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Bad trips: Readers tell of travel nightmares
Landing-gear trouble, a harrowing Ecuador bus ride, sick all over Paris ...
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J. McFarlane / MSNBC |
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Travel can be hell, but bad trips make the best stories. We recently asked readers to share their tales of trips gone wrong. Here are some of the responses we received.
A problem with the landing gear
"People were exchanging phone numbers and contact information. There were even a few nervous jokes. There was none of the panic one would expect. It seemed everyone was offering each other pieces of gum. Someone had a Bible handy and was offering it to anyone who wanted it. I was sitting in the emergency exit row next to a physician. We reviewed the instructions for the emergency door and were arranging for children to come sit close to us so they could come out first."
Hurling across Thailand
"We board our flight to Bangkok where I use the facilities once or twice on our 1-hour flight. Then we get to Bangkok where ... um ... my condition gets worse."
Whiplash and a long ride in a tow truck
"We were rear-ended on the way out of the city. The car suffered no damage, but I got a mild case of whiplash. Just after we left the city every light on the car dash started lighting up, battery, ABS, airbag, etc; and the car died on us in a construction zone."
I said book the flight to DAYTONA, not Dayton
"I couldn't raise my agent on the phone and her agency refused to help. After pleading with the airlines and paying another $300 per person and renting a car, we were able to fly to Tallahassee from Atlanta and rent a car to take a late night drive across the state."
Paris barf fest
"We walked around Paris with my husband throwing up in all the right places (Champs Elysees, Rue Froubourg, St. Honore, etc.). We got back to the hotel and the room was clean but the bedspread was missing and there was a huge stain on the floor and it still smelled. Husband passed out and I ditched him for some therapeutic shopping."
'He seemed to pass cars exclusively on blind corners'
Our bus driver was insane. ... Most drivers in Ecuador ignore red lights and stop signs, but this guy ignored the cars and lines on the road, too. He stopped for women, but only slowed down for men -- they had to jump on or off on the fly. Saw a lot of face-plants. And on mountain roads he seemed to pass cars exclusively on blind corners."
Huge wooden fish delays two flights
"My brother-in-law insisted on buying this huge wooden fish at a flea market. Instead of mailing it home, he insisted on taking on the plane. We had 2 stops, and both times missed both planes.
"Why? Customs thought contraband was inside of this fish the size of a compact fridge."
Read the full story (message No. 3).
$250 to watch other people fish
When we were a good distance from the shore (which never was out of sight) one of the crew members picked up a reel, baited the hook, cast out, and continued this for three hours. ... None of us touched the pole, baited the hook, or even had the thrill of maybe feeling a fish at the other end.
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