Vacations gone bad (or from hell)

[justabeachbrat]

The Today show did a segment on vacations gone bad.

Two really bad ones here:

Went to Jamaica with friends in Feb, didn't know it is spring break invade the island time. Was like walking into a 24/7 out of control party. And not all the undergrads were having fun. Some were sold packages at overbooked hotels, and were bumped to a barely standing "hotel" me and my friends had the bad luck to choose. Several of us had things stolen, from rooms, and anything left outside was like saying "steal me."
Good part: All us hotel from hell refugees crashed a swanky private party at the Rose Hall plantation, good food and music. Putting on short, nice dresses, makeup and smiling at the guy checking for invitations got us in.

Other nightmare: last winter went to Hawaii with my older sister. I'd come down with the mother of all colds the day before. I sneezed, blew my nose for 5 days, and slept alot. She had a great time.

[AlethiaSi]

I saw that segment, I can't believe their tire blew out what like 5 times? crazy...

bad vacations...? we used to go to LBI every summer, one year we decided to take a car down there so we could come back early. On the way back, my best friend's brother took a seperate car, his car broke down, we got stuck on the NJ turnpike with no A/C in a hot old honda prelude in traffic for 3 hours, it was 100 degrees. Then, we get home finally, we realize that none of us have keys to her house... (how that happened is beyond me) so we decide to break in, by this time, Ashley's bro was back and tried to break in the french doors to be attacked by a HUGE wasps nest.
We decided to have ppl over that night, then these stupid guys we invited decided to light a huge fire in her driveway with kerosene (sp) and dried up branches.... fire trucks, everything... what a weird 2 days that was.......

[WVU alpha phi]

Spent two weeks in Italy the beginning of this summer and everything that could go wrong, did.

Our flight was late leaving from DC, so we missed a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany. The next flight to Venice wasn't for another 5 hours, so after my parents putting up a big fight, they told us we were booked on a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, and from there we'd get to Venice around 6pm. We were originally supposed to land in Venice at 9am. United gave us a handwritten piece of paper and told us to present it to the United reps at Zurich, who would give us our boarding passes.

Well, we get to Zurich and find out that basically the Frankfurt employees lied to us. The paper "tickets" meant nothing and we were not booked on the Venice flight, which was full. This meant waiting another 4 hours in Zurich's airport. We finally landed in Venice at 9pm, 12 hours after we were supposed to arrive.

Venice was great, beautiful weather.. the next drama came when we took the train to Florence. Twenty minutes after getting off the train, I realized I'd left one of my bags on it. My mom and I waited in the WRONG line for nearly an hour, and luckily when we were finally directed to the right place, they were able to locate my bag and it was returned that night.

We spent two days in Florence and got stuck on a walking tour in a HUGE downpour, everyone was SOAKED. Plus the typical weather in Italy for late May-early June is in the 80s, so everyone in my family had brought only one cold-weather outfit. Probably 10 out of 14 days there the weather was rainy, windy, and in the 60s.

Rome was next, and my wallet got stolen one night, which meant having to cancel the credit cards at 2 AM and making a trip to the American Embassy to make sure I could get back into the country with just my passport. My dad's credit card was also stolen in Venice, but no charges had come up yet.

Sorrento (the Amalfi coast) was the last portion of the trip, and the weather actually cleared up to sunny but still in the 60s. It was definitely the most relaxing part of the vacation.

On the way home, our flight was delayed leaving Rome, so we missed our connecting flight in Zurich, Switzerland. We were booked on a flight 2 hours later to Boston. Everything was going according to schedule in Boston, and then when we boarded, we sat on the runway for over 2 hours after being told we were 26th in line to take off. We landed in DC around 10pm (instead of the original 2pm time) and thought "well atleast we won't hit traffic on the way home." WRONG: an accident on 495 kept us in standstill traffic for 45 minutes.

[AlethiaSi]

Originally Posted by WVU alpha phi

Spent two weeks in Italy the beginning of this summer and everything that could go wrong, did.

Our flight was late leaving from DC, so we missed a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany. The next flight to Venice wasn't for another 5 hours, so after my parents putting up a big fight, they told us we were booked on a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, and from there we'd get to Venice around 6pm. We were originally supposed to land in Venice at 9am. United gave us a handwritten piece of paper and told us to present it to the United reps at Zurich, who would give us our boarding passes.

Well, we get to Zurich and find out that basically the Frankfurt employees lied to us. The paper "tickets" meant nothing and we were not booked on the Venice flight, which was full. This meant waiting another 4 hours in Zurich's airport. We finally landed in Venice at 9pm, 12 hours after we were supposed to arrive.

Venice was great, beautiful weather.. the next drama came when we took the train to Florence. Twenty minutes after getting off the train, I realized I'd left one of my bags on it. My mom and I waited in the WRONG line for nearly an hour, and luckily when we were finally directed to the right place, they were able to locate my bag and it was returned that night.

We spent two days in Florence and got stuck on a walking tour in a HUGE downpour, everyone was SOAKED. Plus the typical weather in Italy for late May-early June is in the 80s, so everyone in my family had brought only one cold-weather outfit. Probably 10 out of 14 days there the weather was rainy, windy, and in the 60s.

Rome was next, and my wallet got stolen one night, which meant having to cancel the credit cards at 2 AM and making a trip to the American Embassy to make sure I could get back into the country with just my passport. My dad's credit card was also stolen in Venice, but no charges had come up yet.

Sorrento (the Amalfi coast) was the last portion of the trip, and the weather actually cleared up to sunny but still in the 60s. It was definitely the most relaxing part of the vacation.

On the way home, our flight was delayed leaving Rome, so we missed our connecting flight in Zurich, Switzerland. We were booked on a flight 2 hours later to Boston. Everything was going according to schedule in Boston, and then when we boarded, we sat on the runway for over 2 hours after being told we were 26th in line to take off. We landed in DC around 10pm (instead of the original 2pm time) and thought "well atleast we won't hit traffic on the way home." WRONG: an accident on 495 kept us in standstill traffic for 45 minutes.

you win.

[LeslieAGD]

This summer my hubby and I were supposed to go on a cruise for our first anniversary. I am pregnant, so this would have been our last vacation alone for a long time. We arrived at the airport and found out our flight to Tampa had been cancelled...the snotty lady at the airline desk was able to get us on a connecting flight out of Charlotte that would just barely get us there in time to get on the ship. We got on the flight to Charlotte, and half way there the plane had engine trouble and they turned us around and brought us back home! We had to wait for nearly two hours in the customer service line and there were no more flights to ANYWHERE in Florida...so we missed our cruise and the airline still hasn't refunded us our money over a month later. Also, we purposely booked a cruise since the law is that you don't need passports for cruises until next year BUT, because you can't fly in or out of the US without a passport, we couldn't catch the cruise at another port.

To make matters worse, the airline sent our bags to Charlotte, then Tampa, then GRAND CAYMAN (the first port of call) even though we put a stop on our bags when we returned home. We spent two days trying to locate our bags and finally got the number of the return flight they'd be on from Tampa's baggage services (because the airport at home was no help at all). Hubby was pissed off, but decided just to drive out to the airport and get our bags. The airline has no clue we picked up our bags and they are still considered "missing."

The moral of the story: NEVER, EVER, FLY NORTHWEST AIRLINES!

[bcdphie]

The first time I attended a DPhiE convention (June 1998) was also the first time I had ever traveled alone. I was a seasoned traveler, but not by myself. I was flying from Vancouver to Norfolk, VA.

First I had to take a shuttle flight from Vancouver to SeaTac. Got to SeaTac, found my connecting flight to Charlotte - no problems - yet. Even though we left Seattle on time, we were really late getting into Charlotte, so I had to book it though the aiport, and found they were literally holding the plane for me. I got on, and continued on to Virginia. When I arrived at the airport, I found out my luggage didn't make it. So I talked to someone at baggage claim, and then made my way to my convention. Luckliy it showed up later that evening. The rest of my stay was lots of fun, but then I had to go home...

To get back to Vancouver I had to fly from Norfolk to DC, DC to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Seattle, and finally Seattle to Vancouver.

There were storms up and down the East Coast that day, so everything was delayed. I made it DC, and found my flight to Pittsburgh was also late. They advised me to book myself on the later flight out of Pittsburg, but there was a chance I wouldn't get my connection back to Vancouver. At this point I decided if I was going to be stranded anywhere I'd rather be in Seattle (only a 3 hour drive from Vancouver), versus Pittsburgh. I was suppossed to work the next day, but had no clue when I would actually be home. So I called my work and explained my situation. They said they would call back, but I explained I was at an airport in DC (didn't own a cell yet), so they told me to call back in about 20 minutes. Luckily they found someone to switch shifts with me.

I made it to Pittsburgh, and actually had time to get my original flight, but because I changed flights, I couldn't get on the first flight out. Finally as we were about to leave, a big thunder storm rolled in, which we took off in. I am a terrible flyer at the best of times, so the last thing I needed was this. I was sitting next to a guy who worked for Boeing, trying explain to me that there was no scientific way this plane could crash. That didn't really help too much.

I made it to Seattle to find out the last flight to Vancouver had just left. I cried. I was so tired and just wanted to see my family and sleep in my own bed. Had I been with my husband at that time (we started dating a month later), he probably would have driven down to pick me up. But we weren't, so I was put up in a hotel overnight and was up at 5AM the next morning to get on the thirty minute flight home.

I've had some interesting times travelling since then, but nothing like that.

[Tom Earp]

Same on DELTA! GAG, they love to cancel flights when they are not full!

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by LeslieAGD

This summer my hubby and I were supposed to go on a cruise for our first anniversary. I am pregnant, so this would have been our last vacation alone for a long time. We arrived at the airport and found out our flight to Tampa had been cancelled...the snotty lady at the airline desk was able to get us on a connecting flight out of Charlotte that would just barely get us there in time to get on the ship. We got on the flight to Charlotte, and half way there the plane had engine trouble and they turned us around and brought us back home! We had to wait for nearly two hours in the customer service line and there were no more flights to ANYWHERE in Florida...so we missed our cruise and the airline still hasn't refunded us our money over a month later. Also, we purposely booked a cruise since the law is that you don't need passports for cruises until next year BUT, because you can't fly in or out of the US without a passport, we couldn't catch the cruise at another port.

To make matters worse, the airline sent our bags to Charlotte, then Tampa, then GRAND CAYMAN (the first port of call) even though we put a stop on our bags when we returned home. We spent two days trying to locate our bags and finally got the number of the return flight they'd be on from Tampa's baggage services (because the airport at home was no help at all). Hubby was pissed off, but decided just to drive out to the airport and get our bags. The airline has no clue we picked up our bags and they are still considered "missing."

The moral of the story: NEVER, EVER, FLY NORTHWEST AIRLINES!

You should file a claim for your "missing" bags. Okay, probably not ethical, but it sounds like the airline doesn't know it head from it's a** anyway!

[summer_gphib]

The first day of our honeymoon was a nightmare. *lol*

We got married in Missouri, and took a limo to Memphis, to stay at the Adam's Mark. We'd booked the honeymoon suite. The next day we were to fly out and meet our cruise. It was a three hour limo ride, and we pull into the hotel around two a.m.

When we got to the room, they hadn't cleaned it. So we go back down stairs (and I'm suddenly bridezilla from hell) and I throw a fit. They put us in a room that is sooo funky I barely slept at all. The wall paper was peeling off the walls and it was NASTY.

I had MADE SURE to get a wake up call that gave us three hours before our flight. An hour and a half to get ready, thirty minutes for transportation, and an hour to check in and everything at the airport. The airport transportation was supposed to be provided by the Adam's Mark.

The wake up call doesn't come. I bolt awake (from a half sleep) and it's an hour before the flight. I'd packed us those really dorky "bride" and "groom" tshirts, so we throw those on, and have no time for a shower... My hair was the most awful mess I'd ever seen. All the hairspray and curls were in this bride of frankenstien mess. I pull that crap into a ponytail, with my bride tshirt on, no makeup, and this awful pissed off look on my face.

Adam is hypoglycemic and is green and almost faint from a lack of food. So I'm yelling at the front desk (they'd not taken care of the transportation either...) and finally they give me 1/3 of my money back.

We get to the airport, and we were in one of those little crappy propeller planes. Did I mention I get motion sickness very easily? We are both looking like the walking dead, and it took almost 3 hours on this prop plane to get from Memphis to Houston.

We got on the ship, and they had forgotten we'd booked the honeymoon package. So I threw a fit about that. By the time I got to the room, we fell asleep (slept through the boat drill) and didn't wake up until time for the midnight buffet.

*lol* At least it was memorable.
The rest of the cruise was perfect. I will NEVER stay in an Adam's Mark again.

[srmom]

This isn't my trip, but my oldest son's a couple of weeks ago - but it was a doozy

He went to Costa Rica with a couple of guys and his girlfriend (soon to be fiance). They are surfers so planned to stay in a beach "hostel" type thing for surfers ($12.00 a day, no frills - bring your own mosquito netting). The place is a dump, but they don't care because the surf is good.

Day later, one of my son's friends gets drunk, makes an a** of himself, and kicks a door in at the hostel. They are all kicked out. My son and his girlfriend decide to split up from the other two guys (too much drama) and find a nicer hotel on the beach.

The two of them are having a romantic time one evening, strolling through the town, when suddenly sirens start blaring, and announcements start airing in Spanish! Well, son's Spanish 1 helps him NOT AT ALL! So they run back to the hotel (against human traffic) and are told by the staff that they need to get out - that a TSUNAMI is coming!

They grab their passports and a bag and start running with the locals for the hills!!! He said it was like a movie, people were running for their lives, trying to carry everything they owned - SCARY as heck! Luckily, an American passing by in a jeep sees these two obviously American tourists and picks them up. He and his wife live on a mountain, and he takes them to his house where they are able to make a call home to his girlfriend's parents.

MEANWHILE, my husband and I are watching the finals of "So You Think You Can Dance" when the phone rings. My husband answers and starts shushing me and the TV. It is his girlfriend's mom (who we haven't met yet) calling to tell us that our son is safe and up in the mountains. Interesting way to meet the future inlaws

Well, Thank God it was a false alarm - caused by the earthquake in Peru. They were safe, Costa Rica was safe, and the waves were great (and gigantic) for the next few days.

When they are old, they will have quite a story to tell.

[LeslieAGD]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

You should file a claim for your "missing" bags. Okay, probably not ethical, but it sounds like the airline doesn't know it head from it's a** anyway!

We filed a claim in the airport when our bags initially disappeared...NWA claims they are still "investigating."

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by AlethiaSi

I saw that segment, I can't believe their tire blew out what like 5 times? crazy...

bad vacations...? we used to go to LBI every summer, one year we decided to take a car down there so we could come back early. On the way back, my best friend's brother took a seperate car, his car broke down, we got stuck on the NJ turnpike with no A/C in a hot old honda prelude in traffic for 3 hours, it was 100 degrees. Then, we get home finally, we realize that none of us have keys to her house... (how that happened is beyond me) so we decide to break in, by this time, Ashley's bro was back and tried to break in the french doors to be attacked by a HUGE wasps nest.
We decided to have ppl over that night, then these stupid guys we invited decided to light a huge fire in her driveway with kerosene (sp) and dried up branches.... fire trucks, everything... what a weird 2 days that was.......

What is it about NJ and A/C breaking down? The four of us in my family hadn't driven to and from NY in forever... as a family. We don't get along at all. Take away the air conditioning... it was the most hellish 11 hours of my life.

When I went to Sicily in 2000, it was definitely an interesting trip. We slept in the hotel maybe 2 or 3 hours a night, because we had early mornings on a tour bus. Since our trip was sponsored by the Sicilian government, we were constantly on the bus touring governmental things. It was fun though. Fast forward. Our last night, us girls from Detroit went to the club with the older crowd from Milwaukee and San Francisco (we were all in the group). We were to leave the hotel at 4am to get to the airport, so the Milwaukee group stayed up with us till we left. Sicilians are lazy. The freaking airport closes overnight, and they were late opening. Which meant our flight to Milan was late. Which meant we missed our flight to Chicago O'Hare. Ever had to go from International to Domestic in O'Hare? We ran for our lives... still missed our flight. We left Sicily at 6am, so midnight U.S. time. We got home about 10:30pm U.S. time. Add to that, my luggage was still in Milan. I had nothing to wear for a week.

[texas*princess]

Not myself, but one of my coworkers was on a cruise a couple of years back... they were somewhere en route when Hurricane Katrina whizzed past them.

Thankfully nothing happened on board to the boat or any of the passengers, but I heard it was a pretty scary experience