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It’s time for everyone’s favorite post of the year — my worst travel moments! And I love writing this post every year. I think it’s important to reflect the not-so-pleasant times along with the happier moments, and I think that reflects in my coverage here.
In 2012, I drove my car into a ditch in the Faroe Islands.
In 2013, I was extorted for my phone in Cambodia.
In 2014, I got head lice at the age of 29 in New Orleans.
In 2015, I locked myself in a vestibule with a cockroach in Sicily.
Now, what’s up for 2016? Let’s take a look!
Starving on the Greyhound Bus to Boston
My sister and I were traveling home to Boston for the Fourth of July. She had already booked a Greyhound bus; I vastly prefer the Megabus, but decided to book the same Greyhound so we could go together.
I don’t like Greyhound because 1) they overbook buses all the time 2) Port Authority, from where the buses leave, is one of my least favorite places on the planet. It’s like a bizarre 90s time warp where technology doesn’t exist, down to the lack of both wifi and phone service. I avoid it whenever possible.
It was the morning and we stopped at a cafe in our neighborhood for some coffee and scones. We sipped the coffee but saved the scones, even though I was ravenous. I have this thing where I can’t eat until I’m perfectly settled and comfortable. I knew I wouldn’t touch it until the bus left the station.
Sarah had booked her bus long before I had, so she had an earlier boarding number. She got on the bus with all the food and held a seat for me.
You can see where this is going.
Sarah’s bus was overbooked, because it was Greyhound. They filled it and it took off. And because Port Authority has neither wifi nor phone service, she couldn’t alert me. She left with all the food.
I felt like crying as I got on my own bus, nothing to eat but gum for the next five hours. The good thing was that after an hour or so, my hunger went into the next level and disappeared entirely.
My First Concussion in Germany
This is one of the more serious injuries I’ve experienced while traveling. One night my friend Cailin and I were snapping each other back and forth, playing with the new feature that allows you to create a sticker out of anything.
I snapped myself falling backward onto the bed, but I miscalculated — I hit my head hard on the corner of the bed frame.
(Yes, it was caught on video. Yes, I deliberated sharing it publicly, but sent it to Cailin and Cailin alone. Her comment: “That was a loud thud!”)
I felt fine over the next 20 hours or so. But after that, on the train back to Munich, I started feeling nauseous and a bit dizzy, and a strong headache came on. I couldn’t help but think of Natasha Richardson, who died after hitting her head while skiing (and who felt fine immediately afterwards but took a turn for the worse later). After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go to the hospital.
The hospital experience was surprisingly decent. I was seen fairly promptly, was given a CT scan (which had zero abnormalities), and though it costs 300 EUR ($311) for people without EU health insurance to visit the ER, I’ll be refunded it from World Nomads, my travel insurance provider. This is one of the millions of reasons why you need travel insurance!
Recovery has taken longer than I expected, but I’ve started to have full days without any headaches, dizziness, or nausea. That’s a big step!
Lost Luggage in Scotland
It was a simple nonstop flight from JFK to London Gatwick, but my bag (and lots of other passengers’ bags) didn’t make it. I’ve had lost luggage before, but it was always delivered within 24 hours. Not this time.
This time, Norwegian had no clue where it was.
That’s what made it awful. I hated being at a conference in no makeup and subpar clothing (I supplemented my meager wardrobe with a few M&S finds) but the worst thing was the uncertainty. Would they even find it in time for my trip to Wales? What about Slovakia after that?! It was a simple nonstop flight!
Finally, after two and a half days, I got word that not only had they found it, but it was already in Inverness! I hightailed it to the airport and picked it up with glee.
Between being on the phone constantly with Norwegian, having to buy clothes and toiletries before the shops closed (5:30 PM in Inverness) and having to pick it up at the airport, 30 minutes away, I missed a ton of the conference. But at least everything arrived before I had to go to Wales. And I was dressed to the nines for the final evening.
Dropping My Phone in the Toilet in South Africa
All this time, I’ve gotten through life without dropping my phone in the toilet. Until South Africa this summer.
I totally forgot I had put my phone in my back pocket…until I heard the telltale plop.
BUT IT SURVIVED. And you know why? Because I use a LifeProof case. Even though the bottom tabs were open, my phone survived the dip in the toilet without incident. That’s incredible.
AND THE TOILET WAS CLEAN. I feel like I need to add that.
The Worst Press Trip Companion Ever
I’ve met a lot of people in the travel blogging industry. I’ve gone on press trips with well over 100 people. Most people are decent. Perhaps the top 20% are awesome. And you get a few unpleasant people every now and then. But one woman I met this year was the absolute worst.
It started with, “Well, I hope he at least bought you a drink after,” when I talked about a really nice date I had gone on that happened to not cost anything. It escalated to wanting to pose for selfies with an immigrant worker as a prop in the background. And then came, “We don’t like black guys.”
Looking back, it’s not surprising that this happened in 2016. If anything, the 2016 presidential election emphasized that many reasonable-appearing people will secretly engage in racist behavior. This woman was yet another example.
Getting My Bank Account Depleted for Fraud Reasons
I won’t say where this took place or who it involved, but it started when a company paid me a good-sized check for a campaign. I don’t like getting paid by check, but sometimes it’s necessary.
The check arrived the day before I was to leave on a big trip. I deposited it with my phone. A few hours later, I got the notification that my bank had accepted it. Lovely. I then did my usual routine: shifted funds to different accounts and left enough money in my account to cover the trip. I then got on my plane and flew to another continent.
Several days into that trip, my debit card wasn’t working. I opened my email and realized that the client had voided all of their outgoing checks for fraud reasons — several days after it had been deposited in my account with no issues. “Just go back to the bank with the same check and they should be able to do it again,” I was told.
I immediately got on the phone with the client and got them to issue a transfer through their bank, which I was grateful for.
But I learned my lesson. And this is one that I hope you learn too. Even several days after a check is deposited and accepted by your bank, it can still be removed from your account if the sending bank issues a fraud alert. I’m going to be much more cautious with my checks in the future.
Spilling My Diva Cup in Australia
Yeah, this definitely falls into TMI territory. While in Coral Bay, I dropped a full Diva Cup for the first time ever in my six years of using one — and it spilled all over my clothes. Blood was everywhere.
Getting Haunted by Little Gracie in Savannah
It was my second visit to the very haunted city of Savannah, but my first trip to Bonaventure Cemetery. While there, I came across the grave of Little Gracie.
Little Gracie died of pneumonia at the age of six. Her father owned a hotel and she was a local celebrity, charming every guest who came in.
After she died, her parents buried her at Bonaventure and left town. People say that Little Gracie’s ghost can be seen wandering through town, looking for her parents.
I stood at the gate and made eye contact with the statue. And then something hit me in the chest and went all the way to my back. It was almost like a massive gust of wind whooshing into me. I felt so much fear in that moment and was desperate to find my friend so I wouldn’t be alone.
Something happened that day. I think Little Gracie’s ghost made an attempt to communicate with me. And I didn’t like it.
The Worst Uber Ride in Cape Town
I love Cape Town, and South Africa in general, but you need to be on your guard there constantly. One issue is driving at night. Carjacking is still a risk in parts of South African cities. Locals know which areas to avoid; when you’re a visitor, you have no idea. I had no idea.
After doing trivia at Oblivion, Beth and I summoned an Uber to take us home. And as soon as we got in, it was clear that the driver had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know how to navigate with the Uber system. He almost went into the wrong lane and had to back up. He suddenly hit the breaks, his manual car jerking wildly, then he stayed in place. One minute passed. Then another.
I was scared to death. Not only that, I was trying to hide my fear so Beth wouldn’t be scared.
“You need to get us out of here now,” I told him.
“Yes! Yes! Just one minute, please!”
“No. You need to go NOW. Take us back to the bar.”
He couldn’t even figure out how to get back to the bar. I had to navigate him.
After that, we switched to only summoning from UberX, which sources from professional drivers. It cost twice as much as regular Uber but was still very economical in South Africa.
Accidentally Drinking Undiluted Rum in Puerto Rico
And there was the time I went to the Don Q distillery in Puerto Rico, tasted lots of rums, and I made the grievous mistake of reaching for the wrong glass and drinking undiluted rum.
Undiluted rum.
I’m surprised I still have my teeth enamel.
I love the way you tell stories! And urgh, that press trip companion of yours sounds awful!
My worst travel moment of the year is nowhere as adventurous compared to yours, but it was actually when I stayed at my friend’s when I was in London. After my stay, she sent me a VERY aggressive message telling me how I was “rude” and “shitty” etc.
I might not have been perfect, but I stuck to all her VERY STRICT her rules as I was a guest. A few months later she messaged me again apologising because she’d been wrong. Um… ok.
I’ve grown so used to social media that I can say confidently, I’m not affected at all. Well, maybe in tiny amounts I am, but it’s so small it’s insignificant. It’s just a way to pass the time for me.
Absolutely love this post, you had some great moments again haha.
I have that Diva cup for some time now, and I’m still proud that I haven’t dropped it (because I’m quite clumsy). Did you had to throw away those clothes? 😮
And one my worst travel moments was in San Diego I guess. My sister and I booked a hostel but apparently that one was already closing so there were a lot of troubles. The owner was bipolar I think, because every 5 minutes she was sending us away, inviting us to stay, saying we wouldn’t have a bed, asking for the money so we could go sleeping etcetera… At some point she was even yelling at the end of my bed, at 2 in the night… :’) It was a really weird night and the next day we wanted to leave right away! But I think the date I had in Havana without even knowing it can be a good choice for worst travel moment as well haha!
My clothes were actually fine — I just rinsed them with cold water and hung them up to dry! (You can tell I’ve been through this drill before.) If you’re at home, hydrogen peroxide is the best for getting blood out of clothes. And now I sound like a murderer.
Fun post! At first reading, I found it hard to believe all of these things could happen to one traveller during the course of a year. Then I reflected on my own year of travel and came up with a half dozen mishaps. I’m glad the good stuff that comes from travelling (and life) usually outweighs the bad leading us to forget about the negatives.
I rode home on a Greyhound bus after a friend’s bachelor party in NYC.
The trip was supposed to take 4 hours. It took 6.5. I was HUNGOVER the entire time. No food. No music (I left it in my bag). It was just soul-crushing nausea for almost 7 hours b/c I was too cheap to pay for the flight from NYC to Boston (and didnt want to wake up at 7:00am).
I’ve learned my lesson, for sure.
Oh Mike. 😀 I have been in that position — only after waking up after a bender in Munich and needing to go to Innsbruck, but being unable to drag myself out of bed by the checkout time. We’re too old for the bus!
Loved this! Highlighting the lows from a year of travel is so necessary in a world of social media, in which we usually only see the glossy shots of people drinking cocktails on the beach. I found this post to be hilarious and totally on point — and the diva cup story is exactly why I’ve been afraid to get one ahah.
What on earth is a diva Cup???
It’s a rubber reusable cup you use instead of a tampon or pad. So, not something you want to, uh, spill.
Not that it was the worst thing in the world — but when I visited NYC for the first time in August the city was under an extreme heat advisory the entire time I was there. The heat index was about 110 degrees. I sweat easily and have very sensitive pale skin. I had the worst heat rash and I couldn’t walk outside for more than a few minutes without my clothes getting soaked from sweat. Ended up having a great four day weekend regardless. I think next time I visit, I’ll come in the Fall or Winter!
OMG the Diva cup! I have been thinking of getting one and hadn’t even considered that could happen but, OMG! Hope you were able to stealth your way out of that one. xx
I have like a 10 step process for my Diva cup. So afraid that would happen to me. I also worry about dropping it in the toilet more than my phone!
Great recap. My biggest travel failure was not travelling as much as I wanted this year. Will make up for it next year!
Great post! it’s always the things that go wrong that make the best stories. It may not feel that way at the time though!
My worst travel moment this year was landing at 1am at a regional Turkish airport for our first night in the country to discover my prepaid transfer was not there. This was not long after one of the bombings and all we had heard from others was we should cancel our trip. We had travelled all day with multiple flights so were tired. To get there and still be waiting at the airport the when everyone else had left was un-nerving indeed. Luckily our ride did arrive just as we were trying to call an international after hours number for the transfer company – only 45minutes late! He then proceeded to drop us at the wrong hotel. He spoke no English though, so we couldn’t convince him it was wrong. Luckily again, the people at the hotel were able to give us directions to the correct hotel, only a few hundred metres away. So there we are, walking around a Turkish city at 2:30am with our backpacks trying to find where we were staying! I had pre-booked everything just so that we would not be doing this exact thing!
Ugh, that must have been so frustrating!
Kate,
Thanks for writing this post. The section (and linked post) about your racist and rude travel companion was something I needed to read. It’s a great reminder that silence encourages racism. I think a lot of times we stay silent to avoid escalating an already bad situation, but if we can safely do so, we need to speak our minds and let people know that we aren’t cool with it. That, in fact, we are deeply offended.
I’m glad you feel that way, Hollis. Speaking up isn’t easy, but it’s the right thing to do.
Spilled Diva Cup! This was a fear of mine back when I still used one, but somehow I didn’t.
Omg I never dropped my phone into a toilet either until I did it this summer in Cape Town!!! Same thing happened…was in my back pocket and then i heard a plop. I ran fast as I can to the back of the cafe, where the chef quickly put it in rice. I left it in overnight and it did the trick! The funny thing is, I use a LifeProof case too but took it off the day before to change the SIM card when I arrived to SA. I was too lazy to put it back on because I thought, “I’m not going anywhere near water, it should be fine” haha. That figures!!
Oh and that diva cup thing sounds like a nightmare! Exactly why I dont use it. I’m too clumsy for one. Haha.
Ahh the Diva Cup is behind one of my worst travel moments this year too! It got stuck wayyyy up in there in a hostel in Himara, Albania and I was doing acrobatic maneuvers trying to dislodge it. I made the mistake of Googling all the cases where people ended up having to go to the hospital for it getting suctioned to their cervix and became convinced this was going to happen to me. I imagined how hilariously awful it would be to explain to these poor Albanian doctors why this piece of silicon was stuck inside me. Lucky I never had to, as I was able to remove it a few hours later. Damn you, Diva Cup (I still love you)
I still love mine, too!
Haha these are great. Thank you for sharing even your worst travel moments. I just had one a few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I went to Toronto for a weekend getaway. Sunday night when we were suppose to fly back to Chicago all flights were cancelled due to heavy snow in Chicago. We called bullst on it because we thought there was only going to be a light dusting. I called a friend in Chicago and she confirmed that it had been snowing all day. We tried to get rebooked to the last flight that was possibly flying out but the lady at the ticket counter said she didn’t want to book us in case it didn’t leave. We told her it wasn’t her call to make and that we both needed to make it on a flight back tonight because we had work the next day. Five hours later we caught that flight out. While this was all happening my boyfriend said “hey I think that’s someone famous at the next counter” I turned around and loudly said omg it’s mel gibson! It was actually Dennis Quaid which I later had to google to double check what he looked like. Hopefully he didn’t hear me =o)
OH MY GOD I’M LAUGHING SO HARD. How did you mix up Dennis Quaid and Mel Gibson?!?! LOL. Thank you for sharing!
I would have to say that my husband getting shingles in the Alps was pretty bad. We had four days left in our trip and we were chaperoning middle schoolers. By the time we flew back, he was in complete agony. We drove from the airport straight to the doctor’s office. 6 months later, his back still bothers him and will probably be scarred. On the plus side, the Alps were gorgeous!
What a year of mishaps but I’m sure the good would have still outweighed the bad. The ghostly experience in Savannah would have been terrifying!
My worst 2016 experience is travel-adjacent. In late October (another f*cking October Surprise, right before my birthday actually) the hard drive on my laptop became severely damaged and bad tech support effed up the recovery and started over-writing the files. I had more than 300,000 files, mostly image, and a LOT of it – travel photos. I hadnt backed up my lappy since Jan 2016 (IDIOT) and that meant that my first-ever photos from India, Tunisia, Alsace, Paris and many other places were at risk. Eventually I paid over $1000 to do a HD recovery, about 90% of my files were salvaged, but they are all now in a single folder and unsortable, because file info (incl date created and name and even size) has been irreversibly lost. Now I cant even bring myself to open that folder and look around, for my year-end travel recap post…
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that. 🙁
I was imagining the phone went down with your excretion in some public toilet. You would be hesitant to pick it up lol and yay, the last line dint change my thought at all hehehe
Seems like we both get locked places – I got locked in a bathroom in Nice over the summer and had to scream/was in tears by the time someone found me. That definitely has made me now test locks before using the bathroom…
Once my friend Rachelle got locked in a bathroom in Croatia and alerted us by tagging us in a Facebook update that all of our friends laughed at. LOL! I love to see it pop up on Facebook memories.
What a series of unfortunate events … travel can be a messy business sometimes!
Rat infested Airbnb! It was a shocker. I was travelling with my sister and two dogs and there was nowhere we could even go to. Few hotels in Australia will let you stay with pets and, if they do, it’s one dog only. We stayed up all night with all the lights on and our feet off the floor and, as soon as we could, organised somewhere else to stay.
Mine was the ONLY trip for pleasure not business. Of course.
We went to the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. (And I do mean the middle of nowhere – we were a 40 minute drive from Dubois, which happens to be the most geographically remote town in the lower 48).
Meaning we had to fly into Jackson Hole. Which is not a direct flight for us.
So, we had four flights. Only one was on time…the connection we missed in Chicago. (This is why I don’t fly American, except they had the best routing…and before you say “take a morning flight” taking the morning flight would have meant booking ground transport to leave at 4am…but yeah, don’t fly American).
Now, there are obviously worse places to be stranded overnight than Chicago, and it was a mechanical so they actually gave us room and meal vouchers.
“You can use your meal voucher at the airport or the hotel.”
After finally tracking down the correct shuttle bus, we got to the hotel only to find…
…no restaurant.
American sent us to *a hotel with no restaurant and did not tell us*.
Ah, but this happened all the time. And, pro tip if you are ever stranded in Chicago with airport vouchers – it turns out some of the local pizza delivery places take them.
So, they handed us a pizza menu.
What I did not mention: It was the fourth of July.
It took over an hour to get pizza delivered.
Mind you, it was good pizza, but…yeah.
(On the way OUT we were only two hours late…and the poor people who came in on the on time Delta flight had to wait for us, so not a great travel moment for them).
Ugh, that is so inconvenient!
Oh Gosh! Happy, those moments didn’t spoil your trips! They happen to everyone:) I remember myself on a plane to USA (from Russia!) where I planned to stay for 4 months suddenly realizing I forgot all the cash and credit cards at home:))) Pretty sure, my parents still didn’t forgive me for overusing WesterUnion that summer:)) Thought it was a couple of years ago and this year, I guess, was pretty lucky for me….
Kseniia,
thestylejungle.ru
I always feel bad laughing at your worst travel moments recaps – I hope most of them are at least funny in hindsight for you! 2016 was also the first year I dropped my phone in the toilet, same deal – back pocket – and it survived without a case! It was a (clean) squat toilet so it wasn’t submerged. +1 for squatty potty.
Interesting post! loved to read it!
My worst travel moment is an incident in with the cops in Laos. They stopped my friend and I while we were on the way to an attraction by motorbike and made us pay money for nothing. It was a scam and i was totally pissed off. I’ve told myself not to drive motorbike outside of Vietnam since then.
Never occurred to me to note such things to have a recap at the end of the year:)) And now all I can remember is 2016 blizzard in NY which made me cross half of the globe in no time.
I was on my way from Tomsk (Siberia) to Miami and already had a rather complicated route, but when my existing flights got cancelled, little did I know of the upcoming thrill. The only exchange I could find was the connected flight Minsk – Abu Dhabi – Frankfurt – NY – Miami, all with humongous over lay times. I believe it took me a week to reach destination. But hey, I loved the airport in Abu Dhabi and I bought a super cute camel toy and who cares that I only managed to take a shower once during that week:))
Loved your post!
I did my first real trip abroad this year – studied abroad in Paris, did some weekend trips to other cities, and then backpacked for 6 weeks throughout Eastern Europe. The trip was amazing but not without troubles. My alarm didn’t go off the morning I was leaving Munich so I had to hurriedly pack, check out of my hostel, and run with my 45L pack the 4.5km distance to the bus, in the rain. I made it with less than a minute to spare, sweaty, but it worked out fine.
Then there was the creep who followed me for 30 minutes in Innsbruck, Austria as I tried to find my way to my Airbnb that night (hostels were far and few between, and pricey). I pretended to be French after he cornered me in a residential area asking if I was American, traveling alone, wanting me to come with him. Thankfully he left me alone, but scary!
That scary guy sounds horrible. Glad you’re safe.
Hey Kate! Came across your blog and I really like it! You have a great thing going here and a community of people that love you. Just thought I’d take a moment to give you some recognition 🙂
Now in regards to your post, holy crap! I know the feeling of drinking drinking rum that wasn’t diluted yet lol not fun stuff but an interesting experience at the very least.
Had a question for you though! Since you travel to many different places do you come across any drinking games at all? Right now I am currently traveling to find beer pong rules by state and have come across all sorts of crazy games and stories. Love your site! Included mine here too so I hope you like mine 🙂 keep up the great posts!
Thanks! To be honest, I’m not in a crazy drinking game stage of life anymore. But it’s always a good time while traveling. Can’t remember anything specific.
During a group tour in Japan we went to an all-you-can-drink karaoke bar, and I really got my money’s worth… woke up the next morning feeling terrible with a big lump on the side of my head, apparently from hitting it on the toilet when I was throwing up. My very nice roommate and friends helped me back to my room, and hopefully I didn’t do anything too embarrassing, apart from my singing!
I had a one-day stopover in Dubai on the way out, and booked an excursion into the desert. I rang the day before to confirm, waited in the right place at the right time, but nobody came to get me. I stood in the blazing heat for an hour and a half waiting for the pick-up. Some very helpful people let me use their phone to call the company, who said it was my fault and I wouldn’t be getting my money back. I did manage to get most of the payment back when I got home and complained to the travel agent.
But thankfully they were just blips in a great year of travel!
Ugh, those are both horrific experiences! And some bad news to add…the older you get, the worse the hangovers get. 😛
Great post and the one I clicked on first from your email : )
Worst travel moment of 2016 had to be the moment(s) I had to watch my husband completely freak the F out as we navigated a knife edge ridge on a multi-day backpack through the Julian Alps in Slovenia.
I planned the trip and put the hike together, but intel was extremely difficult to come by as far as situations just like the one we found ourselves in. The trails were labeled easy or difficult but there was no way to tell if that meant long miles, steep climbs, or what. This day on that knife edge ridge was absolutely terrifying… and it was way worse watching him than dealing with getting my own self across it (hours long traverse).
I did a lot of apologizing that trip. And hey, nobody died, yay!
My palms are sweating just thinking about that, Margot! What a scary experience!
It was. And to hear people afterward say things to the effect of, “well now you know you can do that!” As if we’d conquered some fear… nope. We basically just managed not to die that day. Never wish to repeat that!!
My worst travel moment of 2016 is also TMI, you’ve been warned–
This past July I traveled to Kerala, India with two other American interns from Bangalore. During our long weekend trip, I was *extremely* constipated. This situation resolved itself on hour 5 of an overnight houseboat stay, in which all three of us were staying in one room with an adjoining bathroom, the only one on board. The toilet was completely out of commission and I made my companions pee in the shower for the rest of the night… I’m not sure which was more embarrassing, telling my roommates I couldn’t fix the clogged toilet or having to tell our captain the next morning as we disembarked.
A slightly more amusing travel mishap was as we were waiting for our train out of Kochi. Our train was ~3 hours late; every train that pulled up to our platform had the wrong number. We sat and sat, periodically checking in with the ticket counter. After one (wrong numbered) train sat for like 30 minutes, I decided to check in with the man at the ticket counter one last time. YES that was my train he told me, as it started to pull away. My friend threw our packs into an open door and we jumped on as it was speeding up! We definitely got lucky with that one 🙂
Ahhhh, that’s horrible! I’m glad your friends were understanding!
Hey Kate,
Sorry to hear about some of the misfortune, but you always seem to come out on top and love the fact you see the bright side in everything.
May I ask how you sort UberX? Is it in the Uber app? Am I missing something simple?
It’s not available in every city, but in some cities you can choose which kind of vehicle you want and select UberX.
I had goose bump when reading your Little Gracie story..
Sorry about your misfortunes in 2016, but I’m glad they’re all over now and hopefully you’re doing great.
In 2016 I traveled less than I used to because of financial situation. I guess that maybe my worst travel story of 2016 😛
Other than that, I can’t remember anything so misfortune in my travels.
Great read, most often writers write about their good experiences and not enough of the bad.
I was doing a 4 day hike alone in Colorado. The first day, the pouch with my phone slipped down into the stream as I was refilling my water bottle. The phone was waterlogged and dead. And then during the first night, my campstove (which had been working perfectly fine up until then) burst into flames and singed the tips of my hair. I had to push my tent out of the way and throw dirt on it until it died. For the next three days, I smelled like burnt hair and couldn’t eat anything (I only brought dehydrated food).
Luckily, I finished the hike and the phone came alive again after I plugged it in so I could complete the road trip with the GPS!
Disaster after disaster! Glad you survived!!
Those are pretty funny worst moments (maybe apart from the one where you hurt your head – good that it all ended fine), or maybe it’s just a way that you can make them to sound funny haha 🙂
For me one of the worst travel moments wasn’t funny at all – I got robbed in Madagascar, loosing all my camera equipment, GoPro, phones and some money. Luckily, I stored most of the cash and passport in different place, so it was safe. But all the pictures from that trip were gone and I didn’t even have anything to check time on for the next week until I came back home (it’s not easy to even buy a watch if you’re in the middle of nowhere in Madagascar haha). This definitely taught me a lot, to not to trust people too much (unfortunately), and that you can be robbed in a matter of seconds, even if you are standing just nearby. So be cautious girls!
Good luck for your 2017 travels and so it brings only funny worst moments 🙂
Aga from worlderingaround.com
I am also very fond off of travelling. I have also faced such problems but no worry it gives a new experience of solo travelling . Keep it up..
Oh, this was fun but I felt for you at the same time. Those miserable/terrifying moments that were terrible at the time but you can look back and laugh again later. I’m amazed at how well traveled you are. I must admit I’m a bit envious 🙂 I hope 2017 is filled with many great memories and not too many hiccups on the traveling trails that lie ahead of you.
In the event you found yourself in a hospital in a foreign land what would you do, adventurousKate?
https://steadysafaris.com
Hi Kate, i think you should take an expert guide during travelling in many places.
I do this obviously and can enjoy the tour fully.