Hi all,

So, do you have any vacation disasters? Did you have a nightmare flight? did that hotel room not come up to scratch? or did you end up on a break with the people from hell?

You might not want to write a full review, or your experience may have happened some years ago; but why not make the rest of us feel better by sharing ‘em here!

Go on, you know you want to!!

Chris

I’ve travelled to over 20 countries in the world, and there is only one place where you would have to pay me to return –the eastern Mediterranean island of Malta.

I can't believe how so many of my fellow countrymen love this place.

We booked our break late and cheap, and ended up in this crabby holiday complex, just above the disco and bar area. Our room window looked out over the bins and car park, where at the early hours in the morning party goers came to be sick.

Worse, Malta experienced its worst spell of storms in fifty years, meaning that roads were flooded and lots of the restaurants in cellars were closed.

Our only option for entertainment was to hop on the bus and crawl through the flooded streets to the capital city, Valetta and wander round museums, and treat ourselves by splurging at ever more fancy and expensive restaurants.

On Day 4, a tour round the Sewing Machine Museum was the straw that broke the camels back, and we ran screaming to a travel agent in a desperate attempt to get a flight home...

Fortunately perhaps, but we couldn’t get a flight, and on days 5-7 the weather cleared up enough for us to get a better view of the island.

We wandered through stony fields, with birds trapped in cages and stuck on platforms above field walls while the local population attempted to shoot the bird life out of the sky with shotguns.

We also visited Hagar Qim, some magical ancient standing stones dating from 5,000 years ago, but now sadly covered in spray paint recently added by vandals.

All in all a negative experience, and it took months to clear off the credit card bill from those fancy meals. I have never before cheered when the flight has taken off from the airport.

Definitely, a first and last.

I suppose I have been fortunate. No disasters for me, unless having to buy new underwear and a bathing suit because my luggage was half a day behind my flight comes under that category. I learned to always carry some essentials in my carry-on bag.

I still want to hear some disaster stories though.

Phil

... and here I thought all my 300 odd travel reviews were about vacation disasters, well most of them anyway.

Ah well if you don't have a sense of humour stay home I always say.

Oh yeah I'm back and I may even write again.

James

Well we had a tornado blow about 1/4 mile behind our motel in Kissimmee back in 1998. I was standing at the window watching all of the trucks get off the turnpike when the power went off. Boy was that dumb - but we were lucky.

My vacation in Captiva almost 2 years ago was the worst. We went with another couple, our then 18 month old and I was 5 months pregnant with #2. We had only 1 week to plan the vacation.

Our flight was 2 hours late leaving and we were stuck in a waiting area and the AC was broken. We were at the airport at 8AM and didn't reach the condo until 1 AM. So there went Saturday. The bridge connecting Ft Myer and Sanibel/Captiva was under major reconstruction so the well enforced speed limit was 15 MPH and traffic could only go in one direction at a time. The trip across the bridge took forever so we just planned to spend the week on the island.

The next morning I went to do a load of laundry after our shower and someone had left the dishwasher door open. I couldn't see it over my belly and the laundry basket so I walked right into full force. Had to drive an hour to the mainland hospital since the walk-in clinics wanted nothing to do with a pregnant woman and x-rays. First trip to the hospital resulted in a chipped bone that they couldn't do anything for but suggest I take Tylenol. That pretty much ruined Sunday.

Finally made it out onto the beach on Monday afternoon and it was really windy. I got some sand in my eye, blinked a couple of times. I got the sand out along with my contact. I didn't have a spare pair and my glasses had been broken in the luggage. It was too late to drive back to the Ft Myer to get glasses since there is no place on the isalnd that does 1 hour glasses, it takes days. That pretty much ruined Monday and I spent most of Tuesday getting the glasses.

By Wednesday I was ready to enjoy the beach. Unfortunately our daughter hated the sand and only wanted to be inside. On top of that, even though it was March, we suffered with Red Tide the second half of the week. The algea made us sneeze and cough so bad that no one could be on the beach. We spent most of the week sitting around the one TV in the condo trying to agree on watch show to watch. Of course there was nothing on TV but war coverage since that was the week we invaded Iraq.

My daughter had been sick with a head cold the night before we left so she wasn't feeling too well the whole time. Then she started vomitting. We called our pediatrician at home who said to watch her. By the time we decided she needed a doctor the clinics on the island were closed and we had to take our second trip to the hospital. This trip resulted in a shot and a prescription. By the time we got seen in the ER the hosptial pharmacy was closed so we had to wait until the next morning to get her prescription filled. Went to the closest pharmacy and they didn't have the right dosage. They did call all of the other pharmacies on the island, not one had the right dosage. Another hour ride out to the mainland to get to a real pharmacy with a kid throwing up in the car. At that point I just wanted to continue right on to the airport and go home.

I get to spend Friday on the back deck getting a little sun. Saturday we got up early and got to finally go home.

What a nightmare, and certainly the worst luck!

It makes my experiences of Malta fade into insignificance! It's so frustrating when you spend so long looking forward to a break!

Must confess, I had a smile at your misfortune - great story & thanks for sharing!

Chris

Hello everyone!

I am looking for videos and I need your help!

LOOKING FOR YOUR VACATION VIDEOS WHERE SOMETHING HAS GONE AWRY!!

Have you taken a trip, videotaped your adventures, and caught something funny or dangerous on tape? Or do you know anyone who may have videotaped a crazy or funny vacation? Please forward this email to them!

Have you videotaped a bungee jumping adventure that went wrong?
Have you shot a hand gliding stunt that didn’t go as you quite expected?
Have you shot some wild animals that weren’t so tame after all?

If so, a new television show on Tru TV would love to air your clips!

We’d love to see any and all of your videos!

Please email me at larpaci@asylument.com

Thank you!

Best,
Lale "Lolly" Ar paci
Segment Producer
Vacation Disasters

My worst episode is my luggage being three days late on a 7 day vacation.

The funny thing is that being winter, I was able to wear the same clothes two days in a row, on top of travel day, because I kept hoping the bag would show up. Thanks to my winter coat, nobody knew I was wearing the same outfits. Eventually, I had to buy new clothes on the evening of day #3, and that's when the bag showed up the next morning!

Great thread, Chris!

Regina

And now I am sitting in a hotel room for two days supposedly enjoying myself. My daughter's off to college in the beautiful sunny state of Florida. I was going to enjoy some time at the beach, some time at Disney, and hang out with friends before I went home. So far all I've seen is a hell of a lot of rain and pay-per-view movies on the hotel network.