WHEN TRAVEL GOES WRONG
FOUR FUNNY AND CRAZY STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Traveling for many years and in many cities and countries around the world, i can confidently say that is not all roses and petals as some may want to let you suggest. Even tho i am so grateful that during my adventures i've never once faced any kind of serious danger or unpleasant encounter, there still have been some difficult times or some crazy moments and i can't tell how many times i've wished i had a personal cameraman to record all those events; some very both awkward and awesome things happened during my travels and honestly even the funkiest one are the memories that i cherish the most and make quite a good conversation material over dinner.
When you travel, especially off the beaten path you should consider every eventuality and for disclaimer, not all people are the same and not all people experience the same things and like i said, although i am grateful to only have experienced kindness and collected good memories during my travels, that may not have been the same for other travelers especially for female solo travelers, (as i write this sentence i realize how hurtful it is that we live in a world wherein the 21st century we still have to make this kind of distinction), that's why my advice would be to always be extra cautious despite the country because even tho the world is still full of good people there will always be the ones that will try to harass or harm you.
I won't talk about every single episode because that would take me a while but i hope that while you'll read these experiences they can provide you with light reading and put a smile on your face.
DISCOVERING A NEW CALLING IN IRELAND
Let's start with the lush, green, and moody Ireland; i was traveling with my mom in southern Ireland more precisely in the Beara Peninsula in Cork County. We decided to rent a car and do a road trip along the peninsula at the discovery of its magic.
It was a particular cloudy but still magical day when we drove through hills and mountains roads in search for a specific stone circle, one of those Celtic circle made of huge megaliths like Stonehenge; when we decided to take a break and a walk around a field on the side of the road. Now, if you've ever been to Ireland you'll be familiar with random flock of sheep and rams roaming around the streets in the countryside and blocking the traffic. We were enjoying ourselves and the view around us, at one point my mom picked a long stick to use as support for her, and in that exact moment she discovered her calling; in a matter of seconds a sheep came out from nowhere, running towards us, a few moments later another one came, and then another one and another one, in a couple of minutes we found ourselves running away with an entire flock of sheep on our back; this is when i realized that somehow because of that long stick they may have mistaken my mom for a sheepherder... We safely return to our car and after catching our breath we continued driving for our destination.
The day wasn't over and while we were driving along an arrow road our car's tire slide in a crack on the side of the road causing our car to almost tip over; we obviously had no one to call and there was no soul around us except for a house on top of the hill few kilometers from us, so we tried and hoped for someone being home; three big Irish men came out from the door, took their truck and came to our rescue. They tied our car on the back of their truck and started pulling only to end with a broken chain and with our car falling deeper in the crack. After an hour or so and a lot of brutal strength and few curse words, they were able to pull out our car only to find the side of it brutally scarred, thankfully our car was protected by the assurance and until today we never received any words from the rental office...
CRAZY DRIVING IN BALI
Let's talk about the time i almost destroyed a temple in Bali...
It was only the second day since we have arrived in Bali, Indonesia, as i was in search of a motorbike to rent to drove around the island, and well, even tho i am an excellent car driver and when i was younger my brother used to teach me how to drive a bike, many years have passed and i may or may not have overestimated my abilities to drive a motorcycle...
In Bali they drive left, and that per se is quite problematic for a European, not to mention that the only rule for the traffic seems to be that there are no rules, and founding yourself in the Balinese traffic jam can be quite an eclectic experience.
So i took my backpack, went to the rental shop near my stay, fastened the helmet, jump on with my confidence at the top...the moment that i lightly caressed the accelerator the bike literally flew and both ended up crashing over the gate of a small temple. Thankfully nor I or the bike or the building had any scratches or injuries except for my pride of course...
A MOROCCAN DUMPSTER
It was a summer road trip around the exotic land of Morocco, we booked a villa in Marrakesh and rented a car at the discovery of the cities, its desert, beach towns, mountains, and the people that live there from generations to generations.
Morocco is famous for the strong smell of spices that you can sense all over the city and its people hospitality, something that we experienced during all our stay in Morocco.
I was traveling with my mom and my older brother at the time and we decided to book a nice big apartment in a villa. We enjoyed our stay in peace during the whole time and except for few undesired guests (some of the most giant cockroach i ever saw) all was really good, except for the last day of our stay just a few hours before taking our flight back home; while we were finishing packing our stuff and walking toward the front door we heard a loud noise coming from the bathroom, it didn't take long for us to realize what happened, the toilet pipe somehow broke and the entire bathroom and soon the entire apartment started to flood with water and God knows what, we soon found ourselves in a dump trying to minimize the damage by using the tapestry to stop the flooding; the owner didn't pick up the phone and no one of the neighbors seemed to be home; we had a flight to take and we were starting to panic, so we did the best we could to try to stop the water and else from keeping coming out from the toilet, with little success i may had, and fled away...
SURVIVING IN MIAMI
Last but not least, let's talk about the time I was penniless and starving in Miami on our way back from Nicaragua. I was still a kid at the time traveling with my mom and my older brother on a small island in Nicaragua where we rented two small bedrooms in a bungalow on the beach, living our best life and eating the juiciest and cheapest lobster i ever had (also the only one), but this is another story...
So, on our way back home, before our flight, we stopped in Miami and booked a cheap room at the Hilton Hotel which was also the nearest to the airport. We unpacked our stuff and enjoyed our first hours after checking in by the pool and used our last dollars to buy ourselves a nice meal, we were going back home in two days anyway, and would have been better to use the last dollars in hand so that we wouldn't have had to exchange our money back, we always had our card to cover our back....well, things turned out a bit different...
We found ourselves penniless, with no working card (until this day we still have no idea of why the credit card did not work), no way to buy food, starving, and with still two days to go in a 5 stars hotel.
We paid for that room so why not making use of all the services that the hotel offered. We had eyed a welcoming cookie jar at the front desk, so we took a cookie each and waited for the receptionist to change to go and get a refill to not arouse suspicion. Since in the US, a single small water bottle can be quite expensive we ingenious to collect ice from the ice machine and waiting for it too melts so that we could drink fresh water. Honestly, even if we were at a top hotel it felt like surviving in the jungle.
The day of our flight came and all we could think of was the warm meal that we'll have in a couple of hours, too bad that my mom's stomach felt so weak because of the past days that as soon as she puts a bite in her mouth, she trow everything...
I actually have so many more eclectic, funny, and crazy experiences; like the time i was attacked by monkeys in the jungle or the time i was heavily scammed by a man on a small island in the Caribbean, and much more, but maybe they could become part of a second article in the future, i really hope that you enjoyed this light reading so far.