what was the worst travel experience you've had

My Top 9 WORST Travel Experiences

Do you ever read about my travel experiences and think, “Blimey, his trips are so smooth and straightforward. How does he do it?”

Let me tell you something: All my trips are FAR from perfect!

And that applies to almost every other travel blogger out there too. We write about how incredibly wonderful our experiences are. And the truth is, yes – they ARE amazing, but as with all great things in life, there is plenty of struggle behind the scenes too.

In all of my personal blog posts documenting my experiences abroad, I try to be honest and write about the shitty stuff that happens as well as the awesome. This is because I want you to understand the reality of traveling from my perspective as a 30-something-year-old deaf guy. It helps to tell my story and makes it unique.

And most importantly, I want you to avoid making the same mistakes that I did, to ensure you make the BEST of your travels.

Planning your trip? Use my favorite resources!

🏨 Accommodation: I recommend Booking.com ✈️ Flights: for the cheapest flights, I use Skyscanner 🚗 Rental Car: I recommend Discover Cars 🛡️ Travel Insurance: for the best deals I rely on SafetyWing

And despite all my bad experiences (including some near-death ones), I wouldn’t change ANYTHING . The good always outweighs the bad, and I have 9+ years worth of the most amazing memories I could ever wish for!

In this post, I have compiled a selection, in no particular order, of some of the worst travel experiences I have ever experienced so far, in just six years of traveling.

Disclaimer: This post in no way criticizes the places these incidents happened. Some of these incidents are common – for example, the bag theft in Vietnam – incidents like these occur all over the world, including in London and New York City. Falling ill in India was my own mistake and could happen in any developing country. And that mosquito bite? I was simply unlucky.

Covering all the bad things that happened to me while traveling over the past decade.

#1. Missing my Flight Home

In 2014 after a visit to Schweinfurt in Germany, I was at Nuremberg Airport, awaiting my flight back home to Birmingham early one morning. However, I was sitting in a cafe and completely lost track of the time.

The boarding gate was making its final call and the staff had called my name out across the tannoy system telling me to make my way to the gate immediately, but unfortunately, that literally fell on deaf ears as I didn’t hear it.

So by the time I got to the gate, it was too late – everyone had already boarded the plane and to my despair, I watched from the gate as the door closed shut on the plane, which meant nobody else could board the plane.

I was shocked and annoyed that I’d missed a flight for the first time. I had to book a new flight, which costed around €200, and it wasn’t scheduled until 24 hours later, so I had to stay in Nuremberg for a night.

At least I took the opportunity to spend a day in the quaint city of Nuremberg. And since this incident, I started making use of Special Assistance for most of my future trips.

I wrote this useful guide on tips and advice for deaf and disabled people thinking about traveling abroad.

#2. Missing my Connecting Flight to India, Twice! (and Lost my Baggage)

I missed another flight in December 2014 when I traveled to India with a stopover at Istanbul Airport. But incredibly, not only did I miss my second leg flight, I was rebooked with a new flight departing 24 hours later only to MISS THAT FLIGHT too!

*Hear me out: unlike my previous missed flight, this one was of no fault of my own.*

Firstly, the flight from Birmingham to Istanbul was delayed by well over an hour due to poor weather, which meant I was almost certainly going to miss the connecting flight in Istanbul. So I informed the staff at Birmingham airport in advance, and they assured me that someone will take care of me as soon as I land in Istanbul, to ensure I get a new flight ticket and be onward with my journey.

So, as predicted, my second flight took off from Istanbul as soon as I landed there, and so I was issued a new ticket. But the next flight wasn’t due until 24 hours later, so they booked me into a hotel for the night. The only problem is, the hotel was quite some distance away, in the city center, so I had to obtain a visa to leave the airport, to get to this hotel.

The following day, the airport bus arrived at my hotel late, and worse still – the traffic was absolutely dreadful. It was total gridlock on the roads, and by the time I arrived at the airport, my flight was about to take off!

I had to explain this ridiculous situation to the staff once again, and nobody could believe what just happened.

So, once again , they issued me with ANOTHER new flight ticket, for a flight taking off – yep, you guessed it – 24 hours later. And so they put me in ANOTHER hotel for the night. BUT, this time, they made sure I was in a hotel right within the airport. So there was no way I was going to miss my flight for the third time.

That wasn’t the end of my troubles though.

When I finally made it to India – my luggage didn’t appear on the carousel. I spent ages waiting at the luggage area while everyone else collected their bags and there was nothing left on the belt, so I had to report to the staff that I’d lost my luggage.

It turns out, my luggage arrived a day earlier than I did. I had to identify my bags in the enormous lost property room, and you can imagine I was relieved when I was finally reunited with my stuff!

#3. Scooter Crash in Goa

On that same trip to India in December 2014 I was in Goa to see in the New Year. Whilst there, my friends and I hired scooters to travel around.

We were riding about an hour north to Anjuna beach, and were slowing down towards one of the crowded roundabouts on the route.

As soon as I stopped, another rider came up too fast behind me on his scooter and crashed into the back of my bike. And as the crash took me by surprise, the impact caused me to tumble over on the left side, as the scooter was a bit heavy.

Luckily though, I walked away from this crash with just a graze on my foot, as I was wearing flip flops (*reminder to self: I should probably get a tetanus jab*).

Did you know: there is a spa just for elephants in India! For more crazy and interesting facts about India, click here.

#4. I once got Electrocuted in Mexico

In the summer of 2014 I had a literal, near-death experience whilst staying in a hostel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

I went to take a shower one night and it was dark, so I was touching the wall trying to find the light switch. And all of a sudden, there was a bright flash and I felt a burning pain shoot right up to my elbow from my finger.

After the initial shock, I saw the wall and realized I’d just been electrocuted . The switch panel was hanging loose, and there were exposed cables sticking out everywhere!

I reported this to the receptionist who was very calm and casual when I explained what just happened. He then came down to have a look, and all he did was hastily cover up the loose cables with some black gaffer tape!

Seriously though, I had a lucky escape. I guess it was a good thing Mexico’s electricity grid output is weak, as I doubt I’d live to tell the tale if this happened back home from 240-volt sockets!.

Edit: I forgot the name of the hostel, so luckily for them I have saved them the embarrassment of being named and shamed.

Top Advice: Get Travel Insurance

You could say this near-death experience was a wake up call for me to ALWAYS take out travel insurance wherever I travel now.

You might be thinking,  it was just a freak accident what happened to me..

What’s the worst that could happen to you?

Well, you could suffer appendicitis and require emergency surgery. You could easily have your bag or camera stolen (this happened to me). A family relative could fall seriously ill or pass away, and you wouldn’t be able to afford the urgent flight back home.

For my travel cover I always use SafetyWing. They are one of, if not, the BEST insurance providers out there.

SafetyWing Travel insurance: simple & flexible

You can buy and claim online , even after you’ve left home. Travel insurance from SafetyWing is available to people from over 130 countries. It’s designed for adventurous travelers with cover for overseas medical, evacuation, baggage and a range of adventure sports and activities .

Planning a vacation in the Yucatan? Despite my accident, I had some of the most amazing adventure experiences there. Here’s my 2 Week Yucatan Itinerary Guide.

#5. Delhi Belly In Dehradun

During my second trip to India in January 2015, I came down with the dreaded ‘Delhi Belly’ – an illness that befalls many, but not all, who visit India.

Considering that India is one of the most challenging places a traveler can visit, and, bearing in mind I was living there for six months, a few days in January was the only time I EVER became ill in all my time in India.

It happened after I ate a plate of boiled eggs from a street vendor outside the gym. One evening after a workout with a mate, he suggested we have some chicken broth and eggs to top up on protein. I made the mistake of eating the yolk of five eggs – whereas my mate only ate the egg-whites. Lesson learned.

So that evening at my host’s home, I suddenly began to feel unwell and got hit with a severe case of diarrhea. Yuk!

Luckily, my host’s wife looked after me while I was sick – giving me natural remedies which made me throw up. And two days later, I was feeling much better.

#6. Robbed by a Biker Thief

In January 2018 my partner and I were traveling in south Vietnam, having just seen in the New Year in Ho Chi Minh City. On our last night in the city, my partner’s bag was snatched by a thief on a motorbike.

These incidents happen everywhere, unfortunately, not only in Vietnam. In fact, there are notorious biker thieves that prowl around central London and rob passers-by as they ride on the sidewalks , in broad daylight.

Over in Ho Chi Minh City, it was dark when the incident happened, at around 7pm, and it happened very suddenly, right in the middle of the road as we were crossing it.

We were completely taken by surprise and were overcome with dread when we realized what just happened, yet it was too late to do anything as the biker and the thief sped away into the night.

Naturally, my partner was very upset, as the contents of her bag included her iPhone, some cash, and some ID cards, though thankfully, NOT her passport.

We immediately reported the incident to the police who took a statement, but we realized soon enough, that there was absolutely nothing they could do about incidents like this, in a large city of over 9 million people.

Moreover, my partner’s bag was quite thin and light, with loose leather straps which made it vulnerable to rip, and therefore a very easy target. So we learned our lesson that night: if we have to bring our belongings with us, always keep them in secure and strong, tightly-fitting bum bags that can’t be ripped from us.

Security Tip: Since this incident, every time I go traveling I always wear my Zero Grid Travel Security Belt – a hidden money pouch that’s incredibly useful for stashing away my cash so even the smartest pickpockets don’t stand a chance.It comes with an adjustable, non-metal buckle too. Purchase yours from Amazon

Safety and Security Gear for your Travels:

Below are some more top security travel gear that I would recommend for traveling anywhere in the world – and would not leave the house without these.

Anti-Theft Travel Purse

If you’re after the ultimate theft-proof purse, I highly recommend the Anti-Theft Travel Purse – it consists of five measures of theft prevention including:

• Slash-resistant straps: straps with stainless steel wire inside, protects against grab-and-go thieves
• Slash resistant fabric: the whole bag is made with a slash-resistant mesh barrier inside for extra layers of protection
• Lockdown straps: the strap lock secures bag to a stationary object, protecting against grab-and-go thieves
• Locking compartments: locking zipper pulls that prevent pickpockets from getting into your bag
• RFID blocking pockets: protects against electronic identity theft with RFID blocking card slots and pockets

PacSafe Bag Protector

Another great security option for wherever you travel, the PacSafe bag protector will store all your valuables and secure it to a stationary item in your hotel/airbnb.

Bring a Small Lock

Be sure to bring a small lock for any hostel stays wherever you go, so you can securely store your valuables in the lockers provided.

#7. Missed my Flight (Again!) to Hong Kong

*Why do I keep missing my flights?! To be fair , this incident was also beyond my control. *

In December 2017 I embarked on a flight to Hong Kong via Paris, from Birmingham. The weather at the time was very cold and it was quite icy outside, which had impacted the public travel systems all over the UK and as a result, my train to the airport was delayed and I was pretty late arriving at the airport.

This was the least of my worries though because I soon found that my first-leg flight to Paris was delayed by two hours.

By the time I arrived in Paris around midnight, my connecting flight to Hong Kong had already left, much to the anger and frustration of my fellow flight passengers.

I have been in this situation before (when I missed flights to India) – so I was quite calm and knew that patience was key.

However, I was rather surprised by how furious the other passengers were. These were grown-ups, literally shouting at airport staff, and scrambling to jump in front of everyone else in the queues for new tickets at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.

I just stood back and watched them make fools of themselves. It was unbelievable. Sometimes, shit happens. Just be PATIENT and relax! Our flight WILL go ahead. We will be put into a hotel for the night. None of this will cost us an extra penny.

There is really no need to take it out on airport staff who aren’t responsible for the actions of mother nature.

Related post: Top 10 Things To Do in Birmingham, UK (by a Local)

#8. My Arm BLEW UP From a Mosquito Bite

Yeah, so this was a bit of a freak accident that resulted in my earning an arm like Popeye’s.

During my second visit to the Yucatan in Mexico, I received numerous Mosquito bites, but that’s nothing new as I got bitten a million times from my first Mexico trip, and actually – almost every tropical place I’ve been to – whether it’s Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, I’ve been bitten by Mosquitos (I mean, who hasn’t?)

Except during this trip, I had this ONE bite on my elbow, which at first, was no different from the other bites, but it turned from a red swollen lump, into a small white bubble.

When I arrived back in the UK, it was still there – a month later. And then one day, I decided to pop it. The fluid in the sac leaked out, so I casually wiped it, and I never thought anything of it, maybe because I didn’t realize it was an old Mosquito bite.

But then, the area around the mark, on my elbow, started to go red again, and it began to swell. And it swelled really fast. I applied some brandy to the area to try and disinfect it, and it was seeping, so I was squeezing more fluid out.

But it got worse. The stinging from the brandy was nothing compared to what came next. The swelling became gradually more painful. In fact, it got to the point where it became so painful I could not even sleep at night – I would literally wake up clutching my arm, writhe around on the floor, and clench my teeth so hard to stop myself from screaming in agony.

The small lump had expanded so much that my entire forearm literally BLEW UP, so it looked just like Popeye’s arm!

I sought medical help soon after and was able to clear up the infection on a round of antibiotics. The doctor told me I was VERY lucky the infection wasn’t higher up my arm, as that could’ve been critical. Instead, it spread downwards due to the swinging motion of my arms from walking, hence the weird Popeye look.

Click here to read how I easily saved over $1000 in just ONE month for my travel funds

#9. I Once Received the WRONG Visa Stamp

I was due to fly back home from India in the summer of 2014 and as I entered the immigration checkpoint at Delhi airport, something odd happened.

The border guard was looking at my passport visa with suspicion and then asked me what date I arrived in India. I explained that I was only here for a week, but still, he was checking my passport photo and visa, with suspicion.

He then called up another guard who arrived and they were talking about my visa (I couldn’t make out what they were saying or what even was wrong). And then they pointed the stamp in my passport, which I received on arrival in India a week earlier.

I didn’t understand what the problem was. But then I took a closer look at the stamp and I read the small date imprint. It says ‘2013’. Shit.

Why on earth did I receive a visa stamp with 2013 on it, when my visit was in August 2014? I was just as dumbfounded as the Indian border guards were.

Yet surprisingly, they ushered me through immigration without another word.

It turns out, they made a mistake by stamping a year-old old visa stamp in my passport when I first arrived! When I checked the stamp again, they appear to have hastily smudged the date out and written, ‘Arrival confirmed on 15-8-2014’.

I was slightly relieved, and was able to board my flight, except I was due to arrive in Moscow for a transfer flight to London. I was seriously hoping this visa doesn’t draw suspicion by the Russian guards in Moscow, as I was seriously beginning to worry they’d throw me into a gulag .

And yep – you guessed it – the Russian immigration guard not only noticed something dodgy with my passport, he actually whipped out his monocular and proceeded to scrutinize my visa for quite a LONG time!

Several moments passed, my heart was racing and sweat began to drip down my face. And I could feel the stare of people behind me in the queue, which made matters worse.

And, AT LONG LAST, I was handed back my passport without a word said. Thank goodness!

So, those are my worst travel experiences so far! I hope this post doesn’t put you off traveling! Have you had any bad experiences abroad?

Further Reading

• How to Find CHEAP Flights (+ FREE Cheatsheet)
• How to Plan a Vacation (+ FREE Travel Checklist)
• How to Quickly Save $1000 for Travel in 1 Month

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Book Your Trip: Top Tips

🏨 Accommodation: I recommend booking.com ✈️ Flights: for the cheapest flights, I use Skyscanner 🚗 Rental Car: I always rely on Discover Cars 🛡️ Travel Insurance: for reliable and trusted cover, I use SafetyWing 🗺️ For all my best travel tips & advice , head over to my Travel Tools

Thank you for reading My Top 9 WORST Travel Experiences

Now you know what to do to avoid these awful situations on your next trip, ensuring it goes smoothly!

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Billy Read is the owner and author of BRB Gone Somewhere Epic, a travel blog that helps travelers discover unique destinations and travel experiences on a budget. With more than 10 years of global travel filled with accidents, Billy aims to help readers avoid making the same mistakes as he did, and make the most of their epic trips.

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Travels Gone Wrong! Worst Travel Experiences By 19 Travelers

Oh Travel, how much we love that word. Many of us live our lives around Travel and the many adventures that unfold during our journeys. However, like two sides of a coin, there are bound to be certain misadventures too that end up as unwanted blips and sometimes even ruin the experience for travelers. We had more than a couple of these mishaps that disrupted our travel plans but there is always so much to learn from each experience. In this post, 19 travel bloggers collaborate to share our worst travel experiences from scams, accidents, racism and more.

Kristin @ Global Travel Escapades : Wallet Stolen in Paris, France

Amidst all the romantic allure, there are  some less glamorous aspects of visiting the French capital  that often go unmentioned. And, unfortunately, I discovered one of these harsh realities the hard way. While I was a teenager studying abroad in Paris, I joined the countless other victims who had their wallets stolen. It occurred in a crowded metro station when someone had casually bumped into me. All my cash, ID cards, and credit cards were gone, effectively leaving me stranded in a foreign country without any money. As someone who was solo traveling abroad for the first time, you can imagine all the tears that ensued. What ended up coming to my rescue were the friendships I had formed with my new schoolmates. They graciously offered to lend me money until I could arrange for a replacement credit card. So, in the end, everything worked out, but this experience definitely serves as a stark reminder to always remain vigilant when exploring new and unfamiliar places!

Marya Sutimi @ BeauTraveler : Getting Sick in Laos

A few weeks before the pandemic in 2020 I was about to have one of my worst travel experiences. I was on my Indochina trip from Vietnam to Cambodia before heading to Laos with plans to return back to Indonesia from Thailand. It wasn’t until I was on the bus from Pakse to Vientiane that I caught a cold that eventually became the highlight of my trip. On my first day in Vientiane, I managed to reach the hotel safely and decided to take a rest as soon as I got there. However, my condition worsened later that day, and I barely had the energy to go out to eat. I realized that I needed to go to see a doctor on the second day when I forced myself to go out to the supermarket nearby. I was too sick to walk back to the hotel and had to take a taxi for the 100 meters between the supermarket and the hotel. I tried communicating my condition with the hotel staff, but they struggled to understand me. After posting about my condition on a Facebook group, I got connected with a Lao girl who accompanied me to the hospital and got my first swab as coronavirus started to take over the news in Southeast Asia. I didn’t feel better the next day so I had no choice but to contact the Indonesian embassy in Vientiane for help. Eventually after the doctor’s suggestion, I had to get into quarantine and stay there for over a week even though my Covid test was negative. That was probably my worst travel experience so far, as I felt so helpless and my health condition didn’t improve until a few days later.

It was my first time  getting sick while traveling , and I couldn’t be more thankful that my embassy helped me during the crisis. Every day, someone from the embassy would drop some nutritious food, including fruits and vegetables to make sure I eat some healthy food to recover. Not only did they ensure that I was taken care of at my hotel during my quarantine, but their staff also regularly communicated with my mom back home to share the updates. I was also thankful that I had my travel insurance then, because the hospital cost in Laos was really expensive. Ever since then, there are two things that I always do whenever I travel overseas: getting travel insurance and saving the embassy number in my destination!

Lisa @ Waves and Cobblestones : Trapped in a restroom in Tel Aviv, Israel

I was traveling solo in Israel on a business trip.  Never one to miss an opportunity to see new places, I took several weekend day trips.  I stopped by the bank to get some cash and figured I’d use the restroom before hitting the road. I hung my purse up on the purse hook, locked the door, used the facilities, and washed my hands.  I unlocked the door and — it wouldn’t open!  I turned the lock this way and that, to no avail. I didn’t know many Hebrew phrases, but I started knocking on the door loudly and calling out ‘ Slicha’,  which roughly means ‘excuse me’.  A female employee came over and told me to turn the lock to the right and to the left. She was joined by a male employee, who gave me the same instructions.  I responded that I had already done that, and he replied ‘No, the  other  lock’.  It turns out what I thought was the purse hook was a second, self-locking, door lock.  Mortified, I hurried out of the bank.

I learned two things from this experience.  Firstly, no matter whether you’re spending a month in France, a  weekend in Barcelona , or taking a business trip to Israel, it’s important to know some basic phrases of the local language.  Secondly, don’t panic when things go sideways, but take a moment to think things through.  I could have saved myself some embarrassment if I’d kept a cooler head and assessed the situation more rationally!

Maartje @ Unieke Vakantieplekjes : Robbed in Tulum, Mexico

During our two-month journey through Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico in January 2020, an unfortunate incident occurred on the second-to-last night of our trip that left us shaken. Our worst travel experience unfolded in the popular  town of Tulum, Mexico, where we had been enjoying the last days of our vacation. In the middle of the night, while we were sound asleep in our hotel room, thieves entered and took many of our belongings. Awakening in Tulum, Mexico, we immediately noticed something amiss. Our phones, resting next to their chargers on the nightstands, were gone. The e-reader, the iPad, and even the backpack containing my camera and all our vacation photos had vanished. Furthermore, my partner’s watch was missing, and his wallet had been snatched. A realization struck – our passports were also in that stolen backpack. The initial reaction was pure panic. The immediate needs of replacing passports, acquiring funds, and booking a new flight overwhelmed us. We soon realized that this process was far from straightforward. The night after the robbery, in our final hotel room of the trip, different emotions surfaced. It was then that I discovered some of my toiletries missing. Presumably, the thief assumed they held jewelry. Sleep eluded us, haunted by the thought that a stranger had stood beside our bed the night before, reaching for my phone just inches from my head. One could hardly predict or prevent a robbery within the confines of a hotel room, especially when doors were securely locked. There was no safe in our room for valuables. We hadn’t been negligent. It was simply a stroke of bad luck that befell us. This was surely one of our worst travel experiences.

Upon returning to the Netherlands, well-intentioned yet insensitive remarks emerged, suggesting we were fortunate to have slept through the incident, that possessions were replaceable, and the thief likely needed the stolen items more than we did. But for me, those items were important. All my vacation memories were lost. The emotional toll was extensive, affecting my sense of security. Seeking help to cope and process became essential.

In retrospect, this experience underscored the unpredictability of travel, regardless of precautions taken. It’s a reminder that emotional reactions to such events are valid, and seeking support is both justified and necessary for healing.

Peta and Jonas @ Exit45 Travels : Accident in Hoi An, Vietnam

We were in the third week of our  adult gap year , visiting Hoi An for the first time when disaster struck. My husband and I were walking around the paddy fields just outside of Hoi An taking photos, when an out of control motorbike rider ran into Jonas. I was walking ahead wondering what was taking him so long, so I started to retrace my steps when I saw a group of people surrounding someone on the ground. I was curious what they were looking at, but didn’t realize it was Jonas until I got closer. My initial reaction was shock, then panic, then my first aid training kicked in. As I talked to him to work out his injuries, locals explained to me what had happened. After looking past the blood and skin off, I immediately realized we needed to get to the hospital as he had a wound on his head, and he said his shoulder and chest were painful. The Vietnamese by-standers hailed a taxi and told the driver to take us to the international hospital. Five minutes later we were in the emergency department with 3 doctors checking his injuries. The staff were absolutely amazing and did not hesitate to start treatment immediately. After several x-rays and scans, we were told he needed surgery to fix his collar bone, he had 7 broken ribs, but most importantly, no head trauma. The English speaking liaison officer then contacted our health insurance provider in Australia, 1Cover, sent the results of the x-rays and scans to them for review, got the necessary paperwork and approval, and he was then whisked off to surgery. Whilst it is an experience we are in no hurry to repeat, we were amazed at the efficiency of both the staff at the hospital and our travel insurance contact. The hospital bent over backwards to assist us over the 6 days he was hospitalized, even to the extent of allowing me to stay and sleep in the unoccupied bed in the same room at the hospital.

One thing we have learnt from this incident is that travel insurance is a MUST for anyone travelling overseas. Not only for the cost of his treatment and hospital stay, and the additional expert medical advice we received from Australia affirming all treatment was the correct.

Victoria @ Guide Your Travel : Stuck in Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Komodo National Park is a beautiful area in Indonesia, which you can only explore by boat, unless you’re staying at a hotel in the park . Last summer, we were staying on a traditional Phinisi boat for a few nights to see the pink beaches and untouched nature and everything was going great until our boat’s engine unexpectedly failed. The crew repaired it multiple times but it kept shutting down or when it did work it was very slow. This meant that we couldn’t travel fast enough for the currents and had to wait on a deserted island until the tide went down and it was easier to travel. The entire journey back took around 12 hours at sea instead of 3. While it was a bit stressful in the moment, the experience was still beautiful and we at least got to enjoy the views.

Erica Riley @ Travels With Erica : Hotel Room in Siem Reap, Cambodia

My worst travel experience happened in February 2023 on my first night in Siem Reap.  I was exhausted after a long day of travelling from  Chiang Rai  to Siem Reap and arrived in Cambodia in the evening.  

I went to bed early and around 1am, I suddenly woke up when I heard someone talking.  I quickly realized that there were three men in my hotel room, which was especially scary since I’m a solo female traveler. Adrenaline kicked in, and I stood up on my bed and started screaming.  The three men quickly left my room.  I was too scared to go back to sleep that night and put a chair in front of the door because it only had a simple lock and no deadbolt or chain.  I checked out of the hotel first thing in the morning. Later that day, I received an email from the hotel manager asking why I checked out.  I explained to her what happened, and she said that it was simply an accident.  The men had misplaced their key and told the front desk that their room number was mine.  They had the wrong room number, and, thankfully, weren’t intentionally trying to break into my room or harm me. 

I started travelling with a door lock specifically designed for hotel rooms after that trip.  I’m very lucky that this was just an accident and that I wasn’t hurt, but the experience definitely scared me and made me more safety cautious about hotels.  

Tina @ Veganderlust : Cancelled Flights at Auckland, New Zealand

Have you ever seen a movie where a character is stranded at an airport when all of the flights get cancelled? Well, this is exactly what happened to me on my holiday this year! My friends and I did a van life holiday for three weeks across New Zealand in February 2023, and after our van life experience, we wanted to relax on the beaches of Fiji. At the beginning of our holiday, in Auckland, the weather was already bad. It rained a lot during our time in New Zealand, and it was actually one of the wettest New Zealand summers on record. However, towards the end of our van life holiday, the weather improved. We spent one last sunny  day in Queenstown , in the South Island of New Zealand before we headed back to Auckland by plane. From Auckland, we were supposed to go to Fiji. But because of a cyclone headed towards Auckland, all flights were cancelled. So instead of spending some relaxing days at the beach, we were stuck in a crappy airport hotel for three whole days!

For future trips, I learned the hard way how important it is to check weather forecasts more carefully. It seems silly now, but I didn’t even know there was a cyclone season in New Zealand before I visited. A mistake I won’t make again!

Karen @ Outdoor Adventure Sampler : Medical Emergency in Mexico

My partner and I were in Puerto Morales, Mexico to explore the amazing  outdoor adventures of the Yucatan Peninsula  in January. It was a rainy morning as we exited the hotel to go to breakfast. As I stepped out of the hotel door onto the wet marble entry, I slipped and came crashing down, hitting my head on a stone column. The hotel management was immediately responsive, and in spite of a language gap, helped us call an ambulance for my profusely bleeding head wound. Fortunately, due to my partner’s two years of daily Duolingo Spanish study, we muddled our way through the Mexican health care system to get my head stitched up.

I realized my assumptions about quality of health care in Mexico were way off base. It was one of the most efficient, professional, sparkling clean emergency rooms I’ve ever been in. Plus, the generosity of the Mexican people was evident again when the hotel owner insisted on paying the bill.

Catrina @ 24 Hours Layover : Stopped at customs in New Zealand

One of my worst travel experiences was getting stopped at border control in New Zealand by the sniffer dogs! I was just doing a quick trip over to New Zealand from Australia, and so had packed my handbag in a rush without emptying it first. Both New Zealand and Australia are very strict about what food products are allowed into the country, but when I was asked if I had anything to declare for customs, I said no as I believed I wasn’t carrying anything I needed to declare. Just as I was walking away, the sniffer dog came bouncing towards me and that’s when I instantly remembered. There was a handful of dog biscuits at the bottom of my handbag from when I had walked the dog that I finished  house sitting  that morning!!

I should have declared the dog biscuits but completely forgot they were there, and burst into tears as the drugs squad came towards me. I instantly told them about the dog biscuits and that I honestly forgot they were there. They didn’t look very impressed, but they could see I was very remorseful and that I understood how serious it was. Being a Flight Attendant I thankfully managed to talk my way out of getting fined a huge amount, but what an ordeal! Always always empty out your bags before you pack for your holidays so you know what you’re bringing with you!

Kristine @ Wanderlust Designers : Scammed in Milan, Italy

The first trip I planned by myself was to Milan, Italy, in 2014 with my friend. I knew nothing about  planning trips . I had no idea how much it costs to go somewhere, where to look up what to see and do, – or that there are scams of which you should be aware. And we were on an  extreme  budget. We were two students with barely any money (200 euros for the two of us for a week of travelling!), so we couch-surfed and ate basically only McDonalds and stuff that we had packed (instant noodles, anyone?). So, when we went to the Duomo and the square in the wee hours of the morning, I didn’t expect anything to go wrong – since I didn’t know anything about common tourist scams.

We were taking pictures of the Duomo and the pigeons there, just having fun, when two guys approached us. They said – would you like us to take pictures of you with the pigeons? And then one just took my hand and put some seeds in it, while the other took my friend’s (expensive) camera and started taking photos. After, they just asked us for money. We were confused and just gave them some coins. They said, no, more! Since it was morning in February, there were barely any people on the square beside us. So we gave them like 30 euros just to get the camera back. It was really terrifying. But lesson learnt – read up on common tourist scams when going somewhere.

Melissa @ My Beautiful Passport : Scammed in Panama City

One of my worst travel experiences was when my partner and I were scammed money while waiting at a bus station in Panama. It was early in the morning, and we were waiting at Albrook Mall Bus Station for the first bus out to head to El Valle from Panama City . A man approached us and we started to chat. He told us about how he was an American stationed in Honduras and Panama, and his family was going on a cruise along the Panama Canal and he wanted to surprise them. He needed money to buy his ticket and he would meet us at the airport when we were leaving to pay us back. We were hesitant at first but after a while more chatting with him, his story seemed reasonable so we trusted him and we weren’t hurting on our travel budget, and agreed to lend him $200 USD through PayPal. 

We went on with our trip keeping positive, and only when he didn’t show up at the airport and never tried to contact us via email, we learned he wasn’t honest and we tried to report it to the police but it was too late. We left and learned not to trust everyone even though we wanted to. We no longer give money to help strangers when they give us stories, but we are happy to buy people food to help.

Soumya @ Stories by Soumya : Passport stolen in Venice, Italy

After completing an exciting trip in  Southern Italy , my husband and I had just alighted at the Venice Mestre Train Station. We were eager to get started with the canals and gondolas of Venice. But alas, fate had some other plans for us and we had one of our worst travel experiences! When we got to the city center, I realized I no longer had our passports. I had carefully put them in a wallet and the wallet in my backpack but could no longer find them. We had taken a crowded bus from the train station to the center. So, that was where I guess I had lost them.

There was no way to be sure. So, we followed our trail all the way back to the station and everywhere else we had been, even the toilets. But the passports were nowhere to be found. After hours of searching, we decided to register a police complaint at the station, gathered a copy of it, and headed to the Indian Consulate in Milan where they issued us a temporary, hand-written passport. Since my husband and I were working in the Middle East then, we had to wait a couple more weeks to get our work visas. That meant more embassy visits and much more contact digging.

This was a long, no-end-in-sight process but it made me appreciate life so much more. Eventually, we did not get the work visas (had to come back to India and get them done) but had two extra weeks to spend in Rome. That meant we could see all the hidden gems in and around the Italian capital. Sometimes, things go wrong. But it’s important to go with the flow and enjoy life as it comes.

Corritta Lewis @ It’s A Family Thing : Racism in China

One of our worst travel experiences as a traveler was experiencing severe racism in Beijing, China. In 2019 my family and I were excited for our first big international trip. This time would be different because we were traveling with our nearly five-and-a-half-month-old baby at the time. It was to be his first long haul flight, so we were both nervous and excited for the upcoming adventure. After a perfect flight, and some serious jetlag we started exploring the city. During our time in Beijing many people were fascinated by us, which we expected as two Black women with a Korean baby. Since our son is biracial and as a baby looked very Asian, we knew there would be stares, but had no idea we’d be bombarded for pictures constantly. Although it was a little annoying, it wasn’t a huge deal. We understand people’s curiosity, so we weren’t upset.

We had several fun-filled days of exploration, but in the middle of our trip we experienced some hateful actions. While trying to get a cab with our baby back to the hotel, several cab drivers refused to pick us up from a museum. English isn’t widely spoken in China, but each one of them said “No. You Black. You Black” and proceeded to drive away. The museum was closed, and it was starting to get dark, so after nearly an hour, we finally got in contact with the hotel for them to send a car to pick us up. We shrugged this off as just an unfortunate experience, but the following day we tried to eat at several restaurants, and we were told “our kind” weren’t welcome. It was so demoralizing. We’d never experienced such consistent overt racism. Luckily, we found a family-owned restaurant with the sweetest ladies that embraced us and our little one. They were so welcoming, and even took the time to show us how to make dumplings.

We didn’t allow this experience to run our time in China. It’s been on our bucket list since I was a kid, and having the opportunity to walk on The Great Wall of China was a dream come true. Those moments didn’t define our time in Beijing. The lasting memory of fulfilling a lifelong dream is what comes to mind when we think of our time in China.

Mansoureh @ Travel with Mansoureh : Scammed by Police in Mexico

Travelling through the  Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico , we had an unsettling encounter that left us shaken. While we were driving from Bacalar in the south to Valladolid, we went through the town called Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Just as we were about to exit the town, a police officer on a motorcycle flagged us down, claiming that I had exceeded the speed limit. Yet, I knew with certainty that this wasn’t the case; my speedometer read a mere 28 km/h, and a road sign had clearly indicated a 40 km/h speed limit. Plus, the officer didn’t have any device or proof of my speed. I took out my driving license from my wallet, where I kept my cash. When the officer saw my money, insisted on a staggering fine of 3600 pesos and requested the confiscation of my license for three days, fully aware that we wouldn’t agree to that, so he suggested an alternative: a cash payment directly to him.

I tried to keep 200 pesos, but he saw my money and told me “TODOS”, meaning he wanted every last peso. I watched helplessly as he pocketed 1100 pesos, effectively robbing us. This encounter left me deeply frustrated with myself for allowing this injustice to occur, and I wished I had reacted differently.  It was a hard-learned lesson – never again will I keep my license in my wallet or leave cash in plain sight while driving in Mexico.

Tamara Williams @ My Elated Odyssey : Hit and Run Accident in Berat, Albania

During a trip to Albania, where my friend and I had arrived in  Berat from Tirana , we were so excited to see a new city! Before exploring, we decided to grab something to eat and were soon met with an unfortunate event. As my friend had the right of way crossing the street, a car was not paying attention and hit her! To make matters worse, as witnesses were shocked and gasping, the equally shocked driver did nothing and drove past without checking on my friend. There were better ways to start an adventure in a new place! Thankfully, after a trip to the hospital, my friend was confirmed to only have a bruise on her hip. The local witnesses were also very helpful in lending a hand and ensuring she was okay.

One crucial thing we noted about Albania is that the drivers often ignore the road rules. You must elevate your senses as a driver and a pedestrian in the country. After that ordeal, we ensured that even with a crosswalk, the drivers stopped with no intention of advancing further. This was definitely one of our worst travel experiences but thankfully, we had no further automobile incidents for the rest of our trip!

Bernard Tan : The infamous Thai gem scam

I was approached by a ‘friendly’ Thai guy claiming to have worked as a teacher in Singapore, while navigating myself in Bangkok. He had mentioned that there is a temple that is opened today only and we should visit it. He stopped a tuk-tuk by the road and negotiated the price to 20 Baht. The tuk-tuk brought us to the lucky Buddha temple, at the temple we met some Thais that initiated a chat with us and ask us to head to the Thai export center. While at the Thai export center, we purchased some small blue sapphire, and it cost us about SGD 70 after discount. The gems that we bought were worthless. We also gave the tuk-tuk more than the 20 baht that was expected from us! We were considered lucky, as others have been scammed thousands of dollars but this was definitely one of our worst travel experiences.

Anne Slater-Brooks @ From Miles To Smiles :  Narrowly avoiding a riot in Tunis

The beachfront killings just a few days earlier seem to have angered the police as they systematically chase down pop up stalls, unleashing ferocious blows on those in their way, with no regard for age, sex or circumstance. We see elderly ladies thrown to the ground and trampled in the melee, pregnant women pushed aside and the growing panic of the more vulnerable.

I’m oblivious to my husband’s unease so intent am I on taking everything in, unfamiliar stores, scents of incense, street food and garbage, the occasional glimpse of a whitewashed architectural gem beckoning to me, until suddenly he grabs me and urges me to run in what was one of our worst travel experiences. ‘What?’ ‘Why?’ I shriek to no avail as he drags me away from an oncoming surge of people suddenly heading furiously in our direction. We dash around a corner, flip flops slapping the floor, adrenaline pumping as we fend off bodies jostling us. The panic is electric, as though a stray spark could ignite some unthinkable violence like a scene from Lord of the Rings.

We come to a stop in an oasis of calm where my ashen husband fills me in on events which I completely failed to witness. It seems we narrowly managed to avoid becoming embroiled in a Tunisian riot , gangs throwing bricks at a police cavalcade ahead, and locals of all age and race trying desperately to get away. Shaken we leave to return to the sanctuary of our hotel unharmed but a little more aware of how quickly things can get out of hand!

Read more Anne’s journey and read her precious travel tips at  TravelTheGlobe4Less .  Follow her travels on Facebook   and Twitter

Tamshuk @ That Indian Couple : Debit card cloned, Snakebite and Severe sickness in Thailand

I had set off for my travels in mid-June with a concrete plans and finances for the next 5 months. But today, I am back home in India as I write this post thinking about the mishaps I had in Thailand , especially Bangkok. On my first three days in Bangkok , my debit card got cloned and I lost more than 90% of my money  to an anonymous cash withdrawal with my card details. This I realized on the day I was leaving for Chiang Mai . Till today I am struggling to get any portion of that lost money back from any of the two banks.

Chiang Mai was really nice to me though with some great food at the night markets, lovely friends and those beautiful temples. Oh, I got bit by a snake right when I jumped into the river after a white-water rafting session. The availability of a snakebite kit saved any further “burns” for me. But the final blow came when I made another four day run to Bangkok to get myself a social visa for Indonesia – this, after I had spent a month in Indonesia using the Visa exemption facility. Already having an on and off cold, I landed in Bangkok with plans to fly off to Jakarta after four days. But, as destiny had other plans, I got sick real bad and at the end of day four when I was at the airport to fly off, I was declared “ Not fit to fly ” by the airport medical team. So, there ended my travel plans for now and I flew back to India !! This was definitely one of my worst travel experiences ever.

The purpose of this post is to highlight the fact that not all goes well when we are traveling. Long-term or even usual vacations always have the possibilities of being hit by unfortunate incidents. With the joy of traveling and visiting different places, comes the risk of getting unintentionally involved in bad situations. Having said that, will we stop traveling? Not at all.

42 comments

Oh god!! These kinds of stories are what make people doubt if they should travel. It is good to share them so people know what to be aware of while traveling.

How did they get your debit card details, did you ever figure that out??

Oh my! I read all of these stories and realize that all of our travel mishaps are NO where near as intense as these. WHEW! These are HORRIBLE! 🙁

I think, travels going wrong is a part of traveling and learning and every traveler goes through some mishap. I’ve been through it by not getting my visa, being mugged in turkey and stuff. But this yet doesn’t stop us from traveling. It’s a sad thing that happen to you with your debit card, these scams are so unfortunate.

Oh wow, I’ve heard and met people who fell for the gem scam in Thailand – apparently it’s super common!

Horrible about the violence in Tunisia 🙁

Thanks for sharing these! It is always good to be aware of possible things that can go wrong during one’s travels, especially scams. Tamz, we had a similar experience when we were in Naples, Italy. Instead of our debit card, our credit card was cloned. So many unauthorized purchases! Lucky for us, all charges were reversed on our card. A sincere good luck in getting your money back soon!

Wow that wasn’t the best experience you can hope for when travelling! Fortunately nothing has ever gone too wrong for me while on holidays. Probably the worst one was a stomach bug we caught in Turkey that had us in bed for most of our holidays, but at least it wasn’t anything too serious!

I had similar export scams run on me when I went to India. It happened everywhere I went in the country. Usually it was rugs and stonework. Maybe “scam” is too harsh of a word for what I experienced, as much as “forced factory tour and sales pitch” at the end of every tour.. there was no way around it. The craftsmen were brilliant sales people and really put on the hard sale. I quickly just came up with my narrative (which has the benefit of also being mostly true) that I live out of a backpack, have a strict 1-in-1-out policy on anything I buy and that, no, I do not have a home address where the products can be mailed. They usually moved to argue that I should buy some nice things for the lovely ladies in my life.. I would say that there were none, so then they would suggest to buy my mom a gift, and that is when I would lie and say she was dead (sorry mom!) but that also usually ended the negotiations and I was allowed to leave without having made a purchase.

All these experiences were awful. However, there is a silver lining to the stories as well. Telling them later would be so entertaining. Of course, there is a huge difference between losing most of your money (I am so sorry that it happened to you :(. Hopefully, you might still be able to recover your losses? ) and having a lesson learned from dealing with unscrupulous “guide” in Bangkok.

How terrible. Yes, the incidents go to show how vulnerable sometimes you are and how travel can sometimes go wrong. Thanks for sharing these for these are some learnings for all of us.

These stories make you realise how careful you do need to be whilst travelling but luckily there are more good stories than bad. And even though these things can be traumatic at the time it gives you a story to tell. Safe travels !!

wherever we go ought to be careful because there are bad people around us. do not be too trusting with new people you know.

Every traveler has at least a near miss with some disaster eventually. We should all remember that it happens to all of us, including the scams that make us feel stupid.

Gosh, those are crazy incidents! It is so important to research a destination and plan accordingly, especially if the destination is out of your comfort zone. I am glad you all are okay in the end!

Thank you for sharing a post on a topic that may be harder to talk about! Lots of people only mention when things go right – but it’s just as important to plan for contingencies 🙂

All we tourist want to do is travel and explore. It sucks that the natives are scamming tourist.

Every time I leave for a trip I really hope everything will go well. It would be a real nightmare instead!

These stories are terrible! Having a debit card cloned is my worst nightmare! I don’t know what I’d do if I lost all my money when I was traveling. For me, my worst travel story was getting caught in a city on lock down (Munich) because a shooter was on the loose.

whoa, that can be a scary situation too.

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Highlights and Low-lights: My Best and Worst Travel Experiences in 2021

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From my many travel experiences in 2021, some stick out more than others — for bad and for good. In this post, let’s take a look back at the best and the worst of traveling this year.

My Best Travel Experiences of 2021

I spent 141 nights in hotels in 2021 , and some of those hotels were really awesome. However, my absolute favorite hotel of the year goes to the Hilton Cabo Verde Sal Resort. In my review , I said it may be my new favorite hotel. That still stands. I loved that hotel.

Cabo Verde is an island nation off the west coast of Africa and is connected to not only western African nations but also several countries in Europe, so flights aren’t too difficult.

Best New Place 

Among the places I visited for the first time in 2021, it’s not even close. Banff National Park and the surrounding area in Canada is just as good as the pictures make it look. My wife and I rented an RV for a few days and loved the experience. Definitely hope to do this again some day.

Best Flight

My favorite flight isn’t even close. I loved flying with Finnair from Helsinki to New York on their A350. You can read my gushing review here . The crew? Awesome. Experience? Phenomenal. Food? Stupendous.

Best Experience

I crossed off a few bucket list items this year, but one stands out above others. It’s the item I had to cancel twice previously, and it was also high on my wife’s list. We took a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, Turkey , and it was everything we dreamed it would be. Probably even better than that.

My Worst Travel Experiences of 2021

Worst hotel.

Hands-down, the worst hotel crossed off all the boxes: rude staff, terrible breakfast, uncomfortable bed, and bad wifi. The only thing it didn’t have was bugs…thankfully. This dubious award for my worst hotel in 2021 goes to the Hotel Imperio in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Don’t stay there.

Worst New Place 

I guess “worst” is unfair, but “just wasn’t for me” could be more fitting. I just didn’t enjoy Niamey, the capital of Niger. It was unbelievably hot, there’s not much to see or do here as a tourist, and it’s one of those places where you feel like “I’ve seen everything” after half a day. Even TripAdvisor doesn’t have much for Niamey . 2 days there was more than sufficient. It just wasn’t for me.

Worst Flight

This is an easy one. My flight into Zambia. I had the window seat, a mom on the aisle, and a small baby in the middle seat between us. That baby cried for the entire 4 hours and then vomited (a lot!) on my shoes when we were coming in for the landing. Ew. This made it into my “worst of the month” for September , and I think it qualifies as the worst of the year, also.

Worst Experience

Nothing tops spending a few days in a hospital in a foreign country where you wonder if you’re dying, plus there’s a language barrier. I got malaria in Tanzania back in January , and this was definitely my worst experience of 2021–travel or otherwise.

Final Thoughts

I had some high highs and low lows this year. These are the best and the worst of my travel experiences from 2021 — flights, places visited, hotels, and experiences.

What are your best and worst travel experiences from 2021? Let me know!

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How was Guinea-Bissau? I was very interested in going there. (Apologies if I missed a trip report about it.)

Audrey – it was just OK. Not amazing. I’ve heard that if you get out of Bissau and see nature it can be more interesting. I will note that if you don’t speak Portuguese it could be a really, really frustrating visit. Even speaking fluent Portuguese, the creole-Portuguese they spoke in Bissau was often difficult for me.

Overall, seems like a pretty crappy year for you, especially getting malaria and going to an African hospital. Hope you got good treatment and are fully recovered and won’t have any relapses. Here’s to a better year next year with no hospitalizations!

Robert – The year only went up from, since that was in early January 2021. I wound up having some awesome highlights in the year–more good than bad.

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Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana Hotel Review 2023- Stunning Service

Over the top guide to visiting new orleans – where to eat, sleep & have so much fun in the big easy, grand hyatt baha mar hotel review 2023 – does it live up to its reputation from the past, springtime in the “city nestled in a garden” – guide to visiting charleston, south carolina.

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The Best and Worst Travel Experiences of a Full-Time Traveler

Travel is a complex thing. Sometimes adventures aren’t always fun. But we believe even the worst travel experiences make for great stories!

Where to even start with this one? When I first decided to write this article, I was overly excited about it, but it has gone through a few phases since then. Initially, the memories rushed in, and I thought it would be impossible to condense 13 years of my best and worst travel experiences into something readable. Then, it morphed into a period where I went blank, and I couldn’t think of a single valuable story to tell. In short, it has been an introspective, and slightly emotional, journey to produce this one. I hope this personal list of interesting events gives you some smiles and a few pauses for thought.

Every adventure is a story to remember!

As this article shows, sometimes travel takes you to extremes. But that’s what life’s about, right? Experiencing every sensation and seeing every sight, picking up a mountain of stories along the way. Here at Let’s Roam, we’re all about life’s adventures. We work hard (and play hard) to bring you some of the best activities out there. Our hilarious scavenger hunts are world-renowned! We also offer cool bar crawls to keep you merry, scary ghost tours to keep you spooky, and awesome art walks to keep you cultured. What are you waiting for? Download the app and get this story started !

Making the Best Memories

A life of travel affords an education that nothing else can offer. However, full-time travel is different than taking short vacations. While other travel lists tout the must-visit sites of Rome, Dubai, and the Maldives, big attractions aren’t the things that stick with you over the years. There are a few adrenaline activities on this list, but many of my treasured memories aren’t at a major site or checking off a bucket list item.

I don’t travel with a full itinerary of tourist attractions. I am mostly just living. I travel slowly, leaving room for the unexpected. It’s where the magic happens! Although, I am still going to book that shark diving tour in Cape Town, South Africa, and hang out with the penguins in Antarctica! Oh… and I want to see those weird Moai heads on Easter Island! That’s a given. Anyway, the point is many of my memorable experiences are just very normal-seeming things, happy moments revolving around special people I have met, which I will attempt to explain in a way that is at least interesting to read.

How This Whole Thing Started

The first time I got on a plane was for a mission trip to Ethiopia in my early twenties. From that point, wanderlust took over. My husband and I vacationed in the spring, did an international service project for the full summer, and went on an annual mother-daughter trip for a couple of weeks in the fall. After years of this pattern, we decided to leave our full-time jobs and make a career out of what we loved. For the last 2.5 years, we have been total nomads.

I would like to note that I have been extremely blessed in my travel experiences, and nothing truly horrendous has ever happened to me . I count myself very fortunate. Some of these experiences, even the bad ones, are light-hearted and funny. Others are deeply personal and heavy, so there’s your warning. They are the truth of the life I have led, a life that I can honestly say, I am very grateful for.

My Best and Worse Travel Experiences

Best: the highest bungee jump in central america.

While exploring Costa Rica on an epic road trip, I decided to introduce my husband to the thrill of bungee jumping. We headed for the cloud forest. Monteverde Extremo Park has a unique setup, in that you plummet off of a moving platform. The platform hovers 450 feet above a lush canyon, and the fall is an adrenaline-packed 265-foot drop.

My hiking boots were too tall for the bungee strap to attach appropriately, so I had to go barefoot, which added an extra element of fear, as it felt like my feet were going to slip out the entire time! It was over in seconds, but what a rush!

Worst: Horrors of War

We were exploring Finland when the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. We knew instantly that we had to do something. We didn’t know what aid we could offer, but we found an American crisis relief company that was heading into the area, and after a week hulled up in a hostel in Estonia doing training, we joined them in Poland. After a few weeks in Western Ukraine, we took over leadership of the revolving teams and moved to the capital of Kyiv. Our days were spent delivering food, arranging transport for escaping refugees, and assessing needs, and our nights were spent under constant air raid sirens.

My job was to organize itineraries for volunteers, maintain the safety of my teams, and procure goods for refugees and soldiers. My husband was leading smaller splinter teams into hot zones to deliver goods and procure vehicles for the team, so we were often separated. While we met the best of humanity throughout our time in Ukraine, we also saw the worst of what we are capable of. I held women who were grieving the loss of their soldier sons. I treated injuries from bullet wounds in babushkas. I consulted with pastors turned refugee center directors, and wives turned war brokers. Everyone was operating under the radar, using skills and connections to get supplies to the front lines, while caring for those who had fled.

We saw entire villages leveled, people homeless and afraid, and women and children abandoned. It was an impossible situation, every second a new tragedy to take in. Then, there were the stories of the atrocities being committed in the hot zones. I won’t go into details there, but trust me when I tell you that no horror movie has depravity equal to what some of these people endured. Ukraine was a life-changing experience, and one of my most difficult.

Best: Strength of the Human Spirit

Now that we are all depressed, let me acknowledge the silver lining of Ukraine. The strength of the human spirit, the capacity for people to serve others when their whole world is falling apart, and the compassion I saw will stick with me as long as the atrocities. I met countless ordinary humans, from all over the world, who set aside their normal lives to help. We were all operating outside of our areas of expertise and comfort, but we were getting it done together!

One dear soul, that I think about daily, was a gentleman we will call Dmitry. While delivering food to a decimated village, I walked through a tiny, green, wooden gate into the homestead of an elderly couple. It was there I first saw him, the 76-year-old grandfather of our guide (we needed local guides to ensure we didn’t wander into areas that hadn’t been swept for mines yet). Dmitry was using an ancient shovel, with a broken handle, to clear a pile of rubble from his damaged home. It was heartbreaking. He escorted us indoors to meet his visibly traumatized wife. I stood in awe, in the center of their small living room, bullet holes and shrapnel completely encircling me. I split our teams, sending half to finish our food delivery, and the rest of us spent the afternoon helping Dmitry clear the rubble.

This man, despite all that had happened to him, was the epitome of joy! You could tell he had lived a rough life, and this war was just another dent in the armor. He introduced himself, to my companions, as Arnold Schwarzenegger, then challenged them to a brick-lifting competition. As he pulled his three-sided, broken wagon around the corner, he turned to us and said, “I’ll be back.” We all lost it! He recited a sonnet for us about the moon, and he danced as he outworked us all. At one point, we were scolded for throwing away his “beautiful bricks.” He pointed to the gigantic hole in his storage building and said “I still have work to do, you know.” His resilience was awe-inspiring.

As we hugged him to leave, he asked the translator a question, before turning to us and spouting in broken English, “thank you-best first responders.” He closed the van door… and we all cried. His gentle and vibrant spirit reminded us all that life goes on, and that we still had work to do!

Worst: Caught in a Riot

A couple of years after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, we were working with a mission in the village of Titanyen for the summer. Haiti was, at the time, in chaos (little did we know it would only get much worse over the years). Cholera was running rampant through tent cities. Riots were breaking out over the lack of electricity and the failure of the government to offer appropriate aid.

One of the primary forms of civil protest was to block major highways, usually with a series of barricades composed of burning tires. While traveling home from a nearby village one day, we got stopped between barricades. With fire raging on both sides of us, we heard distant gunshots, and things got really serious as a civilian, armed with a giant machine gun boarded our bus. As we all held our breath, he asked our driver a few questions and lowered his weapon. He faced us, in what turned out to be an unexpectedly humorous moment, and said “This has nothing to do with you white people. Go home.” We had to chuckle as we caught our breath, said “thank you,” and proceeded home as quickly as possible!

Best: Albanian Birthday Celebration

In my travels around the world, The Albanian people are some of the most vibrant and hospitable I have ever encountered. A tour around Albania is a series of raki-drinking invitations, intimate conversations, and quality time. One evening we were walking along the beach in Ksamil, and we heard a loud party. As we paused to take a quick look, a very exuberant man waved us in to join. Turns out, it was the celebration of his son’s first birthday!

The whole family was there, and they had rented out an entire restaurant. They sat us down for a full steak dinner and drinks. The hospitality was remarkable. We were just strangers walking down the street, and they turned us into honored guests. They invited us to dance and taught us their traditional steps, which I’m sure we butchered. We spent the whole evening eating, dancing, and celebrating the life of little Fadmir. It was one for the books!

Worst: Haitian Hell-Hole Orphanage

On an earlier short trip to Haiti, my team was sent to assess needs in a local orphanage. When we arrived, the children were all sitting around on a concrete floor, in various stages of undress. The place was filthy, and the children were starving. Looking for anything that could help, I foolishly pulled out a Nutri-Grain bar from my bag. That was the moment when I saw two toddlers turn into the equivalent of ravaging beasts, fighting over a piece of meat. Two, innocent children, clamoring over the bits of an oatmeal bar. It’s one of those moments in my life that instantly changed me.

Best: Witnessing an Active Volcano

Volcanoes are one of nature’s most mesmerizing shows. One of the most active volcanoes in the world is Volcan de Fuego, outside of Antigua, Guatemala. While it’s a tough hike up neighboring Volcano Acatenango, this day trip was worth every painful step!

Once we reached the campsite, we settled into our mountainside tent and waited for the darkness of the night. At about 3 am, our guide opened our tent and excitedly called us to witness the spectacle. We could feel the rumble of the earth, and hear the roaring and the cheers of people hidden all over the mountainside. It was one of those magical moments that makes you realize how amazing our planet is. We ended the night with a hike to the peak to watch the sunrise over the volcanoes of Guatemala, and it was nothing short of a spiritual experience.

Worst: Turkish Rug Scam

Traveling in certain cities can be a real pain in the butt when it comes to tourist hassling. Istanbul is one of those places. We were walking along, minding our own business when a friendly local stopped to have a conversation. Now, normally, we are all about interaction with locals, but we want it to be genuine, and in touristy hot spots, it rarely is. Knowing this, we said “hello,” and kept on walking. The next one came up, then the next one. They just want to sell you something, but we evaded them all.

The next day, we were looking for a particular coffee shop. A local asked if we were lost and offered to take us to his favorite coffee shop. It was a public area, and there was no danger, so we went. Sure enough, we landed in his family’s rug shop. Trying to be polite, we accepted a cup of tea, as they showed us a few rugs. We finally managed to get out of there, convincing them that we live in a backpack and do not need rugs. It’s a slimy feeling to be lied to and taken advantage of just because you’re a foreigner.

The next day, it happened again! This time, we went with the flow. Knowing exactly where we were going, we gladly obliged. We drank about five glasses of chai, ate some cookies, and allowed them to unfold and pull down rug after rug, feigning interest. We then got up and walked out. When they approached us, we called the young man out for his lie and left. Maybe it was wrong, but we were so over it by that point.

Best: Learning the Bag Pipes

While traveling through Scotland, we decided to do a housesitting job in Edinburgh. The family was amazing. We watched their lovely home and pooch for a few weeks, while they were on holiday, and then we headed out for a road trip around Scotland. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away two days into the trip, and we had to turn back.

This incredible family took us in, and to cheer me up, they brought out the bagpipes. I must admit, it was incredibly humorous. My husband and I attempted to play, which is hard by the way, and we talked and laughed our way into the wee morning hours. It was one of those experiences that is nothing outstanding from the outside, but it was a small act of human kindness that was just what I needed at the time.

Worst: Ethiopian Girls’ Home

In the summer of 2009, we were working in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This whole trip was hard as we served in a leprosy hospital and a children’s AIDS hospital, but one day stands out above the rest. We went to visit a girls’ orphanage with the intent of having a girly day. We brought makeup, fingernail polish, and new shoes for the girls. When we were about to start painting fingernails and putting on makeup, a teenager pulled my friend aside and said “please don’t.”

We immediately stopped what we were doing and said, “Okay. We will, but may we ask why?” She lowered her head and stated solemnly, “you’re  only making them more valuable.” As the realization of what she meant flooded over us, so did a feeling of utter despair. As we exited the gate that night, local men were lining up around the corner, verifying the nightmare we had suspected. The headmistress was selling them. I’ve never felt so helpless.

Best: Caving by Candlelight

Semuc Champey National Park is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Deep in the Guatemalan jungle, this paradise is reached via a long bus ride from the nearest city, followed by a winding trek, in the back of a local’s truck to a remote mountain village. Once we arrived, we took a hike to the lookout for a view of the most stunning series of natural pools on earth, but that wasn’t the best part.

We crossed the river to private property, where the owner ran a natural adventure park of sorts. A Mayan guide then took us on the adventure of a lifetime! Using some local plants, he proceeded to paint our faces with “war paint,” giggling the entire time, as he transformed my husband into a jaguar. He then handed us a small wax candle and lit it. We entered a water-filled cave system that was nothing like any experience we have ever had. There were no safety harnesses, no protective equipment, and no safety waivers.

By rope, we crossed deep water pools, rappelled up a waterfall, and slid down a natural water slide, all with nothing but the glow of candlelight. The trip ended with a 3-story jump off an internal bluff into total darkness. Trusting our guide, we barrelled off into the abyss… and thankfully, just as he said, there was a deep body of water underneath! It was one of those unexpected exhilarating moments that was a real adventure!

Worst: Voodoo Village

I hesitate to include this one. It’s devastating, but it does have a happy ending. On one of my stints in Haiti, I went with a team to assess the needs of a new tent village. You never know what you’re going to get on these scouting trips, so we took an experienced team, but I never expected this.

A few minutes into the visit, one of my team members came expressing concern for a little girl. She had witnessed a grown man touch her inappropriately. I found the child. Picked her up and took her to the side. She was young, probably around 3 or 4. Her little body was covered in injuries that I won’t describe, but just know they weren’t normal for preschooler injuries.

We were later informed that there’s a rare practice in some voodoo sects where a scapegoat is chosen. Basically, in exchange for everyone else living safely, one child is turned over to the abuses of the community. That is what had happened to this little one.

We protected her the rest of the day and took plenty of photos for identification. She had an infectious giggle, and she was obsessed with my head of red, curly hair. We did have to leave her that evening, but we were able to get her information to authorities who evacuated her soon after, and, to my knowledge, she was able to grow up safe and protected.

Best: Ice Hut Camping

While visiting Finland, we got the opportunity to spend an evening in a traditional ice hut in Lapland. Even the bed was made of ice. We slept on a giant reindeer fur, in temperatures of -9C. The next morning, we awoke with a silly feeling of accomplishment. I mean, how many people get to sleep in an ice hut?

We celebrated by joining a dog-sledding expedition, hunting for the northern lights, and completing the Finnish sauna challenge (a visit to the sauna followed immediately by a roll in the nearest snowbank). It was a challenging, but fun, 24 hours!

Worst: The Incident With the Crane

In 2021, we rented an apartment in Istanbul for a couple of months. One morning, we were sleeping and were suddenly awakened by a massive crash, a roaring noise, and the shaking of our entire apartment building. The fright was real, as we were sure that it was a bomb. Our apartment had a large wall of windows, so we pulled back the curtains, hesitantly, to see what was going on.

It wasn’t a bomb. It was a giant construction crane. The mosque behind us was undergoing significant renovation. The operator had been lifting a large stack of thick marble squares over our apartment to the mosque behind us. The load was too heavy, and the crane wasn’t properly anchored. The entire truck had turned over in the street, causing the outstretched arm, and its heavy load, to tumble.

Luckily for us, it toppled just before the load reached us. The heavy marble somehow didn’t crash through our second-story bedroom ceiling, but hit the base of our building, just below our bed. If it would have fallen just half a second later, the load would have been directly over us and would have crushed us. It was a very shaky cup of coffee that morning!

Best: The Bravery of a Guilty Mom

She was guilt-ridden for leaving her new infant at home. She struggled through the entire trip, trying to find purpose and overcome her desire to hop the next flight home. She had paid for the trip before finding out she was pregnant. The baby was now 10 weeks old. She was pumping breast milk and asked if there was anyone to donate it to. There was a newborn in the next village that we had concerns about. The baby was a few days old and had already been to our clinic. The mother was a very young teenager and extremely ill-equipped. We sent the milk to them, but in a few days, this American asked to meet the baby.

When we arrived at the home, the child was listless on the bed, and the young mother was attempting to feed it rice. Just as we prepared to evacuate this child to the hospital, the American mother, crossed the room, picked up the child, and somehow roused it to feed from her own breast. It was weird, in a sense, but also miraculous.

After the child had its fill, this American mother of four, sat down with our female translator, and she spent the next 3 hours teaching this child-mother everything she knew about breastfeeding, child development, and raising babies. As we left that day, the woman turned and said, “the very reason I thought I wasn’t supposed to be here, is the only reason that I am here.” She saved that child’s life that day, and she is now a happy and healthy teenager. It was a heroic moment for a normal person, stepping outside their comfort zone, and saving the day. I’m glad I got to witness it.

Worst: Pamukkale

The famous white marble and bright blue waters of the pools of Pamukkale had been on my travel bucket list for a long time. Unfortunately, this was a case of “Instagram vs Reality” played out in real life. The sheer number of people was the first disappointment, but that happens at major sites, so we set out to find a quiet pool. Every second, some half-naked person was bumping into us while recording their sexy dance for Tik Tok. We had to duck the giant angel wings being used in a Victoria’s Secret-esc photo shoot, and try not to stare at a near-pornographic couples shoot next to us.

We have our own small Youtube channel and social media platforms, and I am not bashing the system. It is part of the travel world now, and we shoot at public sights too, but this was over the top! I’d never seen anything like it, and after 30 mins, we packed up and left because the natural beauty of this incredible place had been surpassed by the circus allowed to unfold there. It’s kind of sad.

Best: The Dublin Gentlemen

This was one of those rare occasions of pure chance that turned into an unforgettable evening. While strolling the streets of Dublin, we decided to tuck into a traditional-looking pub. It was a beautiful facility, well-renowned in the city, and a band of local musicians was playing in the corner. It wasn’t an organized gig, just talented people would come in off the streets, sit down, and pick up an instrument. If you played, you were welcome to participate.

After ordering a customary Jameson, we sat down, at the large mahogany bar, next to an elderly gentleman in a bowtie, snap cap, and cardigan. Firstly, he was adorable, and secondly, he exhibited that open kindness that the Irish are famous for. We began to talk about life and after about an hour, the leader of the band spotted him across the way. He said, “oh dear, I have been noticed. He will ask me to speak.” I chuckled, unsure what he meant, but as he predicted, the man soon approached.

After a long and poignant introduction, the band leader turned over the floor to our little friend, and he started a rousing rendition of a classic folk story. Turns out he was a rather well-known seanchaí, a bearer of ancient Irish history and lore. He transformed into another person for a few minutes, regaling us all most exuberantly. I was floored. It happened several more times during the evening, always to a raging round of applause. Between performances, he would retreat to his quiet corner with us, sharing the stories of his childhood in rural Ireland. To this day, we refer to him as our Irish grandpa.

Worst: The Bar Fight

This is another bad moment that ended up being funny. In 2020, we spent months traveling through Mexico. While hanging out in a wine bar in San Cristobal de las Casas, the man in the booth next to us became irate, screaming at some other person in the next room, who did not know him. It naturally drew our attention, and we turned to see what was happening. He then redirected his anger on my husband, screaming at him. My husband just smiled and looked away.

The man proceeded to get out of his booth and come to our table, cussing and screaming. He was very high on some sort of stimulant. My husband kept his smile and tried to keep the situation under control. I asked the man to leave, and he then began yelling at me. That’s when the smile left my husband’s face, and I prepared for a fight. About this time, some locals came rushing up, tackled the man, and threw him out of the establishment. We got free snacks out of the deal and a lot of apologies from sincere patrons, but I couldn’t help but notice his heartbroken girlfriend now in the booth alone. I went to sit with her and just hugged her. She was so embarrassed.

Later, we met them in the street, and she and I locked eyes in a nervous moment, not knowing what to expect. What happened was not at all what we feared. The man had come down off his high. He came over to us, apologized profusely, and then wrapped my husband in a full-frontal, bear hug. He then said, “God bless you,” and left us standing in the street, totally bewildered!

Best: Paragliding in Turkiye

After our near-death crane experience, the hubs and I joined a dear friend and took a road trip through Turkiye. We burned off some steam by, what else, barrelling full-speed off the side of a mountain. Oludeniz is one of the most beautiful beach towns in Turkiye and a famous place for taking to the skies. Our guides were excellent, the scenery was stunning, and it was just the adrenaline rush we needed. We followed it up with hot air ballooning in Cappadocia and exploring some of the ancient wonders of the world. It was a road trip full of amazing experiences, one after another!

Still More Memories to Make

I hope this article has inspired you to get out and explore this incredible planet we get to call home. Travel has offered me both devastating and rewarding experiences, and I could probably write another 5 pages, but I will spare you. In short, I’ve basked in the most fantastic sunrises, tasted the best food in the world, and pushed my body to its limits. I have gotten to take my mom rafting in Costa Rica, snorkeling in Hawaii, trekking in Italy, and adventuring in Spain, Belize, and Costa Rica. I’ve made life-long friendships in the Himalayas of Nepal and war-torn Ukraine. I’ve gotten to meet the best of humanity and share in their joys and their pains. It is a life that I treasure, and I’m not done yet!

This year’s adventures include exploring Angkor Wat in Cambodia, taking a motorcycle tour of Vietnam, and hanging with the locals in Thailand and Bali, Indonesia, so there are many more memories in the making!

As you probably noticed, the best part of travel for me is the people I meet! That includes the author of “How to Make Friends While Traveling,” my dear friend, Kristin. Check out her pointers for making the most of your next trip!

It’s a question I get quite often, and the answer is, “no, I don’t come from money.” Here is how I made it happen: “21 Clever and Creative Ways to Save Money for Travel”

Frequently Asked Questions

Common bucket lists include the Great Barrier Reef, Petra, or the Pyramids of Egypt, but avid travelers state that their best travel experiences revolve around the people they meet while exploring.

International travel offers some of the best experiences! Hike the glaciers of Iceland. Take a gondola through the canals of Venice, or trek the Inca Trail through Peru to Machu Picchu!

Fill your travel journal with experiences instead of attractions. The best things happen when you immerse yourself in culture. Don’t fill your itinerary completely. Leave room for the unexpected!

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Tell Us: What's Your Worst Travel Experience?

A bunch of Atlantic readers in this discussion group are exchanging their travel horror stories. (If you’d like to sharing your own, please send us a note: [email protected] .) A short anecdote from the group:

I caught bronchitis when I was in Germany for a business trip. Spent the plane ride home sitting next to a strange drunk man who kept talking at me. Intolerable Cruelty starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones was the in-flight movie. I wanted to die.

Another reader shares that sentiment:

I was stuck in the snowbound Omaha airport with a three year old, a chihuahua, and a small carryon bag, for TWO DAYS. That was the ninth circle of hell. I wanted to die.

This next reader nearly did, for real:

Peace Corps: On a bus in Guatemala. A group of three teens in MS-13 [ a notorious gang ] decide to rob our bus. Being the only American on the bus and having just gone to the bank, I took all the money I had hidden in my bra and put it in my pocket ready to be robbed. People would get shot if they tried to run, so I prepared to give everything and pulled my passport out of its hiding spot in my bag so I made sure they knew they were getting it. Then some dude decided to John Wayne and open fire on these robbers, which resulted in a firefight on a very crowded bus. I had actually been the next passenger to be robbed, so the perp standing next to me was actively shooting. I dove under the seat and stayed there until literally everyone else had gotten off the bus. Bonus trip: I got a lightly armored security escort back to the embassy.

This reader’s experience is much more relatable:

I travel for work, so I have A LOT of these stories. I have two that beat out all of the other minor upsets though:

1) I started a flight with a guy interrupting me while I was reading just so he could tell me that he “might grab my knee” because he’s “afraid of flying.” I replied, “the fuck you will.” Then he proceeded to vape for the entire flight. When I pointed out that it’s a federal crime to do that, he said he had really bad cravings. AND THEN, as he was deplaning, he hit his lady-friend square on her read end ... it was the cherry on top of a disturbing trip. 2) THE WORST was when I was flying from Chicago to Manchester last October. The man sitting next to me spread all over my seat, took off his shoes, AND unbuttoned his pants. And when I asked to get out to use the restroom, he suggested that I just “climb over my lap, baby.”

Another reader, Nick, also had a creepy encounter:

On a six-hour train ride in China, a man stared at me the entire fucking time. Like literally he didn’t move his eyes off me. I don’t know if that was worse than the time I was really sick on a transatlantic flight, but it was definitely the weirdest.

This next reader thinks back to Memorial Day weekend in the late ‘90s:

I’m living on Long Island and using what precious little vacation and holiday time I have to visit my LDR girlfriend in Rochester. I have my friend drop me off at JFK in the late afternoon with maybe an hour to spare before boarding (plenty of time, as this is pre-TSA). As I’m waiting, the delays start piling up on the info screen because of some freak storm over half of the country, though the local weather is fine. My flight gets delayed, of course. Over the next few hours, the delay gets pushed further and further back. Finally, it gets cancelled. But by then it’s way too late to call any of my friends to pick me up. So I can either spend the night in pre-renovated JFK, or take a two-hour train ride home so I can sleep in my own bed for a few hours before trying again in the morning. Both options suck, but I figure some sleep is better than none and head out to the train. Now we come to the actual bad part. I have to take a rail shuttle from the airport to the station, then take two different subway rides into Penn Station, where I can catch a LIRR train to take me home. The first ride is uneventful. On the second one, however, I’m joined by a couple of young women a few seats in front of me, a younger man who goes to the back, and another younger man who does not take a seat but quickly sets to trying to impress the two women. Also worth noting is that I’m the only person on board who isn’t black. The young hotshot starts sort-of-rapping about how tough and badass he is. The women seem unimpressed as far as I can tell, but really this whole time I’ve just been trying very hard to focus on the Robert Anton Wilson book I’m reading. Hotshot changes tactics and tries to impress them by provoking me into a fight. He gets in my face and taunts me for being in the wrong place or something, but I just shake my head and keep my eyes on my book. The train slows and starts to pull up to the next platform. He disappears behind me, and a few seconds later something hard hits me in the back of my head. At this point I’m exhausted, frustrated, and already very angry about the flight situation. I was running on fumes and adrenaline. So when I got hit, something in me just snapped. I remember folding the book and putting it down. Thoughts about my physical abilities versus his and the possibility that he may have a weapon immediately popped up. The angry animal part of my brain was in charge, though, so I disregarded them just as quickly. I stood up and turned around to face whatever this guy thought he was going to do to me. The doors are open and he is gone. At my feet is the small, depleted corn cob from a discarded KFC meal box. I wipe some bits of kernel from the back of my head and neck. The women and guy from the back all rush over to me to make sure I’m okay. After we’re all sure I’m fine, the guy says, “It’s too bad he ran off. I was going to hold him so you could kick his ass.”

My Ten Worst Travel Experiences

One of the things I most enjoy about travel is the thrill of the unexpected: that tiny ristorante in a sleepy Italian village that just happens to serve the perfect lemon risotto when you turn up, exhausted after cycling those steep Tuscan hills. Or the church in Lisbon which hides the most extraordinary cloisters you’ve ever seen.

I’d be the first to say that travel can give you some of the most life enhancing, exhilarating and joyful experiences of all. But sometimes the unexpected isn’t a pleasure but a pain. There are times when travel can be frustrating, overwhelming and even frightening. Sometimes it all goes horribly wrong. Flights get cancelled, everyone is ill or the hotel that looked so perfect on the website turns out to be the hotel from hell.

But it’s often the unexpected and the things that go wrong that make for the best stories so here are ten of my worst travel experiences.

Being threatened with deportation from Hawaii

When I flew to Hawaii to interview the model, Marie Helvin, for the Telegraph newspaper, I was feeling very pleased with myself. I’d proudly ticked the box on the US immigration form to state that I was in Hawaii for work. I wasn’t feeling quite so pleased with myself when I got to passport control and was told that they wouldn’t allow me to enter the country without a valid work permit. They threatened to put me on the next flight back to the UK – another 18 hours of flying time.

I eventually persuaded them to call my newspaper editor who somehow managed to smooth over the whole incident and I was finally allowed in.

Rodents in the bedroom

When a massive rat ran out of the toilets while I was in a restaurant in Mumbai I reacted in horror. My Indian friend just laughed at me, saying, “it’s only a bandicoot!” There was a mouse in our room when we were staying in the Himalayas – for me, this was far worse than the time when a monkey climbed through our bedroom window and ran off with our fruit. Then there was the rat which scurried around in the open-air bathroom of our bedroom in St Lucia – I didn’t sleep all night.

I’d rather have a lion padding outside my tent at night than a rodent.

Being ‘stalked’ by a police officer in Rome

So when an Italian number showed up again on my telephone the next day at work I chickened out. One of my colleagues spoke fluent Italian. I’m not sure what he said to him but he never called again.

Being constantly ill in India

I backpacked around India for six months and hoped to avoid the ‘Delhi Belly’ everyone warned me about. It was six weeks before I got my first stomach bug. I had diarrhoea, chronic stomach cramps and was drenched in sweat for hours at a time, all made worse by the fact that we were staying in hostels that cost only 50 pence a night so there was only ever a hole in the ground for a toilet.

After that I’d get a tummy bug every couple of weeks and exist on a diet of plain rice and yoghurt for a few days until it was gone. It didn’t spoil my experience of India – it just became part of it. But I did get very thin. I looked like a half-starved hippy by the time I finally made it back to England.

Forgetting my yellow fever certificate in Tanzania

I grabbed a pen and tried to copy the scribbles from my husband’s certificate. My hands were shaking when we finally reached the front of the line and I handed it over to the inspector. To my relief, he waved us through.

Being followed home in Paris

Just outside the door to my flat he grabbed my arm. I was so scared I couldn’t even scream but the strange gurgling sound I made alerted my flatmate and she opened the door. The man ran back downstairs. It felt like a lucky escape.

Falling over everywhere I travel

I am very clumsy. I’m the girl who had to have plasters applied to her knees before she went out to play because the teachers thought it would protect them from the inevitable tumble in the playground. Even now, I’m constantly tripping over. Every summer I arrive on holiday ready to bare my legs – they’re smooth, toned and exfoliated – and within the first couple of days I am guaranteed to fall over and have a nasty cut on my leg for the rest of the trip.

My boys’ abiding memory of the Acropolis is not of the extraordinary historic site but of their mother tripping over her flip-flops and having to be patched up in an ambulance parked nearby.

Having my passport and camera stolen in Calcutta

Turning up at the hotel from hell in Marrakesh

When we arrived at the riad we’d booked in Morocco we were all exhausted – we’d been up since 4am to catch our flight from the UK. The hotel, which had looked so promising in the photos, was in a terrible state. There had clearly been a party the night before and there was rubbish everywhere. Half an hour after our arrival we were still sat at a table with our luggage, being ignored by the few staff who were clearing up. Our boys, aged 5 and 7, were hungry and upset.

By the time the manager finally arrived we’d called other hotels to see if they had a room available. He started shouting at us when we explained we no longer wished to stay. We finally agreed to pay for one night. It wasn’t until he had taken our bank card that we realised he’d keyed the total amount for the week into the card machine rather than the night we’d agreed on. We refused to complete payment and he refused to give us our card back.

We eventually walked out, leaving him with the bank card and wheeling our suitcases and children behind us. We hailed a taxi and cancelled the card on our way to another hotel.

My suitcase not turning up in Turkey

So these are mine, what are some of your worst travel experiences?

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Oh god what horrible experiences D:

Thanks for commenting! Yes, pretty awful but I lived to tell the tale and can laugh about most of them now.

I love this post! And you’ve had some pretty rough experiences. I would have to say my worst would be my luggage not arriving in Switzerland, getting bullied by panhandlers in Milan, getting food poisoning in Florence and my husband getting food poisoning in the Dominican Republic. (Maybe, we should be more picky with the restaraunts we select.) 😂

Thank you so much! Food poisoning is the worst – I’ve actually been really lucky not to have it much. Touch wood! It’s awful being ill when you’re travelling because trying different foods is one of the things I really look forward to.

I loved this post! You truly have had some crazy travel experiences, but as you mentioned they make for great stories. Thanks for sharing your adventures and mishaps!

Thank you so much. Definitely crazy but memorable! At least it hasn’t stopped me travelling.

Such a fantastic honest post Clare. Traveling is never all roses. A particular low point for us was getting squashed on a train with thousands of tourists pushing and shoving our 2 year old twins while I had my purse stolen. This was on Italy’s Cinque Terre a place very few people associate with challenging times! I think because you have these experiences travelling you become more resilient and determined to pick yourself up and get on with having a great time. You also surprise yourself with how resourceful you can become in a moment of crisis. Plus, you have lots of great stories to share!

Thanks so much, Katy. It’s particularly upsetting when you see your own children getting pushed and shoved by other tourists – that’s awful. Travelling has definitely made me more resilient and resourceful in trying moments. It’s quite good to be forced out of your comfort zone – you realise what you’re capable of in ways you would never have realised if you’d stayed at home. And I do love telling the stories!

Wow, you’ve had more horrible travel experiences than the average person! I didn’t forget my yellow fever vaccination paperwork but I actually got yellow fever symptoms from the vaccination while in Kenya so that was not fun:) It is terrible to be sick in a place that is not comfortable and without a flush toilet.

Yellow Fever symptoms sounds absolutely awful! You definitely appreciate the home comforts more when you do get back, that’s for sure.

My god! I think that I would just give up travel if I had half these problems. The worst we have had was luggage that was late. And, a rental car company that tried to gouge us with a $15,000 repair bill after we had already returned to the States. Hassles and lawyers ensued.

I think your €15,000 bill and ensuing hassle and lawyers sounds just as bad, Arnie! I just hate unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy like that. As for mine, well I’ve lived to tell the tale and I’ll always keep travelling, that’s for sure!

Those are quite some stories! I have had my luggage go missing before and a few Delhi belly style experiences. Thankfully no scary men! And for me it’s cockroaches which I loathe *shudder* But it’s all part of the experience! Although I find it harder to adjust to things going wrong when my daughter is affected, I admit.

Far too many scary men in my travel stories in my opinion! Fortunately not for a good long time. I really don’t mind cockroaches which is probably just as well given that I lived with far too many of them in both Paris and India. I absolutely agree that it’s much harder adjusting to things going wrong when your children are involved. Fortunately most of my awful experiences happened long before the kids came along and they consider things like luggage going missing as an ‘adventure’ – unlike their mother!

Great post. Travelling always has its difficult and tough moments – it’s never always rosy that’s for sure. I got my passport, tickets and money stolen in India so know how that feels and was also terribly I’ll in Vietnam. Makes you stronger though!

Oh yes it definitely makes you stronger. And that has to be a good thing, right? Travelling has always made me realise I have more reserves and resilience than I ever thought I had. Thanks so much for commenting.

Those are some terrible experiences! The man following you really gave me the shudders! I’ve been terribly ill many times, missed flights, had luggage go missing, lost the key to our rental car and my husband was once stuck at the border in Mexico — but one of the worst we always remember was having someone following us flicking a knife and calling out down a long, empty back street in Jamaica. And also when I was on my own and had someone stalking me around the empty botanical gardens of Rio de Janeiro as it was starting to get dark. Thanks for sharing your experiences! #TheWeeklyPostcard

Oh my goodness, your Jamaica experience sounds really frightening – especially with a knife involved! Thank goodness you were with someone although clearly you were on your own in Rio which makes it all the worse. Thanks so much for commenting, Cindy.

We’ve all been there…talk about rats…yuck! I did a whole comic book leap from bed one morning when I woke up to one on my balcony in Italy one time!

Rats are so utterly awful, aren’t they? I could barely bring myself to choose a photo to go with the post!

Great post! I agree while they’re not fun going through them, travel mishaps make for great stories. That’s crazy about the policeman. I did a post called Roadtrip from Hell about not being able to get out of Florida, and having my wallet stolen in Spain was a terrible feeling too. Anytime you’re missing something in a foreign county is not fun!

Thanks so much, Corey! I must take a look at your Roadtrip from Hell piece although having just read your wonderfully enticing post about Captiva, I’m not so sure I’d be sad to stay longer in Florida!

Haha this is true! Actually I was secretly hoping we’d have no choice but to stay longer but my husband had to get back for something. Too funny.

I’ve read your post with a lot of interest, Clare, and I noticed a pattern: India was involved in most of your bad travel experiences. This is not accidental. You and I seem to have the same standards for cleanliness and the same phobias and India doesn’t fit our bill. There is a reason why I didn’t run arms open to this country so far, as much as I would love to experience the culture. Give me lions, give me bugs, snakes and whatever else, but if I see a rat of a mouse that place is compromised for ever in my mind and so is my travel experience.

Don’t let my experiences put you off visiting India, Anda. I was there for over six months and on a very tight budget so could therefore only expect the odd tummy bug and rodent. India really is the most extraordinary, vibrant, wonderful country and I’d absolutely love to visit again.

Wow, some truly scary stories!! Glad you somehow stayed safe through it all!! Found you through #TheWeeklyPostcard

I was nodding and smiling as I read through your list. So many of these mishaps we have all experienced. I find that these are the stories that we continue to retell for me years – is that the same for you?

Absolutely! I really enjoy telling the tales on our return – and several years later. It can be awful at the time but so much more fun in the retelling.

Oh my goodness! I don’t really know what’s worst but the one in Paris sounds traumatizing! :-/

The Paris story was definitely my most frightening travel experience, that’s for sure. I think I was really lucky escaping unharmed.

Good grief Clare, you’ve been through the travel wars! I can’t beat that but my worst experience was when Mum and my suitcases stayed in London whilst we travelled to Iceland for a long weekend. We had no cold weather gear so had to go out to buy fleeces and socks and knickers which was entertaining!! They finally turned up at the end of the second day so we managed but it was a good lesson so I always have a change of clothes or essentials in my hand luggage!! I hope this is the last of your bad luck!! Thanks for sharing!

I definitely learnt my lesson after my experience of losing my luggage. From now on I shall try and spread out my clothes among the other suitcases and try and pack at least one item of clothing in my hand luggage. I’m sure I’ll have the odd bad experience on my travels in the future but hopefully nothing as traumatic as some of the old stories!

some pretty bad experiences! luckily nothing worse happened in Paris!

I know! I feel quite lucky thinking about it now.

These are all pretty awful! The rodents…eeeeek!

Exactly my view!!

Being followed at night has got to be one of the worst and scariest experiences, it has happened to me once too. I’ve never had a mouse in my room and I probably wouldn’t mind it so much, but if I see a cockroach, I’m going to scream like a little girl, hahaha.

Haha! I’m a good friend of cockroaches but rodents of any kind give me the heebie-jeebies!

A brilliant idea for a post. I nodded along to some of them, rats in the bedroom (we also had a mouse in the bed in a posh villa), dodgy men, dodgy food, also ended up in hospital twice (once due to falling over too). Funny how our experiences are different but also similar!

Thank you! I think when you travel a lot you’re always going to have some bad experiences along with the good – hopefully they’ll make good stories afterwards. A mouse in the bed?!! It makes me come over all queasy just thinking about it! Glad to find someone else is tripping up all over the world!

Oh my goodness – I commend you for being brave enough to head out again after each of those experiences! I don’t think I would have coped so well, especially with the stalking; that’s utterly traumatic.

I must be seriously crazy – or travel obsessed to keep going! Most of these experiences happened a long time ago so I’m either more sensible, careful or just plain lucky these days. Still can’t stop falling over though!

Some of the worst travel experiences can seem funny, when looking back. The person following you home in Paris was scary though. My worst travel experience was at the airport in Siem Reap, when my friends and I were pulled out of the immigration line and made to stand at the side till everyone had passed through. They kept checking our passport pages on their computer over and over again, even though everything was in place, including the mandatory Ministry of Defence clearance certificate for Sri Lankans travelling to Cambodia. I thought they were going to put us back on the return flight but eventually they did allow us to pass through. I did have a similar experience at the Amsterdam airport as well while on a solo trip.

That sounds awful, Ahila. A real stomach churning experience waiting to see if they’d let you through! My father experienced that once when he flew into Miami and was held for over an hour because he had the same name as a wanted criminal!

Wow! You have definitely seen a lot. My sister-in-law visited Paris recently and had a similar experience – I am so glad you turned out to be okay. I lived in Hawaii for about 2 years and I can totally see that happening, but I’m glad you were able to get in. You’ve had some awful things happen but it seems like the beauty of travel has made it all worth it. What would life be if it weren’t for stories like these?

I feel very lucky really – and you’re right, they make for such great stories afterwards!

I feel like you could write a book on these experiences – some are truly terrifying (especially what happened to you in Paris, thank goodness your flatmate was home!!). I’m with you in the rodent fear too, I would have been paralysed with fear.

Polly xx Follow Your Sunshine

The Paris story was definitely the most frightening and I was so lucky my flat mate was home – not least because I needed a friendly shoulder to cry on. As for rodents… I struggled just choosing a photo to go with the piece. I just shudder thinking of them!

Crikey – you have certainly seen a lot of excitement in your travels! I hope you have 10 times as many good unexpected tales?…

Yes, fortunately plenty of unexpected good stories too – but they’re often not such juicy stories are they? I shall have to work out a way of working them into a post…

Great post! I have traveled a lot for work, but to date nothing major has gone wrong. I’ve been sick a lot. The worst is when you have to share a bathroom, and you have to hold on until the other does whatever it is they have to do. I do remember being so sick that I was using toilet and the bidet at the same time … Had my bag stolen in Buenos Aires but I’d left my passport at the hotel and was flying home the same day, so all good. Got drunk one night at the snake restaurant in Hanoi and left my friend as a hostage as I went to call the nearest police (turned out to be the national guard or something inappropriate), because the driver had doubled his fee. I have been very lucky, … to date.

I love the story about the hostage in the restaurant in Hanoi – sounds like a great story!! Quite quick thinking too considering you’d been drinking! Being sick in a shared bathroom is completely hideous. I’m sure I’ve blanked out most of my experiences of that in India!

Tarantulas at night in the jungle? Nope. Give me rodents any day 😉

I’ll take the tarantulas if you take the rats…

Deal. Nice doing business with you 😉

I love *real* travel stories of the lack of luck almost as much as perfectly curated presentations of sun-soaked vistas. I’m only sorry you went through all of the above!

I expect I’m a better traveller now for having suffered occasionally in the past – I should hope so anyway!! I always like to read the real, the awful and the just plain stupid experiences too.

Yikes, those are some pretty tough experiences to get through – but as you say, provided you can learn from them and laugh about them now, it’s worth going through I guess?! Thanks for linking up with #TravelLinkup!

I think so although I’m not sure I’d want to relive some of them again if I can help it. Loving #TravelLinkup!

Is it super terrible that I absolutely loved reading these?

I’m really glad you did. I love reading the more gruesome stories too, even if they are mine!

I’m wondering if the bad experiences in travel are like the pain of giving birth, you soon forget about it and go on to have more children/more travel, because I can’t remember many bad experiences at all. All I can think of right now is the farce of our honeymoon booking in India, despite the travel agent (back in those days before The Internet!) making it clear it was a honeymoon booking, every single place we went we were booked into a twin room!!! And every single time we said we were on our honeymoon and could we have a double bed we were downgraded to one; never upgraded! The final straw was that the whole aim of the honeymoon was to stay at the Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur where it turned out we had no booking at all so we ended up in a single maid’s room in the hotel opposite the Lake Palace without a window!!! Image how we’d slaughter the company now on social media if that happened. Back then all we got by was of apology was a bottle of Indian red wine! But we still loved our honeymoon and it makes for a good story just like you say. Oh and now I think of it I remember a knife being pulled on us to pay more for a boat trip in Ha Long Bay but my beefy brother in law fought them off!

Thank heavens for beefy brother in laws! Oh my goodness, Phoebe, at least you can laugh about your Indian honeymoon. Hilarious as a story after the event but not quite so funny from the maid’s room looking out on the wonderful Lake Palace! You must be right about bad travel being like the pain of giving birth. If you stopped to think about it, you’d be far too nervous/worried about it all happening again. But sometimes I feel I live for the adventures – something to think about when you’re having a bad time with the computer (definitely like me today!)

Excellent post. I’m with you on the rodent front

Thanks so much, Catherine. They’re just awful, aren’t they?!

Wow! Those are quite the experiences. Nothing too catastrophic has happened to me, there was the Airbnb where we showed up to vomit all over the sink- and the host insisted he was too drunk at a Christmas party to come fix it and the time I had to share a tent with a stranger at a safari in South Africa and was too afraid of the snakes/tarantulas/scorpions outside our tent to leave it after dark!

Actually that Airbnb experience sounds absolutely horrific, Amanda! Oh my goodness, how revolting! I remember lying in my safari tent in Tanzania, listening to the sound of the lions roaring outside.

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The Sole Speaks

10 of My Worst Travel Experiences

Living through a pandemic as a single woman with strained familial relationships has demanded a lot of strength. The last few days, I have been reminding myself of all the terrible times I have had to face by myself in the past. These experiences, though horrid, did make me a stronger being and in times like these I draw strength from knowing that this badass Manisha who handled these 10 of my worst travel experiences in unknown lands, resides within me. I can summon her when need arises.

I have listed 10 of my worst travel experiences below, not to discourage you from traveling, but to remind everyone who needs to hear this that this too shall pass. When we are not left with any other choice, we have to be stronger than we know ourselves to be.

Often times, in such situations people say ‘It’s for the best’, so I have added that to give readers an idea how I view those experiences now.

1. Forgot my phone in a Toilet Booth at Chennai Airport

I was returning from my first international trip (Sri Lanka, 2015) and was severely sleep-deprived. I was waiting for my connecting flight at the airport and decided to take a nap for a few hours. I woke up past the beginning of boarding time and rushed to the toilet only to discover my periods had started. It was around 5 am, everything was quiet and empty but my mind was racing.

I rushed out as soon as I could and immediately heard, ‘This is final call for Ms. Manisha Singh’. Needless to say, I ran out and was rushed to the plane. This was happening 20 minutes before the departure time. Almost like a trigger, the moment I sat down, I realised I didn’t have my phone on me. I had forgotten it in the toilet booth.

I informed the staff to check if someone could fetch it for me. The airport was fairly empty, I believed my phone would still be where I left it. The staff told me they will inform the ground duty and get it sent to my destination.

At my transit airport (Hyderabad), not one person from the airline crew (Spicejet) knew what I was talking about and seemed fairly indifferent to the whole thing. But a person from another airline (Indigo) was very helpful, called the ground duty staff, called my phone which was ringing then. He told me the procedures at the airport that prepared me to handle the situation at Mumbai airport.

What did I do to fix the situation: I spent a few hours at Mumbai airport only to realise the crew hadn’t spoken to anyone or done anything about it. I sought help from other airport staff and no phone had been submitted to the lost and found. Later, someone started disconnecting the call on my phone, and a few hours later, it was turned off.

I wrote to the airlines later, but it didn’t amount to anything.

Lessons learnt: My contacts are now synced with google and so are my photos.

I don’t trust what the airlines staff (I believe they are as clueless as anyone else)

Most of my travels are now via Indigo airlines

Was it for the best: Nope, I could have used the phone for a few month months. There was nothing good that came out of it.

2. Stranded without a Hostel at 11 pm in Argentina

I was hitchhiking in Argentina. It was summers which meant sun set fairly late. My last ride dropped me near the bus stand and from there I had about 5 km to walk to the nearest landmark. Along the way, I stopped at a hostel to see if I was headed in the right direction. I had the address but my offline maps couldn’t exactly find the hostel. A guy at the hostel was headed in that direction and offered to drop me. I didn’t see any harm so I waited the 15 minutes he was going to take to pack up. around 9:30 he dropped me at the beginning of the street. I thanked him and started walking uphill. All the houses/hotels had gate locks so I couldn’t walk into a property to seek directions. I walked all the way up, couldn’t find the hostel, I stopped at a patch which was pitch dark, too afraid, I walked down believing I missed it along the way. Nothing. So, I walked back up all the way including the patch with no lights. Nothing again, there were no houses there either, just wilderness. Too afraid and tired (I had my backpack and daypack on me), I turned around, also tried a different smaller lane along, tried buzzing a house who cut the call after telling me they didn’t know where my hostel was. I reached back at the beginning of this road for the third time. It was well past 11 pm, I was afraid, along the way some dogs had started barking at me, one caught on to my trousers, and I just wanted to get away from the whole thing.

What did I do to fix the situation: I saw a couple in distance reaching for their car, I rushed to seek help. They didn’t know anything about my hostel but seeing me distressed they just took me under their wings. After a failed attempt at reaching the owners of the hostel, they called another friend of theirs and dropped me there. Needless to say, I was and am extremely grateful to them.

Lessons learnt: I swore to never reach a new place that late in the evening. At times I didn’t have a choice with the bus schedules but for those situations, I was better prepared.

I also switched to a different app (maps.me) that had much better offline data than google maps. This helped me with directions in new places.

Was it for the best: Yes, It’s because I didn’t find the hostel that next day I called the lady who had given me a ride to the town. She had invited me to her farm which turned out to be one of favourite memories from the trip. It’s exactly what I romanticised doing on my travels, cherry picking, making jams, sitting on the green grass with dogs.

3. A government Bus left with my luggage on board

I was headed from Hampi to Gokarna on an overnight government bus which was packed. At around 6 am the bus took a halt at a bus stand. I checked with the conductor regarding how long would it stay and I was told 10 minutes. So, I quickly ran out to use the washroom. I got back 5 minutes later, got on the bus and see my bag was missing and wait, there were other people sitting in my seat. I was confused, I asked the men on my seat regarding my bag and it was then that I understood that this was not the bus I was traveling in. That bus had left.

What did I do to fix the situation:

Panic-stricken me got out, approached the two policemen nearby who were extremely helpful. They made some calls, spoke to others, and first got me on a bus, traveled on the bus for a bit then explained to me that the conductor and driver will help me further. And, like they had some along the way, this bus overtook my original bus and they both stopped for me to be able to board the bus.

My bag was where I had left it, intact.

Lessons learnt: I travel with a fanny pack now so I always have my most important things on me like cash, ID proofs, phone, etc. (This is not something I would do in a country where robberies are common though)

Was it for the best: Ummm, I don’t know. It was just an adventure. I didn’t lose anything so that’s good.

4. Denied boarding my flight to Cuba

I was all prepared for my month-long trip to Cuba which means I had my currency changed to Euros, spoke to a guest house in Havana, read everything I could on how to travel there, and even had a travel friend I was going to meet up with on day 1. Cuba has no wifi and I don’t take local Sim cards so I was preparing for a month of no internet.

I had met a traveler traveling on an Indian passport who flew to Cuba from Cancun (Mexico) a few weeks ago. He was issued a tourist card based on his Valid US Visa on the Indian passport. my situation was the same but I still wanted to be certain so I went to the airlines’ office on the west coast (3 days before my flight) where I was informed that there’s going to be no issue getting the tourist card in Cancun. So, I took their work, flew to Cancun from where I was going to fly out to Cuba in less than 40 hours. I went to the airlines’ office to get a tourist card to avoid last-minute hassle and of course, it’s never easy on an Indian passport. The man behind the counter looked at the list and told me that he couldn’t issue Indian passport holders a tourist card. Rules had changed recently and the only way for me to travel to Cuba was to get a Visa. Getting a visa meant going to Mexico City, waiting for 5 days, and submitting a gazillion documents, none of it I was ready to do anymore. I was tired of trying to go to Cuba and being misinformed (I had a similar experience in Colombia but my fights weren’t booked then).

What did I do to fix the situation: I dropped my plans of going to Cuba, got my flight rescheduled (which costs nearly as much as booking a new flight), and decided to go back to Colombia from Mexico city after 2 months. This time I decided to spend in Belize and Guatemala. Countries I hadn’t been to and had chosen not to visit the only coz I was quickly running out of money.

Lessons learnt: Don’t trust the staff of airline companies unless you have things on paper. I also learned that there are no wrong answers in travel, I would have enjoyed going to Cuba but I also greatly enjoyed my time in Belize and Guatemala and met some incredible people along the journey.

Emotionally, I wasn’t affected in the least bit but I lost money that I was low on already.

Was it for the best: Yes, I instead got to go to Belize and Guatemala, two stunning countries, I hiked an active volcano something that I wanted to do since the very beginning of my trip. I’m sure Cuba would have been good too but that’s the thing, there are no wrong answers in travel.

5. Denied entry into Guatemala at the border

I was going to live on a boat for a few days, excitedly I took the bus from Belize to Guatemala border. Guatemala was also going to be last new country on the year-long adventure in South America. I exited Belize, paid my exit fee of $20, changed leftover currency to Guatemalan quetzal, and walked towards to the Guatemala border.

The short queue had me at the counter quickly, but only to be told that I couldn’t enter. India apparently was a type 3 country and on this passport a valid US visa made no difference to the entry into Guatemala. But I had done my research, I had read on the website, other people’s experiences and everywhere the information was same, Indian passport holders with a valid US Visa could enter Guatemala Visa-free. I tried convincing him to see the website, speak to a senior, or another colleague but nothing worked. So, I walked out, sat on the pavement and realized I was truly in ‘no man’s land’. I did not have a local SIM card from either Belize or Guatemala, there was no wifi, I didn’t know anyone in either of the countries except my host in Belize and my to-be host in Guatemala but I anyway couldn’t reach anyone.

What did I do to fix the situation: I asked an official where was the nearest Guatemalan embassy and was told in the town I had crossed while coming to the border. I sprung into action, walked back to the border, requested the person who had purchased my currency if he would give it back (he did), spoke. spoke to the officials at Belize border and requested them to let me in, took a shared cab to the town and landed at the Guatemalan embassy.

After a good waiting period, a gentleman came out and explained that I was indeed right, I don’t need a Visa for Guatemala with my Valid US Visa. The staff was very kind but I was afraid if I was turned a second time I wouldn’t have money to reach here and the office would probably be closed. I requested them to give me some official document that I can show at the border. The man obliged and gave me a piece of white paper with his signature and something scribbled in Spanish. They also called the border to clear things.

I hitchhiked my way back, exited the border (I had earlier requested them. to not charge me an exit fee again, they did not), joined the international queue at the Guatemalan border and my passport was stamped by. the same man without a word. It was at that moment I realized that none of it was about the rules, he was seeking a bribe.

Lessons learnt: On an Indian passport, be prepared for anything.

Was it for the best: It didn’t change much except that I lost some money but the time I had in plenty anyway. I didn’t get to stay on the boat but I took a different route that allowed me to go to a waterfall (Semic Champey) that was stunning.

6. Being stalked by a stranger in Colombia

Colombia clearly didn’t vibe with me. I had taken a bus that dropped me around the second-hand market lane, the only stop near my hostel. I started walking the few blocks to my hostel and noticed many shops were closed (It was weekly off). Since experiencing another worst travel experience (mentioned later in the post), I had gotten into the habit of watching my back often (literally). I cut a corner and a few feet later, turned around and my eyes met a man’s directly. And I instantly knew it was trouble. I was in a fairly busy block but after this, there was a near isolated section before I reached a central area. I stopped a little further at a stall and wasted time buying something, by this time the man had reached me and of course, didn’t go ahead. Instead, he went to the right and stood by a wall. I had nowhere to go, he was waiting for me to leave and he wasn’t being coy about it. All the shops in the building were closed, so I couldn’t go anywhere.

What did I do to fix the situation: I did what I had to, confronted him, in my broken Spanish but he didn’t flinch. He looked at me with his blank eyes. and then I saw some bikes coming towards me with police men. I started jumping in the middle of the road and spread my arms to stop one. The officer, didn’t bother checking this guy who casually walked away when I started yelling in Spanish that he’s been following me. I didn’t let the officer leave though and made him accompany me to the center from where I walked to the hostel by myself.

It had angered me not because I was in a vulnerable position, I had nothing on me then. I had already lost my phone and camera. I was angry because I had lost my valuables in that very city and someone wanted to rob me again!! I didn’t want another Colombian to rob even a pencil from me again.

Lessons learnt: No matter how rude it feels to turn around and look strangers in the eye, continue to do so.

Was it for the best: Nope, just made me more angry towards the country.

7. Discovering the last currency note gone on a Bus in Guatemala

I was on a chicken bus headed for the highway. From the highway I had to take a few more buses to reach Mexico border. It was my last day in Guatemala and I was headed back to Mexico. As the conductor approached, I dug into my wallet to get my last currency note, a 100 quetzals (~USD 13). I scrambled through my wallet but it was not there, I checked my backup wallet, not there, I checked my daypack pocket where I put away coins, not there. The conductor was standing looking at me probably wondering when will I stop with the act.

I asked him, ‘cuanto cuesta?’ (how much), I scrambled through my wallet and I had the exact change for ticket price so at least I was not going to be asked to leave midway which was also middle of a fairly empty route.

I knew the currency was gone, I had put it in my wallet only 2 days while preparing for a volcano hike. I had very cautiously spent money so I didn’t have to withdraw cash before leaving. Withdrawing cash drew a fee of around 50 quetzals. I felt saddened thinking who could have taken it, could it have been one of the locals when I left my backpack in the tent and went to see the sunrise? Could it be my hosts from last evening? Could it be the guy I shared a bus ride with? All options saddened me.

What did I do to fix the situation: Once on the highway I decided to hitchhike the 130 odd kilometers to Mexico border. I had Mexican currency left to get me through there before I could find a cash machine.

But hitchhiking in Guatemala is a bad idea. Nobody stopped for quite some time and eventually the car that did stop had 4 men inside. I was wondering how to decline the ride when a guy popped out and said ‘we’ll give you a ride but we’d like to discuss bible with you’. It turned out to be one of the most educating car rides on my trip. It was not just because we discussed the bible but we also spoke about each other’s lives and it was in this ride that I found words for my quest. ‘Don’t seek happiness, it’s temporary. Seek peace, it’s permanent. I truly believe in this and live by it.

Lessons learnt: No leaving cash behind, ever.

Was it for the best: Yes, that ride I hitched is a very important event in my life.

8. Finding myself on a Snow Hike Without Crampons

I was in Nepal during late 2018, the trekking season had just ended so I had given up on hiking the Annapurna base camp that year. I especially gave up the idea when I met a guy on my second day in Pokhara who entered the dormitory with such strong stench, he looked battered quite literally, and sought a soap from me. After his shower when we could talk, I learned he had just returned from the Annapurna circuit. That was a no for me.

In my second hostel stay, a few days later, I met another couple who had just returned from the Annapurna base camp and looked like they had returned from a stroll around the lake. They encouraged me to go for it if I wanted to. I met a few other people who said the same.

A few days later, I was hiking the Annapurna base camp by myself.

Towards the end of day 2 I did meet two super nice guys who continue to be my really good friends. I tagged along with and we continued hiking together. On day3, it started raining midway so we cut short our walking hours, it snowed afterwards. On day 4, we saw snow here and there but it kept getting thicker. It was evident I was not prepared for the weather but I was told I could rent crampons in the next village. So I marched on (mostly with the help of my friends) and before I knew it, I was beyond the point of return by myself. I would have needed help to cross certain difficult points.

There were no crampons at the next camp, which meant, I could stay back at this place and wait for my friends to return next day so I could hike back with them or I could continue pushing forward. I was so close to the top, I decided to continue walking plus I felt a lot more comfortable being with my friends than being holes up in a room alone.

The terrain kept getting worse (except the last stretch), we got caught in a blizzard that hampered the visibility but we reached with no injuries. On my way back, I couldn’t wait to leave the snow so we hiked until late evening to a base location with no snow.

What did I do to fix the situation: I took advice from the locals and put the largest pair of socks I had in my backpack and wore it over my hiking shoes. This is supposed to be better than crampons and I did find it extremely useful.

Lessons learnt: Nothing in the mighty Himalayas should be taken lightly.

Was it for the best: I didn’t die, so it’s okay.

9. Being Stalked in India

I am not being precise in the heading because unfortunately, it has happened more than once. I don’t wish to undermine the issue but in my personal experience, a lot of times it’s harmless.

The two times when I felt trapped and threatened was –

• I was walking the ghats of Varanasi (the steps near the holy river Ganga), I paused to get something from my bag when I noticed a man walk past me slowly and looking at me then looking back at me and a few steps later he stopped too. I didn’t think much of it but a few meters ahead noticed he was walking behind me (I was walking very slowly so it was unusual that we had the same distance between us as earlier). I stopped on purpose this time, and unashamed as he was of following me, he stopped too but a few steps ahead of me. This continued one more time. The third time I sat overlooking the Ganga though. I was afraid even sitting there because I had to turn around take some 50 odd steps, cross a few dark corners to reach my guest house. It wasn’t far once I climbed those steps but I am a slow climber and I feared being cornered along the way. One option was to go back and take a longer route that was busier. I sat there evaluating my options when I noticed two tourists walking up the steps. I quickly got up and went past them but continued walking in front of them. Once on top, I ran to my guest house. I had turned around from the steps to assess the situation, he was still sitting on the ghat but was not looking at the Ganga, instead, he had turned around and was looking at me.
• The scariest experience I had of someone following me has unfortunately been in one of my favorite destinations – Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu . I was walking in a quiet lane, looking at old buildings. I was working on a project back then that required me to assess properties as potential hostels. So, I would often walk into buildings, speak to the caretakers and inquire about the owners. On such a visit, I was walking around the property but I could barely communicate with the caretaker. I continued checking out the nursery and see if I could gather any details on the availability of the property. Soon the caretaker called me to explain her son was here and he could answer my questions. As soon as I met him, I was afraid. his pupils were dilated and he looked deadpan at me. He said nothing, just stared at me. He was another friend on a bike, I tried to look at him and talk but the caretaker’s son would just not look away. I wanted to run away but I pretended to be all calm and just waited for them to leave. I left soon afterward, at the next property I met a dog who stuck around while I was walking in the vicinity. I took a turn at a road that connects to the lake which is generally busy but this stretch was empty, another turn and I saw the man with dead eyes again. He was standing on the side of the road and continued staring at me. I was scared, really scared. I didn’t know what to do so, I had to pretend to be composed. I pretended like the dog was mine and took an about-turn because I knew I could seek help quicker on that road. But the moment I cut the corner, I rushed and entered the first building, a guest house run by the church. I ran in, make small talk with some guests I saw. When I turned around (I was at an elevation), I saw the man walking on the road I had taken. He had started following me. As a reflection, I ducked and continued sitting on the floor, hidden from the road for some time. The problem with this was, I didn’t know which way he went. There were three roads I could take from there and all of them were fairly isolated.

What did I do to fix the situation: I stayed hidden for a 20-30 minutes and then chose a path that took me to a busier section quickest and I ran through this stretch.

Lessons learnt: Always have a taxi driver’s number handy, in case you need a pick up from such situations.

Was it for the best: Absolutely not. Nobody needs such an experience in life.

10. Being Mugged at Knifepoint in Colombia

This hopefully remains one of my worst travel experiences because worse than this would be too much to handle. I was hiking back from this very popular tourist destination named – Montseratte in the capital city of Bogota. I was accompanied by my local host (a young woman), and it was about 4:30 pm (which means broad daylight). In fact, the reason we were rushing back was so we could make it back to her house while there was still daylight left. 10 minutes from the trail end (which joins a fairly busy road), three masked men jumped from behind a bulging boulder. In no time there was a man in front of me holding a machete to my throat and a man behind me. On my left, I saw another man with a machete chasing my host who was screaming and running backward.

They took my entire daypack (which had my camera, phone, passport, and both my debit cards, among other things that I had carefully picked 6 months ago for this trip of a lifetime). They also took my host’s sling bag which had her iPhone and her identity card.

What did I do to fix the situation: There were many things I had to fix in this situation starting from getting a new passport but the most difficult task was to access my money. The Indian banks I had accounts with had no presence in Latin America, they would not mail me the card either. It was a complicated task and a stressful 2 weeks.

After the robbery, I was left with less than $30 that was in my main backpack. I didn’t know how long I had to go on the $30 so I stopped taking dinner. I would cook lunch with just onion, tomato, garlic, and spaghetti.

I knew it was going to be an arduous few weeks, so the first thing I did was to find an alternate stay arrangement. I didn’t want my hosts to take the brunt of my situation. I knocked on hostel doors in the tourist town to find volunteer work. After nearly losing hope, and breaking down in tears in the middle of a street, I did find reception work in a backpackers hostel.

Two months later, I left Colombia for Mexico with a new passport, new US Visa, money transferred to my travel card, no camera, no phone (so no way to see the time or take pictures), but a great deal of determination to continue traveling.

Lessons learnt: I still struggle with this. I haven’t been able to make sense of that experience at all. Why did it happen, why did it happen to me, and what did I learn from it? I was already being as safe as I could. A few things that I experienced after the incident were:

• The incident, unfortunately, made me slightly indifferent towards the poor, the addicts, the whole glaring economic disparity esp. in Colombia.
• It reinforced the idea to never let the guard down. I was trying to book my exit tickets a day before the incident and had accidentally put my backup card in my daypack after that.
• I learned that locals don’t always know best. I was recommended that place by both my previous hosts and none knew of the situation there.

Experiencing and fixing a situation like that by myself definitely prepared me for everything. Like Cheryl Strayed would say, I felt like a total “hardass motherfucking Amazonian queen”.

Was it for the best: NO. I was never able to buy a camera again (I had bought it when I had a job), now I’m always somehow in survival mode. Trauma from that experience haunted me for months and it permanently changed my interaction with strangers.

I hope sharing these 10 worst travel experiences of mine which required me to go back to those unpleasant moments, helps someone find their strength back.

10 thoughts on “10 of My Worst Travel Experiences”

all seems to be a spooky/ thrilling scenes from a movie, more power to you 🙂

Yes, quite dramatic when I look back but we all have it in us to endure what seems unimaginable. And i’m sure many people are experiencing that right now with Covid.

Hmmm… well covid is a more of like a organised catastrophe , like we know its coming yet we let it come

From leadership point of view and large group behaviour but on an individual level, that’s not everyone’s truth. I got a really bad case of Covid last September while following everything I was supposed to (Staying home, going out once a week to get groceries, mask, sanitize, etc.)

Hmmm i get it 🙂 hope you are well now

yes, I am. I was a long hauler so my symptoms (esp. social anxiety and loss of smell) persisted for months.

Yea , many of my friends experienced the same .

Bad incidents somehow do ruin your travel experience, I’m glad you found ways to get out of these although I’m sure it must not have been easy.

Yes, for sure. We are only human, many of these incidents hurt how I interact with strangers and the trust I put in them. But except the robbery in Colombia, every other incident led to only short-term discomfort.

Well said, Manisha

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Travel Horror Stories: What's The Worst Experience You've Had While Abroad?

Halloween comes knocking at the door tonight, and with that comes the expectation of tricks, treats and the occasional scare. For some, that sense of dread might take the form of spooky spirits , creepy abandoned buildings or whatever Netflix is offering right now for October .

But for travellers, there's always a bit of fear with each trip abroad, that feeling of uncertainty with visiting a foreign land where many things could go wrong. You don't have to ask too many people to come across a travel horror story. Just visit a TripAdvisor page and scroll through the reviews -- there's probably enough material there for a novel.

And really, it doesn't take much to turn a pleasant trip into a vacation nightmare.

Maybe it's losing your passport abroad , waking up in a bed with bed bugs , or jumping through never-ending hoops for a visa. Either way, when it comes to bad travel experiences, everyone has their own nightmarish tale to tell.

But it's not all bad news.

For the most part travel is -- and should be-- a positive collection of experiences where you learn something new, snap a few hundred photos and come back a different person.

At the very least, bad experiences make for interesting stories and maybe even hold a lesson or two for everyone else.

So, to commemorate those terrifying moments when travelling, Huffington Post Canada Travel has rounded up a few horror stories of our own to share.

Terrifying Things To Happen While Travelling

Got a travel horror story of your own? We'd love to hear about it in the comments below or on Twitter @HPCaTravel.

Like this article? Follow us on Twitter Follow @HPCaTravel

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Travel and Places

What is the worst travel experience you've ever had.

What is the worst travel experience you've ever had? Were you robbed? Lost your luggage? Fell off the Great Wall of China?

My worst travel experience was when I took a train in France, fell asleep and found myself in Belgium. The problem was not only that I had to get on a train back to France. On French trains, there is a rule that if you are found not to have bought a ticket before boarding, you have to declare yourself to the guard, or face a fine for travelling without a ticket. I had forgotten my wallet containing my credit card  in England. I did make it back to France, but my blood pressure went up several points.

I have a few stories but this is probably the worst:  We were flying through Miami on our way home from Belize.  Our international flight was delayed and we missed our connecting flight.  There had been bad weather on the east coast that day and tons of flights had been cancelled (our connecting flight was apparently the only one that left on time) and it was spring break so the airport was swarming with people trying to rebook.  We were told the earliest the airline could get us on another flight out of Miami was Tuesday (this was Friday) or they could get us out of Ft. Lauderdale on Monday to a different airport 2 hours from home.  At that point, we elected to rent a car and drive home to Iowa from Miami because both my husband and I were due back to work Monday morning.  So instead of arriving home Friday night, we got home Sunday morning following a 1,500 mile drive.

I spent 30+ hours in Tokyo Disney Sea because of the March 11, 2011 earthquake. We had limited information coming in and out. I don't speak Japanese so I have no idea what was going on. I had to sleep on the floor and the food they gave us to eat were chocolates, corn soup, bread, and rice. And we didn't get it all at one time. I had this aluminum blanket to sleep with but I was still cold. The ground shook like every 2 hours or so and that shit was crazy. I've never seen a lamp post shake like that; i swear that wasn't normal. Oh and where I was sleeping I could see huge speakers above my head and I kept thinking they were going to drop on me. When we finally got outside the park to look for food the whole area outside was a mess. Liquefaction had turned most of the sidewalk into sand and it whipped at our faces every time the wind blew hard. We found a convenience store that only had alcohol and ice cream left. We got picked up on the 35th hour or so by a friend. The car ride back to where I was staying took about four hours. And then I found out that a nuclear reactor had blown up. Tried to get an early flight out: additional 2,000 dollars to buy a new ticket. Managed to get home early 'cause a friend called the airlines for me. Oh, and as a precursor bad luck omen, on the flight coming to Japan--about two days before the earthquake, I fainted on the airplane and had to lie down for two hours next to the emergency exit door. Free alcohol on international flights, but I faint if I drink on the airplane. NOOOO...It's free T.T Worst Vacay EVER!

I think Heathrow airport is one of the most terrible places in the world to be in when there is trouble, any kind of trouble.

Phoenix. Stayed at a hotel near the airport, booked on Travelocity. It was in a rundown area that rented rooms by the "hour"! The surroundings of the buildings had razor wire and overhead were helicopters during the night. There was a murder, a driveby and a shooting all in the same area that night. The sheets on the bed were "see through" and shiny, probably not changed. There were bugs in the room and cracks in the ceiling. It was rated a 4 on Travelocity...I am not sure why. I thought I was going to die that night.

The worst travel experience that I ever had  was June 27, 2011. From the Philippines all the way through to Manchester, United Kingdom, I was detained! Not because that I brought them fraud files but because of the difference of the date format between American people and British. I was detained for about 9 hours in the airport then they send me back to my country. On one hand, I've had a chat with one staff at the Visa Centre in Manila prior to come here in the UK and she told me that YES I can now fly as soon as I have the visa. I checked the date, it was 5/8/11 (In america and in the Philippines, that is May 8,2011). However, in Britain that is August 5,2011. That is the most tiring journey I ever done in my whole life. I lost pounds for that staff mistake. Anyway, lesson learnt!

Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris France..........total nightmare and utter choas LOL. My luggage was never seen again.

The first day of snow in Boston brought a terrible blizzard and we were supposed to fly to CA for a friend's wedding, that I was in. It took us 28 hours to go from Boston to Los Angeles. We sat on the airplane for 4 hours at the Boston airport while they de-iced the plane over and over. When we finally got out we got rerouted to NYC, then to Colorado, where we got off and waited 6 hours until a flight was leaving for Vegas and then finally got to LA. As long as this trip was and how long it took us, reading through some of the experiences below makes this trip feel like nothing. There are some horrible travel stories and I've always been tested with patience in the time of the moment and think there are reasons for everything.

Visiting Equatorial Guinea, I checked in to the only hotel in the capital at that time (1980s).  The receptionist asked if I would like  an air conditioned room or a non-air conditioned room.  Naturally, being on the equator (Equatorial Guinea - geddit?), I opted for the room with AC.  The man then said that perhaps I should check the room before making a decision.  You can probably guess - the room had wide open windows and no AC unit.  Natural air conditioning!  When I asked what the non-AC room had, he told me that it had closed and sealed windows, but that these would prevent the mosquitoes getting in!  I chose the non-AC room, slept with nothing but a sheet over me, but still had 35 mozzie bites around my face in the morning! There was a shower, but the pan was cracked and open to the elements.  The toilet roll (no holder) was occupied by the largest cockroach I have ever seen... There was plenty more, but I think that about answers the question about the worst travel experience I have ever had.

It was in the south of Thailand in 1979. My friend and I unknowingly booked into a hotel run by drug runners and rather desperate people. It was a very clean and comfortable little hotel. A German couple ahd booked into the room next to us. We had a bit of a chat to them before they went out for a meal down near the beach. We followed shortly after only to witness the German guy being shot as he walked along the street by two guys on a motor bike. To cut a long story short we arrived at the local hospital to support the German couple but the German guy died. The town was run by...not sure who, but who ever it was took us, plus the German girl, under their wing and put us up in their fancy big hotel and then promptly went and shot the two guys on motor bikes through the head..for us! and then insisted we come to the hospital to look at their bodies The two guys on the motor bike were from our intitial hotel, ther were only 18 years old. We were told they shot the German guy for his camera.  We were told that this incident was not uncommon in this town and offenders were dealt with in this manner. Needless to say it was a nightmare and we got the hell out of there asap.

I was going back to college catching the greyhound bus. I was on time and I was waiting in line to get my ticket check. Until this greyhound employee lady at the counter trying to explain to this guy that didn't speak English. How to get where he needs to go. By the time the guy was done. I 've already miss my bus to get to my college. I was pissed.

My worst experience was when I was in La Guardia airport in New York City. I arrived at 6 am and my flight was cancelled until 12 pm due to a blizzard. Then I had to wait in line for 5 hours to get my ticket with a cell phone ready to die with no charger. Then after getting my ticket, I go downstairs to find out that I would have to go back in line so they can get me into a hotel for the next 5 days. Good thing for my parents. Even though they live in Maine, they were calling everyone they knew to help me. Eventually, my great aunt from New Jersey came to get me at 12 am. The good thing about this was spending time with my great aunt and great uncle that I hardly see.

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Real Life Stories

15 Travellers tell us their most memorable travel experiences – and how it changed them

By Jaye Hannah

Published on Nov 30, 2017 | 6 min

There’s no doubt that travelling brings you a range of emotions: joy and excitement, but also the feeling that you’re in unknown territory. One thing’s for sure though: travelling is probably the best thing you can ever do. Don’t believe us? Just ask these 15 Travellers, who shared the trips and moments that changed them forever…

RELATED: WHEN YOU TRAVEL FOR THE FIRST TIME, SOMETHING CHANGES IN YOU  

“The most memorable trip I have ever had was when I was 17 traveling to Vietnam alone. I was living and working in Vietnam for 4 months as a bartender (and ended up meeting my amazing girlfriend there too!). The most emotional part of the trip was when I was leaving back to Australia to visit my Grandmother who had been very sick. I felt like I lost everything (and even being able to see the person who I had come to love). I worked hard for 6 months and was able to find my way back here.  3 years later I live in this beautiful country and able to speak the native language while living with my girlfriend.”   – Lachlan Gordon

“A friend and I booked a spur of the moment trip to India after a few drinks. That trip was one of the highlights of my life, teaching me so much about culture, enriching me and teaching me more than any classroom ever could. The smells and sites and sounds will forever stay with me. That trip gave me the travel bug and showed me the true meaning of wanderlust.”  – Bala Walsh 

“My most memorable travel experience was when I was 12 years old I was lucky enough to be sent on a camp to Switzerland with children from all over the world who had also received organ transplants. Growing up being sick and having my liver transplant in 1998 at the age of 7 travel had never been an option for me, so this was such an incredible experience to be gifted. It was my first time on a plane and overseas. It was so special, I remembered being shocked at the sheer beauty of it all.” – Kate Elizabeth

RELATED: I TRAVELLED ON CONTIKI WITH A BRAIN TUMOUR. THIS IS MY STORY  

“Our first night on Contiki, we could see the Eiffel Tower from our accommodation…and we decided to walk to it! 3 hours later it was 2am and we were getting closer and closer – it looks like it was just around the corner every corner! We finally reached it and and we were in utter awe! I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as finding the Eiffel Tower at 3am covered in sparkles which lit up the night sky. That is what happiness feels like. In that moment, anything in the world felt possible. ” – Emma Walker

“I have only started traveling this year. As a child I wasn’t fortunate enough to travel as my parents worked to keep a roofs over our heads. It was a DREAM of mine since I was very young to go to Japan. I worked, worked and worked my butt off to fulfill my dream all by myself! I finally got to go in April to see the cherry blossom trees, I literally cried as we touched down in Tokyo. To see a whole new world was mind blowing! Travelling is made me so humble since then.” –  Maddi Lomas

“As a coeliac I found it difficult to locate gluten free foods in a lot of places, but I didn’t let that stop me from enjoying my contiki trip through Europe. We wanted some gelato in Italy and opted to walk around the streets to find some gluten free gelato. Finally, we found some – I then asked if there were gluten free cones as well, and when the shop keeper pulled out a gluten free cone, I confessed my love for him and his shop. It was so important for me to find traditional local foods so I could experience my European adventure to the fullest!” – Leslie Wickens

“After my summer study abroad trip to Italy fell through, my best friend and I decided to book a last minute trip to Europe. While searching for trips, we stumbled upon Contiki and decided to book. As Americans, we had never heard of Contiki before and really didn’t know what to expect. From this trip, I got to experience 6 different countries, watch the Euro Cup in Europe, and most importantly I met life long friends. I am dying to go back and as a teacher, although I have to work multiple jobs to even be able to dream of it. I work in an intercity where most students don’t get the opportunity to leave the state for a majority of their lives, due to financial reasons. My goal is to show my students that they should never let money limit their travels. With a lot of hard work, they too can see the world!” – Julia Gulia 

“I have always wanted to explore New Zealand and when the opportunity came up I just couldn’t say no. This group of people made the trip for me and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. They helped me to face my fears and try things I never imagined I’d be able to do. The euphoric rush you get when you compete your first bungy jump is one I will never forget!” – Kira Chow 

“My most Memorable travel memory was from a Christmas I spent in China. I was able to travel to a leper colony in one of the very rural areas outside of Guangzhou. There was one lady in particular who has rocked my world even to this day. After learning that they only have to eat what they can grow and the large bags of rice my friends and I brought them, she offered me and every person I was with this bowl of oranges. She had nothing by our standards – but was still willing to give all that she had. It’s moments like this that keep me hungry for travel.” – Arden Shanklin

“The moment that changed my life was in July 2016. I went on the grand southern contiki tour and I opened up the further into the tour I went (I’m usually quite shy) and have never been the same since. Because of this tour I wanted to be more open, so between this tour and my next tour in April 2017 I took the biggest step in my life and came out to my parents. Not only has travel physically changed me, but it’s helped me come to terms with myself” – Tim Savage

RELATED: WHY SPAIN IS ONE OF THE BEST COUNTRIES TO TRAVEL TO IF YOU ARE LGBT+

“My sister and I went on a Contiki to Scotland and Ireland. There was one night in Loch Ness when it was raining cats and dogs, so we were forced to stay at our hotel. Everyone was bummed at first, but then we didn’t really care, because we were cooped up in a hotel with some pretty awesome people. We sat and played card games and drinking games all night. It was probably one of the most fun nights in the whole trip!” – Kandyce Lauren

Do you have a travel experience that changed you forever? Let us know in the comments…

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What's The Wildest Hotel Experience You've Had While Traveling Internationally?

I mo, one of the best parts of traveling internationally is all the stories you get to bring home. oftentimes, the worst experiences make for the best stories — even a bad time at a hotel., f or example, when i was in edinburgh a few years ago, i spent one night in a hotel that was being renovated. my room was so deep down in the basement that, when i came back for the night, i couldn't remember all the correct twists and turns — and i got lost in what i can only describe as the dark, dingy "dungeon", t hen, when i was at a different hotel in edinburgh last summer, i accidentally became the cause of other people's "worst hotel experience" stories. i was by myself, so the night before, i left my safety alarm doorstop under the door...then promptly forgot about it in the morning, setting off a horrific alarm that i'm sure woke up everyone else on my floor., i 'm thankful i haven't had too many wild international hotel experiences, but i'm curious if you have share your stories in the comments, and they may be featured in an upcoming buzzfeed community post.

Describe a Travel Experience You Have Had: IELTS Speaking (2 Cue Cards With Example Answers)

Your examiner might ask you to describe a travel experience you have had in part two of your IELTS Speaking test.

Let’s take a look at the best way to answer this question. Below, you can also read a good example answer ( go straight to the answer here ).

What You Can Talk About

This is one of the easier part-two questions because you just need to remember an experience and tell the story.  

Make sure you choose a travel experience that’s easy to talk about. This might be:

• A vacation you had recently or a long time ago
• An amazing vacation you had as a child
• A work trip you took to another city or country  
• A longer-term journey you went on (for weeks, months, or years)
• Some backpacking (cheap budget traveling) you did
• A school trip you went on when you were younger
• Any other traveling experience you can remember

You can then describe your trip. Here are some things you could focus on describing:

• Interesting places you visited
• Something interesting or exciting you did
• A festival or traditional holiday you enjoyed
• Interesting local food you ate
• The hotel or apartment you stayed in
• How you traveled there (car, train, plane…)
• Who you traveled with
• Who you met on your trip
• Why you went there
• How you felt on your trip
• Something interesting you learned on your trip
• Something that surprised you on your trip
• A problem you had on your trip
• Anything else that comes to mind

Use a Good Word Group

In part two, it’s important to use interesting vocabulary. One easy way to do this is to remember a few word groups .  

A word group is a collection of words and phrases that describe a certain feature of a place you visited, an experience you had, or an activity you did.  

For example, for this travel-related question, maybe you saw a festival in another country, and so you could use a ‘traditional event’ word group to describe that festival.

This ‘traditional event’ word group would include interesting words like: ‘customs, ancient, ancestral traditions, cultural heritage, passed down through the generations…’ and more.  

You could then use these ‘traditional event’ words in many different part-two questions, such as:

• Describe a festival you like
• Describe a vacation you went on
• Describe your favorite country
• Describe a place you’d like to visit
• Describe a city you visited
• Describe a historical event in your country
• And many more part-two questions

Below, you’ll see an example answer using an ‘exciting activity’ word group. Or you can l earn more about how to use word groups here . 

Use Apps to Memorize Faster

There are some really great apps that can help you prepare for IELTS Speaking.  

One perfect app for memorizing word groups is Anki App . This app uses spaced repetition to make sure you really remember the words and phrases well.

Some other good apps for IELTS Speaking are the Complete IELTS Full Skills app , Elsa app , and Cake app .  

Prepare Your Story Well

You should prepare a good short story for this question.  

It’s great to have a few travel stories prepared for Part 2 of your IELTS Speaking. This is because you can use these stories in your answers to many different kinds of questions.

Also, the more you practice preparing and telling stories, the better you become at using past tenses (primarily past simple, past continuous, and past perfect).

To see a word group and story in use, take a look at this example cue card and answer.

Travel Experience Cue Card

Describe a travel experience you have had.

You should say:

• Where you had this experience  
• What the experience was  
• Who you did it with  

And say how you felt while you were doing it.

I’m going to talk about a really exciting, exhilarating experience I had when I was traveling in Thailand six years ago. I had just graduated from university, and I wanted to travel cheaply for six months. So I spent about three months backpacking around Thailand, which is a really wonderful country. And while I was there, I did a few  extreme sports like zip-lining and bungee jumping . I did these things in Chiang Mai. 

Chiang Mai is a peaceful city in the north of Thailand. It’s filled with beautiful temples and surrounded by mountains and dense jungle. I traveled there with a good friend of mine, and also two other girls we had met in Thailand. One day, we all went to an adventure park in the jungle and I went zip-lining for the first time. I loved the sensation of flying between two huge trees above the jungle. It was a really heart-thumping experience. Totally out of this world .  Adrenaline was pumping through me. I can still remember it really well.  

But the most hair-raising experience for me was bungee jumping. To be honest with you, I was quite terrified. My heart was beating out of my chest when I saw how high I was. But even though I was scared, I still jumped and I’m glad I did because it was a mind-blowing experience . And then I couldn’t wait to try it again .  

That whole day was an action-packed adventure. We also went white-water rafting in the afternoon, which was another rip-roaring adventure . I’ve never been much of a thrill-seeker before, so it was all a new experience for me. By the end of the day,  I was buzzing with excitement . And I’d love to return to Chiang Mai one day and do it all again.  

(Word Group Used: ‘Exciting Activity’)

Thrilling, Exhilarating, Adventure, Mind-blowing, Heart-thumping, Action-packed, Thrill-seeker, A rip-roaring adventure, Hair-raisin, Breathtaking, Out of this world, I couldn’t wait to begin, I didn’t want it to end, I was on the edge of my seat, Gave me a real buzz, I was buzzing with excitement, Adrenaline was pumping through me, I was thrilled to bits, My heart was beating out of my chest, I was bored out of my mind, A big yawn-fest, It was about as exciting as watching paint dry, As dull as dishwater.

See more amazing word groups here.  

Now It’s Your Turn

Prepare to answer this question yourself.

First, think of a travel experience that’s easy to talk about.  

Then, think of a word group you could use to describe it. You can either create your own word group or use one already prepared for you here .  

Next, set a timer for one minute and ask yourself aloud to describe a travel experience you have had.  

Prepare your answer quickly, then start talking. Try to keep speaking for two full minutes (and remember to be careful with your past tenses).  

It’s best to record yourself. This way you can listen to your answer, notice any mistakes, and repeat the process a few times.  

Each time you do this, you’ll become better prepared for part two of your IELTS Speaking test.

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TravelAwaits

Our mission is to serve the 50+ traveler who's ready to cross a few items off their bucket list.

My 7 Most Unforgettable Travel Experiences

Heather Markel

• Activities and Interests
• Destinations
• Food and Drink
• History and Culture
• Sightseeing

I’ve just started my fourth year of nomadic life. In the past three years, I’ve been to 25 countries (if not for the pandemic, it would have been at least 10 more!) and had some of the most wonderful experiences of my entire life. Here are a few of my favorite experiences in some of the countries I’ve had the privilege to visit:

1. Seeing My First Leopard In South Africa

I was deeply moved by the visceral connection I felt with the land and the people while in South Africa. However, I didn’t expect to become obsessed with seeing a leopard before I left. I went out on several safaris, including Chobe and Etosha national parks, where I missed out on seeing a leopard the first time and was robbed of seeing leopards the second time. Thus began my obsession.

It wasn’t until I got to Kruger National Park that I finally saw one. In fact, I saw five. The first was a mother and cub, but it was dark so impossible to take good photos. The next day, we stopped for one by the side of the road, stalking an impala. Its perfect, sinewy muscles quivered in anticipation, and I felt like I saw the most beautiful animal I had ever encountered. Lean, the perfect killing machine, and yet also stunningly beautiful. Eventually, she walked with a swift, confident gait, and disappeared into the tall, dry grass. I will never forget that leopard.

2. Drinking Yerba Mate And Malbec In Argentina

Last year was my first in Argentina, and it became one of my favorite places in the world. Drinking yerba mate was an experience of sharing culture, intellectual conversation, and making new friends. In Bariloche, I took a class and learned the proper way to prepare it, and that there are many different brands and flavors. I shared many cups with strangers and learned about their lives, and even developed lasting friendships. In my opinion, you cannot truly understand the culture of Argentina without trying at least one cup of this drink, which boosts many healing properties as well!

Before heading to Argentina, I was an avid fan of malbec wine. But there’s no comparison to drinking it in Mendoza. I went to the Uco Valley, famed for the best malbec wines in the world, and they were all excellent. The experience is divine — you can take a bus, a local train, or a bike, depending which vineyards (called bodegas) you plan to visit. I had a glass most days of the four months I spent in Argentina.

3. Nail Art, Massages, And Learning Motorcycle Culture In Vietnam

Vietnam was a combination of sights, sounds, and smells. Prices were so cheap I simply couldn’t comprehend how I could make it through an entire day spending so little.

One day, a friend treated me to a manicure and pedicure with nail art. I pulled up complex nail art photos on Instagram I liked, thinking they would make a modified version. Instead, my manicurist made a perfect, highly detailed copy of the designs I showed her. In fact, they looked better on my nails than they did on Instagram. The whole process took her two hours, and cost $20 USD. It remains the most incredible manicure and pedicure I’ve ever had.

When I look back at my time in Vietnam, I still can’t believe I managed to cross a street, ever. And yet, somehow, I found the rhythm of the motorbikes and survived. Looking at my photos, I’m amazed that entire families rode their motorbikes together. The motorbike seemed to be a mode of transportation as well as a way families spent time together. One of my favorite photos is of a woman kissing her son as she drives along.

Who doesn’t love a massage? How about a really excellent, hour-long massage for less than $10? I got a few massages a week, they were so good and affordable. My favorite massage parlor was in Hanoi.

4. Eating Honey And Red Kiwifruit, Seeking Greenstone, And Learning About Maori Culture In New Zealand

Now marooned in New Zealand for almost a year, I’ve had a lot of time to get familiar with the culture. I’ve had a few surprising lessons on the food front. Firstly, being raised in America, I thought kiwifruit only existed in green. As it turns out, it comes in gold and red as well. The red is the sweetest, and perhaps one of the best, fruits I’ve ever tasted. It is only available during March and April, so you have to time your visit to New Zealand just right! The other surprise for me was honey. When I’ve gotten it at home, it crystallizes long before I finish a jar. In New Zealand, I’ve learned to use honey almost every day. Whether that be in my tea, on toast, plain, or as a skin remedy, I’ve gone through many jars.

When I first arrived, I noticed all the stores sold jewelry made out of a green stone. I learned it’s called pounamu and is found on the South Island. While, at first, it seemed like a tourist souvenir, it now seems like a rite of passage. I had no idea the greenstone came in so many shapes, colors, hues, and varieties. I’ve already bought two pieces because they represent a deeper connection to the country for me, and my time here, which I will never forget.

I didn’t realize the movie  Moana  was based on this area of the world. Locals I’ve spoken with believe the fictional Polynesian island of Motunui is based on New Zealand, since the story is partly based on Maori legends. Looking at the landscapes, I can certainly believe a demigod pulled mountains out of the sea!

The indigenous people came here via the sea, as Moana’s community did in the film, and their history and culture are fascinating. This is the first country I’ve been to where tattoos signify family and tradition and are specific to the tribe each person descended from. In fact, the Maori tattoo artists have to study the designs of over 100 tribes to do their job properly.

5. Playing With Highland Cows And Getting Heathergems In Scotland

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you may know that I love cows! I have to admit that the Highland cow stole my heart. With a crop of hair over their eyes leaving one to wonder how they see past it, and babies that look like giant blobs of fur, it’s impossible not to fall in love with them.

Scotland is also known for my namesake growing on hills. I’ve seen the Heather plant, but what’s wonderful in Scotland is that a company found a technique to color the roots of the Heather plants and make beautiful jewelry. Heathergems is located in Pitlochry, Scotland, where you can visit the factory store, but their jewelry is available throughout the country. I still treasure the pieces I bought there.

6. Seeing The Moai On Easter Island

Easter Island struck me as one of those places most people see photos of but don’t actually go. It’s a tiny island, a four-hour flight from Santiago, Chile, and seems so remote and impossible to get to from the U.S. that I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t quit my job. On my way to Santiago, I found a round-trip flight on a Dreamliner for less than $300 USD. I snapped it up and had an incredible experience.

The island is expensive and touristy, but no matter, there are layers of intrigue to it. Most people stay only a few days, but I stayed almost a week, giving me more time to see the stone statues, called Moai, and learn about the island’s history and people. Seeing the Moai in person, you really understand how huge they are — and that they weigh a lot. Therein lies the intrigue. They were built long before we had the modern technology to move them (and it’s still not easy, proven by the tsunami that knocked many down in the 1960s). All the statues were built in the one quarry on the island and then moved to their current resting places. But at the time they were built, there were warring tribes inhabiting the island. So not only did the statues get moved, they got transported safely. The mystery will make you believe in aliens.

7. Learning Monks Aren’t That Different Than The Rest Of Us In Cambodia

While in Asia, especially in Cambodia, I developed a minor obsession with the monks. I loved the orange color of the robes most of them wear, and the energy they carry with them as they walk. Even the young boys with shaved heads seem somehow dignified and full of purpose. Their robes provide a beautiful contrast to the aging stone of the temples they live in.

For me, it was the contrast of holy and normal life blending together that really fascinated me. Seeing a monk shop for groceries like any non-holy person was humbling. For a moment, we had something in common. I had some silly idea that monks still led more sequestered lives, so seeing them smoke cigarettes and use smartphones was a real surprise! I enjoyed their presence everywhere I went.

There are so many beautiful experiences to be had in every country. I feel lucky and blessed to have had these, and know many more await me!

Inspired? Here are the destinations mentioned in this article:

• South Africa
• New Zealand
• Easter Island

Heather is a full-time travel coach who is passionate about helping professionals seeking more freedom and flexibility to ditch their desk and discover their destiny through full-time travel. She provides her clients with the path to the mindset, money, and mastery to make a full-time travel lifestyle possible. Since quitting, she's become an international best-selling author and is about to do her first TEDx talk! Learn more about Heather's travel adventures on her website, Heather Begins.