Curiosities
day ago
Svetlana T.
Wedream ofthe perfect getaway—palm trees swaying, cocktails bythe beach, and absolutely zero stress. But sometimes, before your flip-flops even hit the sand, chaos takes the wheel. From canceled flights and lost luggage, here are 16vacation disasters.
- Mysister’s 5-year-old wanted mywindow seat and whined, “Iwant that one!” Irefused. Hekept crying, mysister gave meadirty look, butI ignored them and went tosleep. When Iwokeup, Iwas shocked tofind them happily settled indifferent seats, with her son pressed toawindow. Apparently, she convinced another family toswitch seats.
When welanded, Itried toexplain thatI just wanted toenjoy the flightI paid for, but she brushed meoff and kept treating mecoldly the whole week. - Solo inIndia. Lost myairplane ticket. They don’t accept digital ones—only the paper copy. Ididn’t realize this untilI got tothe gate, which was already boarding. They wouldn’t reprintit. Iwas basically watching myflight leave withoutme.
Then anairport worker spotted meand pulled upinagolf cart. Itold him what happened, and hehad mehopin. Heradioed the entire airport. Turns out myticket was left atsecurity during screening.
Hetook methere, wegrabbedit, and herushed meback—just intime. Imade myflight. Hewouldn’t even accept atip. Istill think about him.©outdoorsnstuffz/ Reddit - AnATM inIreland took mydebit card. Ididn’t have abackup, and whileI had abit ofcash, Iended upneeding anemergency wire togetby. Ever since then, Ialways travel with two cards, carry atleast enough cash for daily meals, and try toprepay for accommodations and tours whenever possible—just incase.©Administrative_Elk66/ Reddit
- Istayed inasuper cheap “hotel” inFlorence. Itwas basically along hallway with rooms—each had akey card, but there was nostaff onsite. Naturally, Ilocked mykey card inmyroom.
The only way toreach staff was through WhatsApp. The personI messaged gave methe code toget into the office, where there was supposedly amaster key card. Itore the place apart—no key card anywhere. They said they’d send someone, but itwould take awhile because oftraffic.
Ihad alate afternoon tour booked, soI decided togoand assumed they’d updateme. Noupdates came. Ieventually told mytour guide what was goingon, and sinceI was his last tour ofthe day, heoffered towalk back with metosee ifI could get into myroom.
Noluck. Heended upoffering meaplace tocrash for the night. The maid finally let meback into myroom at6a.m. the next morning.©Unknown Author/ Reddit - This wasn’t some exotic travel story, butI was flying out tovisit afriend inanother province with myfour-month-old baby—my first baby, and our first trip together.
Right before heading tothe gate, Iwent tothe bathroom and realized, ofall times, myperiod had decided tocome back. After not dealing with itfor over ayear, Iwas completely unprepared. There was nothing inmybag. None ofthe other women inthe bathroom had anything tospare.
The vending machine only accepted coins, andI didn’t have any change. Irushed out tonearby shops—one ofthem didn’t accept cash atall (seriously?), soI couldn’t even break mybills. Atthe second shop, all the staff were women, and bythat point, Iwas onthe verge oftears. Iexplained mysituation, and without hesitation, they opened their purses and gave meenough supplies toget through the trip.
Iwent back tothe bathroom totake care ofthings—still carrying mybackpack and my22-pound baby. Then wehad tosprint tothe gate; last call was already being announced over the loudspeaker. When wearrived, the staff kindly told methey’d been holding the flight once they realizedI had ababy withme.
Iwas overwhelmed with gratitude for every person who helped methat day. Since then, I’ve had many more moments like this—small acts ofkindness from strangers while traveling with mykids—and Itreasure each and every one.©Spiritual_Worth/ Reddit - Mybank canceled mycards and refused tosend replacements tomylocation. Ihad already booked flights for two months later, soI relied onhostel breakfasts and ate alot ofrice and beans togetby. Tours oroutings were out ofthe question.©jp_books/ Reddit
- This happened tomeonce whenI was inhigh school. Mymom andI were flying toNorCal tovisit colleges. She booked through atravel agent and didn’t double-check the details—she assumed wewere flying out ofBurbank. Iwas reading the itinerary she printed out, and just asshe was getting off the freeway, Inoticed something and asked, “Mom, isthis supposed tosay LAX?”
Cue her pulling over and sobbing hysterically, while 17-year-old meisonthe phone with the travel agent trying toget our flight changed. There was noway wewere going tomake ittoLAX intime for our flight. That’s whenI first realized I’m better inacrisis than most people—at least better than mymom, lol.©KingPrincessNova/ Reddit - Iwent tothe wrong airport once, inChicago. Itwas over adecade ago, butI still get embarrassed thinking aboutit.
99% ofthe time, Iflew out ofO’Hare, but one timeI had tofly out ofMidway for atrip toNYC. Even thoughI had been thinking about Midway the whole week, onthe morning ofthe flight, Ihad acomplete brain freeze and ended upatO’Hare. Idrove all the way there, parked inlong-term parking, and hopped onthe airport bus tothe terminal.
While onthe bus, Iglanced atmyboarding pass, and mystomach dropped asI realizedI was supposed tobeatMidway. Ijumped off the bus with mysuitcase like amadwoman, sprinted back tomycar, and drove toMidway—but bythe timeI got there, Ihad missed myflight and spent most ofthe day onstandby.©R12B12/ Reddit - Ijust did this inJapan! Lol, Ihad topay 25,000 yen for ataxi toget tothe right airport, andI arrived just 20minutes before myflight was departing. Iblame Google Maps for leading metothe “international airport,” which turned out tobethe domestic one.©SoloWanderer_/ Reddit
- InParis, Itried toimpress awaiter byordering inFrench. Meant tosay, “I’d like the chicken, please.” What Iactually said was, “Iam achicken, thank you.” Hedidn’t even blink, just replied, “Roasted orgrilled?”
- InMilan, there are buses that take you tothe airport. You buy aticket for aspecific bus and time.
When mytime came, Ilined upand followed the procedure toput myluggage inthe bus compartment. Afew people ahead ofme, they stopped loading the bus because they had oversoldit. Asecond bus would come totakeus, but myluggage was onthe first. Iexplained this very clearly tothe person running things, but hedidn’t seem tocare.
Once Igot tothe airport, Iwent tothe help/information desk tocheck ifmyluggage had been lost and found. The woman atthe desk was the most miserable person I’ve ever encountered, and somehow cared even less about myproblem than the bus guy. Despite myluggage being clearly labeled with mycontact information, Inever saw itagain.©ogbubbleberry/ Reddit - Decided togoonascenic hike inthe Alps. Google said “easy trail,” soI wore slip-ons and brought agranola bar. Four hours later, Iwas scaling rocks with agroup ofGerman retirees who were way too fit and suspiciously chipper. One gave meaprotein bar and said, “This isfor people who prepare.”
- For three years, I’ve been mysister’s go-to babysitter—no pay, nocomplaints. Sowhen she invited meonabeach trip, Iactually tearedup. She said allI had todowas pack and relax.
But the second wecheckedin, she handed meher color-coded babysitting schedule and said, “You’re onduty till Thursday—oh, and they wake upat6a.m. sharp!” Somuch for peace and sleep. I’d traded work stress for toddler negotiations and sunscreen battles.
Next time, I’m booking myown vacation. Solo.
- Imissed myoriginal flight toPortugal, soI had torebook onaflight that arrived after midnight. When Igot tothe country, myphone wasn’t working, despite the provider saying itshould. Igrabbed ataxi tomyhostel, but the driver’s GPS was taking him somewhere different from where mydownloaded map showed.
Itwas 2a.m., the driver didn’t speak English, myGoogle Translate wasn’t working, and mymemorized Portuguese phrases didn’t include directions. Weeventually made itthere, but itwas definitely aunique way tokick off myfirst-ever solo trip.
Oh, and myflight toEurope was postponed indefinitely due toaworldwide British Airways flight system outage. Itwasn’t rescheduled orcanceled, just delayed—so wecouldn’t leave the airport. Ihad towait 7hours before wecould board. The last thing you want tohear your pilot sayis, “Well, this isafirst.” ©Bubbly-Storage1549/ Reddit - Ionce missed myconnecting flight atHeathrow Airport becauseI was eating attheir restaurant. Iwas having afish sandwich, andI always joke with myfamily that itwas the most expensive sandwichI ever ate because itled metomiss myflight.
The reality was, IthoughtI was atthe right terminal—but Iwasn’t. When Iasked for directions, IrealizedI was inthe wrong place. Iquickly ran all the way tothe other terminal (and ifanyone knows, Heathrow istough tonavigate).
Unfortunately, whenI got there, they told meI was 2minutes late and had missed myflight. Iended upstaying atthe airport for two days toget the next cheapest flight available. But those two days? They were lit.©FarFromAverage7866/ Reddit - Iwas locked inthe Kunstindustrimuseet inOslo alone, incomplete darkness, because the security staff thought the building was empty and ended upclosing the museum.©Sensitive_Duck9824/ Reddit
Vacations are meant tobeabreak from everyday problems—but sometimes, the problems come with you. Find more vacation disasters here.
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