discussion Worst traveling experiences?

[Dolce Vita]

going to fiji is literally a day of travelling and it is exhausting

[ScorpiosGroove]

traveling with people who aren’t in the same tax bracket (or just stingy ones) like no i won’t sleep in a 12 person, dirty hostel room bc you don’t wanna pay a hotel 

[The7thStranger]

Before I moved back to Europe, I worked for Swiss International, and they sent me to Zürich for two weeks to do some training. Truthfully, it is the worst place that I have ever travelled to. I was chatted up by this guy who suddenly just blurted out, “I hope you’re better at your job than you are at German!” …I have a degree in the language and work as a translator now. Almost everybody that I dealt with in that city was a real pill. Always giving me attitude because I couldn’t speak Swiss German. Other places in Switzerland were nice, but Zürich was the pits.

 

Also, I once accidentally took too many drowsy allergy pills, therefore drugging myself, about an hour or so before we wanted to get in the car and drive to Verona. When we got in the car, I had already passed out once and was just generally a hot mess. During one of my lucid periods, my mother had texted me to say that a family friend had died. While, yes, this was sad, my reaction was waaay over the top. I started crying and having a total meltdown before passing out again. At point, apparently, I woke up, asked for chips, and passed out again before my friend had a chance to hand them to me. (I have no memory of this.) When I finally came to for good, I was grumpy, cold, and miserable. Definitely not my finest moment.

 

And finally, one that was messy, but which I look back on and laugh, is a road trip to Vienna I went on with friends when I was in college. At the time, the only person in our group who was old enough to rent a car was British, and this was her first time driving on the right side of the road. She ended up hitting a cement block in a construction site and whacking the mirror pretty hard, leaving it dangling in the wind. When we finally fixed it (after tying it together with bandages from the first-aid kit), we noticed one of the hub caps was missing as well. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to have to pay for it. But an hour later, we realized that the air pressure in the tires was low. I look at the tire without the hub cap and realized that the rim was pulled away from the rubber. In other words, no matter how many times we stopped to refill, we were going to run out of air quick. We ended up getting stuck in another construction site full of gravel before finding a gas station. We called AAA to come and help us, but the mechanic’s car broke down on its way. When the replacement mechanic showed up, our group had to split up because he only had two seats in his cab. So me and the driver go off to the mechanic’s shop (note that he’s speaking very thick Austrian German), and we’re freaking out like… what is going on? What is going to happen to the friends we left behind, who are now at a gas station in the middle of nowehere hanging out with creepy guys who willingly hang. out. at. the. gas. station. But shockingly, the mechanic was not only able to fix the tire for a very modest price. He had a spare hub cap that exactly matched ours. We got to Vienna super late and yet somehow still managed to beat another group that we planned to meet there. A hot ass mess.

 

I also ended up in the emergency room on my last trip due to an on-going issue with kidney stones. In fact, I’m typing this post up from the hospital.

Edited November 27, 2023 by The7thStranger

[Phaunzie]

Miami in the summer, I come from the Caribbean where it is hot, but never have I felt that hot in my lifetime. 

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

9 hours ago, ScorpiosGroove said:

traveling with people who aren’t in the same tax bracket (or just stingy ones) like no i won’t sleep in a 12 person, dirty hostel room bc you don’t wanna pay a hotel 

I would never sleep in a 12 bed mixed room, either 4 at max female dorm or private rooms, I can’t be bothered with men jacking off in their bed in the night or pissing all over the place while drunk 

[OrgVisual]

The hostel in London was a literal nightmare. I'm grateful i'm past that phase and can afford proper hotels now  

[on the line]

Amazon jungle flying around Peru and Brasil and waiting for people to get on/off in the ******* jungle while they left the doors open. OMG it was SO humid just sitting in a stinky plane. Amazon was amazing. Loved the Peruvian Amazon more than the Brazilian one. People were a lot friendly and I felt safer in Peru than Brasil. 

[on the line]

On 11/26/2023 at 7:03 AM, Pendulum said:

Tbilisi, Georgia - Beautiful city, country and culture but the people were awful. Awful customer service in supermarkets, restaurants and whatnot. 

 

Somewhere Wallonia, Belgium - The train got stuck in the woods for like 2-3 hours. It was around the early evening and I had no cell service. The train conductor was only speaking French on the announcement system but when she passed through the car I was in, I asked her if she could translate it in English. So every time she had an announcement to make over the speaker, she came to me to translate it in English. Random Belgian train girl, I still remember and appreciate your professionalism. Arrived in Brussels at 11pm and well, Brussels during the night is a no-no. 

 

Vienna, Austria - An awkward AirBnb host. It was some old lady who spoke little to no English and with my rusty German we barely managed to understand each other. To make matters even worse, she was living in the same apartment. The vibe was so off, I could tell she wanted me out asap. On the day of my check-out, I had to get up early to catch a train but I didn't communicate it with her. So I leave the keys on the kitchen table and leave, closing the door behind me. But then I realised that I need the keys to open the front door.  I waited 10 minutes to see if somebody else would open the door and suddenly she comes back from her morning walk or whatever. She looks at me with disdain oh my god. Mumbles something in German, snatches my keys AND the garbage back from the room I was in which I was about to throw cause I'm a good guest!!! She goes back in her apartment while I'm waiting in the little poarch area, then she comes back after 5 minutes to open the door. No goodbye, no nothing. I guess she went back there to check if I hadn't stolen something. The audacity. Moral of the story, never book an AirBnb where the owner lives. 

LOL really?! I freaking LOVE Brussels. I was studying abroad one summer in Amsterdam and took the train down to Brussels to meet a friend who was studying abroad in London. Her flight was way late so we didn't meet up until like after midnight and wandered around Brussels until we found a karaoke bar. I did the Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch". The Belgians went wilddddddd for it. I was smacking butts and getting my butt smacked up on the stage. Good memories.