Comically Petty Travel Reviews People Actually Left Online

With all the nature documentaries on Youtube and streaming services, one might be forgiven for thinking nature is just this cycle of death and killing. There are actually plenty of peaceful moments and large predators aren’t out there hunting prey 24/7. However, that’s not to say this complaint isn’t pretty ridiculous. Someone wrote on a review site that “I spent a whole week on safari and didn’t see any good animals. There was only a load of antelope”.

Someone blasted an entire country on a review site when they wrote that “They should warn you that the sun is brighter in Mexico than it is in England. I would have worn sun cream if I knew”. We’re not sure who “they” is, but it seems like it would be common sense that UV rays are stronger the closer you travel to the equator. They literally call these places tropical countries. We mean, England does have a reputation for being cloudy and rainy, but still. 

This one is actually pretty funny if just for the sheer amount of confidence this person wrote their review with. After visiting a place that is located near a volcano, they took to a review site and wrote, “You said the town was next to a volcano, but we went and there was no lava. I’m pretty sure it was just a mountain”. We’re not sure if the volcano was dormant or if it just wasn’t erupting when this person took their trip, but we are pretty sure this person probably has no knowledge of geological processes. 

While Rome, and Italy in general, is known for its authentic Italian cuisine, this person apparently got tired of eating Italian food all the time and wanted to try something else. However, when they went to a Mexican restaurant expecting to find “authentic” Mexican food, they were a little bummed out. They wrote a review that read: “We went to a Mexican restaurant in Rome and the waiter was Italian. You assured us Italy was the best place for an authentic experience”. 

Another perplexing complaint, these really do get you wondering as to how other people think. Someone took a vacation to the Gulf of Mexico and complained, on a review site, that “The water in the Gulf of Mexico was too salty. No one told me that there was going to be salt in the water. It was gross”. The gulf is basically just that, a gulf that’s connected to the ocean, so no surprises here. 

When you travel to a different country you can pretty much expect that very few people there will speak your language. You’re traveling to a different country with a different language and different customs, you can’t expect the entire world to learn English. However, that’s apparently what this person expected when they wrote a review that read: “Why doesn’t everyone speak English. We went to Spain and no one understood English. We will never go back there again”.

The first national park in the U.S. and probably the world, Yellowstone National Park is massive and crosses into multiple states. The animals roam free there, as animals are meant to do in nature. However, someone didn’t get the memo and wrote, on a review site, “We had to cut our trip short to Yellowstone because we were informed that they don’t cage the animals at night for our protection. This is just dangerous and unacceptable”.

When staying at an Airbnb, luxury isn’t usually the first thing you have in mind. You usually stay at these places because they are cheaper than traditional hotels and of course, there are going to be some tradeoffs. We’re not sure what this person was expecting, but they wrote a review that read: “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg slicer in the drawers”.

Sometimes mother nature has other plans for us when we take a vacation. That tropical paradise can suffer from hurricanes or strong storms. That European city can suffer from flooding. A pandemic can halt travel plans altogether. This is not one of those catastrophes. Someone wrote a complaint, saying that “My plane journey was a disappointment as the sky was too cloudy, obstructing my children’s view of the sea and ruining our game of eye-spy”.

Is this one really a negative? We aren’t so sure. Someone wrote a review, complaining that “The water tasted funny so I had to drink cocktails all week. Now I can’t remember half my holiday”. This could all be a joke of course because you would think most people would enjoy their time while sipping away on cocktails all week long. Then again, it could totally be serious knowing the way people are. 

Tour guides have it pretty hard most of the time. They have to walk around all day in the hot sun, cater to a tourist’s every need, and put up with often weird complaints. On top of that, they depend heavily on word of mouth and reviews written by customers. So, when someone writes a review like “We could not enjoy our tour as our tour guide was too ugly”, it could severely hurt your business. 

Russia is known for many things, but this comment on the appearance of Russian women is definitely an odd one. Someone wrote a review on a site that said, “The ladies living in Russia were so beautiful that they crushed my self-esteem”. This isn’t exactly a slight against Russia, but it’s an odd thing to complain about nonetheless. Not only that, but this person’s comment isn’t likely to help their self-esteem issues. 

This is probably one of the more ludicrous complaints on this list. While someone was on a beach vacation, they wrote a review complaining that ‘the beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room”. Maybe they’ve never actually been to a beach before but yeah, they usually do contain a lot of sand. That’s kind of the whole point of a beach. 

This one is similar to the last quote in that it absolutely does not make any sense. Apparently, after booking a trip in a hot air balloon, someone suddenly realized that hot air balloons are meant to go up really high in the sky. They wrote a review complaining that “There was no sign telling you that you shouldn’t get in a hot air balloon if you’re afraid of heights”. 

Another complaint directed at Spain and its culture, somebody doesn’t seem to be a fan of siestas. The tourist complained, on a review site that “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often need to buy things during ‘siesta’ time – this should be banned”. We personally think siestas are a great idea, who wouldn’t want to take a break or nap in the middle of the day?

If you go to a place with water, you can usually count on there being fish around. It’s where they live basically. And while we’re not sure where this person visited, we are pretty sure this comment was unnecessary. They wrote a review that said, “No one told us that there would be fish in the water. The children were scared”. It’s certainly fun to imagine someone going to an aquarium and then complaining about there being fish, but again we’re not sure what kind of attraction they visited. 

Americans often get a lot of flak for thinking they are better than people of other nationalities, and some of it’s deserved, however, we think this one might just come down to geography. This person from England wrote a review, saying, “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair”. Unfair indeed. 

Mosquitos are one of those insects that are pretty much universally hated by every person in the world, regardless of nationality. That’s because they can pretty much be found anywhere in the world, besides Antarctica. This person must’ve not gotten the memo, because they complained that “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitos”. Notice how they used the singular version of the word mosquito, meaning only one bite. 

Not everyone is into looking at the local architecture when they go on a trip and that’s totally fine, but it is good to at least try and appreciate the historical significance of a place. This person was having none of it when they complained about a building they visited though. “Do you like brown concrete? If you like brown concrete with dim lighting, you’re in for a treat. Life is too short — do something else”, they wrote on a website. 

We could totally see someone leaving a complaint like this in order to get a free meal. A diner wrote a review that read: “The restaurant said children eat free but my 19-year-old daughter still got charged for her meal”. Of course, there is a difference implied when a restaurant uses the word children and not sons or daughters. They mean that young children eat free and not fully grown adults who happen to be your children. 

If you’re from New York City then turn your head now and stop reading. The Statue of Liberty apparently didn’t live up to someone’s expectations. They wrote a review, saying “It’s just a statue in the middle of the water, not as big as we thought. 1/5 stars, The Statue of Liberty”. While it’s pretty funny that they felt the need to add their own rating system to the end of their comment, we think it’s kind of unfair. 

What is it with people leaving weird comments about Spain? We still love you Spain, don’t worry. Someone seemed to think that Spain was filled with too many Spanish people, so they wrote a review, saying that “There were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us there would be so many foreigners”. This is actually similar to a previous post, except this person actually had the audacity to call Spanish people foreigners in their country. 

Hiking and camping in the great outdoors can be extremely fun. Everyone needs a moment or two away from the city or from their smartphones and what better way to do it than to explore nature? Of course, nature comes with its own discomforts, but those are really small in comparison. Right? Well,  this person didn’t think so when they wrote, on a review site, that “There are bugs and stuff, and they will bite you on your face. 1/5 stars”. 

Apart from meeting new people, another great aspect of traveling is tasting local dishes you might never get to try at home. At least, that’s the idea. Some people are content with eating the same old thing every day. Like this person, who wrote a review on a website, that read: “On our trip to India our son was terribly disappointed and our trip ruined when he couldn’t get just a hamburger anywhere that we went. Someone should have informed us of what to expect before we went as we never would have gone in the first place”.

We’re not sure exactly what this person trying to complain about, but we’ll give you the quote and let you be the judge. They wrote a review on a website that said, “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of the many things that would have made our holiday more fun”. See what we mean?

When you think of Australia, you often think of man-eating monsters masquerading as animals. Then, you think of kangaroos. However, this person apparently thought that they just wander around the city like stray cats. They wrote a review on a website that said, “Why are there no kangaroos hopping around Sydney city? I’m very disappointed”. To be honest, it would be kind of cool to see a bunch of kangaroos hopping around Sydney, but we wouldn’t go there expecting to see that. 

Rooftop pools are usually a pretty big selling point for hotels. However, this person was expecting something much more when they booked a room at their hotel. They wrote to a review site, saying “You told us there was a rooftop pool, but above us was just another room”. Now, yes the hotel said there was a “rooftop pool”, and not a “ceiling pool”, but this comment is still kind of funny. 

Depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on, the word biscuit probably refers to two very different kinds of foods. One is a sweet that’s sometimes filled with creme and the other is a breakfast item sometimes filled with fried chicken. But, no matter what side you’re on, we think everyone can agree this person was out of line when they wrote a review on a site, saying “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard cream or ginger nuts”.  

In many places around the world, air conditioning is considered a luxury, if not entirely a waste of money. So, for someone to write a review that says “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air conditioning”, they must’ve gotten a few weird looks when they complained to staff. Also, why would there be air conditioning outside? Maybe they thought there would be a terminal?

Some people can be really particular about their tea, which is okay we guess, but there’s no reason to complain when the staff doesn’t pour your milk for you. This person wrote a restaurant review that read: “There was no milk IN my tea. They brought me separate jug of it. Who does that”? Now, to be fair, if the restaurant brought out a literal jug of milk and just slammed it down on the table this might warrant the complaint. 

Like the hot air balloon post we looked at earlier, travelers have to expect that some things are unavoidable when booking certain activities. For example, this person wrote that the “Tour company did not warn me that I would get wet during the river rafting trip. It ruined my $300 leather handbag”. When going on a rafting trip, you know you’re going to be surrounded by water and have to assume you might get a bit wet or even fall over. 

Math can be hard, especially when you don’t factor in different time zones and account for them when booking connecting flights. This traveler apparently forgot about them and wrote a review that said, “Our flight left Heathrow at 07:55, and they told us the flight was 2 hours. But when we landed it was 10:55, making us miss our connection. The pilot didn’t even tell us we were delayed”.

You can pretty much look at any destination in the world that involves a beach and see a recurring theme. They all tout how white their sand is. While we’re not sure what they’re comparing their sand to, this person apparently wanted different color sand. They wrote a review that said, “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow, but this sand was white”.

It’s hard to meet people’s every expectation when you’re running a tour service. Especially when people assume things like this person did when they wrote, on a review site, that “We went on a canoe trip but were very disappointed that no one told us there would not be a bathroom on board. It was very inconvenient”. It’s probably safe to say they weren’t aware of what a canoe actually is before they booked their trip.

Sometimes there’s really nothing you can do and that negative review is going to be written whether you bend over backward or not. This next one is a good example of this. Someone staying at a hotel wrote a review, complaining that “I couldn’t call reception from my cell phone. They told me I could just press 9 and it didn’t work”. Now, they obviously tried calling reception from their cell phone after this by pressing 9, but that’s not really how phones work.

This is probably the most common scam in the world. Someone bought a pair of Ray-Bans from a street vendor and then acted surprised after finding out that they were fake. The person wrote a complaint on a review website, saying “We bought Ray-Ban sunglasses for €5 from a street trader, only to find out they were fake”. The first red flag should have been that a street trader was selling them. The second red flag should’ve been the price. 

A lot of hotels will go the extra mile and try to turn your towels into a work of art after they clean your room. While you don’t have to like it, there’s no reason to complain, especially as this person did. This hotel guest wrote and complained that “The maid who cleaned our room made our towel into a swan shape. I don’t like swans”. This sounds like it goes deeper than a simple towel figure. 

People really seem to like to rag on Spain and India for some reason. This person wrote a complaint on a review site that said, “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food”. Firstly, spicy food is great. Secondly, India is famous for its curry. You can pretty much assume before you book your trip to India that you’ll be served some curry everywhere you go. 

This one is actually kind of funny, because yes the Mona Lisa is really small in person. But, also because of how simple this person’s negative review was. They simply wrote a negative review that read: “The Mona Lisa was too small”. No epic about how they don’t like spicy food or despise swans, just their honest opinion about one of the most famous paintings in the world. You have to at least respect them for that.

Okay, so the title doesn’t exactly say the same thing as the quote, but it might as well. A traveler wrote, on a review site, that “I had to pay for an extra plane seat for each of my kids”. We’re not sure if they expected that their kids would be able to ride in their laps or if they could just ride in each other’s laps, but that’s generally not how it goes.