Travel can be all kinds of exciting, but the mix of new places, systems and an unfamiliar language can very quickly become a recipe for disaster.
Someone asked “Everyone has a travel blunder, what's yours?” and netizens shared their most embarrassing stories. We got in touch with veteran travelers Caz and Craig Makepeace to learn more about red flags. So get comfortable, scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comment section below.
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Ok storytime
i was in Cape Town. I hadn’t had my morning coffee and was staying at an apartment hotel without a coffee maker so I needed to go out to find coffee.
went to the cafe and ordered coffee. The barista says “with milk?”
in my pre-caffeine daze I respond “no, I take my coffee black, like my soul“
No sooner had the words left my mouth, I remembered where I was, and my stomach sank as I looked into the face of the black barista.
Then he gave the biggest smile and said “your skin is white (thumps his chest twice) but your soul is black!”
and i smiled back and thought to myself “that could easily have gone the other way!” But it had a wholesome ending.
41M..Plane hit turbulence, dislocated both hip replacements. Had to lay in the center aisle for 45 minutes all while passing out in pain until we could emergency land.
Ohhh God, I bet all the kids on board learned some new words. F*****g brutal!
18... Euro trip with buddies.. didnt realize U2 was in Amsterdam. We went to 20 hostels, hotels everywhere and couldnt find a place to stay.. we were going to stay up all night, and take the train out of the country the next morning. Sitting on a corner smoking rolled american spirits and American stops and asks for cigarette on a bike, we oblidge - get to talking.. He is from San Diego like us.
He runs a rental company (Pre Airbnb.. 2009) - lets us stay in one of his 2 stories 4 bedroom rentals for 5 nights for like 100 euros a piece. It was EPIC!
We later go to Berlin, to realize... U2 was in Berlin that night as well.. no hostels ( last leg of the trip, not much cash for a hotel).. A young couple with a baby hear us complaining and invite us to their house 30 mins outstide of Berlin. They set up 2 tents in their backyard for us. Put the baby down, roll 2 HUGE spliffs, and bring us dessert and tea for the night.
Next morning we accompany the husband to a bakery - buy them breakfast and part ways.. While they were blunders on our part - it ended up being the coolest blunders ever!
Bored Panda got in touch with veteran travelers Caz and Craig Makepeace to learn more about some red flags when putting together a trip. “Some red flags I look for: How current are reviews? If there hasn't been any current ones, especially post-pandemic, something dramatic might have happened.”
“I also check reviews for a balance between negative and positive. If it skews in either direction it could be a red flag. You also want to take into consideration differing opinions - some people may be more or less particular than you.”
At the end of a trip to Rome, I needed to take a train to the airport to catch my flight. So at the track where the train to Roma Fiumicino was announced, I got on the train. The train was fast but it took way longer than I thought and I started to worry a bit that I would be late for my flight. Then we arrived at the next train station. Which was Florence! So somehow I had taken the wrong train, for which I did not have a ticket, *and* I had missed my flight. I explained the situation to the conductor, and he kindly let me stay on until the next stop, which would be Milan, without having to pay for a new ticket. By the time we reached the next station, I had gone online to book a hotel room in Milan and to book a new flight from Milan home the next day. I had never been to Milan and I had a good time there, so in the end it worked out.
Case full of firearms. Airline lost it, when I explained that it was filled with firearms they magically found it 15 minutes later.
Put my keys back through the letterbox of the AirBnB as requested.
Few minutes later realised I needed the keys to access the garage my rental car was parked in.
Took an hour and a half for someone to appear and let me in. Got to the airport just in time to see my plane take off.
“Look at how the managers also respond to negative reviews. If they are rude and negative back, it's probably a customer service red flag. Compare photos from reviews to hotel photos. Do they match? Or are the hotels heavily photoshopped? Outdated websites are a red flag I pay attention to. You should expect an updated site with current information and easy-to-navigate booking options,” they shared.
Not mine but I saw something about an airport in Austria that has an entire department dedicated to assisting travelers who are supposed to be in Australia.
Hahaha, it was actually a publicity stunt in Salzburg's airport (Commend International)
I lived in China in college and took a trip from Beijing to Kunming, travelling across a large portion of the country. We took a 28-hour bumpy train ride, learning when we arrived that it would have been cheaper to fly.
Falling asleep in a train with my headphones on and my backpack not close to me…
Woke up and it was gone.
Train from Budapest to Vienna.
My wife and I are relatively frequent and experienced travelers but made a rookie mistake.
“Map the hotel location, as "Close to water" could mean several blocks away. I always look for phrases that determine if the hotel has a resort fee. Also called amenities fee, property fee, destination fee, facility fee. These are hidden and unnecessary fees I don't want to pay,” they shared With Bored Panda.
Left my driving license in a village which was only accessible by trekking back then. On top of that, it was left in the top most hotel.
I had checked out from the hotel, trekked for 45 mins to reach a bus point, caught two buses to reach another town with the total duration being approx. three hours in total.
Upon reaching there, the new hotel asked me for my license. Me realizing my blunder had to go back the whole route back again, trek up and down again just to get my driving license and wasting an additional 6-7 hours.
Landed in Mexico City in 2008.
Man in airport asks if I need a taxi and I did, so I accepted. He walks me to his car and I open my Mexico travel book and start reading. It tells me not to accept rides from taxis unless they are at formal stands, and to always negotiate the total fare in advance, so you don't get ripped off. I ask my driver how much the fare is, and the amount he asks is more than the cash I had, SO I ask him to take me to an ATM.
I keep reading my guide book, and it says not to let anyone take you to an ATM, because they might rob you. The driver leaves the main road and drives through an impoverished looking neighborhood with some dude laying face down on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. We get to an ATM, I walk over and withdraw the money, and as I turn around the driver says "Stop." I figure I'm going to get robbed but je just points out that I had left my debit card in the ATM.
We drove on to my destination (a big bus station) where I discovered he charged me 5x the standard fee.
I got lucky, don't be that dumb.
Washington DC airports have the same rule. You need to go to the taxi stand if you want a taxi - never accept a ride from someone who approaches you. They make announcements over the loudspeaker about it too. Not because they're going to rob you, but they're unregulated and will try and rip you off by going the "long way" to your destination. They're also trying to avoid having to pay fees to the taxi union.
Forgot underwear. Was staying at a cheap resort in a tiny town. No one sold clothing. Nearest possible place was on another island or the mainland.
Made do with the one pair I was wearing and a swim suit during washings.
We also wanted to hear their opinion on when it would make sense to “splurge” for convenience. “From backpacking in hostels, to camping in tents, and luxury home rentals, we've stayed in all types of accommodation for our past 26 years of travel. Our focus is always on exploration and memorable moments, so accommodation is normally just a place to sleep at night. Before booking your accommodation, really tune into what's most important to you.”
Me and some friends wanted to go to the Panzermuseum in Munster (Germany) in the early 2000's so we planned a trip by car (from the Netherlands). After arriving and a night in an hotel we couldn't find the museum. Finally we asked someone, turned out we were in Münster, not Munster. 280 km off.
We got drunk and all was good.
This is understandable as the Dutch language does not have the letter "ü", well the sound. The Dutch letter "u" is pronounced like the German "ü". Btw, the Dutch "oe" is the sound of a German "u". It took the Dutch TV advertizers ages to let them actors say "Dr. Ötker" instead of "Dr Utker" (sounds according to German language).
Left my backpack on a train platform while traveling on my last day in the NL. Said backpack contained my and my partners passports along with some rather expensive booze that were to be gifts. Let’s just say a mad scramble ensued that did not turn up the bag, but someone tried to turn it in.
Got a linkedIn message a couple of hours later and got the bag and passports back, but the booze was missing. Considered it the price of being a bonehead.
A friend of mine and I were playing the floor is lava in our hotel room. Turns out the bench in the entrance of the room couldn't take someone jumping onto it from the bed. We paid for the bench obviously, but it was hard coming up with a story less stupid than the truth.
“This will help you have more accurate expectations and less disappointment with your hotel stays. I'm okay with staying in lower-quality accommodation because I want to use that money savings on experiences. But, this may be different for you, if comfort makes a more enjoyable experience for you.” You find more of their work on their website and on Instagram.
Being detained by the Chinese military police in Beijing for having a camera in my pocket at the living tomb of Mao Zedong.
Two questions (2) What is a "living tomb"? (1) But first, do I want to know?
Well I am embarrassed to share this but here we go. Was on a business trip from London. Thought of buying some drinks in the airport for which my passport was mandatory to show as proof.
Standing in the middle of a duty free shop, i couldn't be able to find my passport and my flight was in another hour. I was damn sure i entered the airport with the passport.
Well, I finally found the passport in the pizza box which i finished for lunch and threw it in the dustbin. I swear I don't know what I was thinking!! The accompanied business partner was petrified and pissed off. Well i would too.
I found a passport left behind in the Global Entry kiosk I went to. Quickly notified one of the border security who rolled his eyes and said "I told the guy to be sure to take his passport" and ran off to catch up to him. Guy was still visible down the long hallway. Point being... keep your passport on you at all times. If you have to take it out, put it away before getting your stuff or going anywhere.
Forgot about time difference and booked all the hotels a day later than required. For a 2 week trip.
This could be my partner! Went to take a bus one day late, got to return the rental car to the wrong airport in Italy... Once we were in a tiny village in France and we decided to sleep in instead of going on an early hike because I didn't sleep a wink during the night. It was our night 2/3 in an Airbnb... We were having breakfast and a lady rang up the door at 10. It was the cleaning lady, we were actually supposed to check out that morning 🤦♀️. Luckily we are not messy people so it just took us 20' to grab our things and clean up. The owner was very understanding,
I missed my flight home on a layover in Rome from Ghana to California. And… well… I told everyone I fell asleep and missed the flight. But I really was sitting at the wrong gate reading and didn’t hear that they apparently had been calling my name forever and then just left me behind. To my credit it was a really good book. And I truly was exhausted from traveling. Even though I missed my flight they tried to put me on the next one, but that one was overbooked so they ended up paying for a hotel there. Wasn’t that big a deal in the end lol.
Scammed into buying a cheap print of the Colosseum in Rome as an original water color.
My family has a travel weather curse. My grandparents' siblings and friends used to refuse to go on holiday with them because there would always be a meteorological disaster. Sure enough, when I came around, it transmitted to my mum and me. By age 11 I'd been evacuated in a forest fire in France and witnessed a tropical storm floating 4x4s in Menorca. Tried leaving my mum behind in my 20s in case she was the problem and went to Edinburgh just me and my boyfriend... there was a storm so bad it was blowing old people into the side of busses and killing them.
I missed a flight because I was eating a Big Mac. My buddy got on the flight without me.
Not me but someone i traveled with. Missed his plane cause he bought a novelty item shaped like a bullet (think it was a bottle opener or something) and left it in his locked bag. Security were not too happy when they found that.
I made hotel reservations for the wrong weekend. Had to find a hotel 30 minutes away. The original reservations were for a hotel we could walk out of our room onto the beach.
My husband booked us hotel a month early. JUN instead of JUL, easy mistake. Found out early enough to make correct booking when he noticed full charge on his credit card and realized they charged us full amount because we were no show without cancelling. Expensive mistake but at least we were not stranded on arrival.
I accidently missed a Saturday 12:15 am flight showing up at Sunday 12:15 am. My brain said: Saturday 12:15 = "Saturday Night".
Lost my passport a week before I was due to go indefinitely travelling. To make it worse, I was living in Denmark and I'm a UK citizen. So I had to get an emergency passport from the British Embassy in Copenhagen, fly back to Manchester, train to Durham, pay for fast tracking passport, then back in time for the travels. Nightmare, 1/10 would not recommend.
My friend made it all the way to airport boarding gate only to realize her ID card is missing (UK to another EU country pre-Brexit ), as you only needed boarding pass to get through security. She was 100% sure she put it in her bag, emptied the bag, no ID. Got back home defeated. No ID at home. Searched the bag again, found hole in the bag lining along the seam, ID card travelled under the lining.
Accidentally joked to a Manchester Airport security agent about my carry on being stuffed so full it might explode. I am a Muslim woman who wears hijab.
One thing I never joke about in an airport is security stuff. Take that stuff seriously people
Went to Germany many years ago, first time travelling abroad and first time in a country speaking a different language. A long stopover in Hong Kong coupled with a long a*s flight from there to Munich meant the brain wasn't at the full 10%. I needed a drink bad so I stepped into a little airport shop, grabbed a Coke, and took it to the counter, fully ready to have to deal with German for the first time while running on fumes. When the cashier asked me a question, I fired back in the most broken Deutsch possible, "My German is good not." She cracked up laughing, as did her colleague, and then said, "That was English! I asked for your flight number!"
My German has barely improved since.
My uncle was in Germany in the army, and got married to a local. Over the years he was there, several of her family came to America to meet us. I was just beginning my German lessons, and when the mother came, I proudly went up to her, and asked, "Wo heissen Sie?" (Where is your name?) The mother looked at me like I had three heads.
Was bored waiting in a room coming back from Mexico. I didn't know you weren't supposed to mess with your phone while waiting for customs. They thought I was taking photos of the room. So I was there waiting the entire time because when they finally got to me it was a room full of security and they took my phone, went through every single item I had on me and asked me a million questions. They finally realized I was just playing games on my phone, not photographing everything after going through every app on my phone and days worth of photos and social media posts.
My partner and I were flying from London to Naples, but our flight was delayed by 5 hours due to the weather. When we finally got on the plane, there was an announcement made in Italian and all the passengers started kicking off, yelling at staff, and getting off the plane. They eventually relayed in English that by the time we would arrive in Naples, the airport would be closed so they were re-routing us to Rome.
We were told when we land, they would organise a bus to Naples from Rome, and to go to the Veuling service desk for more details.... noone at the desk knew anything about this. I think we waited about 2 hours for a taxi to take us from Rome to Naples airport in the end, which is about a 3 hour drive. And then take another taxi to our hotel.
We were meant to arrive in Naples at 10pm the night we left and we ended up at our hotel at around 8 am the following morning.
Never ever ever ever ever fly Alitalia, and LOT is even worse. It took my kid and me (they were 11 at the time) three days to fly from Vilnius to Chicago. Two LOT flights cancelled, ended up flying through Vienna to London on Austrian Air, and from London to Chicago on Virgin. Spent one night in a cheap hotel in Warsaw, and another in London. At least the London-Chicago flight we lucked out and got premium economy (which is pretty decent in Virgin Air)
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I was flying out from Maryland to Denver in like 2012. I was on time for my flight but could not find the ticketing agents for my flight. Turns out I was at the WRONG AIRPORT. I went to BWI and my flight was actually out of Dulles. I ended up getting onto a flight the next day from Reagan National Airport. Three airports all within an hour from each other.
What do people think their passports are? A colouring book? The carelessness is alarming. Maybe they should take one of the routes of the asylum-seekers to understand how valuable this document is and how entitled people living in countries are, where everybody just simply can apply for one and will get it.
Never underestimate the effects of sleep deprivation. I usually clutch mine like l'm gonna stick it to my chest, but l can see why people leave it somewhere when doing whatever at the airport.
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I was flying out from Maryland to Denver in like 2012. I was on time for my flight but could not find the ticketing agents for my flight. Turns out I was at the WRONG AIRPORT. I went to BWI and my flight was actually out of Dulles. I ended up getting onto a flight the next day from Reagan National Airport. Three airports all within an hour from each other.
What do people think their passports are? A colouring book? The carelessness is alarming. Maybe they should take one of the routes of the asylum-seekers to understand how valuable this document is and how entitled people living in countries are, where everybody just simply can apply for one and will get it.
Never underestimate the effects of sleep deprivation. I usually clutch mine like l'm gonna stick it to my chest, but l can see why people leave it somewhere when doing whatever at the airport.
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