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April 05, 2017

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Di

One year we were given some advice on how to tackle a 20 hour drive with little kids - drive through the night when they are asleep. Put them in the car sound asleep whenever you want to get going, 2 or 3 am and lay them down and they will sleep while you drive, there is less traffic, you make great time. We padded the back of the station wagon with sleeping bags and blankets, lifted sleeping children and their pillows into the car and took off. It seemed like a great idea, until we were pulling into a restaurant parking lot for breakfast when one of our children woke up saying, My tummy hurts. We told her we were going to eat breakfast now, but she repeated the same thing, then threw up all over Everything!! The swaying motion in the back of a station wagon creates terrible motion sickness. What a mess AND never again!!! Our next vehicle was a minivan!! And no more trips through the night.

Cheryl

Knock wood that my vacation luck continues - we will soon be embarking on a 1 year RV trip of the US. No way to see everything that we want but we will be moving somewhere different almost every day - hoping to visit 48 states (approx 1 week per state)!

Acraftyknitter

My family was travelling to Spain. Our flight got cancelled and no one told us. When we finally got a flight, we missed our connecting flight. Consequently, we missed our tour group. We had to catch up and start the tour late!

I've also had my luggage lost three times on other trips....

Melissa Loback

Sunburn....nothing more needs to be said!!!

Diane

No spring break nightmare but,,,
One time because of snow, our flight was delayed and we missed getting on our cruise ship. That was the start. Our family separated and our luggage wasn't with us. We met up on an island and the boat couldn't dock to gett us. We tendered out. There is more to the story but too much to type. Suffice it to say, one mishap after another

sprite

I've been really fortunate: no horrible vacation stories from me!

Staci

Strep throat while we were at the beach, untreated as this was before urgent care centers were widespread. Being in the salt water did help me feel better, so I would swim out to where the water was over my nose. One day the waves brought in a swarm of jellyfish and I was stung multiple times.

Sarah

When my larger family travels, we always have a story. But usually we end up laughing and making the most of the crazy. The Explosion of Barbie paraphernalia in an elevator, 3 hour dinner waits, a shoe lost between getting in the minivan and getting out...

Cindy

My vacation horror story involves trying to get back home to visit my Mother one last time before she died. I had a plane ticket for a few weeks away, but got the call that I should come now. The airport was an hour and a half away, and I made it with about an hour to spare. Made it on the plane and everything looked good, but then there was a weather delay. I spent over 2 hours on the plane, was unboarded and reboarded 3 different times, and then they cancelled the flight completely. I then got in line to try to rebook a new flight. 2 hours later I was handed a new ticket for a flight that left in one hour. What I didn't realize was that flight was in a different terminal in a different building. I finally found where I was supposed to go, and had 15 minutes to spare. But that was 15 minutes until the plane took off, and I hadn't checked in or gone through security yet, so I was told I was too late, and that there weren't any more flights that day. I told her to cancel my ticket and refund my money, and called my boyfriend to come back to pick me up. I spent over 7 hours in the airport, and never went anywhere. My mother died that night, so the fiasco cost me my last chance to see her. Being the positive person that I am, I like to think that because of what happened, my last memories of her aren't of her dying in a hospice bed, but are from earlier in the summer when I brought her year-and-a-half old Great-Granddaughter to meet her.

Jessica

One year while returning home from visiting my grandparents in North Carolina, a bad rain storm started somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. My dad was driving a Dodge Charger and it stalled on this hairpin curve. I was sure we were going to die! Eventually the storm passed and the engine started up again.

LynnIL

Trip to Mexico and I had to eat salad. In two hours, I was feeling bloated and nauseated.
It got worse without going into specifics. I felt like I needed an antibiotic, but my husband talked me out of it. This continued when we reached home. Finally, saw my Dr. and he could not believe that I waited so long. I do like Mexico, though.

Rachel R.

This is not a happy story. :( My husband and I often go to Florida for a beach vacation - it's about an eleven hour drive from where we live. Many years ago, on the way down, we were witnesses to a car crash, and had to stay and talk to police and give our account. Fortunately, it was a single car accident and the driver was injured but survived.

On the way home, a week later, we stopped at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere in Alabama. The car wouldn't start back up. This was on a Saturday - we had to get a tow to the nearest town with a dealership that was open on Sunday, which was over an hour away.

The dealer found nothing wrong with the car - but advised us not to turn the car off the rest of the way home (um, super-helpful?). So we headed back, and took turns getting out at rest stops. In southern Tennessee, traffic came to a standstill - there was a terrible, terrible accident (multiple fatalities) that closed the highway for six hours - and we couldn't turn our car off for fear of it not starting again. Fortunately, we had literally just stopped for gas about ten miles before the backup.

We finally made it home many, many hours later, and I was never so grateful to be home, safe, and alive.

Deborah Jones

For the first time in 15 years, I took a vacation last summer...flew from Arizona to Alaska to visit my brother and his family and attend the wedding of my high school best friend's daughter. Day 2 of the 7 day trip, I tripped and fell and broke my ankle in 3 places. Kind of put the damper on the rest of the vacation and made the LONG flight home miserable, not to mention the healing and rehabilitation once I got home!

Elizabeth

Sitting in a hot plane in Houston for hours only to have the flight cancelled !!!!

Bonney

Our worst vacation trip occurred when we were going on a cruise with the in-laws. My husband developed an inner ear imbalance on the plane ride to the ship and spent the next three days with vertigo and dry heaves. I saw snippets of the beautiful islands while trying to round up ginger ale and dry toast.

Kathleen

Our vacation mishaps become great stories - like the time we were at the cabin up north and after a storm we noticed my FIL's boat was missing. It had become loose and floated down the shore a bit. Luckily no holes in the boat, but the motor had sand in it. Or the time we called the hotel a week prior to traveling to confirm a fridge in our room and they ended up canceling our reservation. What! We had to scramble for another hotel and then had the best time. The bumps in the road always seem to work out.

Becky

Our honeymoon to Jamaica felt like a comedy of errors. Our direct flight was cancelled the day before our wedding, so behind the scenes (no one wanted to tell me) we were getting booked on a different time which wasted a bunch of extra time we should have had in Jamaica with multiple layovers coming and going. We were at a brand new resort, and they simply did not have their act together. Regularly running out of food, water in the whole resort going out, and to cap it all off, even though we asked them to confirm they had it, we arrived at the airport without our luggage because the hotel had forgotten to put it on the bus back to the airport.

Michelle McCrillis

Ah, yes, the camping trip to Vermont with the youngest grandchild. Started out nice, and then the monsoon hit. It poured for three days straight. We finally decided on the third day that it was time to pack up and head home. The rain was so bad we had a hard time seeing the highway! Of course, when we got home, the sun came out and stayed out.

Terri

On a Florida trip as a child, I remember getting swimmers ear and having the worst infection. But, we took several trips to Florida and always went back to the same hotel/condo - so we saw lot's of friends and always had a wonderful time! Many good childhood memories from those trips.

Koreen

...camping in the rain with a leaky tent with children...

Dari T

The year we traveled to California to see my sister and left the then 2-year-old's cuddle baby in the hotel room in Nevada. We called the hotel, they had found it; we picked it up on our way back home. Fortunately, my sister had a stuffed duck that worked as a temporary substitute for our stay.

MelissaM

Last year's summer fishing vacation "Up North". The entire trip was cut short by 4 days because a huge storm blew through and the resort was left with no power. So...no running water, no showers, no potty, no charging the boat battery, no air conditioning, etc. We were SO disappointed.

Pat

4 of us were traveling together in Italy. We got to the Venice airport to leave and the air traffic controllers went on strike. The airlines rescheduled us home on different flights on different days. It tookzs Hours to get us rescheduled to come home together. What a mess?

Diana

When I was around 10 we took a family trip to the South Dakota. No big deal, just going to see the Corn Palace. Well, my baby sister, myself, my dad, stepmom, and two schnauzers were crammed into a tiny old Ford. It was hot, sticky, and just plain uncomfortable. Then it got worse. A can of Fix-A-Flat decided to explode in car, on my side of the back seat, in the door panel. There was screaming and yelling and emergency stopping on the side of the highway. Super fun, right?

Maureen

One Christmas vacation my entire family (there are 9) went to California to be with my mother's family. Well we got there and the entire time one of us each had the stomach flu.

Holly W

We were at a hotel in Disney and at 9 that night one of my kids got a stomach bug and threw up everywhere! Two hours later another of my kids, followed by another, And then another! I had to call the front desk and tell them in the hallway was all of our sheets and towels and blankets covered in vomit. The corridor smelled awful and so did our room, but my kids were super little and couldn't always make it in the bin or bathroom-and with all of them sick at once we ran out of places to puke anyway. It was the worst!

Michelle

Nothing overly terrible... we have gotten stuck in airports due to delays though a few times which is never fun :/

Antoinette Overton

When I went to Costa Rica it was one mess after another. We were immediately told that women should always be accompanied by a man to the beach so they don't get ab ducted and then later in the week our passports got stolen. It was an absolute mess of a trip but zip lining through the forest was fun!

Linsey

Worst vacation memory? In London with my sister with a double-ear infection and sinus infection (so unable to hear or breathe well). We are walking in a park, a bug flies into my eye, and I trip and sprain my ankle (can't see or walk now). My sister in a very sorrowful laugh said, "If your arm falls off, I promise I'll carry it."

Debbie

Years ago we took a vacation to Hawaii. It was a great trip except for the day we decided to take the "road to Hana." We pulled over many times so our 10 year old (who was usually a very good traveler)could throw up. After we arrived we decided to hike to see one of the waterfalls. We were in shorts and flip flops thinking about the beach after our "little" hike. We got lost in the bamboo forest and never did see the waterfall. It was after dark when we found our way out and the mosquitos had been fierce! I don't remember too much more about that day. Much more fun to think about the good stuff!

Mary C.

We traveled to Hawaii for Christmas one year but it was anything but smooth. The shuttle didn't show up to take us to the airport, then my 10 year old son slammed his finger in the car door - badly. The airlines lost our luggage for 4 days. Try to clothe yourself in Hawaii for the $50/per person allotment! There were no rental cars left even though we'd reserved one. And my husband became ill and spent a good share of the time in our room. Also lost our luggage coming home, and when it arrived our video camera was broken. AGHHHH!!!!!

Sheila P

A few years ago my sister asked me to accompany her and her 18 month and 5 year old boys to visit their father who was working in Germany and London... big mistake. 2 weeks of a living hell. My sister and I pretty much hummed the theme to National Lampoon's the entire time. little one came close to falling down an mine shaft that had no barricade. Oldest one refused to eat anything but McDonalds or Subway. I could go on and on but the icing on the cake was big boys puking in cab on the way to the airport to fly home. The stop and go traffic and the jerk cab driver was too much for them. FYI Heathrow airport does not have trash cans. Got a five minute lecture on why they didn't while I had hands full of Kleenex and paper towels from cleaning up mess. (Hope no one is eating)

Diane Hibbard

Went to the CT shore with my roommate to her parent's beach house and this red head got the burn of a life time. I couldn't even sleep.

Annette Poole

My flight home from Idaho got cancelled due to a blizzard. I flew out the next day to catch my connecting flight in Salt Lake City. I got stuck in Salt Lake City from the same blizzard! The next day, I flew to Cincinnati to catch another connecting flight and missed the last flight to my home airport! I should have been home on Sunday, got home on Wednesday.

Kathy

Day two of our ten day Grand Circle vacation and my husband injured a rib. Not sure if it was broken or just bruised. I remember wanting to call the whole thing off, but he was adamant about sticking it out. Three days later, with the rib feeling better, he wrenched his neck while washing at the sink at Zion. It made for a miserable trip home. That is what I remember of the trip. He remembers it as the best vacation ever

Leigh

One time while camping, my sister hung her pants up by the fire to dry and they caught on fire. The next day I got a ticket for taking out a canoe on a tiny lake for not having a permit or a life jacket on. The rest of the trip was so great I don't think we thought it was too horrible at the time. And now it just seems funny.

Alecia Helton

No, not me.

Susan

No such thing as a bad vacation.

Katie M.

When I was 17 my grandma took me, my mom, and my step dad to great Britain. The trip itself was wonderful, but I was a moody teenager who had to share a room with my grandma for two weeks. One day I was being particularly difficult and whiny, and my grandma turned to me and said, "quit your bitching!" This is probably only funny if you knew my grandma, who was very prim and proper and never said words like bitching. My mom and I both broke out in fits of laughter and we still say that to each other whenever we're getting a little whiny.

Nancy

My husband and I were flying to Hawaii for a cruise to celebrate a BIG anniversary. It turned out that the flight was very crowded with an entire tour group, and our luggage never made it onto the plane. When we landed, we had no suitcases, but we still had to get to the cruise ship. All we had was our carry-on bags and the clothes we were wearing. The ship set sail and we were wearing the same clothes for three days!
It took two days for your luggage to finally catch up to us, and be delivered to the port where our ship was later docked. Now I always make sure to have extra clothes in my carry-on bag!

mellenknits

My husband and I went to San Diego for our honeymoon in the first week of June. Little did I know that the locals call it "June Gloom" - it was overcast in the morning, but nice enough by afternoon. The first day we got there, I headed right out to the pool. I somehow still managed to get a sunburn/sun poisoning through the hazy clouds... The rest of our honeymoon involved a lot of blistering and a boatload of aloe - and as a consequence, not very much romantic activity!

Yvonne

cant say I have had any nightmares vacationwise. ah well maybe someday

carolyn

We were headed to Disney with our 2 year old. The travel agent said she could sit on my lap and didn't need a ticket. When we got to the airport, they told us that without a ticket, she couldn't fly. What??? They suggested one of us stay home with her, which was NOT happening. We managed to find a VERY expensive seat which my husband sat in, while I wrangled the 3 kids further up in the plane. Not surprisingly, she sat in my lap both ways!

SUELLYN

Years ago, before cell phones, I was flying to LA to meet up with my friend from another city to stay with his friends. There were flight delays for both of us and no way to contact each other. Our flight had to stop in New Mexico because someone was sick on our plane. He's in LAX where they're telling people that someone died on the plane! I don't know if he got to LAX, I don't know who's meeting up with us. He doesn't know if I'm on my flight or if I died. Nerve wracking! Easy to forget the difference modern communication makes.

yolanda v

London comes to mind... My sister...a friend and I all got sick. I was awful! fever, chills...the works!

Beverly Shearon

The summer my daughter finished 2nd grade we were going to the beach the next day. That last day of school she broke out with chicken pox! Dilemma - do we go, do we not go. Well, this child loves to read and she still wanted to go. So while we were at the pool, she loved being in the room by herself reading and watching what she wanted to on tv. Of course, we were continually checking on her. We would get dinner to go at restaurants and eat outside by the pool so she could get out some. After she wasn't contagious, she was able to enjoy the beach.

Sherryn

It would probably be going to the beach only to have my son be scared of the ocean and having to swim in the pool for the entire week.

Lauren

Nope, not me!

Rhonda Atkinson

Nope, not me!

Jenn

Maybe rain on a camping trip? But we make the best of our vacations, for sure!

Marie

When I was in second grade, for spring break we drove around Lake Superior. I was young and my three older brothers teased me a lot, and when we turned around to go back to the campground or something, i asked why we are turning around? My brothers said, "we're only going half-way around the lake." I believed them, and told my class that when we got back.

Gale

We were at Daytona beach my aunt collected shells, put them in her shoes. You can guess what happened! The beautiful shells all were homes to snails and they all came out in the night.

Kate

Any the bad stories involve airports. The most annoying being on a flight that left late on New Years Eve, arriving at the connecting airport with minutes to spare, and having the flight crew shut the plane door in my face!

Judi Schaffer

In 1986 we took all four of our sons, from 4 to 13, on a trip from North Dakota to California to visit family. We thought it would be great to borrow an RV and visit lots of tourist sites on the way. The one thing they really remember was a bison in the middle of the road in Yellowstone, he "made a deposit" right in from of us and that was the biggest story of the trip. Although it was fun I said never again, too much togetherness.

Vicki R.

I can't think of any horrible vacations (or maybe I just blocked them out)

Lilie

My family of 6 did a vacation in California. My parents didn't plan well and one night we ended up sleeping in the car because the hotels were booked. Another night was spent with no a/c, one bed, 70's shag carpet with a B horror movie about spiders. I didn't want to walk on that carpet!!

Sue

I guess the time we arrived at our destination to a phone call that our home had been robbed! Apparently they watched us pack and drive away.

Donna

We had a vacation that was reminiscent of the Great Outdoors movie. We dropped the older daughter off at her summer camp near Kalamazoo then headed up to the UP where we had rented a cabin on a lake. My sister had arranged renting the other cabin. It was my partner, my younger daughter, & me in one cabin & my sister, her husband, & most of the nieces & nephews in the other. First thing we discovered was that the lake was full of leeches (wonder why the owner neglected to tell us that?). So no swimming. Then I discovered that my sister supervised the children far less than I would've. It made me so nervous seeing my 13 year old nephew rowing the rowboat with a few of the younger children in it about 100' from shore - none of them wearing life vests with no adult watching them. Then that night there was the most terrifying lightning & thunder storm I've ever seen. It's one thing to observe lightening strike the Sears Tower from your car a couple of miles away. It's quite another to see it repeatedly striking a lake a couple of hundred feet away from inside a flimsily constructed cabin that probably does not have a lightning rod. And, of course, the electricity went out. Then HUGE amounts of rain started pouring in through the 1" gap at the bottom of the door we hadn't noticed. We spent much of the week taking photos of the UP's beautiful waterfalls. To top things off, we agreed to drive my niece home & she cried the whole way - 500 miles of sobbing from a 5-6 year old who wouldn't respond in any other way no matter what we did or said. And, of course, the roof top carrier blew off my sister & brother in law's car on the highway in mid-Wisconsin.

Nicole

I don't really remember any vacation horror stories, but we did have a road trip with the kids where, coming home from Yellowstone the truck died , and we had to wait all day for a tow truck in a bar in a very cute "western " town, and then, of course, the tow truck broke down while towing us to Billings, in the middle of no where, in the middle of the night, and we had to wait hours for its replacement...then we got a room at the hotel next to the dealership for a "day rate" that was fun...

Nancy

Not for me but for my sister. When we went to Arizona for a long trip but my little sister fell into a large barrel cactus at my aunts house!!! She was covered in needles , it was a horrible day for her!!

Linda Scarborough

Traveling in Africa and the bus broke down-the tour person left us stranded on the side of the road while he went into a town to bring back parts(a half day away). We were nervous but it was New Years Eve and each of us had brought along a treat to share so set up a table roadside and were trying to celebrate a bit when three giraffe looked over the bushes and and joined our party. Turned bad luck into a special event-you never know when unexpected events can turn into a highlight of a trip.

Susan Ipavec

My worst vacation story would have to be when I went to Florida on spring break in college with my then-boyfriend. We decided to drive straight through, arriving in St. Pete Beach, Florida the next afternoon. We reserved a room online at a hotel on the beach. When we got to the hotel, we went to our room and it smelled like mold. I called the front desk, asking if they could clean the room or spray something to freshen the air. They sent an air cleaning spray to the room and said to do it ourselves. It did not help at all, and I called and asked for another room. The front desk said they were booked solid for a wedding. We ended up calling every single hotel on the beach, and there were no rooms available since it was college spring break for pretty much every school in the US. We ended up staying the night in the room, which was horrible. Thankfully, the next day one of the hotels we called had a surprise cancellation so we ended up checking out and going to the other hotel. It ended up working out but it was not the most fun beginning to our vacation.

Elaine

My bad vacation memory was during our first trip with our kids to Walt Disney World. The travel agency had messed up,our ticket order and we were unable to get into the Magic Kingdom. The kids were 6 and 8. They had to sit on a bench only a few feet away from the gates. Customer service at the gate sent us back to the hotel to straighten this out, then hotel sent us back to the Magic Kngdom to straighten it out. After we were finally able to get into Magic Kingdom, we stopped to get lunch in Tommorowland My husband looks at me and says, you have rice on your chin. Nope, that was a whitehead from all the stress.

Barbara Rude

Sunburn, fell asleep while out in the sun, I had blisters the size of quarters.

Chrissy

My husband, my two young sons, and I went to Disney World this past February. After we flew from PA to FL and we were on the Magical Express bus to our resort, we realized that we forgot to add the Magical Express luggage tags so our luggage would "magically" arrive at our resort. First thing when we got to the resort, we had to call the Orlando airport and make special arrangements for the luggage to get delivered. Then, it was raining cats and dogs but my husband still wanted to go to the park. So we spent an insane amount of money on ponchos. My husband said, oh yeah, I saw ours at home and thought you were going to pack them. Um, no! Two days into the trip, my youngest son's favorite stuffed animal, "puppy dog" which is a white polar bear, got lost with housekeeping picking up and cleaning the bed clothes. Puppy dog is a stuffed animal my mom gave to my kids. My mom has passed on so it made losing puppy dog a bit harder. My youngest was so attached to puppy dog but Disney gave my son a huge Mickey and Pluto that have made missing puppy dog a little easier. Close to the last day of our trip, my son jumped out of the stroller without notice because he was excited to see a ride. He ended up with his tooth poking through his lip and a bloody nose. All in all, we made the best of it. My kids claim that it was the best vacation ever.

Melissa

Nothing quite as awful as that. But one trip, taking university students to Munich, three of them didn't realize that when we said "Get off the subway at stop XXX," we meant "Be ready to get off the train before you get to stop XXX, and when the train stops there, don't waste time." These were, of course, the three students whose cell phones were not Europe-enabled. Fortunately, they had the good sense to ride to the next stop, get off, and take the subway back in the other direction to where they needed to be. We got them all back, and it only took about 45 extra minutes!

Susan

Too many to count! The quirks of a large family!
But any vacation is a good vacation!

Jan

Wow, this prize is just fabulous! Thank you!

One summer, we drove to the Outer Banks, arriving after the hotel had closed for the night, found our room, and went to sleep. At about 8 am, we were awakened by banging on the door and this message - 'we're going to screw the doors shut in 30 minutes' - there was a mandatory evacuation for a hurricane. We relocated inland, and were glad we did - the hotel was completely demolished in Hurricane Isobel!

Bonnie

We went on a family vacation in a RV out west one year. The RV kept overheating along the side of the scary, mountain road. We all had stations by the end--someone got the bucket, someone filled it with water to dump over the motor, etc. We made it down with a rock wedged under the hood to hold it slightly open in hopes air flow would help. As an adult in charge of my own vacation, I refuse to camp, be it in a tent or camper of any kind. No, thank you.

Tara Paine

I do but it's a major bummer so I won't go into the details. Let's just say I had a major medical issue while at Disney World. ER ride to hospital is the only free ride there.

Beverly

Our first day of married life was spent on Rte 80 which was closed down half way to our destination, due to a massive snowstorm. We spent that first day of our honeymoon sipping coffee, munching on doughnuts, wishing for a bathroom, and wondering why cars were allowed to pile up instead of being detoured away from the road. It wasn't funny then, but it sure is now!

Sandra

We flew home from New Zealand on an overnight flight and arrived in LA airport at 6am exhausted planning to catch our connecting flight home at 9am only to discover that my husband had scheduled the flight for 9pm. We waited in the LA airport for 15 hours trying to sleep on the uncomfortable chairs. It was rough, but my 14 yo son slept like a baby, woke up asked for lunch and went right back to sleep.
I've also ran to catch a flight and missed it right as the door of the airplane shut and the plane pulled away. Haha!! That's not a good feeling.

Johane

I booked, planned, and packed for a hiking trip to different national parks in Utah and Arizona. I missed my connecting flight, and my bag was held 'hostage' in the US part of the Canadian airport. They assured me my luggage would make it, and of course it didn't. So only had the clothes on my back, and my hiking boots that didn't fit in my luggage. Spent a lot of time on the phone with customer service, and the bag was expedited...back to my front doorstep. Had to get a neighbour to take the bag in, and I was known on the tour as the 'bag lady', carrying what few new clothes I'd bought in a plastic shopping bag. When I checked in at the airport for the flight home, they asked 'Do you have any bags to check?'...'Umm...yes, if you hadn't screwed up so badly!' I can laugh about it now :) And I had a suitcase full of clean clothes when I got home and retrieve my bag from the neighbour...

Alison

We booked a NC rental house during hurricane season (because the prices were lower) and unfortunately had to leave early when our gamble didn't work. The storm didn't do any local damage.

Geraldine Scott

We used to do a 24 drive, straight through, from Tampa, Florida to Michigan to visit family. One particular time it happened to be our anniversary, and my hubby surprised me by stopping at an all-night convenience store and bought me a packaged carrot cake to celebrate! It's the thought that counts!

Joyce

No Griswold-esque moments in my vacationing life. Then again, I've only been on three real vacations my entire life.

Sara B.

We went on a driving vacation from Illinois to Montana - including Yellowstone, Mt RUshmore etc. Not realizing that we chose the week of the annual Sturgis SD Harley Davidson Meet. Kids were in 6th and 8th grade. My son saw 70 year old flabby women riding their Harleys in bikinis - tatoos & all! Thousands of Harleys! Long hair old hippies in the hot tubs at every hotel. THe park ranger said - "family of four in a minivan. Let me guess. You never heard of the Sturgis ROad Rally. But you'll never forget it now!"

Brandy Schmidt

My dad worked for Saginaw Steering Gear. Being UAW, they also followed the GM vacation setup. So the plant would have "shut down" meaning he would have to take a couple weeks off. One was around July. We knew he would get antsy when he would pull out the State Farm atlas and start paging through the states.

One year we piled into the station wagon with me hanging out in the back (with no seat belts mind you) and headed west. Dad wanted to head to Iowa. Do you know what's in Iowa? I have no idea. All we did was drive. It was full of hilly corn fields and the smell of farm animals. The station wagon rides like a big boat. I had to lay down for most of Iowa as I was getting car sick. That's all I remember about that trip.

I'm sure Iowa is a wonderful state. But when someone talks about Iowa I get a little queasy.

Marianna

Our then 2 yr old son was miserable and cried for most of the 12 hour trip from WI to GA (driving and flying). Luckily he doesn't remember it because it ended up he had a double ear infection--ouch!

Lisa Sauer

We had an unfortunate sunburn experience in Hawaii once too (Day 1 of vacation, no less). But the other mishap that stands out is when we were checking out of one hotel before leaving to go to another city. We checked our bags with the bell hop until we were ready to leave. When we came back for our bags, we discovered they accidentally had given one bag to another couple when they left. I was devastated - of course it was the bag with the most important stuff in it. Miraculously, they were able to track down the couple, who were nice enough to stop off during their road trip and FedEx our bag to our next hotel. What a wonderful act of kindness!

Peggy

Fun stories! Now be for me.

Wendy Chase

Not a vacation really but a move. We drove from Washington state to Alaska via the Alcan back before it was paved all the way. 4 kids, a dog and a cat in a Ford Bronco pulling an overloaded trailer. Sick pets, sick kids and then it starts snowing near Pink Mountain. Took several runs to get up the hill because we kept sliding back down. NEVER AGAIN!

Judy

Years ago, TWA had ads running touting their on-time departures. My flight not only didn't depart on time, it was almost canceled due to fog at a connecting city. We were the last flight out.

Debra

Almost stranded in Monserrat with my family of 8 after we were bumped from a confirmed flight. Fortunately the villa owner had briefed us on what to do when this occurred. I quickly booked a private airplane to take us to Antigua which ended up costing us less than the bumped flight. Whew, it was a little hairy for a moment but worked out in the end

Diana

No spring break nightmares for me...knocking on all the wood!

G. K. Green

Nothing horrible to share ... A few delayed flights, missed connections, and late arrivals, as well as one instance of checked baggage vacationing​ at a different location than we did ... but nope, not me!

Erin

One summer during college my friends dragged me along on a camping trip. Nothing truly awful happened but I hate camping so I was just quietly miserable the whole time!

Kay

The only out-of-state vacation I remember from childhood (which was a very long time ago!) was going to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in CA. They decided to take us sight-seeing and also to an amusement park. I was about 8 years old and so excited! Now imagine this: my right arm was broken 2days before we left and I was not allowed on any of the rides because I could only hold on with one hand. Bummer!

Anna Jane

I once flew to California for the week and in my whirlwind of a hasty suitcase packing, I completely forgot to pack underwear.... so smart, I know. Fortunately there was a Target about 15min from my hotel. Needless to say my first outing on that trip was not sight seeing or beach combing, but was to pick up some undies :) ha!! Never made that mistake again!

Julie V.

Husband surprised me one Christmas with a trip to the Grand Canyon. On the way back, our flight was cancelled - 8 hrs in an airport is a long time!

Barb

This isn't a terrible story, but once when we flew to visit our grandparents the airline lost our luggage. We were going to New York City and our luggage ended up in Hawaii.

We had to sleep in our slips! I remember mine had a lovely little applique of three tiny pink roses and was prettier than my pajamas, so it didn't bother me, and a couple of days later they delivered our bags.

Maureen Sepkowski

While moving home from college (20 hour drive) with my family, we got a flat tire near an open field of who knows what...while waiting for AAA we turned off the car and opened all the windows. I was allergic to something out there because I had a massive allergic reaction and my eyes swelled almost completely shut. Luckily there was a Walmart down the road we stopped to get some benedryll, but I totally looked like Sloth from the Goonies and got some weird looks at check out.

Stacy

No travel nightmares so far. I always worry about flight delays and being stuck in the airport.

Susanna W

Labor day of 2015, my sister and I went to six flags (my first time) and everything went wrong. It was horribly hot, she lost her bag, a Rollercoaster broke WHILE WE WERE ON IT! we were ready to go home! Def needed a redo!

Mary

When I was young we went to the lake with the plans to camp out. This was something my parents had never done before. The second day in a huge storm came up suddenly and we were quickly scrambling to pack everything up and put it in the car and get away from the lake as fast as we could. I'm in the Midwest so huge thunderstorms and tornadoes are always a possibility. We packed and got away just before the storm hit. So much for enjoying time at the lake.

JoAnne B

The few spring vacation trips that I've taken have all been just fine.

Jen

Oh goodness...a few years ago my husband and I went to Florida, and I jumped into the ocean too soon after applying sunscreen, and then lay out in the sun...

I ended up with 2nd degree sunburn and missed about a week of work after my vacation time because I couldn't tolerate wearing clothes....it was terrible!

Beth

This past Thanksgiving my family had a trip planned to Disney World. My parents and brother's family left the Sunday before and I was to fly out on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, I got a horrific intestinal virus and missed the whole trip. All I can say is thank goodness it stated the night before I was to board the airplane rather than on the airplane! đŸ˜‰

Judi Kennedy

Mine was the last day of our vacation, driving back from Yellowstone to Colorado Springs, Co. I kept telling my husband that the car was making a funny noise. Two kids in the back seat of a VW and he kept telling me it was my imagination. Finally, around lunch, he realized it was making a noise. We stopped somewhere in a garage about 500 miles out of the springs and the mechanic said he couldn't fix it, but he felt it would make it back. It did, at 5:00pm it locked up on the interstate and we barely made it off the road. No hotel rooms, no rental cars, and no way to contact my parents who lived up in the mountains outside of Colo. Springs. We foolishly turned the car keys over to a repair shop who said they would work on it the next day, with all our luggage in the car. We finally got hold of some friends, who found us at 2:00AM and took us to their house for the night. There were tears and screaming in the early hours of this dilemma, but nothing but laughter as time has gone by.

Carol

The vacation mis-hap that I remember was one of the few times my dad took my two older sisters and me camping. My mom didn't want to go, so we left her at home. We got set up at our campsite, and my dad thought it a shame that my mom wasn't there. He left us at the campsite, drove an hour home, and brought her back. There was poison oak in the area, but he didn't tell her, figuring she would freak out, and she wouldn't go walking off and exploring anyway. She only walked to and from the bathroom, but sure enough, she got some on her legs and exploded with rash that evening. About midnight, my dad left my sisters and me at the campsite again and drove my mom home, returning at something like 3 in the morning so that we could enjoy the rest of our camping trip.

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