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Worst. Trip. Ever.
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crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Jan-30-2007 22:30

So I had fun bumping this cool thread Tinuviel started back in the summer (when it was WARM in the Northern Hemisphere, so no-one had any good ideas!), and it's gotten me thinking about how royally travelling can suck, too.

Robbed by a filthy yet well-organized gang of street urchins in Uruguay?

Barfed from a well-presented yet over-ripe gang of raw sea urchins in Tokyo?

Talk about bad travels.

In the early 90's, Mrs. Patty and I did the very cliche post high school go to Europe thing. We didn't (and yes, I HAVE in fact practiced this phrasing) have the same "agenda" for that trip, so yada yada, (it's worth yada-ing three weeks of "but I thought you wanted x/but I said I wanted y, right?) after three weeks we parted ways at Fiumicino (sp?) in Rome; she went home and I went to Greece.

So after a flight from Rome on which I was served a rolled-protein item comprising what I think was every land animal stuffed with every sea animal then left to dry in the sun, I arrived in Athens. I have very little memory of how I got from the airport to the ferry docks in Athens, except something about a taxi and an English guy screaming "Gatwick... GAAAAATwick!!!".

When I got there, I knew where I wanted to go. I knew nothing about Greece, but I had long hair and a ton of Joni Mitchell albums, and the song 'Carey' in my head, so I was going to this place Matala, on the south shore of Crete, simply because the fact that she had mentioned it made me think it would be some kind of deadhead haven (like, 20 years later).

My hotel was called "Die Zwei Bruder". Name should have tipped me off. Nothing but naked Germans anywhere. I learned that if I saw a naked person, "Guten Tag" was an appropriate reaction. Anyways, on the first day I fell asleep in the sun with sunscreen EVERYWHERE except my eyelids.

Too late to make a long story short. But thanks to my long hair, I was the red-eyed albino Jesus of Matala for a week.

I tipped well.

You?

Replies

AndreaX
AndreaX
Thespian

Jan-31-2007 04:43

So yeah I totally have a story here. The trip itself was very cool except that, well, I nearly died. Other than that, it was great.

So summer of my high school junior year, a few of my friends and I decided to do the Europe thing. Since I was going to an international high school at the time, this meant that we would buy plane tickets, and Eurorail pass and crash at various friend's places over there.

So we were in Rome, and my friend who lived there had a grandmother that lived in the Italian country side and invited us all to lunch. After a massive lunch (we all know about Italian grandmothers), we took a stroll and decided to do the "siesta" thing under some trees. We were laying down on the grass, talking lazily about this and that when all of the sudden I was attacked..and I mean ATTACKED by a whole freaking HIVE of bees. Now, I am allergic..My friends understood that the whole being attacked by a hive of bees was not cool, but failed to see why I was screaming histerically to be taken to the nearest hospital.
They must have figured it out after I passed out though, cuz I woke up in a an ER room to some kid doctor yelling "She's alive!"...in Italian of course, so that some of my friends did not at first realize he wasn't screaming for the hearse.

Oh yeah...worst. trip. ever

Zanjana
Zanjana
Washed Up Punter

Feb-3-2007 15:55

Mine has to be staying in a motel in Sequoia National Park with my family and another family when I was about 10. Something was wrong with our bathroom, so we couldn't use it and had to go down a flight of stairs and around the corner to use the bathroom in another room. Well, two of the members of the other family came down with the stomach flu and there was vomit EVERYWHERE, and no convenient bathroom.

I slept on a lounge chair by the pool.

cenoecox
cenoecox
Well-Connected

Feb-3-2007 16:11

Ha! Awesome! Crunch, you are too much.
When I was 19, I went to a family reunion with my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Mexico. We drove there, and I got completely wasted (how unusual). Driving back to the border, I started feeling woozy and getting the spins. I opened the door and began to puke my guts out a few yards from the border cops. The kids selling Chiclets found it entertaining, but my aunt got concerned and came around to my door just as I was pulling myself back in. I was just in time to slam her hand in the door, and as she screamed, I was unable to figure out how to open the car door to release her hand. I felt like such a douche bag.

sunny
sunny
Lady of Shadows

Feb-3-2007 16:26

Did you go to the Mermaid Cafe?

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Feb-3-2007 23:43

UGH! See that's exactly my point Sunny -- there WAS no Mermaid Cafe! I spent most of my time in a place called Sirtakis' Tevern. It's slogan was, "The first name in meat on the grill". And, while I'm ranting about being betrayed by Joni Mitchell lyrics I feel compelled to point out that it's not a really great idea to say you're looking for a "mean ol' daddy" to "buy you a bottle of wine", at any age. 'Specially when there's older naked guys all over the place around you :P

Cenoe: am I having deja vu or did you tell me about something like that that happened like a month ago - but with a bar fight and an uppity bitch instead of the border cops and the one-handed aunt?

cenoecox
cenoecox
Well-Connected

Feb-4-2007 09:48

Oh, um.... yeah, kind of. Well, no. The only parallel, really is the fact that I was trashed. I still can't grip things with my right hand. My boyfriend's bummed out about it. >: )

Reese Withers
Reese Withers
Well-Connected

Feb-5-2007 13:20

Ive had one bad trip! It was 8 yrs ago or so. Ive never been out of state without my parents....it was always family vacations, etc. Well my good friend Mikey, who never been to Orlando,FL, wanted to take a trip there. He is a diabetic, and there was a convention going on there, and he asked if I would go with him.

We both are from Ohio...Im in Findlay and he is in Wooster,OH. My parents drove me there to meet him, and we caught a bus. Yes, it was a long, tiring trip to Orlando BUT Ive never done anything like that before so was enjoying the experience.

We stayed a week in Florida...it was fun.

This is the bad part. We got to the Cincinnati bus station....very big, and boy, did we get to know that station well. We got stuck there for 6 long hours because of our own stupidity and not knowing what the hell we were doing. At that time, I was kind of shy, and not used to taking the bull by the horns but when you dont have anyone there to take care of it, you learn real quick hahaha

We were in line waiting to catch the next bus, and our luggage got on the right bus....but WE didnt.

It was to be 6 hours later before the next bus came in to go to Orlando. So, we finally got the right bus, with no luggage. I almost called my parents and told them to come get me, and just take me home. (Cincy is 3 hrs from where I live)

We went on though..worried to death about my belongings. I had all new clothes, and shoes in there. Thankfully, I never carry money in my luggae...it was all on me.

We got to Orlando the next day....and we got a taxi to take us to the car place where we rented a car.

We went straight back to the bus station there to check to see if our luggage made it there. It DIDNT.

I was fuming mad....I was almost in tears. We decided to go on to the resort where we were staying, and get checked in. We each had our own room. This place was VERY nice....and everyone looked so fresh, and nice...and here we come in, looking like

Reese Withers
Reese Withers
Well-Connected

Feb-5-2007 13:32

the last rose of summer. That woldnt have been so bad , had we had our fresh, clean clothes with us, and our soap, and all them things to make us smell good, and look clean LOL

I was in a foul mood, as we went to check in. We got to our rooms, and I said, well...i guess we are going to have to go friggin shopping for all new clothes, and shit. Gee thats what I want to spend my money on LOL

We got cleaned up the best we could and decided to take one more trip to
the bus station in hopes our luggage made it there. We asked this security guard if he would go back and look. we gave our ticket to him, and he went on back.

We waited forever it seemed like, when we heard him coming back home dragging something. OUR LUGGAGE!

I was so friggin happy....I told that guard that i was so happy i could kiss him. Mike said he probably wishes you would LOL

It started off as a bad experience but ended good :) I know that I will never travel by bus again though...no matter if it was a good experience for me since its something Ive never done :)

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