Have You Ever Experienced a Travel Nightmare? We Want to Hear About It!

The trip itself was lovely...until I broke a door to the overhead luggage compartment on the plane. There is nothing so humbling than sitting in a small, confined space while hundreds of strangers stage whisper the horrible things they would like to do to the "idiot" that made them sit in the plane for THREE HOURS until the door could be repaired. To add to the fun, I was traveling alone with a small child, who needed to be entertained for those three hours.

I've had many humiliating moments in my life--but that one wins, hands down.

Yes, worst (and best) trip ever, hands down was to Peru in November. We all came down with food poisoning, then several days later, our son had altitude sickness. After several horrible forms of transport (including an overnight bus, never again), we ended our last day in Peru with head lice. The best part, by far, was asking the Sheraton Lima staff in broken Spanish how to find medicated hair products for lice, and then telling them to burn the sheets after we left!

Peru is amazing, though, and was totally worth all of those hassles in the end.

http://threelittlebaers.blogspot.com/2010/11/como-...

I had over $700 stolen from me in Rome. :( Luckily, I got it all back.

Funny you mention Florida and weather. My travel nightmare involved going to Disney World for a spring training game, having the game get rained out, and then Disney stranding us in the pouring rain for over 2 hours. (For the full story: http://www.travelhyper.com/2011/02/disney-trip-rep... ) It was absolute madness and thankfully it happened at the end of the trip so it didn't ruin the entire adventure. Lesson learned: While Florida's weather can be unpredictable, Disney's transport system is unreliable.

Well so many mishaps to choose from! The most recent was during a trip back from South Walton beach. We were driving through a small town in Alabama when we noticed a truck ahead dumping out paint on the road. 'We should stop," we said. We didn't. An hour later we remembered - nothing like dried white paint on a black car. Found a car wash, my son hacked a beach towel into 3 pieces, and we scrubbed away for an hour removing thousands of tiny white specks. Nothing says family togetherness like workin' at the car wash.

As a New York airport limousine driver, I have seen it all. I spend have of my day listening to travel nightmares. There are too many to name.

SueBob, your travel adventure sounds fantastic! Loved the post.

Here you go:
http://suebobdavis.com/2011/03/20/costa-rica-trave...... ( http://suebobdavis.com/2011/03/20/costa-rica-trave... )

Sorry for not using the Cyrillic Russian spelling. This is a great story, and I can't wait to read the rest. Thanks for sharing!

I wrote about it a long time ago. Everything that could go wrong did. Here's an exerpt.

We knew, before we ever left Logan Airport, that we were going to miss our connecting flight in Paris. Why we didn’t attend to the issue in Boston is anybody’s guess, but we thought perhaps they could find a different flight from Paris more easily in Paris (yes, I know this is all computerized, I had other things on my mind at the time). At least I was able to sleep on the flight across the Atlantic. I was unable to sleep on the flight to Rome six months earlier and it wrecked me for three days. When we arrived in Paris, I was awake and ready to put together Plan B.

We were sent to the Air France transfer desk and we had a bit of trouble finding it. Once there, the woman behind the counter, listened to our plight and said. “We will put you up in a hotel here in Paris and book you on tomorrow’s flight.

Panic. “But, we have an appointment to meet a two year old boy for an adoption on Monday. We have to be there!”

“St. Petersburg is not a major city, we do not go there more than once a day.”

“Do you have access to other airlines, can you find us another flight? We really have to be there.”

“Well, you should always allow two days when travelling to Europe.”

“I thought we just did.”

I handled all of this in the most businesslike manner I could muster. I had no idea what would happen if we couldn’t get a flight, so it was important to be polite even if the woman behind the counter was being rather rude. I was very disappointed that this first encounter in France was turning out to be so -- so stereotypical. My husband stood there calmly, not saying a word. He told me later that he was about to lose it, but I had no idea.

“Alors!” Madame frowned at her computer screen. Tap tap tap, on the keyboard. “Alors!” Tap tap tap, “Alors!”

“Alors! Okay, I will put you on a flight to Moscow, and from there you can get a connecting flight on Aeroflot to St. Petersburg.

I had heard about Aeroflot, jokes about milk crates for seats and wondering if the plane was going to make it to its destination. I was nervous, but desperate. “We’ll take it!”

That settled, we headed over to the new gate to await our flight to Moscow. I learned how to use a European credit card phone to call our facilitator in the States about our change in plans. I think that call might have cost me $10.

Ah, but our adventures were far from over.... For now I will just say that when someone offers you an overnight stay at a Paris hotel, TAKE IT!!!

If you are interested, the story continues here ( http://homeintheworld.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/0... ) and @ Home in the World: International Adoption and Other Travels ( http://homeintheworld.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/0...; here

- Lisse

Great story, and a whole new spin on Casual Friday!

I had a travel nightmare during a business trip for a previous job. I had just started and was very excited to be going to the company's annual sales meeting where I would be meeting a lot of new people for the first time. I got to the hotel and checked in looking forward to relaxing after my flight. Going to my room I was pondering if I should order room service or wander around and explore the area. Little did I know what was waiting in my room! I opened the hotel room door and to my horror and embarassment there sat the COO of my new company, typing away on his computer, in nothing but his boxer shorts! Apparently there was a mix up at the front desk and they booked both of us into the same room! Needless to say it was a very memorable introduction to the company and the main topic of conversation at the annual meeting.

I don't know why I forgot to mention this one. A few years back, I had a job interview with the Nielsen company in NY. They flew me out from LA for what was supposed to be a brief overnight trip. As soon as we touched ground at JFK, the news started spreading throughout the plane...NYC had just experienced an enormous black out. There were no lights on at the airport, but I somehow managed to find a taxi to Manhattan. They let me off 30 blocks from my hotel, so I had a nice hike dragging my bag in the 90 degree August heat. My hotel (small boutique called the Giraffe)had only one thing working...the elevators. Good thing, because I was on the 12th floor. There were no lights, no electricity, no shower, no plumbing (don't flush that toilet!), no food and only a few bottles of water to drink. My cell phone didn't work. Too bad I didn't have an iPhone with the flashlight app back then, because my room was black as pitch that night. The next morning I somehow managed to get through to the manager I was interviewing with. Turns out she was at a Hotel just a few blocks away, as she could not get home in the blackout either. After a nice bottled water spongebath, I hiked over there and we met for about an hour. Many, many stranded New Yorkers were in the lobby. Another Nielsen person gave me a ride back to JFK that morning. Needless to say, the airport wasn't operating, since there was still no power in the entire NYC area. Thousands of people stumbled around zombie like in the heat. I caught an Enterprise shuttle, rented a car and made it over to Newark New Jersey, where I had to hang out for the next three days until power was back and flights were scheduled. Yes, I know, that's the scariest part of the whole story. Actually, they have a nice outlet mall near the airport, I'll never be mean to New Jersey again. I finally made it home from my overnight trip after 4 days. Well anyway...I got the job!

Maybe 15 years ago we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and we did a really, really good job putting sunscreen on my little sister who was maybe 6 at the time. Paba was still a common ingredient at the time and it turned out she was allergic so her entire body was covered in giant red welts.

BlogHer Marketing Coordinator Carrie Winegarden (@carrieactually ( http://twitter.com/carrieactually )) blogs at Carrie Actually ( http://carrieactually.com ) and Kuchen Together ( http://kuchentogether.com ).

I wrote about vacation tragedy/anxiety and so on last month here on BlogHer ( http://www.blogher.com/family-vacation-tragedy-anx... ). In that post, I wrote about returning from the beach last year when our fuel pump broke in the middle of nowhere. It was not great.

Family Section Editor Jenna Hatfield (@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom )) blogs at Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com ). She is a freelance writer and photographer.

I have two nightmares. One from about 15 years ago, and one returning from BlogHer 08 in San Francisco. And both involve air travel. Definitely a theme here.

15 years ago. I was travelling on a frequent flyer ticket from Boston to Charlotte NC via Newark to see my dog being shown. The flight from Boston at 6am was late into Newark, but the airline did not hold the onward flight because there were only 3 of us on the Boston plane. The other passengers were rebooked on other airlines that morning but because I was on a reward ticket, I had to wait for a 5pm flight. Do the math. That is all day in EWR.

THEN, the 5pm flight started to experience weather and equipment related delays. They boarded us, they took us off, we waited some more. Finally around 7 pm or so we were on a plane. Which experienced weather in the air and was almost diverted. We finally landed around 11pm at night.

I refused to fly that airline for quite some time as a result of this miserable experience.

The trip home from BlogHer 08 could have been equally bad except we had great customer service from JetBlue. I was traveling with my then 8 year old son and my mom, on a red eye to Boston from Oakland that was cancelled. The agent rebooked us out of San Jose the following evening and let me use her computer to go online to book a hotel near the airport in San Jose. Since we had turned in our rental car we had to get a car service to drive us south, and overall the trip cost us a few hundred dollars more than we were expecting as a result. But it could have been SOOO much worse.

Crossing fingers that this year travel to/from San Diego for BlogHer will go smoothly.

Susan Getgood blogs at Marketing Roadmaps ( http://getgood.com/roadmaps ), Snapshot Chronicles ( http://snapshotchronicles.com ) and Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip ( http://snapshotchronicles.com/roadtrip ).

Air travel seems to be the connecting thread of misery for most of you. Amy, at least you can relax for future flights now...you've already had your lifetime "event"!

My worst travel nightmare was on a flight from NY to LA in 2000 with my husband and two children. The plane started a sudden descent approx 2 hours before it was supposed to land in LA, with no explanation from the pilot.

The flight attendant ran from the front cabin to the rear looking terrified as she yelled the oxygen masks would be dropping and we would have to brace for an emergency landing. For 40 agonizing minutes without being told why the plane was in trouble we had wear an oxygen mask and brace for a landing in Albuquerque, all the while with my 6 year-old son and the woman sitting behind my husband screaming in unison "I don't want to die!"

After we were safely inside the terminal in Albuquerque, some of the passengers crowded around the two pilots, who were were hiding in a corner. They had suspected an electrical short circuit that could have caused decompression, the reason they dropped quickly to a lower altitude. The lack of information during the flight made the experience much worse than it would have been.

In Albuquerque we had to wait more than two hours in an empty terminal in the middle of the night. There was no food or drinks available until we finally started boarding another plane, when several boxes of cold pizza arrived.

After arriving at LAX at 2am, we waited at least 30 minutes to get our luggage because at that hour most of the baggage handlers had gone home. Then we all lined up for taxis but there were only a handful at the taxi stand because there were no other incoming flights. The stinking airline and airport left us to fend for ourselves without offering any help. And this was a year before 9-11. Air travel sucked even then!

http://issascrazyworld.com

but I will never forget it. My dad's transmission died. We were in Death Valley. We spent an entire week waiting for the replacement transmission, in a town called Tonopah, NV. There was one hotel, two restaurants and next to nothing else. I was 13 and I had an ear infection, so I couldn't even swim. Oh and it was August in Nevada, so it got to 115 every day.

I don't know exactly which trip was worse, the 3 trips to the ER with my new husband on his death bed during our honeymoon..

Or the time I flew with my 2yo daughter, who at one point I had to tie to a chair in airport security, by the wrist to wrist strap we were wearing while I was being frisked and interrogated as to why there was a (obviously dangerous) paperclip showing up in the Xray of my shoes.. (Turns out the paper clip was actually in the bottom of the bin, not in my shoe.) Barely catching our flight, only to arrive in the DFW airport with only minutes to catch our connecting flight home. I turned on my cell phone, which started going off like crazy, because our house sitter got back to our house and found our truck missing.
My daughter gets upset becuase she is starving, so I get in line at Burger King to grab her a meal that we can bring on the plane with us, which was where my daughters digestive system decided to turn itself inside out. which resulted in her flying the rest of the way home in nothing but a diaper and me flying home in a poop SATURATED white t-shirt. (I still wish I could find and thank the mother than helped me give my daughter a sink bath in the airport bathroom!)
After arriving at our home airport, and waiting for several minutes at the arrivals pickup area, I finally got the message from our friend who was supposed to be picking me up. He had an emergency, so he swung by and got our truck and dropped it off by the airport. (Hey house-sitter, I found the truck!)

As if the poop covered plane ride home and 20 minutes of poop covered waiting at the arrivals pickup lane wasn't humiliating enough, every time the shuttle I needed to take to get to my truck would arrive, it would take me so long to get my 2yo, our baggage, and her carseat wrangled together that the shuttle would fill up with impatient people and I'd get left behind, to stand and wait another 15 minutes in 105+ degree temps to wait for the next shuttle. After the third time this happened, a nice man who was standing off a ways smoking came and cut in front of everyone who was trying to cut in front of my pathetic self and helped me load my bags onto the shuttle..
I have never been so happy to be home, and showered in my life.

I forgot to mention that the Houston to SF leg of my vacation flight home was also fraught with peril. Some crazy guy walked out of the bathroom about 30 seconds before landing and was literally standing in the aisle as the plane touched down. And I couldn't hear for about 3 hours because I was so congested that the pressure from the descent blew out my eardrums temporarily. Quite painful.

Thank you for sharing this. What an absolute horror show!

The first time BlogHer was in Chicago, we were ON the plane (which had already been a wee bit delayed) and the flight attended opened the rear door after we were cleared to leave the gate. This triggered the emergency slide.

We sat there for a very long time and were finally made to get off the plane and reschedule our flight.

We were in the airport for 12 hours... got a really bad hotel room for the night.

Left late the next day, missed our connection in Charlotte. Got another really BAD hotel room for the night.

Made it home two days late.

And then we got BlogHer Bola.

Yea, that was fun.

Did I mention we were traveling with two teenagers, as well?

Yea, so much fun.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager
Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

This was from the 1990's. We were flying back from PEI to Houston. You actually go through US customs in Toronto. So we got our luggage put it on a cart and lined up for US customs and immigration.

Now they had 2 customs and 2 immigration employees at each station. One station was reserved for specific flights. Security would come through the crowd calling a flight that was near its boarding time. You would show the security person your boarding pass and you would be allowed in that line.

I've never seen the airlines and Customs/immigration work so well together. The problem was the other passengers.

The line we were in snaked between a column and the wall. Due to my Dad's golf clubs our cart would not fit. So my Dad turned to the nice couple behind us and said, We're (pointing to me) going to go around that side of the column and meet my wife and daughter on the other side. The couple nodded.

So Mom and Sis come out from behind the column and Dad and I rejoin them in line.

The woman behind the nice couple starts yelling about us cutting. The nice couple says no they were in line they just had to go around the column.

Mom walked with a cane, because she broke her hip the year before. Angry woman has a rolling bag that she uses as a battering ram and hits my Mom.

My sister ordered her DO NOT DO THAT. The woman goes to do it again. Sis blocks the bag with her foot, and pulls out her correction officer ID. She tells the woman what she just did was assault.

One of the security guards hears the commotion. He talks to the people in front of and behind us. The woman kept insisting we had lost our place in line by going around the column.

The security guard tells her to come with him. She smirks and starts to head to that reserved line for planes near boarding. The security guard tells her no. Then he takes her to another line and makes her go to the very end of it.

So now is all is good right. No now we have Tonka boy. Tonka boy has a metal tonka truck. He is running all over creation and the family has to go get him when it is their turn in customs.

Dad curses us by saying, "I hope he isn't on our flight."

He is. The family lets him run up and down the aisle from the time the seat belt light goes off. He is running his large Tonka truck over peoples heads

He hits me hard enough to draw blood. I take the truck away from him and give it to the attendant, who tells the parents they will get it back on landing.

We are told to prepare for landing, and the family refuses to make the kid sit down. The attendants have to get the copilot to come and explain that until he is seated we can not land.

So they make him sit down. DURING LANDING they let him up he slides down the aisle on his bum as we land.

The attendants get on the speaker and ask that we allow families with small children to exit first. This family gets their stuff. The attendants make a couple of people sit down - and everyone gets the message and lets the family off first.

Now my family doesn't get up in the crush unless we have a close connection. We can wait till everyone gets off the plane, and have a slow walk to baggage claim and still get there before the luggage.

So we are the last ones to exit the plane. Tonka boy is screaming in the arms of a police officer. The adults are handcuffed. Seems failure to obey the flight crew is a federal crime /