bit about the language. But within Europe (which I is where I go) it can be different and just plain embarassing. And I did say groups - individuals and even families aren't usually a problem.

We've never had any problems with anyone abroad, language barrier or not, thank goodness..........A smile goes a long way



gussiebaby

like i said gussiebaby -say hello to the majority of foreign tourists and they do the same.even the dreaded russians(!) i found with them,they were first a bit suprised that we even bothered to speak and then were quite civil in return.i do think we tend to tar everyone with the same brush. in goa and egypt there were russian guests and they were ok.everyone always moan about the germans getting up for the sunbeds but i have seen a fair few british do the same.i suppose its the "if you cant beat them,join them "adage.i think the best thing to do if you dont want to meet other nationalities is to stay at home.i too think its more interesting to meet people from other countries.

I think to be fair it's letting others know what the hotel is like and what sort of people travel there!
I personally don't want to go to a hotel that is 'Mostly Germans'. Infact I was reading up on a hotel the other day that looked quite nice and I started to read the reviews on here and they all said the hotel is full of Germans. As soon as I read this I crossed it off my list! My money, my choice!
It's not that I don't like Germans it's just that I feel everything will be geared up for the Germans, from the food down to the entertainment!

Now if the hotel is just mixed as in a bit of everything then it doesn't bother me so much but I still find when I'm there I get a bit peeved after the 10th time a Spanish elderly couple have let a door slam in my face or my wifes instead of holding open as I would do for them! Or when I'm queing at reception only to have people pushing in front of me because they feel it's their right as I'm just a british person!

Mmm, yup, fair point Chivas69

I see what you mean.

one thing has me puzzled about this thread.... if YOU are going abroad then surely YOU are the foreigners

yasus

wizard

True!

when we went to eygpt last year it was terrible the eygptians had like there version of bank holiday so hotel was packed to the rim, they treated the staff horribley! they were abslout nightmares, we had stayed at this hotel twice before that was great hence y went back a 3rd time!
at meal times like feeding time at the zoo theyd push and barge you, they would be table four, theyd have enough food on the table to feed a conference of 100 people. we ended up eating out by the 2nd day we happily waved them off on there coaches!
and they kept taking my little ones toys!

but any other nationalities there were fine just got along with them all!

Really!

How rude!

MInd you, I have also quite happily waved off holidaymakers (that we didn't know) too!
(Long story...)

But they never nicked my kids toys - that's terrible!