It came from my suitcase!!! Travel horror stories.

[Keroin]

I was just sitting here, surfing and planning my quick jaunt to Vegas, in October, when I remembered one of my "horrific" trips to Sin City. It was my own fault - spur of the moment trip. 9am, to bf, "Hey, let's go to Vegas for a few days!" We just grabbed a flight and figured we'd book accom when we arrived. Ha! Turns out it was Superbowl weekend, (no, I never watch football). The rooms that were available were all hideously expensive. I ended the weekend by forgetting my wallet in a taxi, on the way to the airport. That's what happens when you don't sleep for 36 hours!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to track down a taxi, in Vegas, on Superbowl Sunday??!

Anyway, I actually have lots of other spine chilling tales and I'm hoping you do, too.

Please share, don't be scared!

 

[graceanne]

I have bad luck with trips.

Shortly after me and K got married (like two months after) we decided to spend Thanksgiving with his folks in Texas. After we'd booked our tickets my brother in law (K's brother) got a call from his father in law, who also lives in Texas. He said that he had a car for them, if they could get it to Oregon. So F asked us if we'd be willing to drive it back to Oregon for him. We agreed, and changed our plans accordingly. Before we drove it, though, we took it in for a checkup. The mechanic said it was fine to drive back.

Day one - evidently the mechanic didn't check the thermostat, cause about 5 hours into our trip the engine started to steam. We pulled over to put water in the radiator, when K realized he could see IN the radiator. We had to pay to have the car towed to the nearest town and then waited THREE DAYS for a new radiator.

Day four - We're driving along, making good time, when the thingie that makes the speedometer work broke. No matter how fast we were going it said we were going 20 mph. We're doing our best to not speed when an eighteen wheeler jackknifed right in front of us. We missed it by literally inches.

Day five - we get bad gas. Every 30 minutes or so we'd have to stop so K could bounce on the bumper so the darn car would GO.

Day six - the cold that had been threatening K for a week finally hit. He feels like shit and, unknown to us, I'm about two weeks preggers. What was supposedWe had a HUGE screaming fight outside of taco bell.

Day seven - we finally get home from what was supposed to be a three day trip. My brother in law informs us that it's our fault the car broke down, cause we should have known that the thermostat isn't working. Friends are God's way of apologizing for your family.​

The other HELL trip was when I went to South Carolina to see K when he 'graduated' from basic training. In other words, another expensive booty call.

I got cheap tickets to get there - read: it took me 13 hours to get from Oregon to South Carolina, and would have taken me another 12 to get home. Assuming things had run on time. I got to SC, checked into my hotel, called my sister (who had my kids) to give her my phone number, settled into bed . . . and the phone rang. My daughter (age 4) had broken her snow globe, then stepped on a piece of the globe and needed to get stitches. I spent 10 minutes calming MY SISTER down so she could take B into the ER. Luckily I had left a 'right to treat' with my sister. Unfortunately that meant she had to leave my son with her boyfriend whom I HATE (he's the asshole who killed himself when she broke up with him. Fucker). Either way, there was nothing I could do about it. The rest of the trip went relatively smoothly. I had to leave a day before K's pass was out, but there was not help for it. I got the airport with plenty of time . . . and my flight was delayed. By about three hours. I had a connecting flight in philadelphia about 45 minutes after I got there, so I went to find out what was going on. There was a snowstorm in philly AND a tornado in Kansas. At the same time. I wasn't going to be able to get home for three more days. So I borrowed some money from my father in law and my mom for a hotel, and ended up spending three days twiddling my thumbs in BFE, South Carolina. On the bright side, I got better tickets home. Only one stop, about six hours flying.​

 

[Keroin]

I have bad luck with trips.

ACK! No wonder you hate to travel! Poor you.

That was truly terrifying.

I will sleep with the lights on tonight.

 

[graceanne]

ACK! No wonder you hate to travel! Poor you.

That was truly terrifying.

I will sleep with the lights on tonight.

LOL Smart alec.

Actually the thread title reminds me of the other time we went to Texas. When we got home, K got in the suitcase to get his toothbrush and a HUGE freaken cockroach flew out of our suitcase. Ew!

 

[LilyBart]

My job has required a lot of travel over my career, but the travel gods have generally been kind to me. However a hell trip actually involved Vegas, tangentially. I was flying home from NY and due to weather there was a domino travel effect, starting with the trip to JFK. I arrived too late for my flight (last non-stop of the day), but the good news was that the flight was delayed. This was really right after 9/11 and before I got my carry-on rhythm. So I was too late to check my bag, but not too late for the delayed flight. If I was willing to toss whatever would not fit into a quart size bag.

The quick decision was to decline the flight because I did not want to lose my stuff and certainly couldn't ditch expense perfume. (Can't expense perfume and cosmetics, regrettably). So I opted for another flight that connected through Las Vegas. But, due to weather, it was delayed leaving NY and the result was arriving in Vegas after the last connection home. On a Friday night. So imagine expensing a Friday night in Vegas. It might have been easier to explain the lost perfume...

Not only that , I landed in Vegas at about 2am and had to be back at the airport at 5am. They kept my suitcase. So I checked into a Residence Inn without a toothbrush or a comb (They did give me toothbrush and toothpaste, thankfully, but no comb.)

Its a short flight home from Vegas, but since I really didn't sleep....the whole event screwed up my entire weekend.

I know there are worse stories. But that's my bad story. Which is pretty benign for a constant traveler.

~LB

 

[be_ignited]

I only have one really terrible one:

I was headed home from school for spring break the year before last (Boston to Baltimore. Usually about an hour flight, easy peasy). Had my bags all packed and left to grab something to eat before heading to the airport via subway. I called my Dad to let him know my plans, and he told me that my flight was delayed for a couple hours, and I shouldn't bother going to the airport so early (famous last words). So I decided to take my time getting food, and basically just dick around trying to kill time before leaving again.

So fast forward to the airport. I get there and the display screen says my flight is on time, I get up to the ticket counter to find out that it WAS on time, but had been listed as delayed online (but was changed back to on time), it was the last flight for the night, and it was leaving NOW. They told me I could still make it if I lugged all my stuff with me, ditched all my liquids and ran. But instead I cried (and called my dad and yelled) .

The airline was booked solid for the next three days, but they told me I could do stand-by (which means you can fly if someone else doesn't show up for their flight) for the first flight the next morning, but no guarantees. I couldn't go back to my dorm (closed and the T doesn't run early enough to get back to the airport on time), so I had to sleep in a phone booth for the night. On the bright side, I was the very first person at the ticket counter.

 

[bridgeburner]

I have mostly good luck travelling but have been derailed by storms a couple of times.

1. Got stranded in Greenville, SC when my brother and I went back for our Bopka's funeral. There was an ice storm and we were stuck in a hotel for two extra days totally iced in. Being southerners in the company of other southerners there was an excursion made to the nearest liquor store --- we could hike 1/2 mile over ice for booze but not food--- and we partied with the few people who were actually checked into the hotel as well as some "dancers" who'd been displaced from the next-door motel when the place caught fire.

2. Still have guilt over a nearly two hour ride from JFK into Brooklyn that I got from an internet aquaintence who I then didn't make time to go out with while I was in town. Truly a nice man, but we had almost nothing in common and I was selfishly having more fun with the friends I'd gone to visit. I really wish I'd done a car service. I still fantasize about finding him and falling all over myself in abject apology for being such a flake.


3. Nearly left a friend on the side of the road in Scotland to avoid strangling her. Everything about the trip was awesome except her attitude. It was a verrrrry strained relationship for most of the 10 days we were there.

-- The highlight of that trip, though, was learning dirty Gaelic phrases and singing John Denver tunes with Murdo James (who was so old he owed Moses a quarter) in Stornoway. I know, it doesn't sound like much of a highlight, but it truly was an awesome eveing. The whole trip was amazing...except for the rash-inducing travel companion at the time. One of my best friends but she was some kind of twisted-knickers out of it for nearly the entire trip.

 

[graceanne]

3. Nearly left a friend on the side of the road in Scotland to avoid strangling her. Everything about the trip was awesome except her attitude. It was a verrrrry strained relationship for most of the 10 days we were there.

Last summer K took the kids down the river on an inflatable raft that his folks gave him. It had a hole. What was supposed to be a two hour trip down the river took closer to eight. He was with my brother, and he told me at one point he was THIS CLOSE to finding out how much taekwondo my brother had learned in the last few years.

First, they had to paddle cause the raft was dragging. Several times it would suddenly get really heavy and K would look over his shoulder and N would be just sitting there. K'd be like 'PADDLE' and N would whine 'but I'm tired!' and K was like 'I don't give a flying fuck. so am I. now PADDLE!'.

AND, they had all three kids and N kept talking about surviving off the forest and shit like that and getting the kids all freaked out about being lost in the wood. K finally told N that if he did that again, they were going to have words and to shut the fuck up.

It's amazing how who you're with can make or break a trip.

Oh, yeah. K's cigarettes got doused, so he was dealing with all this AND no smokes.

The trip ended when the police I had looking for them found them and drove them to me.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I've actually had pretty good luck on trips most of the time. One that stands out is a driving trip from southwest Oklahoma (Lawton/Ft. Sill) to Florida. Somewhere on the Gulf Coast, I stopped in a little Mississippi or Alabama coast town at about 2 a.m. to get gas because the gauge was on "E." Filled up the tank, went in to pay and found that all I had left in my wallet was three one-dollar bills and a couple of hundreds. My gas was eight or nine bucks, so I handed the attendant a hundred-dollar bill - which he absolutely refused to take. I told him he *had* to take it, it was U.S. currency, and "legal tender for all debts, public and private." At that point, he reached under the counter and pulled out a sawed-off freakin' shotgun!

Fortunately, at the same time, he picked up the phone and called the cops as I'm envisioning getting busted in some podunk redneck town where I'm going to get stripped of my car, cash and other possessions and then tossed in a cell with a couple of "Deliverance" types The cop who drove in looked like the perfect stereotypical southern cop... wrinkled, scruffy, not-quite-fitting uniform, beer belly out to *here,* yellow-tinted sunglasses (2 a.m., remember?), and my knees were knocking together. I could just see me........

Surprisingly, the cop had a crisp, clear speaking voice with no trace of southern drawl, and used it to rip the *clerk* a new one, essentially telling him, "Either you accept his hundred and give him his change, or you take the $3.xx (and change I'd dug out of my pocket) and you make up the difference to the register. That's US currency and you *have* to take it, because you don't have a sign out there that says you won't!" He also confiscated the sawed-off, much to my relief. The clerk, btw, *easily* made change for the hundred, and had plenty of cash left in the drawer for any other customers who might come in with large bills....

Needless to say, I made tracks out of that town as quickly as I could without violating any traffic laws.

 

[graceanne]

I've actually had pretty good luck on trips most of the time. One that stands out is a driving trip from southwest Oklahoma (Lawton/Ft. Sill) to Florida. Somewhere on the Gulf Coast, I stopped in a little Mississippi or Alabama coast town at about 2 a.m. to get gas because the gauge was on "E." Filled up the tank, went in to pay and found that all I had left in my wallet was three one-dollar bills and a couple of hundreds. My gas was eight or nine bucks, so I handed the attendant a hundred-dollar bill - which he absolutely refused to take. I told him he *had* to take it, it was U.S. currency, and "legal tender for all debts, public and private." At that point, he reached under the counter and pulled out a sawed-off freakin' shotgun!

Fortunately, at the same time, he picked up the phone and called the cops as I'm envisioning getting busted in some podunk redneck town where I'm going to get stripped of my car, cash and other possessions and then tossed in a cell with a couple of "Deliverance" types The cop who drove in looked like the perfect stereotypical southern cop... wrinkled, scruffy, not-quite-fitting uniform, beer belly out to *here,* yellow-tinted sunglasses (2 a.m., remember?), and my knees were knocking together. I could just see me........

Surprisingly, the cop had a crisp, clear speaking voice with no trace of southern drawl, and used it to rip the *clerk* a new one, essentially telling him, "Either you accept his hundred and give him his change, or you take the $3.xx (and change I'd dug out of my pocket) and you make up the difference to the register. That's US currency and you *have* to take it, because you don't have a sign out there that says you won't!" He also confiscated the sawed-off, much to my relief. The clerk, btw, *easily* made change for the hundred, and had plenty of cash left in the drawer for any other customers who might come in with large bills....

Needless to say, I made tracks out of that town as quickly as I could without violating any traffic laws.

Wow.

Some people.

At least the cop wasn't a stereotype.

 

[satindesire]

The first and so far, only flight I've taken.

I had to go from NE OK to Santa Rosa, CA for a trial. I told the DA that I couldn't make it for money reasons, there would be no way we could afford me staying in a CA hotel for god knows how long.

The DA wants me there bad, seeing as how there's no case without my testimony, and promises me that the DA's office will pay for everything, including my flight to and from, the hotel, meals, taxi, everything. After all, I'll only be up there for four or five days, tops.

The flight went fine. I was kind of nervous since I hadn't been on a plane since I was too little to remember, but it was fine.

EXCEPT FOR the fact that they lose my luggage.

No one else's on the whole flight. Just mine. And stupid liquid explosives scare stated back then that I couldn't take my toiletries as a carry on without all sorts of weird rules that I couldn't afford to take, so I put all my stuff (literally, ALL) in my larger bags.

I waited for as long as I could for my luggage to show, even talked to the claims people who assured me that there was no way my luggage could be lost. After an hour standing by the luggage-merry-go-round I went back rather crossly, and informed me that my bags were NOT there.

The taxi had waited for me as long as it could, so I was driven to the hotel without a damn thing on me but my purse. No toiletries, no makeup, no books, no clothes, nothing.

Well, the DA had neglected to inform me that the 'meals' they would pay for included only a 30 dollar allowance for THAT SPECIFIC HOTEL's food -only- (the meals cost about 15 bucks apiece). The taxi was to go to and from the courthouse -only-, and any extras from the hotel or anything else I would have to pay for myself. So I was stuck in a hotel with no calling card and no way to get ahold of Mister, no toiletries, unable to go anywhere to just get out of the hotel for a while or do something other than watch the three cable channels they had available. To top it all off, my varied and rather dangerous food allergies meant I could only eat about 4 things off the entire menu.

For three days I had to wear the same dress I showed up in. The little bars of soap and tiny bottles of shampoo were the only thing holding me together (No razor, no toothbrush/paste...ugh! The hotel was insanely cheap and refused to provide even simple necessities like those to their 'guests') and I had absolutely no cash with me and no way to get to a store anyway, seeing as how the damn taxi wasn't available to take to anywhere but the fucking court house!!!...and after three days of not brushing my teeth properly (scrubbed with a washcloth was the only thing I could do) or having deodorant or a razor to shave with...I was pretty LIVID off at the airport, the hotel, the DA guy...pretty much everyone.

Finally, after my fiftieth pissed off phone call someone picked up and said they had found my luggage and would have it brought to the hotel.

Mister and my entire family was FRANTIC, of course, they had no idea which hotel I was staying in and had called about a thousand different ones in the Santa Rosa area looking for me.

I ended up being stuck in the hotel for fifteen days eating the same things twice a day (and starving to death, because of those tiny hotel portions...cheap bastards...) and watching the Food Network (one of the three channels that I actually had interest in, the other couple were sports like golf) for hour after bleary-eyed hour.

I didn't actually get INTO court to testify until the eleventh day. I testified exactly twice, then was sent home. We lost the case anyway, after all that.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

The first and so far, only flight I've taken.

<snippetysnipsnip>

Okay, I give that story the official Bon Voyage seal of suckitude.

 

[Cattypuss]

(1) Lost in Basque country, in Northern Spain, on a motorbike, trying to get to Bilbao, late at night. Bike overheated in small village where nobody responded to smiles or to Spanish or to French or to English. And where everyone just sat outside their houses, staring.

Time can pass very slowly sometimes!

(2) Falling down a long flight of marble steps in Paris with my heavy suitcase on top of me (fortunately the natives were much more friendly).

(3) Motorbike touring round Florida and finding that the tap water in one town made me so sick I couldnt even keep down Gatorade. For 24 hours all I did was puke and dry-puke.

(4) Interminable night-flight from Jamaica to the UK. The in-flight movies were not working; my reading light was not working; the two women behind me had their smelly naked feet up on the backs of my armrests; my seat didn't recline. For the 9 hours or whatever it was I sat there watching a little red dot representing the plane crawl AGONISINGLY slowly across a blue expanse representing the Atlantic on a TV screen.

(5) A slow cross-country train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, as a child, in pauper class, in extreme heat and humidity, with a high fever, in shorts, on vinyl seats.

 

[CurlyKat]

I've got a ton to add in here when I'm not on a sanity break from the pre-packers/movers fiesta that's going on right now.

One of the worst job-related ones (and oh boy do I have a few of those) involves the A6 autobahn. For those of you not familiar with European rodes, it connects Paris to Prague, thus spanning Germany from east to west. I have to drive on it quite a bit for work. One day, my boss decides that a coworker and I need to drive what's normally about a four-hour drive, do some stuff, then drive back all in one day.

An important fact to add to this story: it's February, and snowing like crazy. We probably shouldn't have been driving at all, much less long distances. It took us almost seven hours driving each way, doing five hours of work at the actual place we were going. Passed quite a few trucks that had ended up in the ditch on the side of the road, too.

That was just the starting point of my hatred of the A6, and the point where my boss started getting told "no" quite a bit more frequently.

 

[Homburg]

For all that I've traveled as much as I have, and still do, my luggage has only been lost once. And it was actually my fault, so I didn't really mind.

On a trip to LA for training, we had a 6 hour layover in Chicago. Our flight to Chicago landed early, and the board showed a flight in to burbank (our destination) leaving in about 15 minutes. I asked a random airline guy where that terminal was, and whether we might be able to catch that flight. He told us we might make it if we run, and they'd probably let us on.

I know jack about Chicago O'hare aside from the fact that the landings there always seem fuck-all awful, but we ran our asses off to get to that terminal. And get to it we did. We explained the situation to the surprisingly nice folks at the counter, and they were happy to let us board. The hop we were scheduled for was going to be full, and the one we wanted to hop onto was almost empty. We worked out that they would leave our luggage on the plane it was supposed to be on, and hopped onto the plane.

It was quite empty, and we all had whole rows to ourselves. Good stuff. Well, we got there, and the airline told us that they'd managed to transfer our luggage onto that plane. Nope, they transferred one set of luggage. *shrug* They said the other two would be on the next plane. We took the limo to the hotel, and then came back later that night. One set of luggage did make it, but that set was not mine. So the other two guys I was with had theirs, while I was ass-out.

I was told that if my luggage was not located in 24 hours, the airline would expense a set of clothes for me to help until they found it. They managed to find my luggage 22 hours later, and got it to me the next day. All in all, not too horrible.

Then there was the time a friend and I were driving to NYC and my car got broadsided, sending me into a full-on NASCAR style spin across the median towards oncoming traffic...

 

[Keroin]

Great stories! I'm off camping today, can't wait to come back and read and share more.

 

[jockdom]

Napels Train station scared the living be jesus out of me! (I've slept in the glasgow bus station, that was a picnic.)

A coach trip from Switzerland to Turkey when the border guards found heroin on the bus. Thankfully I was too young to have seen Midnight express.

Travelling from Zurich, Switzerland, to St Gall(near lake constance) I fell asleep in the train and woke up in Germany! That took some explaining since I had left my passport at my grannys place.

Prague Taxi drivers. They should be wearing masks.

 

[graceanne]

The first and so far, only flight I've taken.

I had to go from NE OK to Santa Rosa, CA for a trial.

When B was six weeks old, I had to go to someplace in middle washington to testify for my step dad's suit against Swift Trucking (the fuckers). They paid for me to be gone for two days. K and A came with. Two days later I still hadn't had a chance to testify, so K and A had to go home and I had to share a room with my mom, step dad, and 7 year old sister. Joy. It took two more days before I got a chance to testify. It was loads of fun. My sister wouldn't sleep, and B wouldn't sleep, and my step dad was all stressed out and bitchy, and I was very sick with the crohns, although we didn't know it yet, and I pulled a muscle in back making the beds, and and and

 

[YourCaptor]

Lets see, other then creepy/devil roommates, and that endless waiting.

Me and a crew once pumped regular into a diesel in Europe. That went well.

I once booked a room in Philly, and when I got to the address it was a graveyard.

A buddy thought be could beat the toll both to get into new york by taking the subway in. His planed subway stop was in the Bronx at a place called gun hill... and we actually attempted it.

I spent a night in flagstaff expecting heat... its Arizona after all.

I was once stuck in the great basin desert 8 hours, saw a family of deer in the middle of all the sand. Long story that one is.

In Germany they dragged me into a small, hot, interrogation room. I got to be honest, that was one of the most intimidating things I ever experienced.

Undoubtedly have many more moments that I can't think of at the moment.

I much prefer those awesome little moments that happen just as randomly and spontaneously.

 

[VelvetDarkness]

A few years back I did a lastminute.com with 2 friends and went to Italy for 4 nights. Both friends were single mothers who wanted a travel buddy (though neither of them actually brought their kids) and had not met before the trip. Big mistake. I had known W for 5 years and R for about 18months prior. Unbeknown to me, R was a psycho when on holiday and people she travelled with before vowed never to go anywhere with her again - which they obligingly told me, on my return. She was an impulsive spendthrift whose income was heavily subsidised by her father whereas W and I were there on a shoestring. W and R did not get along at all and R would get stroppy when W & I said we couldn't afford to do certain things. She saw it as me being closer to W than to her, which I freely admit that I was, and took it all personally. W & I both went worryingly overbudget trying to compromise and never got any form of appreciation for that from R, who sulked or stormed off whenever she was outvoted.

In addition, on the flight in we landed to discover it was snowing in late April and neither friend wanted to drive a hire car (I can't drive) so I had to negotiate public transport in pigeon Italian while my 2 friends barely spoke to each other. Also, we missed our flight back due to poor public transport, by which I mean we missed the 90min check in deadline by 10 bloody minutes. We had to spend the night in an airport lounge (with R & W not speaking at all at this point and me running between them) and pay a supplement to board another flight, which took me over my overdraft limit so my card was swallowed by a barely comprehensible Italian ATM. To really crown the trip, W took it upon herself to pet a damn sniffer dog, who took a shine to the bag containing my meds. Cue a total search of my belongings and myself performed by a hatchet faced old bag in a very non-kinky fashion.

Fun fun fun.

 

[Keroin]

A few years back I did a lastminute.com with 2 friends and went to Italy for 4 nights. Both friends were single mothers who wanted a travel buddy (though neither of them actually brought their kids) and had not met before the trip. Big mistake. I had known W for 5 years and R for about 18months prior. Unbeknown to me, R was a psycho when on holiday and people she travelled with before vowed never to go anywhere with her again - which they obligingly told me, on my return. She was an impulsive spendthrift whose income was heavily subsidised by her father whereas W and I were there on a shoestring. W and R did not get along at all and R would get stroppy when W & I said we couldn't afford to do certain things. She saw it as me being closer to W than to her, which I freely admit that I was, and took it all personally. W & I both went worryingly overbudget trying to compromise and never got any form of appreciation for that from R, who sulked or stormed off whenever she was outvoted.

In addition, on the flight in we landed to discover it was snowing in late April and neither friend wanted to drive a hire car (I can't drive) so I had to negotiate public transport in pigeon Italian while my 2 friends barely spoke to each other. Also, we missed our flight back due to poor public transport, by which I mean we missed the 90min check in deadline by 10 bloody minutes. We had to spend the night in an airport lounge (with R & W not speaking at all at this point and me running between them) and pay a supplement to board another flight, which took me over my overdraft limit so my card was swallowed by a barely comprehensible Italian ATM. To really crown the trip, W took it upon herself to pet a damn sniffer dog, who took a shine to the bag containing my meds. Cue a total search of my belongings and myself performed by a hatchet faced old bag in a very non-kinky fashion.

Fun fun fun.

Oh my Cod, I feel like I should give you a trophy or something, Velvet!

I've learned to be very, very picky about my traveling companions. I did a trip out to LA for a driving course once, with three other stunt girls and one turned out to be a complete psycho. After the course, we were all going to hang out in Costa Mesa at the house of my friend's brother-in-law. Luckily, the psycho left a few days before the rest of us did. I just remember the three of us waving goodbye as she boarded the airport shuttle van, then closing the door, high-fiving, rushing to the kitchen and downing a bottle of wine as fast as humanly possible.

 

[graceanne]

Oh my Cod, I feel like I should give you a trophy or something, Velvet!

I've learned to be very, very picky about my traveling companions. I did a trip out to LA for a driving course once, with three other stunt girls and one turned out to be a complete psycho. After the course, we were all going to hang out in Costa Mesa at the house of my friend's brother-in-law. Luckily, the psycho left a few days before the rest of us did. I just remember the three of us waving goodbye as she boarded the airport shuttle van, then closing the door, high-fiving, rushing to the kitchen and downing a bottle of wine as fast as humanly possible.

Traveling companions can make or break a trip. My roommate and I are great traveling companions. K and I have had to learn to travel well together. lol

 

[Yasashii_Kaze]

When I lived overseas (Papua New Guinea) almost all of our travel was done by poorly "paved" road. Because of how remote everything is, you only took a boat or airplane if you had to get to one of the smaller islands, or south to Port Moresby since it is unconnected to any other major town in the country. The crime rate is insane over there, so when we planned for a trip, preparing against getting stopped and robbed (or worse for us females) was always part of the picture. This involved secreting money away in unusual items and places, packing non-firearm weapons (total gun control + crooked cops does not mesh well) within reach of everyone in the vehicle, and coming up with unique self defense methods every trip. My brother and I even developed a homemade pepper spray. We were never effectively stopped, although that made us lucky more than anything. I learned to drive over there, so city traffic can kiss my ass any day.

 

[graceanne]

When I lived overseas (Papua New Guinea) almost all of our travel was done by poorly "paved" road. Because of how remote everything is, you only took a boat or airplane if you had to get to one of the smaller islands, or south to Port Moresby since it is unconnected to any other major town in the country. The crime rate is insane over there, so when we planned for a trip, preparing against getting stopped and robbed (or worse for us females) was always part of the picture. This involved secreting money away in unusual items and places, packing non-firearm weapons (total gun control + crooked cops does not mesh well) within reach of everyone in the vehicle, and coming up with unique self defense methods every trip. My brother and I even developed a homemade pepper spray. We were never effectively stopped, although that made us lucky more than anything. I learned to drive over there, so city traffic can kiss my ass any day.

You win.

 

[Yasashii_Kaze]

You win.

I was checking out Lonely Planet for kicks one day, and here is their advice for PNG travel:

Travel Alert: Papua New Guinea is troubled by a high level of serious crime, particularly in the urban centres of Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen. Travellers should use common sense to avoid any trouble - don't travel alone, especially at night and respect any local advice regarding safety. All travel to the Highlands region, except on essential business, should be reconsidered because of high levels of crime and inter-tribal violence. This includes the Southern Highlands, Enga, Western Highlands, Chimbu and Eastern Highlands provinces. Travellers should stay away from the no-go zone around the former Panguna mine in Bougainville. Check travel advisories and news services before travelling. See Safe Travel for updated government warnings.

We lived in Goroka in the EHP and regularly traveled through the Highlands and especially Mt. Hagen and Lae. My parents still live in Goroka, and they're nearing their 60s. I want to take R there to see where I spent most of my teens, but I don't know if it'll ever happen. It's too bad, because I met some terrific people there; people whose memories still impact my life. I hate that I may never see them again because the whole country is out of control.