Not all trips are as fun, meaningful, or relaxing as we might like them to be, but an unlucky few end up with experiences so bad that they qualify as downright nightmare material.
One netizen decided to engage in some schadenfreude and asked others to share their absolutely worst travel experiences. So prepare to be happy you stayed home as you scroll through, upvote your favorite tales, and be sure to comment your own experiences below. We also got in touch with Bejal Gosai from Be-lavie.com to learn how to not have a travel nightmare like the people in this post.
More info: Be-lavie.com | Instagram
#1
This is an easy one. Friday June 18th, 2004, the day before our 5th wedding anniversary. We were in Disney World with my in-laws for the week. This was our last full day there. Wife was about 6-7 weeks pregnant. It was going to be our first. Early in the morning she started spotting. Later on it got heavier and early afternoon contractions started. She miscarried in a hotel room in Pop Century resort. We cried and comforted each other. Then we got cleaned up and went to dinner and Magic Kingdom with her parents trying to salvage what was left of the night.
The silver lining is that we waited almost a year to try again and had no issues. He's now 17 years old and just started his senior year in high school.
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298points
#2
Husband (now ex) and I were slipped roofies in our drinks at a beach bar in St Martin. My ex wandered off back to the hotel we were staying in and left me with a male stranger who I’m certain was the one who drugged me. I am out of my mind and this guy and I start making out! Cut to : a couple from Minnesota who had been watching the whole scenario unfold came to my rescue and was like let’s get you back to your hotel. I was able to tell them where I was staying and they got me safely returned. When I came to the next morning, belongings were missing from my bag but at least I was alive. I think about that a lot and wonder how I would have ended up if those Minnesotans hadn’t intervened. Shout out to them.
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229points
#3
I found out my brother died 2 minutes after getting through customs in Cabo for a bachelor party I was the best man for and planned. Had to find a flight back to Chicago immediately.
Chicago was having a terrible snowstorm and we circled midway airport for an hour waiting for a clear window to land. I then had to explain to the American customs why I had stopped in Mexico for under an hour and came back. I then had to wait another 90 minutes to try to get a cab (none were available readily due to the snowstorm). In total I spent about 18 hours traveling that day.
The worst part was all the reservations I had booked for the group (a total of 12 guys) were under my name with my credit card down. So I was trying to coordinate both a funeral and make sure my friends who were still in Mexico made it to their reservations so i wouldn’t get charged no show fees.
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220points
Bored Panda got in touch with travel writer and blogger Bejal Gosai from Be-lavie.com and she was kind enough to answer some of our questions and give some suggestions on how to actually have a good trip. But on the topic of regret, we wanted to hear what she would suggest to a younger self if she could send a message back in time.
“Most definitely partake in as much adventure-led activity as possible. Doing activities and experiences that take you out of your comfort zone places you in situations that you are not used to help prepare you for later life. For example, traveling and staying with a local family, volunteering with local social responsibility projects, and physical team building activities like canyoning, and white water rafting aid to push you out of your normal routine, helping you gain some great life skills like problem-solving, applying what you’ve learned as well as helping with recruitment processes.”
#4
My little brother almost got kidnapped on vacation to Gatlinburg, TN in 2010. I was around age 13, making my brother 10 at the time. We were on vacation with our grandparents and were walking about 5 feet behind them on the street. A man came up to my brother and put his hands on his shoulders and started to pull him away before I grabbed my brother’s hand and pulled him in my direction and called for our Grandad. The man didn’t let up until my Grandad heard me call for him and started coming our way. He had ahold of my brother’s shoulders so hard that he left bruises and I’m sure that if I wasn’t paying attention, he would’ve picked my brother up and ran with him. SOOO scary.
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211points
#5
A scorpion stung me while I was in Mexico when I was 9. We were in a remote area with no hospital nearby. I almost died.
I didn’t even know what stung me at first, just reached my hand into a couch cushion and felt a sharp pain. A few minutes later I was having trouble breathing. Someone from the resort drove us to the nearest town about 30 mins away. The clinic was closed, so they knocked on doors until they found out where the doctor lived and woke him up. He opened the clinic and hooked me up to an IV. I was unconscious by then.
That was the first night of the vacation. I recovered, but it definitely put a damper on the rest of the trip.
208points
#6
I got the flu as a single traveler on a work trip.
New job, didn’t know anyone in the city.
Cried on the call to the front desk because I was so sick I couldn’t check out.
Faith in humanity restored when I woke up after my breakdown and a kind soul had left soda crackers and seven-up outside my door.
Cried on the call to the front desk because I was so sick I couldn’t check out.
Faith in humanity restored when I woke up after my breakdown and a kind soul had left soda crackers and seven-up outside my door.
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178points
Often enough, it seems like a lot of difficulties and potential pain can be avoided by paying a premium, but we wanted to hear a seasoned traveler’s take. “Many people don’t have the luxury of time to travel as much as they want to so tend to spend more money on having a tighter itinerary built for them when traveling so they don’t have to partake in a lot of the research. Others may feel like they require the pamper factor after working hard and earning money to be able to have the opportunity to get away,” she shared with Bored Panda.
#7
I've had dysentery in Egypt, a missed connection in Kenya that could have meant a month but fortunately only 4 days, and spent 26 hours on the floor of a regional airport in China where there was not enough space to sit cross legged.
But the worst was this June. I had tickets to see a concert I've wanted to see for 30 years. Flight was supposed to land 12 hours before showtime.. I sat and watched two flights scheduled after mine leave while we were delayed every hour, for 14 hours. I cried. A lot. I'm a 46 year old man.
Robert Smith if you're reading this I'll find a way to get to Lima if there's a ticket for me.
174points
#8
Skiing in the French Alps about 10 years ago. Day one: brother broke his arm. Day 2: sister broke her coccyx. Day three: mum did her back in. Day 4: dad did his knee in. Day 5: sisters boyfriend broke his thumb and wrist. Day 6: brothers girlfriend wrecked her leg.
We went home the next day.
Side note: all the above people have been skiing most of their lives. Just one of those trips.
Me: drank too much night one, rested and recovered from trip the next day and skied the rest of the time fine. I was having a great time
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149points
#9
I went on a 4-day cruise to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Got excellent rates out of Galveston - it was cheaper than a B&B in Fredericksburg! The trip was great until we awoke on the last day at sea to weird announcements over the intercom system.
Turns out, there was a fire in the engine room, which ended up disabling our ship, leaving only emergency power. So we’re on a floating barge in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. It took the cruise line so long to figure out what to do that we ended up drifting so far east that their plans had to change.
They sent two tugboats from Mexico and started… pushing? our cruise liner to the US. Other cruise ships would stop and give us supplies and we could get wifi signals from them to contact everyone back home. But it was too dangerous to get us off the ship in the middle of the Gulf, so we just waited to get back to shore.
Meanwhile, passengers were going NUTS. The first day or so, food was meager, so people started hoarding, which meant even LESS for everyone else. There was luckily enough power to run the kitchens (and the dishwashers!) so the food situation improved, but we had some weird sandwiches in the meantime.
We had a balcony room, so even without power, we were pretty comfortable. We’d prop open the balcony door and our room door, and the breeze kept us cool. But there were tons of people camping outside on lounge chairs because they couldn’t stay in their rooms.
The worst part for me was the bathroom situation. The toilets would work for a while, but they would back up quickly. They ended up telling us to go #2 in hazmat bags and… leave it outside our cabin door. I made it three days before I finally had to give in and use a bag. My friends and my mom cheered when I came out of the bathroom, and I proclaimed that I would never be going camping lol
Everyone had been making fun of me for how much reading material I’d brought, but they were thanking me for having such a variety by the time we were done!
When we returned to port (in Mississippi, in a shut-down cruise facility), I got my 15 minutes of fame for the one tweet/Facebook post I managed to get out, that I had used to tell everyone in my life that we were marooned. I was on CNN a couple times, the Today Show and several podcasts.
The total time at sea was 5 or 6 days? And upon returning home, I immediately got vertigo, from being slightly tilted for the past week (the boat couldn’t right itself properly). And our shuttle bus to NOLA broke down in the middle of the night and they needed to send another to pick us up. 🤦♀️
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141points
“My personal views on this are that individuals should prioritize whatever it is that enables them to travel and explore the world in whichever style of travel suits them. If that means staying in luxury, so be it. It is however critical to balance this with local experiences and add to the local economy while supporting local tourism at a destination. Try and stay in locally owned boutique hotels, use local tour companies, and dine in local eateries for example.”
#10
2022: Got horrific food poisoning in Oaxaca. Flew to Mexico City the next day for my birthday. Neither my husband nor I could eat or keep anything down.
In the middle of the night, I wake up to glass shattering. I reach for my husband and he’s not there. He was in the bathroom and fainted! Through! The! Glass! Door!
Blood everywhere, throw up everywhere, it’s 3am. More fainting follows.
The young man working the reception that night at the hotel saved our lives and got a doctor there within 10 minutes.
This is why I’m forever and ever loyal to hotels, the feeling of having someone there at all times is priceless. I have no idea what we would’ve done in an Airbnb solo.
Second place is also a root canal! In Turkey and they did an awful job so I had to get it done in Bulgaria 🫠
138points
#11
Stayed in a bedbug infested hotel room. Apparently I am REALLY reactive to bites and I had hundreds of painful sores. Nobody else in my family ever showed a mark but I ended up looking like I had smallpox and people at the sights on our trip really gave me a wide berth.
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129points
#12
not me, but a guy I bought a car from (Frank) - him, girlfriend and a 2nd couple were driving from the airport to their hotel in the hills in Barbados, I believe.
Brakes failed, car careened down the hill. the other 3 were fine but Frank was pretty severely injured, ended up being air lifted to Miami.
During full body scans (MRI? CAT scan? i dunno) they discovered he had Kidney Cancer - Stage 1.
At the time (early 2000s) there was no early detection test (I don't think there is, still, but i'm not an MD), so the car accident ended up saving his life!
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123points
Now, some of the issues listed in this article came down to just bad luck, but many were also avoidable in hindsight. Naturally, as with so many things in life, doing one’s due diligence ahead of time is almost never a bad idea, so we asked Bejal what she would suggest focusing on when gearing up for a trip. “Being fully researched and aware of their destination of choice. For example, local customs, what to wear, and respect for the local culture.”
#13
I got detained at a border crossing and then quarantined in an Ebola hospital in Tanzania on suspicion of having Ebola. Spoiler alert: I didn’t
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122points
#14
Got into an argument with a family member and they cancelled my flight back home (we had the same confirmation code). Didn’t find out til I got to the gate and my ticket wouldn’t scan anymore. I didn’t even know you could cancel a ticket after checking in
121points
#15
I was in Mumbai during a terrorist attack. It was on the train line I was supposed to take back home, which I luckily was late for, so I had to hop in a cab but was stuck in it trying to reach my friends for 4 hours. All the phone lines jammed. Everyone thought I was dead. It was pretty scary and chaotic.
In Mongolia we camped next to a lake and in the wee hours of the dawn a pair of very drunk Mongolian guys attacked my friends’ tent and beat them up (they were also Mongolian). Also on that trip a yak broke our van.
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120points
“Having a rough itinerary and plan of action is always a great idea but not over planning and leaving a few days to partake in spontaneous local activities. After all, it is vacation time and it's good to be fresh and alert rather than completely worn out with too many things to do,” she suggested. You can find more helpful information on the Be-lavie website here and on their Instagram here.
#16
I was on day one of a 10 day Hawaiian vacation when an old root canal went back. Spent the whole vacation smacked out of my mind on painkillers. I lost entire days.
But the winner is Greece. Coming back from Greece, I started getting sick on the plane, and barely made it off at my layover in Germany before I started throwing up. Somewhere in the airport, I also noticed my makeup bag was gone out of my carryon. It had my luggage key in it. I struggled to the hotel, where I experienced a violent, 12 hour stomach flu. I still couldnt get into my luggage, but I did not honestly care because I wanted to die. The next day, I headed back to the airport in my only clean clothes, (which were my pjs), makeup free, looking exactly like I had been throwing my guts up. Then security picked my luggage to search, which I still could not open, so I had to check it for a ridiculous additional price. I made it home in my pajamas, looking like hell, to find that my luggage did NOT arrive with me, and my car wouldn't start. Zero stars. Would not recommend.
Greece was amazing though.
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116points
#17
On my way home from Italy one time, I missed a connecting flight and wound up on a later one. Got on and the middle seat was empty, thank goodness. Right before the cabin door closed, a guy came running in, and sat in the middle seat.
He promptly began sneezing, coughing, and he had a very runny nose. It was disgusting. He should have been wearing a mask. Even though he said it was allergies, I had some suspicion.
About one week after I got home, I came down with covid. This was back when you had to test negative to come back to the states, from abroad. I was certain I got covid from the sick guy.
By the time I got well from covid, I came down with a blood clot, from my groin, to my ankle. Diagnosed as covid induced, I am still on blood thinners from it, to this day.
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115points
#18
Two summers ago I went on a week long trip to Hawaii with my sister. On the last day we went on an 8 hour photography tour around the island. About 4 hours in, my sister slipped on some rocks and broke her foot in five places. We got her back to the van and found some ice and she refused to let the group cut the tour short, so it took another 4 hours to get her to the hospital. It was right at the end of COVID so they wouldn't let me go in with her so I spent the evening sitting in the parking lot. Our flights were changed up last minute so we had three layovers and almost 24 hours to get home with her drugged up and on crutches and me lugging all of our bags.
Last summer that same sister and I took my kids to the beach and on the last night my oldest daughter and I were swarmed by fire ants in the outdoor shower at our rental and bitten several dozen times each before we could get clear. The blisters lasted for weeks.
This year I took my mother on a cruise for her birthday. She got a sunburn day one, caught a stomach bug on day 2 that lasted through day 3. Day 4 she slipped on the ladder in the pool and hurt her foot but it was still so sunburned that she didn't realize it was injured until it started turning purple and green on day 5. Day 6 we went through a storm and she ended up seasick. Day 7 we flew home. She swears it was an amazing vacation and she wants to go again next year.
I have decided that it is probably not in the best interest of anyone's health to travel with me.
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106points
#19
I was backpacking in New Zealand with a friend right after college. We were staying in a little beach town, Kaikoura, which ended up being the epicenter of a 7.8 earthquake at 12am one night. It shook for what felt like 2 min straight. We had to haul a*s to the top of a hill due to a tsunami warning. We were frantic and didn’t grab warm enough clothes, we sat up there freezing for almost 12 hours. The roads had all cracked and we ended up stranded there for 3 days.
There was no service, electricity, or running water. Our hostel owner happened to know someone with a spring, so we got fresh water. He also let us stay the three days for free, super nice dude. We ate food from Red Cross stands and called our families with wifi at the hospital. People were getting choppered out by priority (elderly, kids, health issues.) On the third day, our tour bus company coordinated a chopper out for us to a nearby town and then bussed to Christchurch. We immediately called the airlines and changed our tickets to go the hell home the next day lol
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100points
#20
My grandpa died when I was in Vietnam. I found out when I was staying in a hostel with a bunch of random people and was just sobbing with a curtain shut to my bed. 0/10.
97points