On this annual day where tomfoolery runs rampant, we gathered some of the silliest and downright hilarious stories from our travel trade friends to spread some laughs
“The Indian client, upon reaching his hotel, told my driver to open his backside. My driver, with his limited English vocabulary, was at a loss for words. So he told his passenger that this was an Islamic country and that what he was asking was wrong.” – Adam Kamal, CEO, Olympik Holidays, Malaysia
“We put an advertisement in the newspaper with a note saying ‘please call Monday’. On Monday, the phone rang, someone asked to speak to Monday. Not sure if this is funny, but we all had a great laugh in the office.” – Sef Lam, managing director, Via Vai Travel, Hong Kong
“As a travel agent, I automatically think of airline flights, not a car or cab. A client called to ask how to get to San Francisco so I started giving her the airlines, flight schedule and other details. But what she meant was San Francisco in Quezon City, metro Manila, not in California. I then told her how to get there by car.” – Anonymous agent from the Philippines
“Sri Lankans are superstitious over many things. Once a client wanted to know the colour of the walls of the hotel room in Bangkok and the direction of the bed. Another asked whether it will rain in a country he planned to visit. He didn’t want to go if it rains there as it will spoil his holiday and his money will be wasted.” – Anonymous agent from Sri Lanka
“In Hungary, when we greet the locals we are told to say ‘hogy vagy?’, which means ‘how are you?’. But it became quite funny when the pronunciation started to sound like ‘you are a gay’. This became a quote amongst our travellers and it helped to make it easy to remember too. – Alicia Seah, director of marketing communications, Dynasty Travel
“I was really disappointed by the food during the trip, which is unusual because I love Chinese food back home,” commented a traveller after a trip to Japan. – Anonymous agent from Japan
“A client who visited Peru complained how their Peruvian guide couldn’t understand that they wanted to go to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman in Cusco. The guide couldn’t understand their Filipino accent. In exasperation, he pronounced Sacsayhuaman as ‘sexy woman’. The Peruvian finally understood.” – Anonymous agent from the Philippines
