Holiday experiences good or bad

greendawn

Any holiday (vacation) experiences good or bad or just exciting you want to share?

My experience: a few years back I met two quite poor Italian students in Sardinia who couldn't buy a ferry ticket, I hid them in my camper van then went on the ferry boat and carried them over to the mainland without them having to pay anything. They bought me a map of Italy as a token of gratitude at Livorno.

DannyBloem

I am just back visiting america, australia, afrika, asia, and some pacific islands.

lot of experiences. Got almost robbed on the beach in Rio, walked in the wrong bar in Phnom pheh, etc.

Want kind of experience you want to hear?

Danny

greendawn

Whatever is the most interesting for you Danny if you have too many experiences just the few most interesting ones.

greendawn

What's going on, don't any members of the JWD on line community go on holidays? I know this is not the Virtual Travel forum but no experiences?

When I was in Calais I went to watch the launching of a new ferry boat by "France Sealink" the Rodin. When I got back to the camper van it had been broken into (smashed window)and all my cloths got stolen. Because a lot of Brits go to Calais France, for the much cheaper alcohol and tobacco, seeing the British registration numbers they were also hoping to find some of these I suppose.

In fact I bought my alcohol after the break in. Then later had to travel from Dover to London with a broken window in the cold and rain.

Fe2O3Girl

Mine is a human story that helped make our honeymoon.

Driving from Anchorage to Seward in May 2001, my SLR stopped working. We replaced the batteries, but it wouldn't work. We couldn't find a camera repair shop, but we called in at a photo processing shop, to see if they could offer any advice. I was very disappointed, because we were going on a wildlife-watching boat trip the following day, and I really wanted to be able to take some photos.

The lady in the shop saw that my camera had the same lens mounting as hers. She lent me her Pentax to use the following day on the trip. She didn't ask for any security - just handed her camera over. We had a great day on the trip, and I have photos of whales, sea-otters, an eagle, bears and glaciers to remind me.

I was totally overwhelmed by her trust and generosity. I can't imagine that would have happened in the UK.

Thank you, Eagle Eye One Hour Photo lady, Seward AK!!!

greendawn

That's amazing trust considering she never saw you before and you could have have walked away with it for good. I can imagine the disappointment if you had missed out on those whale photos as you don't get them in zoos.

Crumpet

Personally I need both good and bad experiences for a holiday to be a memorable one and although I long for a beach holiday one day, the ones Mr crumpet and I have taken over the last 7 years have been awesome.

Best memories include landing in the base of the Grand Canyon for strawberries and champagne by the Colarado river and then taking off in our glass bottomed helicopter up the mountain face to the sound of the Indiana Jones theme tune in our head phones.

Worst memories include being held hostage in my hotel by an Egyptian Caleesh driver ( that might be the wrong word - it was a horse and cart) in Luxor until I ended up shouting and swearing at him to the cheers of passersby.

greendawn

Crumpet how did the Egyptian hold you hostage?

Crumpet

with brown packaging tape he stole from my tool kit....

nah just kidding - he camped outside the entrance day and night after he'd ripped us off on our first night (which we hadn't realised immediately) so that he could do it again. Anytime we tried to leave the hotel he would follow us with the horse and sometimes with members of his family yelling at us to get in. Ultimately it got to the point where I didn't want to leave the hotel even though the valley of the kings were beckoning. I decided that I would not be bullied in the end and told him if he did not leave me alone I would tell all the tourists in my hotel and any other hotel I visited not to use his horse because he was a bad man who ripped off tourists.

After that altercation I made peace - bought some sweets for his children and let him make up by giving me a free ride (at this point he tried to sell me drugs) - not sure what the penalty in Egypt for that is but probably not good! Much of it was just the culture clash I guess and I actually felt much better after I spoke my mind - it seems women don't do that much out there and he seemed a little more respectful of me - although it was clear his repsect for British men went down hill here!

The thing was I wasn't especially worried about the money from teh first night - we should have paid £2 for a journey and instead paid london prices - £25. But if he hadn;t ripped us off then I probably would have tipped him and used him for all my outings that week. I said something to that effect when I'd calmed down and he understood, I very much doubt he operated any differently though....

greendawn

That's a great experience it would be greatly valued on the Virtual Travel Forum's "Advice and tips for Egypt" section.

You did well to cut him out from your transportation plans for his cheek in ripping you off so badly. In the long run he is the one that lost.

Holiday experiences good or bad

Share this