Worst Travel Experiences

FTA69

People love to talk about how enlightening travel can be but holidays, journeys and trips can also have moments of disaster and general crap. Has anyone got any good stories of how everything turned to utter sh*te before their eyes? A couple that jump out for me.

1) early morning flight to Leon in Spain for Easter departing from Stansted. The night bus leaving from North London was overbooked to the high heavens by people desperate to get back for the Easter holidays. At 3am there was a surge to get on one of the buses and a fight broke out between Polish men scrambling to board. Luckily I managed to dive on and was happy as a ham until the bus broke down on the motorway. I was cutting it very fine to begin with and people started screaming at the hapless driver to the point he had to run up the road and desert the bus. This is all at 4am in the dark and driving rain on the side of the North Circular. Some people started calling Ubers and I saw others kneeling in puddles in floods of tears beating the ground with their fists as they were about to miss their flights home.

Yet again I managed to strong arm myself into an Uber with a spare seat and made the airport with a minute to spare. After clearing security I sprinted through Stansted shopping area and smashed (I think) a bottle of perfume with my bag as I ran. Eventually after getting onto the flight feeling like Jack Baur I realised as we took off that I had left my bank card at home and that I'd no money at all on me bar £1.29 I had in my pocket. I remember it because I was 70p short for a cup of tea.

2) Hiking in the border between Burma and Bangladesh, decided to have a drop of water in a village well. Contracted dysentery and lost almost 10kg. I had needed a military permit to enter the area as it is a conflict zone and was told I'd be arrested if I overstayed it. While sh*tting and puking my ring up and praying for death I managed to get pulled by the cops and interrogated for two hours until they realised I was just some innocent fool who was half dead before they dropped me back at my "hotel" which was a concrete shed with an old steel bed. I had to stay there for three days shivering and getting eaten alive by Mosquitos until I was well enough to travel again. Stomach was in loops for months afterward.

Mesrine65

Dysentery while travelling in Mali was a memorable experience to say the least.

Turtyturd

Atlanta...no more needs to be said.

FTA69

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Dysentery while travelling in Mali was a memorable experience to say the least.

Snap on the dysentery. Nothing worse than feeling that sickness build and futilely hoping that it's just a minor bug. Likewise the only jacks I had was a hole in the ground that already stunk like half of India had shat there already. First and only time I shat and gawked at the same time.

LDN_Irish

Taking my now wife for her first visit to Ireland. Had lost my passport so had to get a boat from Holyhead. Meant to be going straight from LDN Victoria straight to Holyhead. Something was wrong with the lines so it ended up taking nearly twice as long with stops and changes all along the way. Ended up getting dropped in Llandudno with the only instruction being "wait at the bus stop around the corner." At 3AM. In the lashing rain and freezing cold. Followed the other clueless sheep around there and waited across the road from some pub forabout an hour and a half. The most rickety bus I've ever been on (and I've been on Finnegan's buses) then took what felt like a million years to get us to Holyhead. Still caught the boat though.

Mesrine65

Getting the absolute shite kicked out of me by a crew of Arab lads while waiting for a ferry to Corsica in Marseilles...still didn't give up the goods :eek:

AgileMyth

The bus from Sapa in North Vietnam to Luang Prabang in Laos is known locally as the 'busride from hell'. Well I think we'd probably have gotten to hell a little quicker..

My friend and I were supposed to make this journey together but his passport had become damaged and he didn't want to risk being rejected at the isolated border crossing we were destined for. This meant he headed for Hanoi to find a consulate while I, not wanting to waste time as I had a flight to catch from bangkok a couple of weeks later, chose to journey onwards alone.

I should have gone to Hanoi..

The bus picked me up in the evening and I settled in for the 20 hour journey. It was relatively comfortable and I even managed some sleep. Til the rain started. We met a typhoon somewhere along the way, I think it was around 4am. Progress was slow but steady through the night.

As morning broke there was no sign of it letting up however. Things went from bad to worse as we came to a bridge which had been washed away entirely. There was nowhere to turn but backwards. Things went from worse to worser as we turned back only to discover a landslide now blocked the way. So we were stuck. We found a small village with a little shack that gave us shelter and some basic food. There we sat.. For four days!!

There was no ATM in the village andi was short on cash.I went the last day and a half with no food whatsoever. Pulling into Dien Bien Phu that evening to find a shower, a hot meal and WiFi was pretty amazing.

The next day we set off once again. Half way up the mountain to the border the driver stopped and tried to extort some more money from a Canadian couple, the only other westerners on the bus and my sole source of companionship for the prior four days. They refused and were thrown off, left to fend for themselves in the middle of nowhere on some mountainside!

After crossing the border we were put onto a different bus. This one was wedged full and I sat on a bag of rice for the next eight hours or so before being dropped somewhere vaguely near luang prabang and paying a tuk tuk driver to help me complete the 20 hour journey I'd set out on a week previously. Then I had a beer, an amazing beer.

If that was too long to read, imagine how long the experience felt.

MarkAnthony

Thinly veiled 'aren't I well travelled thread'. :pac:

Whitewinged

Went on a family holiday to The Isle of Man by boat when i was about 5 or 6.

The boat on the way home was so bad. Nearly every passenger had sea sickness. It was like the plague on the boat. People were lying on floor and basically just puking into sick bags.

My dad brought me to the deck to get fresh air and a huge wave soaked us.

sammyjo90

First holiday by myself..decided to go Prague.
Had how I was gonna get from the airport to the hostel all planned out and written down. Bus-tram-walk. Simple!

Got there and the tram was under maintenance. No internet to check an alternate route so had to figure out the metro.
Managed to get on the wrong one and go out to the completely wrong side of the city and into the outer districts...
I had been in Czech republic for an hour and gotten hopelessly lost.
Luckily a young woman spotted me getting a bit panicky and emotional. Spoke to me and thank fook she spoke English! Got me back on on the right line and found my hostel eventually.

Always have an alternate route to accommodation now!!

stuka

Dying for a whizz while on a bus to Donegal. Driver wouldnt stop as he was running late and cancelled the Cavan rest up. Peed my pants and soaked the poor bugger beside me (I was sitting in the long seat at the back). I was 8. I havent got a coach since. I haven't been on any fancy dan trips around the world so this will have to do ye.

cantdecide

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Thinly veiled 'aren't I well travelled thread'. :pac:

Yes I am but only kinda,

Had a motorbike accident in Nepal a few years ago and nearly lost my arm. I ended up breaking some ribs, my collar bone quite badly and "shattered" my shoulder blade. It took 2 weeks to get from the middle of nowhere to Kathmandu by any means through bad weather and national strikes. The hospital staff were literally laughing at my story. It took the best part of a year to recover but I can't complain.

The second worst part was getting Delhi belly while recovering from the surgery. The worst part was arguing with my insurance company who were adamant I didn't need help.

MarkAnthony

cantdecide wrote: »

Yes I am but only kinda,

Had a motorbike accident in Nepal a few years ago and nearly lost my arm. I ended up breaking some ribs, my collar bone quite badly and "shattered" my shoulder blade. It took 2 weeks to get from the middle of nowhere to Kathmandu by any means through bad weather and national strikes. The hospital staff were literally laughing at my story. It took the best part of a year to recover but I can't complain.

The second worst part was getting Delhi belly while recovering from the surgery. The worst part was arguing with my insurance company who were adamant I didn't need help.

There's an arm and a leg joke in there somewhere. I hope you're fully recovered.

Boring username

I spent 4.5 hours on a train last week with a bunch of middle aged Northside shrieking banshees on the way to a hen party. My ear drums are still bleeding. I'm currently petitioning Irish Rail to introduce a new 4th class carriage.

branie2

A hotel in Sligo. We'd booked for a couple of nights, left after 1, thanks to dirty water.

RayM

Stuck for over an hour on a broken-down train in 1998. It was in Staffordshire in England, right beside an Armitage Shanks toilet factory. There was nothing to do except stare out the window at a massive yard full of toilet bowls.

Nothing but toilets, as far as the eye could see.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Stuck with 2 others on an uninhabited island off Chile due to bad weather. 6 days with supplies for 2.

Actually, it was quite fun thinking back now with 40+ years of rose coloured glasses.

mynameis905

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Getting the absolute shite kicked out of me by a crew of Arab lads while waiting for a ferry to Corsica in Marseilles...still didn't give up the goods :eek:

Doesn't surprise me. Marseille is an absolute kip.

westcoast66

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

diomed

The first part was down a fast, deep half-mile wide river in Africa in a small boat. The motor cut out about twenty times. We drifted as floating trees went past. We got near our destination at dusk. The engine cut-out again about ten yards short. Luckily we made the last few yards in the dark.

After a few hours in a railway station it was a 150 mile train journey that took twenty hours, including a four hour spell where the engine uncoupled and fecked off without a word of explanation. The toilets were full/blocked in the first hour. Our carriage was built in 1910, and we were in the good part of the train.

ben.schlomo

Arrived in Naples on Easter Monday in 2009 to find our hotel had closed down. Had to walk around the filthy hellhole with backpacks for about two hours trying to find somewhere to stay.

OhDearyMe

FTA69 wrote: »

Contracted dysentery and lost almost 10kg.

You lucky, lucky bastid!

Schwiiing

I went to Cork once.

That is all.

Sir Osis of Liver.

westcoast66 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

Sweet Jesus,that's fcukin gross.

cantdecide

Schwiiing wrote: »

I went to Cork once.

That is all.

So you never left home again?

discus

Cuba. Total hell hole. The locals hated us, no matter where we went, but especially off thr beaten track. Gave up eventually and went to a resort, couldn't get over the amount of conflict we had to endure just to buy the basics. Queue up in a shop? No point, every Cuban is gonna skip you and curse you and push you. Not a drama until it happens everywhere, no matter where you go. Shopkeepers are all smiles until they realize you know some lingo, and once they can't rip you off they won't even bother completing a sale with you.

Jordan. Missed a flight with the RAF so had to fly civilian airline. Turning up to a middle eastern location with military kit, helmets, ammo pouches, uniforms hidden in suitcases and north face bags... secret police didn't like that one.

jank

FTA69 wrote: »

2) Hiking in the border between Burma and Bangladesh, decided to have a drop of water in a village well. Contracted dysentery and lost almost 10kg. .

Never ever ever drink the local water.


I have been fairly lucky I think on my travels, usually organised. I did spend an entire day stuck in Everest Base camp freezing my ass off because the mini bus that was supposed to bring us back broke down. Also, losing an entire bag of new clothes and presents on a flight from Boston. The Bag vanished, never to be seen again

Also, getting the $hits while on a boat cruise in Halong Bay. Couldn't have come at a worse time.

unjedilike

I actually died on a trip to Texas. Killed by a stray dog. Dead a good while now, not much fun tbh.

white van man pyh90tm

i am 43 and have been to 35 countries, some expensive trips and some budget.

Disaster 1, me and a friend arrive in france via callis on a bus ride from london to prague, friend is french and police come on bus and arrest him for some crime he did some years b4. so i go to prague alone and unbeknown to me he got bailed and followed me 2 days later, problem was no mobile phones in them days and he lost the hotel details, so we were in prague together but never seen each other until we met on the last day in the bus station. all his fault.

disaster 2, went to usa with the same guy and on paddy's day he got arrested again for fighting in a bar and got jailed for 2 weeks. again im alone.

disaster 3 went to Tijuana Mexico on a day trip from california with the same guy and some drug smugglers attached some bags of drugs to our van and we crossed back to usa with the drugs without knowing they were there and when we stopped for food we saw the guys go under our van and retrieve the goods. lucky the border cops didn't find the drugs or i would be writing this from jail.

almost a death disaster 4.

arrive in new york on september 10th 2001 and decided to go to the world trade center next morning, got too drunk the evening b4 and didn't go.

white van man pyh90tm

RayM wrote: »

Stuck for over an hour on a broken-down train in 1998. It was in Staffordshire in England, right beside an Armitage Shanks toilet factory. There was nothing to do except stare out the window at a massive yard full of toilet bowls.

Nothing but toilets, as far as the eye could see.

a man called mr crapper invented the toilet

Mongfinder General

westcoast66 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

Jesus. The stench must have been unreal.

eternal

white van man pyh90tm wrote: »

i am 43 and have been to 35 countries, some expensive trips and some budget.

Disaster 1, me and a friend arrive in france via callis on a bus ride from london to prague, friend is french and police come on bus and arrest him for some crime he did some years b4. so i go to prague alone and unbeknown to me he got bailed and followed me 2 days later, problem was no mobile phones in them days and he lost the hotel details, so we were in prague together but never seen each other until we met on the last day in the bus station. all his fault.

disaster 2, went to usa with the same guy and on paddy's day he got arrested again for fighting in a bar and got jailed for 2 weeks. again im alone.

disaster 3 went to Tijuana Mexico on a day trip from california with the same guy and some drug smugglers attached some bags of drugs to our van and we crossed back to usa with the drugs without knowing they were there and when we stopped for food we saw the guys go under our van and retrieve the goods. lucky the border cops didn't find the drugs or i would be writing this from jail.

almost a death disaster 4.

arrive in new york on september 10th 2001 and decided to go to the world trade center next morning, got too drunk the evening b4 and didn't go.

Get a new mate ffs.

white van man pyh90tm

i arrived in berlin one fine summers evening and walked about looking for a hotel but kept getting told that there were no room available because of a football final
i thought best get out of here so hopped on to a train bound for amsterdam, got there and the same story, no room at the inn due to marathon tomorrow,
it's getting late now so jumped onto a train to brussels only to find no rooms there either due to there being some big convention.

i hit a late bar until i was pissed and slept in a bank, in some places you need to swipe your card on the bank doors which gives access to atm machines in a secure area, so i popped my sleeping bag down and enjoyed 40 winks, god knows what the locals thought

razorblunt

westcoast66 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

This is one of my greatest fears being caught short on landing.
I don't understand why you just didn't get up and go to the loo, I'd take an argument over the air hostess than crapping my pants.
The last trans atlantic flight I was on last month had a similar situation, some girl was asleep for most of the flight and was almost caught short, she apologised to the air hostess unclipped herself and ran to the jacks. The stench coming from there as we disembarked told the horror of the situation.

osarusan

All my own fault:

Was flying back to Ireland for 3 weeks and decided to eat a lot of what was in my fridge so I'd be throwing less away. Ended up combining some stuff that shouldn't ever be eaten together, and got a really bad case of food poisoning.

Really bad. Vomited waiting for the bus to the trainstation. Vomited waiting for the train at the station. Had to get off and change trains to one with a toilet so I could vomit some more. Vomited at the airport. Vomited on the plane, again and again. It was nothign but water coming back up 3 minutes after it had gone down. After about 8 hours of vomiting, finally got about 2 hours sleep, and the vomiting stopped.

I was with my now-wife, and even the two of us said nothing to each other, we both had the same thought in our mind all the time - is this guy even going to be allowed on the plane?

panda100

I went to naples by myself a couple of years ago. I'm very tall (6 foot), very pale and blonde so I am used to getting a lot of unwarranted attention when travelling solo in Italy. Naples was a whole other ball game though. Seriously scary levels of street harassment all over town. I'm generally okay with just ignoring calls from men like this on the continent but I had men following me back to my hotel, grabbing me, walking beside me constantly.It was just relentless. I literally had to lock myself in my room and was scared to leave the hotel.

I know some people might be dismissive of this but it was a really frightening experience. I've travelled a fair bit, both solo and in groups, but the street harassment in naples really was something else.

keithclancy

Went on a trip to Sri Lanka, on the second last day stepped into a pothole on the road while walking down to the pub.

Didn't think it was that serious until I got to somewhere with lighting, big gaping hole in the front of my leg.

Got a Tuk Tuk and drove to three different hospitals which were all closed, finally found one that was open. Went into the Emergency room *if you could call it that, looked like something out of a movie with people lying all over the place on the floor, i think one guy was holding his arm so it wouldn't fall off.

I think some hours later got to see a Triage nurse, they cleaned out the wound and bandaged my leg.

Went out to the waiting room again and asked how long it would normally take to see a doctor, she responded with, this not the West White boy, you see a doctor in maybe 2 or 3 days, no special treatment for you.

I said fair enough, asked if I could pay and go back to the hostel (I was worried I would catch something in the Hospital)

She said no, I was staying there and security would restrain me if I tried to leave (apparently this is a common thing in Sri Lanka to try and make money from foreigners)

Waited for a shift change .... told the next nurse if I didn't go for a smoke i'd freak out, she opened the door for me and I legged it, jumped into the first tuk tuk I saw and went back to the hostel.

Next day we drove for 2 hours all the way up to Colombo too a 'good' hospital.

That looked kind of like a HSE Hospital, there were signs everywhere saying they won an award (upon closer inspection it also said they organised the competition)

The Doctor cleaned and stitched my leg.

Upon getting back to NL a week later my leg became infected, turned out the doctor in Sri Lanka had decided to use some dissolving stitches but also something that resembled fishing gut.


Took about 4 months to heal completely and thank god for travel insurance.

In short, I would never complain about European Healthcare ever again.

Pink Fairy

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Sweet Jesus,that's fcukin gross.

That's Ryanair for ya.....probably charged him for every bag he used and then weighed them when he got off and charged him excess baggage charges

The J Stands for Jay

Turtyturd wrote: »

Atlanta...no more needs to be said.

It's more than just a Delta hub

mahoganygas

westcoast66 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

I hope you handed the sick bag to that air hostess when you were done.

Sir Osis of Liver.

westcoast66 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Mexico. About 2 hours from London started getting a bout of the Dehli belly, really bad. Air hostess insisted I take a seat 30 minutes from landing. Ended up having to squat in the seat and scutter into a sick bag a number of times. The other passengers were not impressed.

Deserves a thread of its own.

An Irish bloke on a plane squatting over a sick bag while a load of Mexicans look on with disgust.

KatW4

Not as bad as some stories here. I lived in London and myself and my sister were trying to get home for my bf's parents' wedding. We were waiting at Redbridge station for the bus when the rep came over and told us to get a taxi because there was a major accident on the road and none of the buses were getting through.

We got a taxi fairly quickly but we noticed the traffic straight away. Our taxi driver kept telling us that we weren't going to make our flight and we were getting quite upset so he decided to bring us on a trip around the countryside. He wouldn't tell us what was going on just that we weren't going to make our flight.

Finally we arrived at Stansted literally minutes before the gate was due to close. We ran the whole way through the airport and just about made flight. I think we just cried with relief that we had finally gotten out of that bloody taxi and could get home.

Like I said, not as dangerous or exciting as other stories here but I certainly won't forget it in a hurry!

the evasion_kid

Travelling through Vietnam I did a favour for a Texan fella who said he'd cook me dinner as a thanks,he was staying in this tree hut with a rope ladder up to it,so I get up there and there's a Vietnamese woman skinning up drums in the corner and he's messing around with this pot on a burner,bit of a surreal situation what I didn't know was that the "dinner" was ketamine that was cooking up in the pot.after a while he puts a mound of it on the table and hands me a rolled up note,I hadn't a clue about ketamine at the time so I bent forward and sniffed a good portion off the side of the mound.

As I straightened back up the Texan is looking at me stunned and worried.."did you do all that?"...."yeah why?"...."oh-eh its nothing"....."no no no you can't be saying that somethings wrong?!?"..."oh-eh you'll be fine"

Fine my arse,I had friends waiting down below for me who told me later they were looking up at me coming down the rope ladder and i was swaying from side to side on it,felt like an eternity to get to the bottom,freaky experience being stuck in the jungle with all the sounds around me and I didn't know what was going on.ya live and learn

Strumms

Not as bad as some stories but...I missed my train from London Euston to Holyhead and had to spend the night in the hell hole that is Holyhead port ..... to make matters worse about 25 very very pissed up and agressive members of the travelling community were also sharing the 'facilities' as they had presumably also missed their transport... no way was i or could i sleep with the racket going on and then with them coming up to me asking for cigarettes and what not constantly. One woman becoming agressive with me because i didnt smoke and was quite insistent that i did ! ... eventually one of them started banging on the window of the Irish Ferries customer services desk because the staff didnt have a spare ferry and crew sitting in the port to take us to Dublin... cops were called after a good while just as it started kicking off between themselves.. longest 7 hours of my life... as if a simple night in Holyhead wasnt gonna be bad enough..

Mongfinder General

Strumms wrote: »

Not as bad as some stories but...I missed my train from London Euston to Holyhead and had to spend the night in the hell hole that is Holyhead port ..... to make matters worse about 25 very very pissed up and agressive members of the travelling community were also sharing the 'facilities' as they had presumably also missed their transport... no way was i or could i sleep with the racket going on and then with them coming up to me asking for cigarettes and what not constantly. One woman becoming agressive with me because i didnt smoke and was quite insistent that i did ! ... eventually one of them started banging on the window of the Irish Ferries customer services desk because the staff didnt have a spare ferry and crew sitting in the port to take us to Dublin... cops were called after a good while just as it started kicking off between themselves.. longest 7 hours of my life... as if a simple night in Holyhead wasnt gonna be bad enough..

Jesus, I think I might have been on that ferry! I remember a big 17 or 18 stone itinerant ale tank face down in a doorway on the ship's deck next to a puddle of puke. Absolute hellhole is Holyhead

Zebra3

Bag went missing while travelling with Lufthansa. They didn't give a toss.

Seemed just easier for them to cut me a cheque (to cover about 10% of what was missing) than bother their hole looking for it.

Turned up weeks later.

Oh, and they're deceitful scum. Weasel words "it's x days before we consider your bag missing". Totally at odds seemingly with consumer legislation but using "consider" helped them bend that particular piece of legislation.

Would never, ever use them again.

Strumms

Could have been although its not an uncommon type of scenario from what a friend who worked at Dublin port told me. Basicially a lot of undesirables who know that their behaviour wouldnt be tolerated for 5 minutes in an airport setting let alone be allowed on an aircraft in that state will choose to go by ferry when they arnt under the same sort of scrutiny and can spend the trip getting pissed up and being obnoxious...

As for Holyhead... what a fůcking dump... a hell on earth pure and simple the town and the port...

Bulbous Salutation

panda100 wrote: »

I went to naples by myself a couple of years ago. I'm very tall (6 foot), very pale and blonde so I am used to getting a lot of unwarranted attention when travelling solo in Italy. Naples was a whole other ball game though. Seriously scary levels of street harassment all over town. I'm generally okay with just ignoring calls from men like this on the continent but I had men following me back to my hotel, grabbing me, walking beside me constantly.It was just relentless. I literally had to lock myself in my room and was scared to leave the hotel.

I know some people might be dismissive of this but it was a really frightening experience. I've travelled a fair bit, both solo and in groups, but the street harassment in naples really was something else.

Naples is a proper sh1thole.

A rather nasty looking man approached me with a gun while I was taking out a few roubles at an ATM on the Russian/Mongolian border. I quickly withdrew the equivalent of 100 euro and handed it over to him. Having a gun pointed at you by some tough looking Russian scumbag is a very frightening experience,

Russia is a dreadful country. I couldn't recommend a country any less.

Canis Lupus

Milani Breezy Transgressor wrote: »

Stuck with 2 others on an uninhabited island off Chile due to bad weather. 6 days with supplies for 2.

Actually, it was quite fun thinking back now with 40+ years of rose coloured glasses.

You killed them and ate them didn't you.

sangsung

Got trapped in Charleroi airport during the big winter storm of 2010 I think it was.

I had arrived from Mombasa, which is a tropical city by the Indian Ocean, so I didn't have any winter clothes. Was supposed to get a connecting flight to Dublin.

I was stuck in Charleroi for about a week.

Ryanair had closed their offices and left everybody freezing to death in the airport. I was sleeping behind the coca cola vending machine on two boxes (the ones you put luggage in). There was warm air coming from the back of the machine which is why I slept there.

The Red Cross came to the airport to give food & soup to us. Old people got blankets. The local TV crew was there. I smelled like ****e as there were no shower facilities. Drank water from the bathroom taps as I couldn't afford to constantly buy bottled water.

On the third night I think, we were told a flight was ready to take us back to Dublin! We all queued up, happiest day of our lives. By the way, this was like 22nd or 23rd December, so we were all anxious to get home for Xmas. As we were boarding, the snow got worse, and were were told to get back inside. Flight cancelled.

That was the last straw. A huge crowd of us barged into the shop, bought every single drop of beer they had, and proceeded to get absolutely sh*tfaced falling around the airport. I don't remember much after the 4th can as I was malnourished at that point.

I woke up the next morning, asleep on my box, but this time I was in the middle of the floor in the main hall, right in front of a big queue.

My dad called me and asked me what the story was. He then booked me a hotel down the road until I could organize some sort of plan. That first shower in the hotel was great.

I celebrated Christmas day by myself, watching Belgian TV in my room eating a packet of crisps.

Eventually managed to get a Euroline bus from Brussels to Dublin via London. Longest bus journey ever. The ferry to the UK was nice though, it had a cinema.

I arrived in Dublin looking like a Syrian refugee.

edit: Forgot to add, I called my family on Christmas day for a few minutes from the hotel, and as I was checking out they charged me €70 for the call.

ArnoldJRimmer

razorblunt wrote: »

This is one of my greatest fears being caught short on landing.
I don't understand why you just didn't get up and go to the loo, I'd take an argument over the air hostess than crapping my pants.
The last trans atlantic flight I was on last month had a similar situation, some girl was asleep for most of the flight and was almost caught short, she apologised to the air hostess unclipped herself and ran to the jacks. The stench coming from there as we disembarked told the horror of the situation.

I was in a similar situation on a connecting flight from London to Dublin, having travelled from India to Heathrow. Not much I could do about it, so had to unbuckle and leg it to the jacks just as we were taking off. Just mumbled sorry on way past air hostess, who was initially trying to turn me back. However, around ten minutes later she was straight up to my seat, and couldn't have been nicer. She asked if I needed anything, and said that she understood I was feeling unwell and that these things happen.