Not easily satisfied
Does the stereotype of the complaining passenger apply to your travel situation? Then you may be among the Dutch who would rather travel with Marieke Elsinga or Max Verstappen. Welcome to the world of the equally useless as marginally interesting research.
Going on vacation by car is of course great. At least, if your travel company is also a bit organized. We assume so, but apparently there is always something to be desired. Travel website Tussenstop.com asked 5,800 Dutch people who their most and least favorite celebrities are to have next to them in the car on the way to their holiday destination.
Here we go. No less than 23 percent of the respondents mentioned Marieke Elsinga as a travel companion, making her one of the most mentioned female celebrities. Katja Schuurman is in second place, followed by Floortje Dessing in third place.
Marieke Elsinga can in a sense already travel with you via the radio, as she is a radio DJ at Qmusic. For the most frequently mentioned male celebrity, that becomes a lot more difficult. That is namely F1 speed demon and circuit king Max Verstappen. Although we wonder whether Verstappen himself enjoys driving straight ahead endlessly and being asked the shirt off his back in the meantime. In second and third place of the most popular male celebrities to have as a travel companion are Arjen Lubach and Andy van der Meijde respectively.
So much for the celebrities that people do like to have next to them in the car. There are also celebrities that we would rather not have with us. The least popular female celebrity is Caroline van der Plas, Angela de Jong and Patricia Paay are in second and third place. We didn’t make it up either. The least popular male celebrity is Peter Gilles, but people prefer not to be in the car with Dick Schoof and Marcel van Roosmalen either. They are in second and third place.
The research kicks wide open doors even further with brute force. It would seem that the Dutch are mainly looking for humor and sociability. No hate and malice then, surprising. According to the research, the biggest turn-offs are: excessive talking, complaining, commenting on the driving style, reacting tensely and constantly being on the phone. We suspect that Max Verstappen is quickly guilty of point three.