The horror stories of tourist blunders are often cautionary tales for those planning their own trips, and a group of world adventurers online gladly shared some of their most cringe-worthy moments abroad for travelers to learn from.
Once in Mexico, someone claimed he left his wallet and ID in his hotel room going downtown and had problems paying with his credit card when he needed to book a cab on his way back because “no one wants to take a credit card.”
A contributor says his greatest travel regret was “Arriving at 1:00 pm for a 1:00 am flight…12 hours too late. The flight was from India to the US, which was a very expensive mistake.”
One user says his worst mistake was packing bottles of German beer (for fear of their unavailability) when traveling to America. The bottles broke, and their contents soiled every other item in his luggage while in transit.
Strange as it sounds, many people say they’ve had the experience of booking a hotel in the wrong country. A Hotelier explains that although rare, he has had clients who booked his company’s hotel in a different location.
One inexperienced traveler said he “booked a trip to Istanbul in December, assumed it would be warm because it was in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.” Additionally, he “didn’t check the weather predictions, didn’t pack any warm clothes, and it was snowing upon arrival.”
“Not paying the train fare in Munich and getting busted by the secret ticket inspectors was my worst travel experience. They escorted me to an atm to pay a fee of about $200,” he explains, underlying the need to avoid breaking the law when one is on unfamiliar terrains.