Vacations gone bad (or from hell)

[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.

[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

[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."