All experienced travellers are aware that there is little one can do but sit back and relax, when their best plans go wrong. Whether you are travelling by plane, train or car, sometimes things don’t go your way. So, we asked some fellow travellers to share their most frightening globe-trotting misadventures that still give them the chills.
Anika Farzeen Chowdhury
A full fledged panic attack is not the best way to start a vacation, all of us can agree how daunting that can be. With droopy eyes Anika landed in O’hare airport, after a two day flight. Her travel route (Chittagong- Dhaka-Dubai-Frankfurt-Chicago-Minneapolis) was long and tiring and to her horror, the airline lost her luggage. Afterwards, the unexpected frenzy lead to another incident, she ended up leaving her purse with all her cash, cards, identity card, domestic ticket for later that day, phone, etc in the bathroom. Sleep deprivation was the main reason for this debacle, she didn’t realise she lost her bag till she almost left the terminal. Lost in a huge airport, with no money to buy a new ticket or call anyone she lost her cool. That is when she started hyperventilating, but soon a sweet old man came to console her and calm her down. Anika was able to clear her mind. She gathered every inch of calmness she has left as there was no room for error anymore. After, trying and talking to the officials she finally found her way back to the bathroom. Thankfully, the door looked like it was closed, so no one had entered the bathroom. To her surprise her things were still there. What a lucky day!
In her words “This story still makes me anxious when I think about how stupid and lucky I had been.”
Duity Aroni Chokraborty
Aroni and her friends took Goa over by storm. They partied day and night in what will surely be one of the times of their entire lives. The twenty sixth day was no different and Aroni came back to her hotel at 6 am after yet another eventful night. The following morning, five of her friends decided to explore Goa. It was a warm summer day. The travel forecast said it was 38 degrees. They traveled for miles and miles and reached south of Goa. The explorer in them took over and they decided to go old school, ditch google navigators and just roam around. They kept moving and traveled another 23km and reached the famous Vasco da Gama, it was already 4pm by then. The adventurous lot was having the best day, but night finally started taking a toll on them, they felt drained. Most of them were sleepy so they decided to take a lunch break. After lunch they decided to seize the day once again and travel to the furthest beach in Goa, to witness the breathtaking sunset. They found out the beach was just 1km away so they set out for their destination. As they travelled, they faced an unexpected twist. The back tire of the Vespa, Aroni was riding sled away. Just within seconds everything changed. There was blood everywhere, her friend who was driving the scooter was injured badly, later he would need 6 stitches. Aroni was hurt too, and she is thankful she only had to deal with minor injuries. Things got worse as it was already dark and they had to travel almost 50km. None of these people were trained bikers and to make matters worse, one of them suffered from night blindness. All of their phones died except Aroni’s, so she had to navigate her way back while she was stressed and in shock. It took the group an hour and half to reach the hotel. Lets all sigh collectively!
Farzana Hai
This is a story about not one but a series of mishaps. During Christmas holidays, Farzana and her friend decided to visit the city of Berlin. She was excited and all set to travel. They went to the bus stop in Amsterdam while waiting on the platform, she realised that she was on the wrong one and watched as her bus drove away. She started running behind it in hopes of stopping it. But sadly, the bus driver did not stop for her. They were disheartened, but were not willing to give up. They got tickets for the next day and had to pay again. When they finally made it to Berlin, she got scammed out of 150 Euros. The misfortunes continued, Farhana and her friend bought train tickets in Berlin. While they were travelling, the police started checking for tickets and discovered that she had bought the wrong tickets. They showed them their student ID’s, from their university in Netherlands and tried to talk them into having mercy and to forgive them for their mistake. Sadly, they did not listen. They threatened to put them in jail if they refused to pay a penalty fee. By now, the duo had lost half of their money, before the trip even began. But they decided that every story has a silver lining if one is positive and enthusiastic, they finished their trip with this mindset.
Miss Hai recalls, “We ate only one time a day to save money but all worth it. Berlin was amazing.”
Farzana Islam
Booking a hotel on airbnb is super easy and hassle free. Farzana utilized this service on her first day in Bali. While browsing through the website, she found the winner, it was a beautiful villa nestled in the corner of Jimbaran. Everything looked great in photos but getting there was an adventure on its own. The owner gave Farzana the number of her helper as she lives in France. The helper directed Farzana to the location and they followed the said location, instead of the one that came up in the app Waze. The driver insisted on dropping them in front of an alley, which was too narrow for such a big car to get through. They thought the villa might be close, so they got off the car with all their luggage. To their horror, the villa was no where to be found. Farzana and her friends were stranded in the dark alleys of Jimbaran with their luggage and no talk time balance on the phone! They asked around trying to find their way, but no one seemed to know where the villa is. It was creepy and eerie; a nightmare come true. The helper could not make passerby understand the location. Farzana was famished and disappointed. After, wandering the dark alleys for an hour, the helper sent a scooter rental guy to fetch them. Finally when they reached their destination they forgot all their troubles, after seeing the beautiful villa. It was the beginning of an adventurous trip in Bali. However, the trip got even more interesting as they were stuck in Bali for 3 days for a volcanic eruption. Yikes!