KK and I are bitchy tour starters who thankfully manage to right the proverbial ship or bus or tuk-tuk or bush plane or Land Rover or river craft and enjoy ourselves but - I'll tell you we're weary and footsore and battle-torn and with each new day the turnaround is taking a lot more effort. Today we're docked at a thousand yard artificial jetty outside of town that we have to traverse to reach our tour bus for a Cave and Mangrove Forest excursion that is termed “strenuous” with a warning about slippery paths and having to squat in caves to manuever under low overhangs of sharp limestone. It was not a robust looking crowd straggling along with the alarming highlight being watching an obese elderly lady start to collapse about half-way down and having to be helped by her husband and a kind tour attendant, and when I say "collapse" I mean she dropped to the tarmac. “Part of the responsibility of aging is not inflicting ourselves on people younger than us.” I do think there’s an entitled “Fuck you - I'm going to do what I want” mindset with this well-to-do nursing home crowd. (This woman, thankfully, did not even get off the bus when we arrived, wisely choosing to skip the festivities.) This was unkind and frankly stressful to the Malaysian staff who had to boot her and unfair to her as Oceania gladly took her money for something she could not do.
Behavior I've seen/endured/marveled at during our travels:
A woman returning a paper to the lounge and setting it down blithely, knocking ajar the sign reading: “In consideration of the other guests please don't remove the papers from the lounge.”
A woman climbing onto a treadmill and turning music on using her phone's external speaker. I guess she gets to listen to what she wants and if you don't like it: tough shit. I only regret that I couldn't get my heavy metal playlist to load.
The people who stroll into the dining areas in tank tops and bare feet and all manner of swimsuits. Apparently the reminder not to do this posted everywhere applies to other people. Nothing like watching an old fat man's hairy armpits hovering over the salad selections as he ponders what to take. Appetizing!
Queuing for buses and planes and tenders is a blood sport. Elbows high! Rush the door! Take the best seats or what you think are the best seats even if everyone else has to stumble over you in the impossibly narrow walkways!
I need to comment on the general obliviousness of people. Amazing how many people I interact with - even have a meal with - who walk by me as if they've never seen me before. These are people who seem to be really, really wrapped up in themselves and the impression they're making and in painting a picture of their accomplishments and possessions to the exclusion of any awareness of the existence of someone else.
Favorite topics: A. Number of houses owned. B. Number of cruises taken/countries visited. C. The quality of “private” tours versus the grubby group tours. D. Work done and where the work takes them. No one yet has said “Salesman” when they lay out their professional credentials but, boy, the doctors get that shit out right quick, the more humble of them using the euphemism of "being in the health care field" to temper their egos before eventually blurting out the doctor part.