We need to hear this story PP. And, one of my worst experiences was when I got sick on a work trip to Sri Lanka, and could barely leave the bathroom floor. After I recovered from that, I developed a sinus infection, and had to keep plodding through the work trip. So glamorous! |
We saw multiple people being rescued from the ocean by helicopters on our 3 day stay in Rio. I'm glad you were ok. |
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I posted about this on the places you did not like thread….but I went to Uzkbelhistan in the 90s to see Samarkand and Bukhara. Due to hyoerinflation and shortages, they could not purchase fuel for our return flight. So they said when they got fuel, they would give us 1 hour notice of the plane leaving. We moved to an awful hotel near the airport so we coup get there in time. I had the choice of a room with no lock on the door or one where the bathroom had no light and the toilet only flushed if you poured a bucket of water in it. I then promptly got something I call the Uzbekh measles. High fever, large red itchy spots all over my body, and diarrhea. I felt so awful. You couldn’t even get like a sprite or saltines there. One of my friends found me an electric green bottled sweet drink (labeled “Beverage”) to at least keep me hydrated. We were there days. I lost count. We finally took a bus to tashkent and by then I was feeling at least better enough to sit on the bus. I remember we stopped at the border and I bought a pepsi. Best f—ing Pepsi ever.
There were other awful things about that trip including being arrested on false pretenses for a bribe and being assaulted in the marketplace. |
| These stories are good reminders why I never travel to third world countries. I would never have gone to Cameroon to begin with. |
On behalf of all Third world countries, thank you for your service. |
| I was in a Cesna in Costa Rica that was piloted - and crashed- by a 17 year old kid. Luckily no injuries but we waited in the jungle for 17 hours for trucks to reach us. |
It wasn't your time. There was, or is, something you need to accomplish. I've posted about this here before, but my mom's best friend (and my Godmother) had a ticket to the Air Florida flight that hit the 14th street bridge. She was stuck in traffic (snow) and begged to be let on at the gate but the just denied her. Then, 20 years later, she had a flight to go see her son in LA. She once again got stuck in traffic and missed her flight despite once again begging to be allowed on. That plane hit the Pentagon on September 11th. |
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-Bed bugs in London
-Long time Delayed, then finally Cancelled flight in London -Food poisoning from oysters in Destin FL |
One of the best things about being single and traveling single is never having a petulant loser ruin your trip. |
| I need to remember these stories when I think I'm having a bad time abroad because I'm a little bit hangry. |
OMG! What are the chances of this happening twice? Crazy. |
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Fly out to take my kids to summer camp after COVID died down, and tested them the night before camp started and one kid had COVID.
Couldn't fly back with one kid ill, so was stuck in a hotel room where the hotel owner left food in front of our door each day until both kids (kid #2 got COVID too) recovered. |
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I’ve traveled through several countries in West Africa, so I have a few crazy travel experiences of things like buses stuck in mud, 24-hour bus rides, etc…
But I think my most memorable “trip gone wrong” experience was just a few years ago, when I had the worst food poisoning of my life in France (!). It was a group trip along the coast of Brittany, and I’d eaten some questionable seafood. As I was eating it, I thought it seemed a little off, but I ignored my instincts (at my own peril). Towards the end of the meal, I knew something definitely wasn’t right, and I sprinted to the bathroom, puking my guts out along the way. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I turned that bathroom into the food poisoning scene from “Bridesmaids” (fortunately for me, I was “only” puking; no diarrhea) — it looked like a crime scene. I speak French, so I called upon my skills to explain to the hostess that I had rendered the bathroom a biohazard. Fortunately, the illness lasted only a day or so, and didn’t ruin the whole trip. |
| Was once taking a cross country road trip with two younger kids by myself (DH too busy to go). Made it to Biloxi, Mississippi and checked into the hotel on a Sunday night. Caught of a twinge of something not right when I went to the bathroom. That turned into 0-100 raging UTI within a few short hours; blood in urine and everything. Knew I couldn’t last until morning so I called the local ER to see what the wait times would be like. The person who answered replied that since they had a lot of gunshot victims that night it would be a long wait. No special newsworthy shootings at anything, just a typical Sunday night in May in Biloxi it. I called the night line for my gyno and basically begged for drugs to be called in. Then I had to drag two sleeping kids into the car with me and drive over an hour round trip to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy that was open to pick up the medication. I notified the front desk (and housekeeping when they continually tried to clean my room for checkout) that I needed to stay an extra night. Thankfully, within 24 hours the meds worked and we were on our way again. |
| I came down with an horrible bout of the flu while taking my kids to visit family in SC. Stayed in the hotel room for two days then decided I needed to get us home. So I drove home — around 8 hours — while feeling like I was at death’s door. It was awful. Had to pull over many times just to rest |