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Home » Nepal » How Do You Handle A Bad Tour Guide?
Nepal

How Do You Handle A Bad Tour Guide?

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 25, 2024September 26, 2024 25 Comments

a group of people in front of a building with a dome and pigeons

I had an experience in Kathmandu that I had not experienced before: a guide who could not take a hint. When does your patience run out when dealing with a bad tour guide?

I’ve warmed up to tour guides a bit more than in the past because I do appreciate getting more than a Wikipedia summary of a place I visit. My friend had arranged a guide from a reliable travel agency to take us around Kathmandu, a new city for both of us. We visited the Taleju Bhawani Temple Bhaktapur in Durbar Square, then Gokarneshwar and a walk around Boudhanath.

By this time my friend was tired and just wanted to have dinner. The guide wanted to go onto the next site, but we said, “No, we’re stopping for dinner.”

Here we were right in tourist central in Kathmandu, but we ate at a place called Roadhouse Café that the guide assured us offered “exquisite” food. Without asking, he sat down at the table with us.

Okay…I guess that is okay, but shouldn’t a guide ask first?

He was talking nonstop at this point and we had experienced just about enough culture and history for the day.

We ordered a cocktail to start…and he did too. The drinks were incredibly weak, but he got a bit tipsy (it was quite obvious) which not only did not slow down his conversation but caused him to start repeating himself.

He ordered several appetizers for the table plus a main course for himself. He also ordered me a local rum to try…thanks, I guess?

Dinner continued and by the time the food arrived my friend and I were just ready to get up and leave. Or better yet, ask him to leave…but I guess we were both too polite…because we just sat there while he drank and talked and drank and talked.

I think he finally realized he was getting close to being drunk because he stopped drinking alcohol and switched to water. And yet in his intoxicated state he continued to talk.

And of course, when the bill arrived he handed it to us…

We requested to go immediately back to the hotel and he did…but became incensed when we chose not to tip him.

Sorry, we are not tipping someone with such boorish behavior who could not take a hint.

Oh, it didn’t spoil our day. On the contrary, it’s a memory we can laugh about now. But it did strike me as strange.

Do guides just invite themselves to dinner? Then get inebriated? Then refuse to stop talking? Maybe I should go back to self-guided tours…?

Learn to read the room…it is an important lesson for us all.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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25 Comments

  1. Michael Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 9:50 am

    Been there.

    I’ve learned not to be polite when experiencing boorish behavior.

    A simple “we would like to dine alone” and “we are uncomfortable with you drinking alcohol if you are driving us” are entirely reasonable.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      September 25, 2024 at 3:01 pm

      To be clear he was the guide and we had a separate driver.

  2. Daniel B. Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 9:53 am

    For years, we have been doing private tours all over the world. Not once I had this experience. We always ask them to sit and eat with us (they always try to order the minimum, we keep encouraging them to have a full meal), but I know if we didn’t, they would be waiting for us outside. Very strange behaviour indeed.

    • Alert Reply
      September 25, 2024 at 2:31 pm

      My best guide was in Jerusalem and Bethlehem . We went to the israel tourist office to obtain him . He spoke both arabic and hebrew and knew many interesting people on the way . Rather than food , I gave him a nice tip .

      • Daniel B. Reply
        September 25, 2024 at 3:15 pm

        @Alert/ Our most memorable guide was from the same area (Jerusalem & Tel Aviv). Tall muscular guy in his 60s’, served in the army, he ordered us around like a drill sergeant. Called us based on which countries we were from, like: “boy from South Africa, go and find the woman from Germany, we have to leave”.

  3. Ko Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 10:08 am

    Name the tour company. I just went to Kathmandu a couple weeks ago and had a terrible guide there as well.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      September 26, 2024 at 12:10 am

      Was via Abercrombie & Kent

      • Christian Reply
        October 5, 2024 at 10:39 pm

        A&K? Wow that’s just stunning. They’re normally very pricey but exceptionally good.

  4. Asa George Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 11:47 am

    Oh,Dear! Probably never skipped a meal in their privileged lives..though I’m sure the guide has.

  5. JetAway Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 12:36 pm

    My partner and I almost ran into this problem a few years ago but headed it off by telling our guide early that we liked to lunch alone and giving him sufficient cash to enjoy a decent lunch of his own choosing. That seemed to make him happy and us too.

  6. Heather Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 12:54 pm

    We always ask the guide to join us for lunch. 98% of the experiences have been terrific. The other 2% were similar to your experience. The last one was in France. We cut the tour short by a few hours. The booking agency refunded us 100%.

    • Dee Reply
      September 25, 2024 at 2:09 pm

      Similar 98/2 track record here. Some people just can’t help themselves around a captive audience whether they be a tour guide, an aunt, or a coworker.

  7. Bobby J Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 2:07 pm

    I had a private tour guide arranged for me when visiting Jerusalem. Unprompted, he bought me lunch. And it legitimately was delicious.

    Have also had tour guides elsewhere and all were, without exception, professional and friendly. You just had bad luck and landed an idiot.

    • Alert Reply
      September 25, 2024 at 2:28 pm

      @Bobby … +1 . The best guide during my travels was an arab-israeli in Jerusalem and Bethlehem . He spoke both arabic and hebrew , and knew many interesting people where we traveled .

  8. Sam Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 2:07 pm

    I would just write it off as a fun travel experience to laugh about. Most guides are good but law of averages… Definitely wouldn’t stop hiring guides because you got an annoying one that one time.

  9. Dougie Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 2:09 pm

    You called it Kathamdenu twice…

    He took you to a real tourist place and I guess tourist prices. He probably gets a commission from them.

  10. Maryland Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 2:15 pm

    A guide should not be consuming alcohol, even if you are having a drink. That is a red flag and likely why he missed the clues. It is not impolite to expect your wishes to be respected. He is your guide and you are a paying client.

  11. bhn Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 4:21 pm

    We had a similar situation a few years ago in Portugal. In Lisbon, we had a lovely tour guide. We invited her to join us for lunch each day and she did, albeit hesitantly. But, our family adored her and we hit it off. Our next tour guide, on a visit to Caiscais, was different. He did not wait to be invited to join us for lunch. He led us to a café, took a tray, preceded us in line and got his food. It was obvious he expected us to pay and he did not even say thank you when the meal was over. I think we tipped him, but it was much smaller than we would have normally.

  12. JBM Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 4:54 pm

    I’ve always seen hiring your guides as business transactions. Things I am too bashful to do to friends, such as make clear they are not invited to dinner and tell them the change of plans I expect, are not at all off of the table when it comes to tour guides. Just as in a business transaction it is not only your right but also your responsibility to articulate what your expectations are. In this case, I would have had no problem telling him “please leave the table” or “We have now informed you twice that we want dinner. Please do not make me ask a third time.”

  13. Pam Thickett Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 10:08 pm

    What did you except? It is a third-world country.

  14. emercycrite Reply
    September 25, 2024 at 10:28 pm

    What/where is Kathamdenu?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      September 26, 2024 at 12:12 am

      Showing again how worthless Grammarly is.

  15. ken Reply
    September 26, 2024 at 6:36 am

    Well, guides are supposed to talk lol Some more and most quite a bit. But also, I think it is expected to invite them to dinner or lunch and pay their expenses if they join, unless you clearly say you would end the tour before dinner. Maybe he was a bit too accustomed to these but I think you should have been clear before dinner and separate the ways if you didn’t like him much. I like talkative people but there are the ones I get along with and the ones I hate listening to. If the latter, better end it quickly…

  16. Jerry Reply
    September 26, 2024 at 7:04 am

    I respect the economic plight and hard work ethic of many guides… But if something requires a guide, I’m not interested in it. The only exception being safari/wildlife trekking. Even then, I abhor the forced conversation and needless commentary.

  17. Aaron Reply
    October 4, 2024 at 8:36 pm

    Quite sad to hear… when I was in India, my guides were always hesitant to accept tips, and when they eventually relented, they always reminded me to tip the driver and tip them both equally!

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