Trip from Hell: A Collection of Travel Mishaps from our Facebook Fans
Ever had your exciting travel plans go wrong - terribly, terribly wrong? We asked our Facebook fans for their travel-gone wrong stories and here are the top contenders for the trip from hell.
*Disclaimer: Almost all of the stories of misadventure ended in a positive light proving travel, even at its worst, is still wonderful. But boy things go awfully wrong first!
Elaine S - apparently if it can go wrong, it's happened to this girl 50 hours on cockroach infested train in china Arriving in tel aviv at midnight with no guide book and nowhere to stay. Scud missiles going overhead while in bomb shelter. < scud missiles? seriously?! Egyptian taxi driver arrives into a hell town in the middle of the night and decides he doesn't want to drive anymore - even though he was only half way I'll stop now but I have loads more
Goku v. E - "no pants" in Barcelona
skinny dipping in barcelona beach, clothes + wallet + camera + passport stolen. getting lost walking naked and hungover around the city at 7am, asking bakeries for direction in terrible spanish. < a nightmare come true (or the makings of a movie starring Zach Galifianakis)
find the hotel, explain it to the girl at reception, she is finding it too enjoyable not to believe, so she lets me back into my hotel room.
Became infamous in the hostel as "no pants" became enough of a cult that when i went back to the hostel 3 months later, the staff were still telling the story to new backpackers.
Travelling becomes an adventure when the plan falls apart. Trust your instincts and never regret. :)
Pedro R - moneyless and nearly stranded (Bolivia)
Copacabana, Bolivia. Was going down to Isla del Sol on the Titicaca Lake and didn't have much money on me. Got myself a room and bought some groceries at a local market. Then realized I was skint and neither of the two ATM's in town were working. Had to get my money back from the hostel and also trade back the groceries from the old lady at market (who gave me the evil eye). < nothing like being stuck in a strange town with no friends and no money
Managed to get the 11 bolivianos needed for the last bus to La Paz. However, on the bus I met this cool French couple who knew about a swell Cuban cocktail bar. Why am I commenting this? It's not travel-gone-wrong: the mojitos + company were great.
Chane F - mugging -->> reverse mugging in Madrid
It's called the great "reverse mugging" in Madrid. I chased this guy down this guy that had just mugged me and got back my passport/wallet back so I could make my flight back to the US:)))) proud of that < so reverse muggings can happen! Next time we'll go for it instead of pretending to pull a hamstring.
Tommy - aborted trip to DC
headed for washington dc, museums etc. car broke down in Jersey, spent the night in motel with a hole BIG enough to see outdoors thru in the wall. Never made it to DC... nothing worse than the trip that never was
Cami V - stranded in Paris
Last Friday, in Paris for 30 minutes. Wallet and all my savings taken so I couldn't even get anything sent to me to salvage the trip. And I also had to figure out how to get to Amsterdam where my bus is leaving from, with no money, credit or bank cards, and no pre-booked hostels. < how did she make it to Amsterdam?
Rob B - a flat tire gets worse
Flat tire on interstate, happened to stop on a mound of fire ants. < ouch!
Jesse M - 500 miles from accommodations (Wyoming)
One of our first trips (before we got travel planning down to a science) was to "wing" our way through the American Midwest. Woke up one morning in Cody, Wyoming...drove through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons figuring we'd find a place to stay in the next town down the road. Except...everything was booked solid, in the next town, and the one after that, and the one after that.
After seeing families sitting in parking lots at midnight, looking dejected, we said "to heck with it" and hit the road. Finally found a hotel with vacancies in Grand Junction, Colorado...which was "only" about 500 miles (804 km) away.
It was a hair-raising night of trying to stay awake, exploring dark, back roads in Colorado, breakneck hairpin turns on mountaintops, driving across the top of a dam in Utah, and arriving at 7 am to crash in a really awesome hotel.
It was a very long night...but full of adventure and we loved every second of it! < sounds like your travel companions can make all the difference!
What's your trip from hell story? We wanna hear it, especially if it ends well!
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