Here in Orlando, it would appear that we have a corner on the weird and wacky market known as tacky tourists.  Thanks to people who publically wear things like this,

And this,

It sometimes actually makes people who wear things like this seem, um, normal.

Now does this seem so tacky?  You be the judge.

Anyway, while all of the above leaves me speechless, sigh, an even more troubling trend is growing faster than the speed of an airborne 757, and that is arrival of the totally tacky traveler.

You know the ones, don’t you?  They show up at airports, hotel check in, convention centers, and everywhere in between wearing their overloaded backpacks full of grouchy discontent not to mention their ugly, thread-bare flip flops exposing even uglier dirty feet; and, dare we say, ewww to those that travel wearing wife-beaters tees displaying very hairy armpits?  Not to be confused with the multitude of tacky tourists out there, tacky travelers deserve their own special category. Truth be told, here in Orlando tacky tourists are now an accepted part of our culture because, well, in the hospitality industry we make our livings off them so best if we bite our tongues and keep the smiles pasted on our faces no matter how small the tube top stretches over the generous chest that should never, EVER, be wearing one in the first place, right?

But tacky travelers?  Oye.  This breed is a whole new topic born mostly of the decline in civility.  There, I said it, now please hear me out.

For reasons we are all painfully aware of, travel itself has gotten quite a bit uglier, and as a result there’s no denying that travelers have, too.  Case in point:  there is now an official Passenger Shaming Instagram account.  See for yourself at http://instagram.com/passengershaming .

And, if that doesn’t provide enough proof for you, how about this story about a passenger allowed – BY LAW – to bring her pig on board an airplane because it (supposedly) provided ’emotional support’ – www.whenpigsfly.com   And yet said traveler became indignant when they were both booted off because (get ready for this one. . .) the pig defecated in the aisle. I CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP.

Kind of makes stinky, hairy armpits a bit more tolerable, right?

Always attempting to circle back to some sanity, I’m neither the fashion police nor a federal judge impersonator.  I’m just an average traveler seeking some sanity in a globe full of travel crazies. www.crazytravelstories.com  Call me a nut job but I prefer to view fully clothed, reasonably sane and sanitary people, minus their farm animals, please, on board each flight I take and establishment I enter, with the additional expectation that said persons will also possess some level of basic skills in civility.  Is that asking too much? Apparently on this planet it just might be.