[Misc] Holiday dramas

[Icy Gull]

I know NSC will be able to better these by a margin

1) Having to fly back to England a couple of days after arriving by car in Altea Spain to collect a drive shaft that had failed on my Jensen Healey. It was the day of Charles and Diana’s wedding and the roads were empty driving to wherever it was to collect the part and back again for an evening flight. The part was fitted by a mechanic who took sympathy on me when I got back and he saw me trying to fit it

2) Arriving in Zanzibar for a “special” birthday holiday for my wife, who then broke a tooth on the first day and flatly refused to go to a corrugated hut dentist on the road side, so we flew to Dar Es Salaam the next day to a plush hotel who had an ageing Swedish dentist to get it fixed

 

[banjo]

 

[Dave the OAP]

In Croatia, a bottle of the local plonk was served too warm and we had to put it in a fishing net and dangle it in our private pool

It was hell

 

[Happy Exile]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

 

[Icy Gull]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

Reading this gave me anxiety, travelling has never appealed to me

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[Goldstone1976]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

Winner, shirley? Not much point anyone else posting on this thread, I'd have thought...

 

[juliant]

For me it has to be a few years back whilst on holiday with wife and son. Went for a dip in the sea and ended up pulling a body out of the sea, poor bloke had drowned right in front of us.

After giving police statements we decided to take some bikes out to take our mind off things. I ended up coming off and breaking a rib all whilst my son stood there laughing. We then all caught a sickness bug in the hotel and spent 48 hours in bed

Great holiday !

 

[Gazwag]

Winner, shirley? Not much point anyone else posting on this thread, I'd have thought...

Quite, may as well close the thread

 

[happypig]

In Greece we had far too much ouzo (I was the most pissed I've ever been I think), Mrs H slipped on a wet floor. She went backwards and smacked her head on a bedside table, knocking herself unconscious. I thought she was dead and was shouting at her in sheer panic "please wake up, don't be dead". After a minute or so she opened her eyes and said "f..king hell I feel sh!t". Got her into bed and watched her all night to make sure she was breathing; should have called an ambulance I guess
Next day I suggested we go to the doctor to get her checked out but she wouldn't have it. Kept suggesting it all week but she flat refused.
Finally back home it took me another couple of weeks to persuade her to get it checked. Doc sent her for a MRI scan which showed she didn't have an injury from the fall but she did have a tumour in her brain. Further test have shown its benign and could be the root cause of a lot of health issues.
So, in summary, proof positive that drinking to excess can be a force for good.

 

[rool]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

Your name is Jonah isn't it?

 

[Brok]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

Yes, well don't stop there. We're waiting for the dramatic bit...

 

[Badger]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

That's all very well, but I once got back to my hotel room at 3PM to discover room service hadn't been yet.

 

[Weststander]

Twice forgetting my driving licence, when we'd prebooked and very much needed the car for long drives to resort. Solved by:

The first time - calling my Dad who drove to our home, got the spare key from a neighbour who was luckily in, following my instructions on where to find my licence, taking it to Avis Seven Dials who emailed a copy to Avis Barcelona Airport.

The second time - switching car hire booths from the company that rejected me at Montpellier Airport to Europcar. They still had my licence on file centrally from a ski holiday a couple of years before and used that on trust. Great customer service!


Getting a telephone call from Sussex Police at midnight when we were in the middle of a holiday in Sweden. Neighbours reported that our front door had been open for 3 days!!! Luckily, not spotted by scummers. Mrs.W tried to blame me, but we all remembered her getting into the car in Brighton and criticising the lock.


Missed flights from trying to maximise sleep here, one faux pas with the change of clocks one March cost us £1,700, or from maximising skiing on the last day. Now a reformed ex Last-Minute-Charlie, we get to airports in good time.


Mrs.W caught our apartments janitor rifling wallets/purses in a ski resort. She went bananas at him, probably through shock. He was a key part of a small community, the dishonour was his punishment.

 

[Quinney]

Whilst messing about in the pool in Ibiza I noticed a commotion near to the hut where the hotel towels were given out.

I should add at this point that some bugger had nicked my hotel towel earlier in the day which meant I was going to lose a €10 deposit on the towel.

I could see some CPR going on, so as I work for ambulance service I thought I’d better get involved. So I wandered over and joined in the cycles of CPR on an elderly lady who was sadly in cardiac arrest. I suffer from dodgy knees so I had a cunning idea. I asked the lady in the towel hut if I could have a towel in order to put under my knees as I performed CPR so it was more comfortable. She was only to happy to oblige.

After about 15 minutes an ambulance turned up and the ambulance crew took over. I then rolled up the towel and calmly walked away with towel tucked under my arm saving myself from losing the €10 deposit. Every cloud..


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[portlock seagull]

Xe going bust (just bought a different airline home from Greece)

Economy tanked under Lamont and no banks accepting Sterling when travelling as a lone teenager across France. That was a bit scary.

 

[Insel affe]

We went for a holiday in Croatia and the first part we stayed in Dubrovnik for a week, and my wife arranged for us to get a coach from there to Split for a week. On said long coach journey the coach did have a toilet however it was not working, so about half way in some good forsaken little village with just a coach stop a loo and a shop that was closed the coach driver stopped to let people use loo.
I was fine, the wife and daughter got off the coach leaving their handbags and phones in my protection. fifteen minutes later the coach pulled off and half an hour later I woke up, I looked around and they were nowhere to be seen, we had left without them.

Apparently they were running down the road chasing the coach, stopped and looked about at...... nothing !! No phone, No money, No idea where they even were.

I went down to the coach driver and his second mate, there was nothing they could do but drive on to split as they had a timetable to keep...

Oh shite..

A couple drove past my wife and crying daughter, and through broken english manged to get the back story, it turned out the woman in the car was related to the bus drivers mate, and she called him, caught up to the coach after an hour and the wife got on the coach to thunderous applause....

I was not popular for a day or two, for falling asleep.

 

[maltaseagull]

In my late teens/early 20s I had a girlfriend with absolutely no sense of danger. A typical conversation would be me saying I didn't like the look of something, her going ahead away, and me deciding whether or not I wanted to tell her parents I'd abandoned her to her fate. We did a lot of backpacking together and drama was a regular feature to the extent that I ended up with a reputation for high-risk and when I got married (not to her) some of what happened to us was a thread through the best man's speech. I got seriously ill in Mexico, hospitalised and with a blood transfusion after she'd insisted I'd be ok for a long train journey and just needed to "sleep it off". Spent too long in the murder capital of Mexico too despite the warnings to go, and in another town after the police had told her (not me, I was in the loo) we should leave we stayed another night before she told me. There was a mass killing shortly after we were there. Got kidnapped in India, high-jinks on our escape and the long route back to the British Embassy in Delhi for help. Only time in my life I've ever had a proper panic attack, stuck in a small village waiting overnight for the next bus and waiting to be found by people who'd tried to harm us. After seeing a fatality on a bus in Morocco I suggested we stay put and get our heads back together, not least because the bus was several hours late leaving and it was a shocking thing to have seen. We ended up staying on the bus, arriving somewhere very remote and unnerving at 3.30am without a clue where we were and both of us trying not to go into delayed shock. Got lost exploring in La Paz, Bolivia and chased by a man with a knife. Stuck in a small dip in the Pyrenees for 36 hours in dense cloud...everyone else coming down the mountain while we were heading up was a clue not to keep climbing really. A lot of good times too, but I sometimes look back and wonder how I survived her relentless confidence that everything would be OK regardless of every sign pointing to the opposite. She went on to do a PhD and last I heard was making breakthroughs in cancer research. Amazing.

Hah!
You were lucky................................................

 

[Icy Gull]

We went for a holiday in Croatia and the first part we stayed in Dubrovnik for a week, and my wife arranged for us to get a coach from there to Split for a week. On said long coach journey the coach did have a toilet however it was not working, so about half way in some good forsaken little village with just a coach stop a loo and a shop that was closed the coach driver stopped to let people use loo.
I was fine, the wife and daughter got off the coach leaving their handbags and phones in my protection. fifteen minutes later the coach pulled off and half an hour later I woke up, I looked around and they were nowhere to be seen, we had left without them.

Apparently they were running down the road chasing the coach, stopped and looked about at...... nothing !! No phone, No money, No idea where they even were.

I went down to the coach driver and his second mate, there was nothing they could do but drive on to split as they had a timetable to keep...

Oh shite..

A couple drove past my wife and crying daughter, and through broken english manged to get the back story, it turned out the woman in the car was related to the bus drivers mate, and she called him, caught up to the coach after an hour and the wife got on the coach to thunderous applause....

I was not popular for a day or two, for falling asleep.

You've just reminded me. On the same holiday I had to fly back for a prop shaft we were driving through the mountains of Andorra with 1/4 tank of petrol left according to the gauge. It wasn't and we ran out of fuel at about 12pm on a July day. It was roasting. I left my wife and three year old son in the car and set off down the road to find a petrol station. it was about 2 miles away. When I go there they were closed until 3pm I think. I got back to the car at about 4pm with a petrol can. No mobile phones and fair to say my wife was not a happy bunny! I have never let a fuel tank go below 1/4 since,

 

[raymondo]

On a 'romantic' island holiday in the Caribbean, my then girlfriend crept up on me while I was leaning on the windowsill looking at the beautiful sunset. She dug her fingers sharply in the kidney area...my involuntary (honest guv) reaction kicked in and I smacked her on the nose with my elbow. Blood everywhere, trip to the island doctor, swollen face, 2 huge black eyes . The looks I got from the other guests at breakfast for the next 4 mornings...