|
In response to this thread about the dangers of leaving your basement ( http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3764791 ), I figured a fun thread might be YOUR WORST TRAVEL EXPERIENCES. Have you been kidnapped by Khmer Rouge holdouts in the jungles of Cambodia? Been murdered by FARC in the Colombian-Ecuador border region? Came down with ebola in Liberia? I've travelled quite a bit and I think the worst thing that ever happened to me was getting ripped off by a taxi driver with a fake meter in Tunis, who charged me something like $5 instead of $2. I think that's actually the most angry I've been on foreign travel. I've never even gotten food poisoning, and I drink tap water almost everywhere and eat street food everywhere, including a number of fairly poor developing countries like Cameroon and Nicaragua. I've heard plenty of third-hand true nightmare situations stories, but most of those I think are bullshit or 100% know are bullshit ("I know someone who knows someone who got his kidney stolen in Brazil!!"). I've heard a couple secondhand stories that were legit, including one guy who got drugged and all his poo poo got stolen in Peru, two friends who got in an awful bus crash in Bolivia (one hospitalized & sent home, the other just a black eye and some stitches), and several people who came down with horrible illnesses and were hospitalized in India. Actually, I think about 90% of the terrible secondhand stories I've heard are from India, which now features alongside Syria and South Sudan in my 'places to visit' list. Even so, those India stories are mostly "someone shat on me" or "I shat myself" or "five Indian guys felt me up the entire 6 hour drive when we were in a 5-seater car that had 15 people in it". Also, I have heard a LOT of stories from people who have had petty theft in hostels, all over the world. So, what's YOUR worst travel experience?
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2016 12:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 30, 2024 21:41 |
|
|
Tequila Sunrise posted:All in Mongolia. Well, at least they didn't take over your country and murder all of your friends, family, and everyone you ever knew this time.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2016 10:15
|
|
|
Actually that reminds me, I did have a worse experience than getting slightly ripped off by a taxi driver. I went to Oktoberfest a few years ago with a couple friends, one of whom lived in Munich and somehow had extra tickets to a table right next to the tapping of the keg on the very first day (amazing) which started at noon. Sat there with like 8 Germans in the Young Communists party or some similar political thing, did not speak with any of them. Proceeded to get hammered with my two friends. Thought "man, these Germans are pussies, we're finishing our second liter and they're still on their first". Around 5pm things start to become a blur, probably 6 or 7 liters in and didn't eat anything except a comically-oversized pretzel. Woke up at 2am in a hotel room with someone banging on the door. Which was odd because I was staying in my friend's apartment. Open the door, and it's the room's actual occupant (a 50-something German guy) and the hotel manager. Apparently, hammered, I must have checked myself into his room--they had keys behind the counter -- probably I just randomly said a number and the clerk handed me the key. While at the reception, I realize I forgot my sweater in this guy's room. I ask him if he can grab it for me, and he comes back and it's totally ripped to shreds. The hotel clerks ask me where I'm -actually- staying. I say "I don't know... I think Lowenbraustrasse". Lowenbrau is the name of a major German beer company. There is no street named Lowenbraustrasse. The hotel clerk shrugs and I say "I remember how to get to my apartment from the bahnhof". I walk off and I actually do remember, but I don't remember which apartment it is. I sit in the doorway for about half an hour. Oddly, at around 3am at this time, a German guy in his mid twenties comes out in nothing but briefs and opens the door. I have no idea why; I did not ring or knock, and no one could have seen me. It turns out this is the flatmate of the girl I'm staying with—I had not met him before. Amazing. I was positive I was going to have to sleep in the apartment's doorway. I crash in the bed. Everyone wakes up the next morning and wonders how the gently caress I got there, and what happened to me last night. My friend had a camera with him and compulsively took photographs, so it's almost exactly like the ending credits to The Hangover. The last photo of me is around 7pm, with my head through the armhole of my sweater (no wonder it was torn to poo poo), wearing it across myself like a toga. The photo stirs a memory -- apparently I had said to my friends "I'm going that way". They waited 10-20 minutes and I never came back; I guess I had already checked myself into a stolen hotel room. The next day, we proceeded to get drunk as poo poo, but I made it home that time. So actually it wasn't all that bad of an experience. If I wasn't a clean-cut white guy though, I bet I would've been arrested at the hotel.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 29, 2016 22:20
|
|
|
On the plus side, poo poo and piss won't smell bad if it's -40. On the minus side, I can't imagine taking a poo poo in an unheated portapotty in -40 or whatever the non-windchill temperature was.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2016 15:07
|
|
|
Boot and Rally posted:I took a bus on Sumatra a few days ago. Your story is making me drink my beer a little faster. Tomorrow is Eid al Adha by the way. I have no idea how it is in Indonesia, but don't take a bus or travel far if you don't have to and don't want a fun, terrible experience story. I went to Tunisia just 3 weeks after starting this thread and had one of my top 5 worst travel experiences. Visited my fiancée during Tunisias Independence Day, decided to go south for the long weekend. Didn't book anything except hotel in advance. Got an illlegal minibus (with like 7 other people) after being unable to buy any ticket in Tunis ("our system is down no one can buy tickets!") which took us to a town an hour out of our way but closer. Illegal minibus, despite looking alright, was poo poo. Driver goes at 150 kph but bus breaks down every 5 minutes, some issue with spark plugs. Anyway there's a poo poo ton of traffic most of the way but he zooms all around including on the shoulder to try to make up for the lost time. Wait around for an hour trying to get a minibus in the closer town, bus station filled with hundreds of frustrated Tunisians trying to get home for the weekend. Eventually we try to get a taxi for the hour drive to our destination, but it's out of zone and illegal. Eventually get a taxi driver to find a local who is from the town were going to and could pretend to be going home (if stopped by cops and taxi license checked). So our 3 our trip took about 9 hours and cost us double. Not nearly as bad as the other guys experience--no overloading and luggage fit in the back fine. and at least we could bitch about it with our fellow passengers, but still gently caress traveling on national holidays. Especially national holidays you didn't know about until a day before. Saladman fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Sep 11, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Sep 11, 2016 00:17
|
|
|
Only time I've gotten food poisoning was at an earth muffin Eco super green love farm outside Stockholm (upscale fairly expensive even by Swedish standards). That's what I get for going off my otherwise hard diet of GM foods and saturated fats. VVV: Thanks, I just laughed out loud at my username and post combination after reading your post. Saladman fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Sep 22, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2016 09:21
|
|
|
Even if I'm checking my bag, I make sure to always keep one change of clothing in my carry-on. I'd suggest that tactic for your future! Also... I'd suggest just using your bag as a pillow and putting your arms around it next time you sleep in an airport, so you can sleep on the floor or an (increasingly rare-to-find) bench. That should work fine unless you're in a country with skilled con-men who can swap out your bag-as-pillow with a similar-sized bag of sand, like some Indiana Jones deal. E: I had a similar money issue going to Cameroon a few years ago. I was told that ATMs would work in the country. They did not, and I had €250 to last me 10 days. Fortunately that was (a) almost enough and (b) I had friends-of-friends there who could cover me the extra. But, man am I always paranoid about going to 'off the grid' countries without plenty of cash.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2017 21:47
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 30, 2024 21:41 |
|
|
Zamboni Apocalypse posted:Your Worst Travel Experiences: Next time I'm lubing up my rear end in a top hat. drat, that's a fine title. That requires a mod to switch, right, or can I do it as OP? Do we even have mods in T&T?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2017 20:15
|
|