15 Passengers Who Turned Idyllic Travel Into a Nightmare

Traveling on public transport is impossible without companions. And some of them are so annoying that you just want to finish the trip immediately and never leave home again. There are people you can ask to stop, but some are absolutely impenetrable and all you can do is just tolerate them.

• Sweden. Train Göteborg — Stockholm. I was going to the university to take an exam and I was preparing. A young woman sat right next to me and started talking on her phone. First, she told her friend all about her relationship with her boyfriend, moving into a new apartment, the furniture she bought, and then she called her grandmother. She talked about all of her relatives and friends and all the contents of her fridge. Of course, I couldn’t study with all that noise and I told her, “I think I know everything about you and your family now.” She was quiet after that. © Oksana Malinin-Laihonen / Facebook

• I remember one guy from my flight home from Portugal. He was a typical people person (in the worst way possible). He was talking during the entire flight without even asking if anyone actually wanted to talk to him. The elderly couple next to him took most of the hit — he kept asking them in his terrible Portuguese, “Have you been to Aveiro? Oh, so you know the bald guy Rodrigo? What do you mean you’ve been to Aveiro and you don’t know Rodrigo?” He fell asleep for an hour. Do you think that was a break for us? No, he was having nightmares and he was yelling something the whole time. © Denys Hordieiev / AdMe
• I was on the train commuting home one day and I was listening to music at a sensible volume with my earphones plugged in. However, the guy sitting near me was blasting music on his terrible cellphone speakers. I was about to say something but this lady spoke up first and said, “Excuse me, can you please turn off the music or use headphones? It’s very distracting.” He immediately complied and I had a smug look on my face. Not 5 seconds later, the same lady taps me on the shoulder and said, “You too, sir!” I’m like WHAT? I looked down and saw that my earphones weren’t fully connected to the audio jack and my music was blasting as well. I apologized in shame, plugged in, and lowered the volume even more. I hate myself. © verbal_diarrhea_guy / Reddit

• I was on a bus with a woman that was playing a game for 6 hours on her phone. The phone played some loud music and identical sounds every time she got the right combination. When I asked her to turn the music off, she said it wouldn’t be as interesting. I wanted to buy her headphones for €1 from the driver but the lady said that her ears would hurt. But she asked for the headphones my son was using (they were extremely expensive!)
• My girlfriend and I were going to Thailand. It was an 11-hour flight. I knew the flight would be boring, so I took an old PSP with me. I had been playing for around 6 hours and my girlfriend was asleep. Someone touched my shoulder, I took my headphones off, turned around, and saw a woman from the next row.
  — Can you please stop playing?
  — Oh, I’ll turn the sound down, sorry.
  — No, my son’s tablet battery died and he’s bored.
  — Seriously? He’s bored and you want everyone to be bored?
  — Come on! It’s not hard!
  I smiled ironically, waved to the 7-year-old kid, put my headphones back on, and continued to play. A very weird request. I don’t know what she expected me to do. © Eugen*** / Pikabu

• On a trip back to the US from Florence, a man across the aisle decided to dine on beef jerky. And I mean a jumbo bag of beef jerky! Stick after pungent stick! The smell filled the cabin and, despite loud grunts and people placing their napkins over their noses, he continued to munch. He seemed oblivious to the faces people shot in his direction. Finally, an attendant stopped by to ask if she could safely store his lunch until we landed. She spoke in such a soft but firm voice that he reluctantly handed over his remaining stash. © Sylvie Aimée / Quora
• Some lady had a toddler who was fussing and she pointed toward me and told the kid: “If you don’t behave, he’s gonna take you.” © unbridledirony / Reddit
• My friend and I were going to the sea by bus. It was a 4-hour trip. There was a young couple with a kid who was around 1.5 years old and 2 old ladies with a grandchild who was about 4. So, the kid was great: he was silent for the entire trip and was watching the girl who kept trying to move: she walked in the aisle and stood on her seat. But we almost lost our hearing due to the old ladies who were giving different orders to the girl. They never stopped talking. © Liudmyla Glushchevska / Facebook

“This repugnant toe right next to my daughter on a flight.”

• I once took a train ride with this lady who packed a large suitcase with Sudoku books, Ziploc bags of McDonald’s, canned pineapple, sleeves of Ritz Crackers, and rolls of toilet paper. She was paranoid about someone stealing her bag so she had it with her in her seat. It took up all of her legroom, so for 7 out of 8 hours, her legs were in my leg space. © Lightmareman / Reddit
• One day, on a busy rush hour bus, a woman gets on the bus and sits on my knee. She was in her late 30s, dressed like she works in a nice office, by all accounts normal, except she sat on my knee. I didn’t say anything for 2 blocks, tried to gather the courage to say something for the next 2 blocks, then she got up and left. No one said a word or even looked at us. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I was going to my parents’ town for Christmas. I decided to take the bus and bought a ticket online in advance. I chose the seat right behind the driver because it’s the best place with my long legs and height, and I didn’t want to feel sick during my first months of pregnancy. The bus arrived and there was a young lady in my seat. We had this conversation:
  — Excuse me, this is my seat. What does your ticket say?
  — We all seat where we want.
  — I don’t care about the others, I want my seat, please.
  — My ticket doesn’t have a number.
  — Show me your ticket, please, that’s impossible.
  — I’m not showing you anything.
  She put on her headphones and turned away. I asked the driver for help and he finally got the answer — it was number 17, where she went, completely disappointed. © mannab / Pikabu

• I was on a practically empty bus, I think only 4 people was on it, this woman who was in her 40s took the liberty of sitting on the seat right in front of mine. She push the back of the seat down straight on top of me. I had to move and she saw me and I still didn’t get an apology. © mannab / Reddit
• I once rode across the country on a bus. On one of the longer legs I happened to sit next to an older guy who liked to floss. No big deal except that after he would run the floss between his teeth he would check for debris. If any was found he would quickly yank the floss apart between his fingers sending a small bit of food flying in some random direction. © Unknown author / Reddit
• One time the guy in front of me threw his dreadlocks over the back of his seat. Not only did they hit me in the face, they also landed in my drink, splashing soda on me. We had words. © Starkiller_303 / Reddit
• I was once on a flight where the mother of 5 y.o. child let him scream all the time while she sat with her headphones on. A few people politely asked her if her son was ok and she simply replied, “He’s fine, he just wants attention,” and put her headphones back on. When we landed and were leaving the plane one guy said in a polite way, “Well, your little boy there certainly has a lot of energy,” and she said, “Oh I know, he’s a nightmare. That’s why I just have to put my headphones on.” © kitjen / Reddit

Have you ever traveled with people that made you wish you’d stayed at home that day?