‘What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve seen a Brit do abroad?’ – 23 of the most cringeworthy people from the UK

The stereotype of British people abroad is that we’re drunk, badly behaved and think speaking the local language means yelling at waiters in strangely accented English. But that’s not true, right? That’s just a simplified cliché and actually we’re just as nice and normal as any other nationality.

Well, maybe not. Over on the AskUK subreddit, user Longjumping_Thing723 posted this:

‘Brits living or holidaying abroad, what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve seen a fellow Brit do? As I’m currently on holiday I’m really curious to see what stories you guys have!

‘Maybe not embarrassing but I just saw someone’s towel get removed from a sun bed as the pool isn’t even open yet, that was a satisfying moment.

And the answers showed that we probably do deserve our terrible reputation.

1.

‘I was on a flight to Gibraltar and I happened to sit behind Dara Ó Briain. He was quietly reading his newspaper when some guy started shouting across the plane cabin ‘OI. OI Darrin. TELL US A JOKE‘.

‘Dara was like ‘Oh, I only have jokes on telly, sorry mate” and was very subdued and nice about it. Then he remained sat (in economy) until everyone had left the plane so he could leave last without getting hassled.

‘I felt kind of bad for him, bloke just wanted to have a quiet flight.’
–Shapoopadoopie

2.

‘I was in Paris once, taking pictures, being touristy, eating baguettes and what not, and overheard a fellow Briitsh traveller complaining loudly that every bar and brasserie was ‘shit’ and nothing would be better ‘than Spoons back home’, where everyone ‘spoke proper and not this French crap’.

‘I was fully baffled as to why they’d even wasted the money going there.’
–crgoodw

3.

‘My aunt I was like this. She was a Benidormer twice a year. Refused to learn any sort of Spanish and was totally rude. Went for chips and egg in the sun. Refused any Spanish restaurants but would smash Spanish beer. However she doesn’t want none of that foreign muck. We went once with her as a family holiday (her last before she passed away) but god it was so awful.’
–melanie110

4.

‘I always remember the grumpy Brummy in departures at Catania airport, bemoaning the fact that the food on his Italian island holiday had been ‘all seafood and pasta’.’
–Quality_Cabbage

5.

‘Was in Cyprus back in May and spotted someone I recognised (I think famous professional footballer plus partner) getting set up on a pair of sun loungers.

‘Cue middle-aged male football fan then running over to our poor footballer and ranting at him for a good 30 mins whilst the footballer’s poor partner is very politely smiling and nodding along.

‘It’s clear that the couple just wanted a quiet break whilst they could between matches and immediately gets collared by an English fan. I felt so bad for the couple.’
–GrumpyHeadmistress

6.

‘Lady in Pisa to a market stall vendor speaking in a loud and slow voice: ‘How mucho this handbagio?”
–Locust-15

7.

‘I once saw a very drunk middle aged dude – likely on a stag – bowling oranges at passers by in one of the main streets in Bratislava. He was screaming ‘howzat’ and appeared to be alone.’
–Rail_boy

8.

‘I saw a man from Barnstaple shit himself in the kids pool at an all inclusive hotel in Salou.’
–Grand_Carob_2512

9.

‘Living in Barcelona and saw some kids who were over for Sonar run out of the lovely little cafe next to my apartment without paying, all laughing. Owner was chasing them, as they ran past I tripped the last and caught them, helped drag them back as they were screaming at me and the poor owner. They spat on me.

‘We called the police and he got arrested because he had coke and MDMA in his pockets. His mates never came back to help him even when it was just the owner and me, and three more of them.’
–Fishchipsvinegar

10.

‘Stayed at the Holiday Village Ibiza, an apparent 4 star. On the same day saw a man clipping his toenails next to the pool and another cleaning literal dog shit off his flip flops in the kids pool.

‘I never complain about anything but this place was a well deserved complaint. Put me off Tui for life.’
–Unhappy_Glass9541

11.

‘I’m not Brit but I’m staying in UK and regularly travel back to Greece. One thing I never understood why so many going to holidays with football t-shirts.’
–Bilya63

12.

‘I want to an all inclusive resort in Turkey, it was like Wetherspoons-by-the-Sea, the food and staff were incredible, the clientele were all Brits and I have never been so embarrassed to be British in my entire life. People staggering around pissed at 10am.’
–straightnoturns