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[places]

so far, what is your worst travel experience?

what tips can you give to avoid them?

[ScottWoz]

Why would you want to avoid them? You need both good and bad experiences to make the 'whole' a richer experience. Without the rough you won't fully appreciate the smooth..

[Paul]

I sort of agree with Woz. Good and bad is pretty normal and some of the bad experiences end up as great stories or learning experiences. But, it is normal to try to avoid them. Just don't go too far to avoid life. That is a shame. Let things happen.


Having said that - often my least happy travelling experiences have occurred because I was rushing, tired, in a bad mood,....

So to avoid bad experiences - chill out, take your time, be calm, happy and friendly and take some time out when you need to.

[travelmonster]

"A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor"

[introducinlyric]

"A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor"

i like this saying..so true

[shazlex]

You can always turn a negative experience into a positive. It often makes for a good story later too!

My worst (but now funny) experiences would be:

Trying to navigate for my husband whilst driving on the wrong (right hand) side of the road in Rotterdam. The street names were so long that I'd forgotten them by the time I looked back at the map! We got terribly lost. Eventually after several hours, my then 13 year old daughter got us sorted and in the right direction!

My tip: Use a GPS so hubby has someone (or something) else to yell at!
The positive: We saw things that we wouldn't have otherwise.

Another:

Making an Italian lady cry on the train from Venice to Rome. We'd booked 4 seats on the train but when we hopped on, my seat was away from the rest of the family. I sat in the seat near my family anyway and when the rightful owner of the seat got on board, I tried to get her to sit in the seat I'd been allocated at the other end of the carriage. Due to language difficulties she didn't understand and after she yelled and gestured alot (I'm glad I couldn't understand Italian) she burst into tears. I found out from an English speaking Italian passenger that she was escorting her mother onto the train and was supposed to get off but didn't so had to travel quite a way before she could get off and board another train back to Venice!

My tip: Check your tickets/seat numbers on booking.
The positive: I now learn a bit of the language before traveling to another country

[outwardbound]

Sorry ScottWoz et al - A nasty travel experience can put you off travelling (for a while at least). I am all for taking oneself out of one's comort zone.. but when in a strange place, where no one speaks the same language and you get into a very frightening/difficult spot.. it is difficult to see how it can make you stronger. If anything it has made me more cynical.. (not a bad thing to have in small doses - but it has put me off travelling outside my own country for the past 5 years).
So ScottWoz - If you were a woman, 30's, only white woman around for 1,000s of miles - unwittingly hooked up with a local guide (came recommended by the Hotel - ie, a Holiday Inn) - and he took you downtown to where the locals hang out - then he locked you in his room and demanded marriage and a passport to freedom - How would you deal with that one? (assuming here you are role playing of course).
This sort of thing only gives a place a bad name.
For those of you who want to know how I dealt with it PM me.

[travelmonster]

That is a very nasty experience and one I am sure that nooone would appreciate.

I wasn't talking about that kind of experience and I would bet a years wages on the fact that Scott wasn't either.

[introducinlyric]

Sorry ScottWoz et al - A nasty travel experience can put you off travelling (for a while at least). I am all for taking oneself out of one's comort zone.. but when in a strange place, where no one speaks the same language and you get into a very frightening/difficult spot.. it is difficult to see how it can make you stronger. If anything it has made me more cynical.. (not a bad thing to have in small doses - but it has put me off travelling outside my own country for the past 5 years).
So ScottWoz - If you were a woman, 30's, only white woman around for 1,000s of miles - unwittingly hooked up with a local guide (came recommended by the Hotel - ie, a Holiday Inn) - and he took you downtown to where the locals hang out - then he locked you in his room and demanded marriage and a passport to freedom - How would you deal with that one? (assuming here you are role playing of course).
This sort of thing only gives a place a bad name.
For those of you who want to know how I dealt with it PM me.

i actually think this experience actually qualifies to be posted here as this truly is horrifying and would definately be a "worst" travel experience no wonder it has put you off travel and with good reason!!!! (ill send a pm as i want to know how you got out of it)...i think most assume poor accommodation, or a case of getting lost is considered "bad" but i dont see how this is can be deemed "worst" travel experience....

[inasia2008]

Holy crap! I have to PM you on this one! This is the stuff of nightmares!

[ScottWoz]

Paula,

Betting a year's wages would be a safe call - I wasn't talking about that kind of experience either.

Outwardbound,

That's a terrible experience and a terrible situation to be in. I totally empathise and understand completely how it could put you off travel on many levels, especially as your trip was recommended by a 'reputable' establishment. I trust they got to hear exactly what they were recommending afterwards?

Of course it's difficult to see how it makes you stronger, especially at the time, AND for a great deal of time after. But I do believe you are already stronger for it, maybe in more ways than one, and that at some time (on some level) you will know it too..

[outwardbound]

Thanks to all for your words of support (here and by PM) - as there were quite a few - here is my reply:

It panned out like this: Said guy came to his senses when I told him I was leaving - whether he liked it or not - and I would walk back to the hotel if I had to. This scared the crap out of him and he came to his senses. He finally took me into the streets and we got a cab - which I willing paid for!
I was angry but dismayed at the same time. Senegal was just post a mini civil war, had got its inependence and all the tourists had gone elsewehre. I was there en-route to Cabo Verde and had no choice of stop off point.
I did not report him to the hotel - as I had already had a measue of thier disinterest in their guests.. (another part of this journey!)... The whole city was in a dire state. I hope for the sake of locals and vsitors alike it has improved.
I am ex-RMP, so I guess that helped me a little, but how to have avoided this situation? - I guess do not go out of the hotel later than 6pm - and certainly not anywhere even with an 'authorized guide'. I was traveling alone - so perhaps another tip - If going somewhere you really don't know the ropes - then maybe an organized tour is best.

Thankfully I got to my destination - and the start of another adventure!
(Although a few hairy moments in Venezuela a few months later!)...

Thanks again to all for listening to my stuff. I think it has helped me to put it behind me.

[inasia2008]

Wow I am glad you got out of it all okay!
I am sorry that it happened to you in the first place but that getting it out on here helped you! More than likely your time as RMP helped a lot especially helped not show you were panicking even if you were inside!
I know a lot of places such as these put out warnings not to go outside your hotel or complex after a certain time but sometimes also this is not made clear, I only heard this through word of mouth from other travellers! Also I am sure you got targetted being a lone woman traveller! But I am very glad you are okay!

[b2009]

Outwardbound, that really is a pretty bad situation. As I almost went to Dakar in May with a female friend, I had done a lot of research on the country regarding safety etc. and I came across some pretty bizarre stories, such as the locals purposing to women relentlessly regardless of male companions, and the oddest thing; locals yelling at tourist both in english and french calling them racists, seemingly for no reason. And from what i gathered its just a tactic to get you to shell out some money to make them stop, which is really quite an ingenious career, hah. Although this still didnt detour us, we just didnt have the funds by the time May rolled around.

My worst travel experience is one of those that looking back on it Im grateful for it. I traveled to Europe on a buddy pass (so was flying standby) with a couple friends, in July 2004. Getting to Amsterdam was fine, we had no problems, flew first class and everything. Mind you I only had about $800 for a 2 week trip, including amsterdam, paris, cardiff, bristol and london. So we go to Gatwick Airport to leave London and flights are very full, my friend, who supplied me with the buddy pass, who also had higher priority than I, got on the first flight she tried for. I was number 98 on the standby list, and wasnt even allowed through to the gate.

So I made Gatwick my home for 4 nights, couldnt sleep the entire time. So I stayed up, and chain smoked, met a lot of really interesting people - a girl who spent a year in europe doing soundscaping, a teacher who had spent 6 months in Afghanistan teaching women and children, and my favourite - this guy called David who I chatted with all night, seemed like a really nice guy, said his girlfriend worked as a manager for delta in Atlanta and could get me on a flight... so he needed money for bus fare to New Castle, said when I flew into ATL id get my money back from his girlfriend...

I had already bought a ticket to Amsterdam leaving that next morning, as flights back to the states looked better out of AMS so David talked to his girlfriend on the phone, gave me a contact name in AMS and a Cnfo # and everything I thought I was home free. Got to Amsterdam, no-one knew the contact name I had, the cnfo pulled nothing up. so he scammed me. but really he kept me company for an entire night, it was worth the 40pounds... hah, he had some interesting stories. I'm just happy I didnt give him my bank account number as he suggested to have his girlfriend transfer money into it to give to him.

And I spent another 3 nights in Amsterdam before finally getting on a flight home.

So I learned... All of the (I dont know what you'd call it) Information announcements over the intercom, verbatim, and most importantly that its not wise to fly on standby to europe during the peak season. But looking back on it, I'm happy i went through it. Initially I thought I was going to go insane staying in the airport all night by myself, but it wasnt that bad and each day got better. I found the social aspect in the airport intriguing, airports arent really home to anybody, its a transition point, and it was a challenge to get most people to chat, so it became my fun little game to see who would talk to me. Another game I played was avoiding the nightly train of children bumming cigarettes off of us in the smoking section, it was pretty surreal, young children with dirty faces and personalities like old drunk men, asking very directly for a cigarette, reminded me of oliver twist.

a couple things to note if you ever get stuck in the south concourse at Gatwick... they do have showers in the bathrooms - I learned this 3 nights into my stay, and the best time to sleep is between 1am and 3am, there is almost no traffic between these hours (this maybe has changed now) and the Mcdonalds there is probably the best Mcdonalds I've ever been to. hah.

Sorry for the long rambling post.

[outwardbound]

Hey b2009.. glad you got sorted in the end.
Howdya fancy starring in Terminal 2 with all that experience?
Gatwick is my home airport when I occasionally make it back to Blighty.. but didn't know there were showers there - thanks for the tip! (I have often got a cheap night flight and had to wait 8+ hours till the trains started again).

[b2009]

oh man, that movie had just come out at the time of me being stuck, you have no idea how many people made comments about me being tom hanks. I made it a point to never watch that movie. haha.

[asiabill]

I was in Sumatra with time to kill before the late afternnon / evening bus to walking around the local neighborhoods taking pictures. While walking backward to better frame the photo I fell into an open sewage canal between ankle and knee deep. I was SO LUCKY that a Chinese Indonesian women had been outside her house while their driver was washing their vehicle and offered to let me use their bathroom / shower beside the garage to clean up. Their driver hosed me and my backpack down first then I showered and rinsed my clothes packing them in a plastic bag before leaving. I left her our business card with our Manila and Boracay locations offering her a FREE place to stay ANYTIME cause she REALLY SAVED me.

[skylab]

A few hospital visits here and there in some countries. Got a nice wakeup call to take care of myself a little better.