My Biggest Travel Icks (And How Not to Be That Traveller)

After more than 20 years of travelling, I’ve learned that travel isn’t just about where you go. It’s about how you show up while you’re there.

I’ve experienced some truly magical moments on the road… and I’ve also been stuck next to some wildly uncomfortable travel behaviour. The kind that doesn’t ruin a trip entirely, but subtly drains the joy out of flights, airports, tours, and group adventures.

This episode of Tourist to Traveller is a candid, good-humoured look at my biggest travel icks... shared not with judgement, but with the hope that we can all travel a little more consciously, respectfully, and confidently.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• The most common airport and plane behaviours that frustrate travellers
• Why small actions can have a big impact in shared travel spaces
• Cultural travel habits that disrespect destinations
• Group travel dynamics that can derail an otherwise great trip

Helpful Resources & Links

• Read the full blog article My Biggest Travel Icks (And How Not to Be That Traveller). 

Connect & Explore

Find destination guides, travel planning resources and more at touristtotraveller.com, and follow along on Instagram @_touristtotraveller for behind-the-scenes planning and future travel inspiration. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast, the show that helps you go beyond the guidebook and turn your bucket list dreams into real adventures. I'm Tahnee, a travel blogger, podcaster, and everyday explorer who's been ticking off epic destinations for over 20 years while balancing a 9 to 5. Each week I'll bring you inspiring stories, destination deep dives, and practical tips to help you plan smarter, travel deeper, and capture those unforgettable moments along the way. So, grab your passport, hack your curiosity, and let's get started. After more than 20 years of traveling, chasing bucket list adventures, squeezing big adventures into annual leave, and spending a lot of time in airports and on planes, I've seen some incredible things. Beautiful landscapes, inspiring cultures, truly unforgettable moments. But I've also seen some very questionable travel behavior. And I think if we're honest, most of us have experienced these moments while traveling where someone else's behavior, just quietly, makes the experience worse for everyone around them. So in this episode, I want to talk about my biggest travel icks. Not from a place of judgment, because we've all made mistakes while traveling, but from the perspective of someone who genuinely believes travel should be respectful, conscious, and enjoyable for everyone involved. Because the goal is pretty simple. Travel the world, have amazing experiences, and don't accidentally become someone else's travel ick. I'm sure we all have our travel icks. You know, those things that really annoy us when we travel. Some of them big, some of them small, but all of them equally as frustrating. And at the same time, there's a really good chance that we're giving other people the ick whilst traveling. So being aware of travel icks not only helps you to avoid being someone else's ick, but hopefully allows us to travel a little bit better. Travel icks are a very personal thing. Things that irritate me might be completely different to the things that irritate you. So today I'm sharing my personal travel igs, and I'm so keen to hear what yours are. When I first started traveling in my early 20s, I didn't really consider travel eggs. It's just not something that was on my mind. But I think at the time as well, I was just so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and just so excited to get out there and start traveling. And because I wasn't used to traveling, my head was so much focused on the logistics of what was coming up and what I was planning and what I was doing. The older I get and the more that I travel, the more some of these things start to irritate me. And today we're mostly talking about shared travel environments such as planes, airports, group travel, and public spaces. Today I'm going to share with you my travelics, but I am so dying to know what are your travelics. My first one is aggressive seat recliners. Picture this: you're sitting on your long haul flight, you've just settled in, you've got your movie on the TV screen, you've got your tray table down, you're you might be halfway through eating your first meal, and then all of a sudden, the chair in front of you almost smacks you in the face. Your drink goes flying, the the chair shoots back directly into your kneecaps, and it feels like it comes out of nowhere. Now, I completely agree that people should be able to recline their seats. It's a feature, it's there to be used, and I find it is near impossible to doze off on a flight without your reclining your seat. That's not the problem for me. It is the speed and the lack of awareness of the person behind you. My recommendation is just to ease back really slowly so that if someone has things set up in front of them, their knees are directly in front of the chair, they've got a drink on the tray table, their head is really close to the screen, they have a little bit of warning time to adjust and reposition themselves for your reclining seat. The next one is smelly food in the cabin. So this is also related to a flight, but also this can apply for buses, for trains, for anywhere, really. Now, this is not the in-flight menu. This is when people bring on their own food onto the flight. Now, there are two key things that really annoy me here. The first one goes without saying it is any kind of fish. Tuna, especially. If you were bringing tuna onto a flight, oh, you obviously don't have a great sense of smell or you have no regard for the passengers that are around you. It is a smell that wafts all the way throughout the plane, and those poor people that are sitting either side of you, oh, that is challenging. So that's the first one. The second one for me, and this is probably a little bit controversial, but this is a fast food takeaway that you've just gotten from the food court in the terminal and brought it on. So typically it's warm, it's potent, the smells are radiating throughout the cabin, and it's really overpowering. So not only is it hard to smell these smells, it's hard to be present in the moment, sit back and relax and take in your flight, but it's also really challenging for anyone that might have sensory issues. I think you should be able to bring food onto the cabin, absolutely, but just keep the smells in mind. Next one, and and you're really starting to see a theme here with me for flights, but the next one is loud packet eaters on planes. There are certain sounds that really irritate me, and this is one of them: rustling packets. Right? So picture the person sitting beside you on the flight, uh, regardless of whether you're wearing headphones or not. Mine personally and not noise canceling, and I will just, you know, state that yes, I could purchase noise-cancelling headphones and solve this issue. However, uh, the person sitting beside you has opened up a large packet of chips or crisps, depending on what country you're from. Uh, and they're eating them one by one. Not only that, but they're being very selective with the chip that they grab next. So to do that, every couple of seconds, their hand goes to the bottom of the packet. They're rustling around to try and find the chip that they're looking for, they rustle it again on the way out, and then they start crunching on the chip right in your ear. Oh, my skin is crawling just at the thought of it. And I don't care if they're beside me, in front of me, behind me, across the aisle, uh, a few rows, backwards or forth, I can still hear it and it drives me insane. And it's even worse when they pop the packet down for two minutes and they pick it back up again and they keep going. So the issue isn't eating the chips. The issue is the rustling of the packet that goes on. For a large packet of chips, this could be drawn out. I and I'm not joking here, I've seen this drawn out over two to three hours of constant rustling. It drives people insane, especially me. So eat your chips, enjoy the chips, but just be mindful and be smart about the amount of rustling and crunching and how you're irritating the people around you. Next one on a flight is armrest invaders. These are the people who have a very clear idea that both armrests, either side of them, are theirs and theirs alone. Now it's even worse when their arms go over the armrest and encrouch on your own personal space. It's hard enough if you have no access to either one of the armrests because your space now becomes so much smaller. But it's even worse when people's elbows hang over the edge and they're constantly touching you throughout the flight. Especially if you're sitting beside someone with a BO issue or with a bit of a sweat issue, and you actually have sweaty arms touching you throughout the flight. Now, this is really challenging if you are on a work trip and you have your laptop out and you're doing any kind of work because it's almost impossible to do that without using the armrest. So I do completely understand that, but just be mindful of the people and the space around you. And you are not entitled to the armrest. It is a shared space between you and the passenger beside you. The next one on a flight is people who take their shoes off and have smelly feet. Surely you know if you have an odor problem with your feet and with your shoes. And I get that it's more comfortable on a flight to take your shoes off. I get it. But if you have an odor problem, it now becomes everybody's problem. And it doesn't matter where in the flight this person is, if those shoes are off, every single person in that flight suffers. My recommendation would be to wear more open-toed shoes and then bring socks with you to cover your feet if needed. Even if you bring socks to put on after taking closed shoes off, the shoes themselves are going to smell. You could alternatively pop those shoes in a bag and pop socks on so that your feet are covered, you're more comfortable, and your shoes are covered. The next one applies to really anywhere, but especially on flights. And these are people who are on their phone and they're listening to their phone on full volume with no headphones, regardless of whether they're watching movies, playing games, they're speaking to a friend or family member on FaceTime, they're watching TikTok. It really doesn't matter. It's the fact that you're in a space with a lot of other people and you've got that noise all the way up and you've chosen not to use headphones. It's such a simple thing. You could either wait until you're in more of a private space or use headphones. Two really great options there. I don't know if this bugs anyone else, but it really does bug me. Uh, especially when you are in a beautiful destination, you're walking through historic ruins, and there is someone there with their phone on loud, FaceTiming their friends, showing them around and bumping you along the way. It really impacts your ability to take in a space. And I get that people want to share those moments, and that's really special to them. So uh if that's you, you know, I have uh definitely a level of respect, but you can wear headphones. That way you can still share that moment with your friends and your family without disrupting everybody around you. Now I think it's even worse if the thing that is up full volume is uh is games, is TikTok, because those things are a nice to have. It's simply entertainment. You're not sharing special travel memories with the people that you love. So personally, I think those things can wait. Maybe pull out a book. I don't know. I'm sure there are plenty of other options. Next on a flight is the seat swappers who get mad when people don't want to swap with them. So imagine this: you've booked the window seat because you want to make sure you've got a beautiful view, you've picked the aisle and the seat that you wanted, you've paid extra for the privilege of doing so. You board the plane, you get to your spot, and there is someone in your seat. When you ask them to move, they brush you off and say, Well, you can sit over there. That seat is free. Now, I can feel the anger rising up just talking through this story, but it happens all the time. Whether there's someone in your seat when you're boarding the flight, or whether you're already sitting down and you're comfortable and someone taps you on the shoulder. And I don't want to stereotype here, but quite often it's a parent with the child, uh, and the child has a pref has a preference of where they want to see to sit. And quite often the child wants to sit in the window seat. And I get that, but just book it in advance and pay the extra, knowing that that's your preference or the preference of your child. I find it so incredibly rude when people expect others to swap a seat on a flight with them just because they would prefer it. Now, I'm not saying that it's bad to ask, but how you respond to the answer is really critical. Um, if if you have been separated from a friend or a family member and you really want to sit together, it can't hurt to ask right. But do it in a polite way and do it in a non-judgmental way. So the person doesn't feel obliged to say yes. And if they say no, you're not going to make an entire flight uncomfortable for them now with dirty looks and and snarky comments because you wouldn't swap. You're not entitled to a seat that you didn't pay for. I also see this escalate online quite a bit, and I've never seen one of these in person, but they get videoed all the time, and these are situations where the flight attendants are called, there's arguing, there's yelling, there's threats all over a seat. The next one is people who board a flight sick. That's bad enough. But to add to that, they're not wearing a face mask. Flights are very closed-in environments, and it's hard not to get sick from the people around you. But when you're boarding a flight, first of all, you shouldn't do so if you're sick, anyways, because you're already putting everyone around you at risk. But then to do so without a mask, without hand sanitizer, without anything that's going to protect people around you, I just find that to be incredibly selfish. I don't know if that opinion is just me or if others share that opinion, but uh for me it's it's a really, really important one. And I see it all the time. Uh, I don't know if it's just my bad life, but I swear I am always sitting beside the sick person on a plane. So what I do is I travel when I'm not sick with a face mask, with hand sanitizer, with all of the things, because I'm always next to the sick person on the flight, and I don't want to get sick. I don't want that flight to ruin my entire trip. So quite often I'm not the sick person, but I'm wearing the face mask and using the hand sanitizer on anything that I touch that they might have touched. Now, this is not only annoying, but it's also really dangerous because you don't know who you're sitting near on that flight. There are people who have chronic illnesses and are immune compromised who are sitting around you. And picking up something like a common cold from a flight could actually knock them out for weeks or months. It can put their entire health and sometimes their lives in danger. But even for everyone else, honestly, who wants to have their entire trip ruined because they caught the flu on the flight over there. If you're sick, stay at home. Now let's shift from the flight to the airport behavior. And the first one here is people who are unprepared at security. You know the ones you've been waiting in this long queue to get to the front, zigzagging back and forth. You're finally there, your bag is on the belt and it's about to go through. You want to step through and get scanned, and the people in front of you are constantly being sent back because they've forgotten another item that's either in their bag or in their pocket. They've forgotten to take their belt off, they forgot to take the phone out of their pocket, they forgot that there was a power bank in their pocket. It's one thing after another after another after another. And I understand there are a lot of first-time travelers that don't necessarily know the process. And to be fair, the signage in those areas isn't really clear. So if you don't know, you don't know. But to see so many experienced travelers do this time and time again, where one traveler might take 10 minutes to go through because they're constantly forgetting that they have another thing in their pocket. Oh, it is so frustrating. Just be prepared, get everything out of your pockets, even if you're not sure. Take it out, take your belt off, put it in the trade table. Everyone behind you will thank you for it. Next to the people who take up multiple seats in a busy airport. There's nothing more frustrating than between flights, you're tired, you're grumpy, and all you want to do is sit down, but all of the seats are taken. And they're taken by people who are either laying across multiple seats or they're sitting on one with their feet up on the other, or they're sitting on one chair and they've got their bags on the next two seats beside them, not borrowing them for a friend just because I don't want anyone sitting near them. Um, and look, I get it, but it's kind of rude and frustrating. So if it is a busy airport and people are struggling to get seats, please be mindful, don't sleep across multiple seats. But hey, if the terminal is empty and your flight is delayed and it's two in the morning, stretch out all you want. You've earned it. Now let's shift to destination and cultural travel icks. Starting off with influencers who hog the space. I love photography and I can be very patient when it comes to getting the shot without other people in the background, but it really gets on my nerves where there is an influencer or a bunch of influencers there who are basically doing an entire photo shoot. They're getting photos from every angle on every device and checking every shot in between. And I get it, we all want to get a great shot, some beautiful photos, but it's just about being mindful of the people around you. And look, one to two minutes, I think is a really uh reasonable period of time for someone to get their shots. But when you're there for 10 minutes getting your photo on every possible angle, and then just when you think that they're finished, the next person from their group jumps in, and this process starts all over again. It just makes it impossible for anyone else to get their photos. So get your shot, but also be mindful of people around you. Next is people who sit in front of iconic photo spots. This is kind of a funny one because I honestly think that most people who do this are completely oblivious to the fact that they're doing it. And I experienced this recently whilst traveling in Marrakesh in Morocco. Of course, Morocco is very well known for its beautiful decorative doors, and there was this one famous door in the Medina in Marrakesh that I was trying to capture, and there were a few other people trying to capture a photo, and there was this guy who was sitting on the step in the doorway eating his lunch. I don't think he was doing it on purpose, and I honestly don't think at any point he lifted his head up and realized that so many the reason why there was a crowd gathering around him is because everyone was waiting to get a photo of this door, and he was sitting in front of the door. Um, he was so completely oblivious, but I see it happen all the time. You've got this iconic shot that everyone Everyone wants to capture, and there's someone sitting there either just resting or on their phone or eating their lunch or leaning up against the structure that you're trying to take a photo of. And I know that I love travel photography and I want to capture the right shot. But I know how much this one gets on people's nerves when other people around me, especially any of my family members, who honestly do not give a crap about people in the background of their photos, and even they are getting frustrated that they can't get the shot that they want on their phone. Uh, I know how much it is annoying people. Next is people who refuse to embrace the local culture, especially when traveling internationally. Most people have traveled overseas for a reason. There's typically a, you know, a type of experience that you're looking to have. And I do find it fascinating when people travel overseas and then complain about the culture, complain about the customs, but even worse, complain that they don't have the things that they have at home. For example, people who travel overseas and complain that they can't get the exact coffee type, their preferred coffee type with the exact flavors that they get back home. Or someone who might be wandering around a small local village in Fiji complaining that they can't get a burger and fries for lunch. Travel involves getting out of your comfort zone. And if you wanted all of your usual comforts and you want everything exactly as you're used to having it, then maybe more local or interstate travel is your style. When you travel internationally, culture will be different. Rituals will be different. It's important to number one, expect it and number two, respect it. The next one drives me insane, and that is people who join activities that they are not capable of. Yes. Just let that sink in for a moment. People who would go on a snorkeling tour and expect to get in the water and swim, but don't actually know how to swim. So I understand that you want to have the experience, but if it's not something that you're capable of, what you're actually doing is that a lot of the time you're putting your life in danger, but you're also providing a negative experience for everyone else who is on that group. And I see it all the time where the tour operator, instead of spending their time explaining to everyone else who's on the tour about the wildlife and the landscape and, you know, all the cool things that you expect to learn on a tour. They don't have time for that because they're spending all of their time with tourists who are not capable, just making sure they don't die. They're giving them pool noodles and floaties, they're holding their water, they're holding their hand as they swim through the water, keeping them upright, making sure they don't panic, helping them in and out of the boat, calming them down afterwards. It must be exhausting for the tour operators. But I honestly see this all the time. And the exact same thing goes with hiking. If you're on a tour that requires hiking, especially if it is a hiking tour and you don't have the physical fitness to hike, then maybe choose another activity. It doesn't necessarily mean that you can't see the thing, but you might just need to see it in a different way. Something that was really hard for me to watch was wandering into Petra in Jordan in the middle of it, in the Middle East. There's about a one-kilometer walk from the entrance to get to the first big site, which is the Treasury. It's it's the biggest, it's the part, it's the part of Petra that everyone is the most excited to see. And there are so many people who are there who don't have the physical fitness to walk the kilometer to get in. The only option, because it's Petra, there's not a road for you to drive on to get in. The only option is to jump on the back of a horse or a donkey. And I saw so many people who were physically unfit, who were getting rides on the horses and on the donkeys, who were just, they were malno, they were malnourished, they were so poorly treated. Um, they had chains that were bearing in chains that were digging into their skin. Um, I was in tears looking at some of these animals, and they were just being abused and taken advantage of. So if you're not physically capable of doing something, it just might not be the experience for you. Next, we're gonna shift to group travel, starting off strong with budget issues that are not communicated. You know, when you're traveling on a group trip with your friends or your family, and beforehand you've all discussed and agreed where you're going to go, what you're going to do, the nature of the trip. You might have a bit of a bucket list or to-do list for all the things that you're going to do, and you think that everyone's aligned until you're on the trip and all of a sudden you've got a friend or a family member who can't seem to afford to do anything. And rather than just missing out, they're expecting the whole group to change their plans or to cover the cost of them doing all of the activities. So it's just really important to communicate your budget beforehand so everyone is aware. And if you can't afford activities, that's okay. But the rest of the group shouldn't have to miss out on the trip that you'd all plan together because you can't afford to do particular activities. The next one is something that I definitely saw a lot more of in my 20s, and that is hangovers that derail the trip. Yes, we all want to have a great time while we're traveling. You might want to have a drink or two, you might want to have a really big night out, and that's totally fine. But when you're traveling with other people and you get so drunk that you can't get out of bed for the next two days, and you've got plans with the rest of the group, um, it it's something that I find really selfish because it's it's completely avoidable. It's self-inflicted. There are a lot of things that aren't avoidable, such as getting barley belly, food poisoning, things like that, but uh but a hangover that is completely self-inflicted can impact the entire group. At the end of the day, traveling well isn't about being perfect, it's about awareness. Being aware of the space you're in, the people around you, and the culture you're stepping into. Because when you travel with that kind of awareness, something really interesting happens. You naturally become the kind of traveler people enjoy sharing a space with. And that's ultimately what transforms you from a tourist into a traveler. And if you'd like to dive deeper into some of the ideas we talked about today, I've also written a full article on this topic over on my blog touristtotraveller.com, which I'll link in the show notes. Now I'm really curious, what are your biggest travel icks? Send me a message, share them in the comments, or come and tell me on Instagram. I would genuinely love to hear them. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I'll catch you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast. I hope today's episode has inspired you to travel more authentically and plan your next adventure with confidence. Don't forget to head to touristtotraveller.com for today's show notes, resources, and free guides to help you plan like a pro. And if you love this episode, please hit subscribe and leave a review. It helps more travelers like you discover the show. Until our next adventure.