Vacations that went to hell

[nutmeg]

OK I'm sure we all have stories that fit this topic. Will you share yours?

Miy dream vacation was a two week trip around Lake Superior. We took two work weeks + off and spent 16 days camping around the lake. It rained 14 days. We put up and took down a wet tent every couple of days. Both our watches broke. Our car windshield got a crack. We got a flat tire on a gravel road during the rain. I fell and hurt my arm at the Pictographs in Lake Superior Provincial park. I fell at a waterfall in Wisconsin and hurt my knee. (no surprises here...they don't call me Sista Slip for nothing) We got caught in a sudden thunderstorm out on a lake in our canoe. I got vertigo on Madeline Island and spent a couple of days throwing up and the only bathroom was an outhouse. On our last night I was still sick and it was still raining so we stayed in a lodge. We had a bat in our room.
There were more disasters...but these are the ones that immediately come to mind when I think about that trip.

I'd like to do it again sometime to erase this image of the trip. It is truly a wonderful part of the country and spectacularly beautiful.

So please share your travel disasters or disappointments...

[Wino you know]

April, 1985.

I was living in Honolulu, and after a greuling two-week special ops assignment for my job, I decided to take a three day/two night trip to Maui. No big deal, since Maui is only 20 minutes away by air.

The first evening I was there, I decided to visit Io Needle (one of the state parks), parked the rental car, got out & went exploring. It was about 5:00 in the evening.
When I got out, I noticed another car with about four young local lads sitting in it.
I didn't want to tip them off that I was suspicious, so I pretended to be ignoring them while making a mental note of their car's license plate #. On I went with my exploring of the park, and when I returned about 45 minutes later, the rental car had been stripped & demolished.
I was able to get help from another visitor, who gave me a ride to the Wailuku Police Station & gave the investigating officer the license number of the car with the four local boys.
They were apprehended within two hours, and, thanks to the insurance I took out on the rental, I was cleared of any damages to the vehicle and provided with another one.
I guess it could've been worse, but, to me, it was bad enough.

[nutmeg]

April, 1985.

I was living in Honolulu, and after a greuling two-week special ops assignment for my job, I decided to take a three day/two night trip to Maui. No big deal, since Maui is only 20 minutes away by air.

The first evening I was there, I decided to visit Io Needle (one of the state parks), parked the rental car, got out & went exploring. It was about 5:00 in the evening.
When I got out, I noticed another car with about four young local lads sitting in it.
I didn't want to tip them off that I was suspicious, so I pretended to be ignoring them while making a mental note of their car's license plate #. On I went with my exploring of the park, and when I returned about 45 minutes later, the rental car had been stripped & demolished.
I was able to get help from another visitor, who gave me a ride to the Wailuku Police Station & gave the investigating officer the license number of the car with the four local boys.
They were apprehended within two hours, and, thanks to the insurance I took out on the rental, I was cleared of any damages to the vehicle and provided with another one.
I guess it could've been worse, but, to me, it was bad enough.

IO Needle area was lovely! We stopped there for some hiking as well. Could have done without the story of the very bloody battle that took place however.....Good for you getting that license plate #....That kind of crap happens wayyy to much in the paradise state

[Wino you know]

IO Needle area was lovely! We stopped there for some hiking as well. Could have done without the story of the very bloody battle that took place however.....Good for you getting that license plate #....That kind of crap happens wayyy to much in the paradise state

I went back there years later when I took my wife to Hawaii for the first time. I guess it was to avenge what had happened to me the first time more than anything else.
It turned out they were nothing more than a group of stupid, punk-ass kids who were too damn lazy to go get a job.
Their families begged me not to press charges against them, but I told them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
Yes, there's WAY too much crime in Hawaii, and, it's a few idiot local yokels who give the rest of the state a bad name.

[Island_Dog]

Been a while since I posted, but this thread caught my eye in a hurry.

My worst vacation ever went as follows ....

Picked up wife at work and headed to airport in MI. Flew to MN for a weekend at Mall of America and a family reunion. Bought a buncha crap at mall. Stayed at nice hotel. Enroute to the reunion, got a call from mother that my father was very ill and things weren't looking very good. Stopped at reunion to show our faces and see a few for support. Drove 4 hours in rental car to parents home in WI to see Dad for a couple of days. Once things had calmed down and were stable with Dad, we had to get back in the rental car and return to MN airport as we had round trip tix to and from there back to MI. Hopped in the car, drove about 10 miles and wife told me she wanted a divorce. It was out of the clear blue sky. No prior signs whatsoever. Needless to say, the six hour trip back to airport was a quiet one. We stayed one night in hotel as we missed our flight from MN to MI. Got on plane next morning, flew to MI, quietly drove home. Papers were filed two weeks later and three montsh after that everything was finalized. Not exactly how I thought our long weekend away would end.

[drunkpirate66]

Lets just say that if you want to sit on top of Cadallac Mountain in Bar Harobr, ME on a nice warm summer night and you want to crack open a beer or two as you watch the sun set out over Frenchman's Bay and the Porcupine Islands . . . and the cops happen to drive by . . . and see your open container of Sam Adams Boston Lager sitting next to . . . and you say "Good evening Officer . . . nice night . . " you will be put in the cop car and driven down to the station where you will sit . . . and sit. Even if you explain to the officer that you only had 4 sips of the beverage . . . they don't care. 3 hours later I got the priveledge to head into town and multiple more sips of many more beers. I really wanted to see that sunset!

[phjrsaunt]

OK I'm sure we all have stories that fit this topic. Will you share yours?

Miy dream vacation was a two week trip around Lake Superior. We took two work weeks + off and spent 16 days camping around the lake. It rained 14 days. We put up and took down a wet tent every couple of days. Both our watches broke. Our car windshield got a crack. We got a flat tire on a gravel road during the rain. I fell and hurt my arm at the Pictographs in Lake Superior Provincial park. I fell at a waterfall in Wisconsin and hurt my knee. (no surprises here...they don't call me Sista Slip for nothing) We got caught in a sudden thunderstorm out on a lake in our canoe. I got vertigo on Madeline Island and spent a couple of days throwing up and the only bathroom was an outhouse. On our last night I was still sick and it was still raining so we stayed in a lodge. We had a bat in our room.
There were more disasters...but these are the ones that immediately come to mind when I think about that trip.

I'd like to do it again sometime to erase this image of the trip. It is truly a wonderful part of the country and spectacularly beautiful.

So please share your travel disasters or disappointments...

GOOD LORD, NUTMEG!!
You had a batroom???? I thought they only did those funky "theme" rooms up in the Poconos or in Vegas maybe?
AND you hurt yourself again???? We just can't let you out, can we???

[docandjeanie]

A few years back went to Punta Cana, it was a short trip of about 4 days in total. We paid top dollar and were supposed to get a ocean view room, well you had to use your binoculars to see it, we were no where near the beach. We had a jacuzzi, it was more like a soup bowl, very tiny. We went to Sunscape the beach, when we got there, the resort was full, due to a large group of people that were supposed to go to Cancun, they were unfortunately detored to our resort, due to a hurricane (Wilma). They were in no mood to be in Punta Cana, so they proceeded to act inappropriate and rude the whole time. Our 2nd night, and I had some seafood, bad idea. It tasted fine, but by 1:00am I realized I was in trouble with stomach issues, the whole next day and night I spent in the bathroom. I realized I had food poisoning pretty quickly. The doctor was called it was $250.00 to just be seen, we said no to that. My poor husband stayed with me, but I finally managed to get him to go for a walk, to the beach, etc. Walking on the beach, he cut his foot on something and came back with a bloody foot. We got him cleaned up and I was finally starting to feel a little better. It was now our last night, we went to eat (no seafood) and then to a show, we were sitting in the show and it was pretty windy, all of the sudden, the large curtain with a weight on the bottom of it, rose up and smacked my husband in the head, it almost knocked him unconscious, the hotel did nothing to assist us. I got him some ice and as soon as he felt better, we went back to the room to pack for our flight home the next morning.
The ride back to the airport was bumpy and my poor husband had such a headache that next day. So needless to say Punta Cana will not be on our list again. To be fair, we went to Punta Cana a few years before that to Secrets Excellence and it was wonderful.

A lovely trip, not...

[photogal]

wow.....some good stories!

Well we were so happy to get a great deal on a cruise out of New Orleans in Sept....duh! Hurricane season...but we had a wonderful capt that likes to sail thru tropical storms and 20 ft. waves. We got worried when they started to tape puke bags around the hall ways. We wernt on one of those really huge ship either. One friend stayed in bed most of the time. When we got to Cozemel well we were the first ship these people had seen in 8 days that could dock. Can you say attack of the vendors?? It was crazy! Most of it stunk, in more ways than one.
I keep thinking I should give cruising another chance....from Jan to June that is!

Not as good a story as some of you guys!
I think Nutmeg might be in the lead!

[LIPH]

I have no bad vacation stories. No matter what may happen during a trip, well, it's still a vacation.

[creeky]

I have had mainly good vacations overall ... mostly recently they have been to the USA and Vietnam and within Australia ...

but there are some moments I would rather forget - and some people I would rather forget meeting - some parrotheads behaving nasty in past trips ...... story is too long to go in to .....

[IrishPirate]

We've had some rough experiences camping with 5 kids but none of it was as bad as "The Honeymoon in Hell". Our 30th Anniversary is next week and I can still recall vividly our Pocono honeymoon. The brochure was beautiful, indoor swimming pool with views of the snow capped mountains, fireplaces in every room, King sized beds, a heart shaped bathtub for two filled with bubbles, "Intimate Champagne dinner" as well as out door activities such as skiing, horseback riding and ice skating. Well the brochure LIED!!! When we arrived at the resort, we found out our room was going to be more expensive than originally thought because it was a Holiday week???? OKay, we check in and go to our room, in love and excited, that's when the lies became apparant! The Heart shaped tub with the overflowing bubbles, had a heart shaped ring around it. And it was surrounded by purple matted shag carpet that hadn't seen a vacuum far less a shampooer .We looked around for the bottle of bubbles seen in the brochure, none to be found however later we found some in the "gift" shop for $4 for a 2oz. bottle. The king sized bed, well I think they cut the bottom off a full sized bed and added it to the side to get the width. It was the shortest bed I'd ever seen, my feet hung over the end and I'm only 5'3" . We had to sleep on it sideways! "A fireplace in every room". . . ours was the kind you plug in and watch the little light roll around! The indoor pool, GREEN!!!and the windows were soooo dirty you couldn't possibly see thru them far less any mountains. We dress for dinner, a quiet "Intimate" champage dinner. . . was shared with 4 other couples at one table, there were only 9 couples in the whole resort! One small glass of champagne per person, my husband asked if they could leave the bottle. . .if looks could kill???? We all shared our dissappointment of the resort, one couple asked us to call the front desk and pretend to be their family and tell the clerk there was an emergency at home, so they could get their money back and go somewhere else. We declined and told them if we had to suffer so did they! After all this intimacy, we went to the onsite "Niteclub". Remember Bill Murray's lounge singer act, we saw what he based it on! Around 9:30 my husband asked the bartender "what time do you close?" he replied "what time are you leaving?!" and offered set-ups for the room if we left right away. The outdoor activities were on the "next" mountain and the iceskating rink was closed. Needless to say, we cut our honeymoon short and NEVER went back to the Poconos again!

[nutmeg]

Been a while since I posted, but this thread caught my eye in a hurry.

My worst vacation ever went as follows ....

Picked up wife at work and headed to airport in MI. Flew to MN for a weekend at Mall of America and a family reunion. Bought a buncha crap at mall. Stayed at nice hotel. Enroute to the reunion, got a call from mother that my father was very ill and things weren't looking very good. Stopped at reunion to show our faces and see a few for support. Drove 4 hours in rental car to parents home in WI to see Dad for a couple of days. Once things had calmed down and were stable with Dad, we had to get back in the rental car and return to MN airport as we had round trip tix to and from there back to MI. Hopped in the car, drove about 10 miles and wife told me she wanted a divorce. It was out of the clear blue sky. No prior signs whatsoever. Needless to say, the six hour trip back to airport was a quiet one. We stayed one night in hotel as we missed our flight from MN to MI. Got on plane next morning, flew to MI, quietly drove home. Papers were filed two weeks later and three montsh after that everything was finalized. Not exactly how I thought our long weekend away would end.

OK this one beats mine as a really bad vacation. At least my hubby and I were able to swear at the time, and laugh later, about all our trials. I can still see him stretched out in the big puddle on the gravel road trying to get the tire out from under the vehicle...which we found out was where it was stored....Did I mention it was a new car? We had only had it for a month.

Your ex wife really knew how to pick her moment for that news. I'm sure you were still worried about your dad....

[nutmeg]

We've had some rough experiences camping with 5 kids but none of it was as bad as "The Honeymoon in Hell". Our 30th Anniversary is next week and I can still recall vividly our Pocono honeymoon. The brochure was beautiful, indoor swimming pool with views of the snow capped mountains, fireplaces in every room, King sized beds, a heart shaped bathtub for two filled with bubbles, "Intimate Champagne dinner" as well as out door activities such as skiing, horseback riding and ice skating. Well the brochure LIED!!! When we arrived at the resort, we found out our room was going to be more expensive than originally thought because it was a Holiday week???? OKay, we check in and go to our room, in love and excited, that's when the lies became apparant! The Heart shaped tub with the overflowing bubbles, had a heart shaped ring around it. And it was surrounded by purple matted shag carpet that hadn't seen a vacuum far less a shampooer .We looked around for the bottle of bubbles seen in the brochure, none to be found however later we found some in the "gift" shop for $4 for a 2oz. bottle. The king sized bed, well I think they cut the bottom off a full sized bed and added it to the side to get the width. It was the shortest bed I'd ever seen, my feet hung over the end and I'm only 5'3" . We had to sleep on it sideways! "A fireplace in every room". . . ours was the kind you plug in and watch the little light roll around! The indoor pool, GREEN!!!and the windows were soooo dirty you couldn't possibly see thru them far less any mountains. We dress for dinner, a quiet "Intimate" champage dinner. . . was shared with 4 other couples at one table, there were only 9 couples in the whole resort! One small glass of champagne per person, my husband asked if they could leave the bottle. . .if looks could kill???? We all shared our dissappointment of the resort, one couple asked us to call the front desk and pretend to be their family and tell the clerk there was an emergency at home, so they could get their money back and go somewhere else. We declined and told them if we had to suffer so did they! After all this intimacy, we went to the onsite "Niteclub". Remember Bill Murray's lounge singer act, we saw what he based it on! Around 9:30 my husband asked the bartender "what time do you close?" he replied "what time are you leaving?!" and offered set-ups for the room if we left right away. The outdoor activities were on the "next" mountain and the iceskating rink was closed. Needless to say, we cut our honeymoon short and NEVER went back to the Poconos again!

OMG! I always read all those ads in the Bridal Magazine about the Poconos. I never dreamed it would be like that.

We ran into tropical storm Isador on our honeymoon. Wasn't sure we'd live through flying around it that sucker. Pojo has nothing on us

[Conolulu]

Ok...Sista Slip N Fall...

Falling is in NO way funny.....and you know how I know this...and I'm really sorry I laughed when I got to that part.....)
But I just KNEW your story was going to involve falling at some point....Thank God you're not in the hospital having pins put in some different bones somewhere....

Didn't it rain the whole time you were in Hawaii too? Or am I remembering wrong??

[IrishPirate]

We've had some rough experiences camping with 5 kids but none of it was as bad as "The Honeymoon in Hell". Our 30th Anniversary is next week and I can still recall vividly our Pocono honeymoon. The brochure was beautiful, indoor swimming pool with views of the snow capped mountains, fireplaces in every room, King sized beds, a heart shaped bathtub for two filled with bubbles, "Intimate Champagne dinner" as well as out door activities such as skiing, horseback riding and ice skating. Well the brochure LIED!!! When we arrived at the resort, we found out our room was going to be more expensive than originally thought because it was a Holiday week???? OKay, we check in and go to our room, in love and excited, that's when the lies became apparant! The Heart shaped tub with the overflowing bubbles, had a heart shaped ring around it. And it was surrounded by purple matted shag carpet that hadn't seen a vacuum far less a shampooer .We looked around for the bottle of bubbles seen in the brochure, none to be found however later we found some in the "gift" shop for $4 for a 2oz. bottle. The king sized bed, well I think they cut the bottom off a full sized bed and added it to the side to get the width. It was the shortest bed I'd ever seen, my feet hung over the end and I'm only 5'3" . We had to sleep on it sideways! "A fireplace in every room". . . ours was the kind you plug in and watch the little light roll around! The indoor pool, GREEN!!!and the windows were soooo dirty you couldn't possibly see thru them far less any mountains. We dress for dinner, a quiet "Intimate" champage dinner. . . was shared with 4 other couples at one table, there were only 9 couples in the whole resort! One small glass of champagne per person, my husband asked if they could leave the bottle. . .if looks could kill???? We all shared our dissappointment of the resort, one couple asked us to call the front desk and pretend to be their family and tell the clerk there was an emergency at home, so they could get their money back and go somewhere else. We declined and told them if we had to suffer so did they! After all this intimacy, we went to the onsite "Niteclub". Remember Bill Murray's lounge singer act, we saw what he based it on! Around 9:30 my husband asked the bartender "what time do you close?" he replied "what time are you leaving?!" and offered set-ups for the room if we left right away. The outdoor activities were on the "next" mountain and the iceskating rink was closed. Needless to say, we cut our honeymoon short and NEVER went back to the Poconos again!

OMG! I always read all those ads in the Bridal Magazine about the Poconos. I never dreamed it would be like that.

We ran into tropical storm Isador on our honeymoon. Wasn't sure we'd live through flying around it that sucker. Pojo has nothing on us

Three years ago my oldest daughter was getting married, money was tight for them after all the wedding expences, they mentioned that they would go to the POCONOS for their honeymoon. I sent them to Aruba!!!

[nutmeg]

OK I guess I better qualify....The trip around Lake Superior was back several years when I was working. So none of this is recent. No bones were broken...and yes, when we went to Hawaii last year it flooded. However this year's trip to Hawaii was just fine thank you!

Penny was telling the story of her trip to St Barths in another thread and I thought it would be fun to hear the stories of all our vacations gone wrong.

[Conolulu]

OK I guess I better qualify....The trip around Lake Superior was back several years when I was working. So none of this is recent. No bones were broken...and yes, when we went to Hawaii last year it flooded. However this year's trip to Hawaii was just fine thank you!

Penny was telling the story of her trip to St Barths in another thread and I thought it would be fun to hear the stories of all our vacations gone wrong.

Ok...I missed that part..

I guess I've been lucky with vacations ...other than visiting New Orleans in September...when it went down to 90 at night....

Eventually I learned why New Orleans comes alive at night and everyone sleeps all day....

[nutmeg]

OK I guess I better qualify....The trip around Lake Superior was back several years when I was working. So none of this is recent. No bones were broken...and yes, when we went to Hawaii last year it flooded. However this year's trip to Hawaii was just fine thank you!

Penny was telling the story of her trip to St Barths in another thread and I thought it would be fun to hear the stories of all our vacations gone wrong.

Ok...I missed that part..

I guess I've been lucky with vacations ...other than visiting New Orleans in September...when it went down to 90 at night....

Eventually I learned why New Orleans comes alive at night and everyone sleeps all day....

Wow! You're lucky! A lot of our vacation disasters seem to involve rain.
We were on a boat trip in some jungle (can't remember if it was Honduras or Belize) when a torrential rain came. I was huddled over my camera trying to keep it somewhat dry. However I was in better shape than the young lady who wore a white T-shirt and no bra that day. I didn't know it could rain that hard. We finally found a lilttle bar (really kind of a covered deck with alcohol) and stopped to wait out the rain. Everyone was wringing out their clothes. Ahhh good times

[Conolulu]

OK I guess I better qualify....The trip around Lake Superior was back several years when I was working. So none of this is recent. No bones were broken...and yes, when we went to Hawaii last year it flooded. However this year's trip to Hawaii was just fine thank you!

Penny was telling the story of her trip to St Barths in another thread and I thought it would be fun to hear the stories of all our vacations gone wrong.

Ok...I missed that part..

I guess I've been lucky with vacations ...other than visiting New Orleans in September...when it went down to 90 at night....

Eventually I learned why New Orleans comes alive at night and everyone sleeps all day....

Wow! You're lucky! A lot of our vacation disasters seem to involve rain.
We were on a boat trip in some jungle (can't remember if it was Honduras or Belize) when a torrential rain came. I was huddled over my camera trying to keep it somewhat dry. However I was in better shape than the young lady who wore a white T-shirt and no bra that day. I didn't know it could rain that hard. We finally found a lilttle bar (really kind of a covered deck with alcohol) and stopped to wait out the rain. Everyone was wringing out their clothes. Ahhh good times

I did hit a Nor'easter in Maine one October....Rain, Winds, and 17 degrees actual temps.... not sure what the wind chill was. I stayed inside for 3 days...

I sold the house that following January.

Thought I wanted to retire up there.

I was wrong....