MY WORST TRAVEL MOMENTS OF 2015

If something is going to go wrong- It normally happens when I am around. Leaving the country apparently doesn’t mean that I can escape that either. Below are listed are probably the worst experiences I had travel wise in 2015. Looking back some are pretty funny.
Enjoy.

WHEN I BROUGHT THE WRONG CAMERA CHARGER FOR AN 8 WEEK TRIP IN NORTH AMERICA

Yep… as someone who likes to take photos you can understand why I would find this more than incredibly annoying. I’d been in Mexico for less than a day and I was already phoning home demanding some sort of solution from my parents ( seriously.. what were they going to do.. they were in London). I ended up on a chase around the backstreets of Cancun trying to find a camera shop which stored the correct charger. I was successful- and now I had the added bonus of having a charger which didn’t need an adapter for the wall.

WHEN I GOT A BOAT FROM MEXICO TO BELIZE

I almost published this whole post. Then I remembered this boat. JESUS. To be honest I should have known that the 2.5 hour crossing from Mexico to Belize was going to be beyond a nightmare when the Captain confirmed that nobody was pregnant… trust me, if you were..you certainly would not be by the end…To start off with the boat was small and overcrowded. I didn’t even have a whole seat to myself. 2 and a half hours honestly felt like 6. It was the bumpiest boat in the world. After being practically flung out of my half a seat at least 10 times I am now pretty sure that I probably won’t ever be able to get pregnant..

WHEN I COMPLETELY BURNT MY BACK IN BELIZE

During the first few day of your holiday you are always going to be more vulnerable to the old UV than the last few. Whilst I did put some suncream on, I’ll admit that it probably wasn’t enough. After a full day of snorkelling the Belize Barrier Reef, swimming with turtles, rays and sharks I returned back to the hotel to find that my back wasn’t just a little red, it resembled burnt siena. For the first few days it stung like crazy and what followed was probably worse. Peeling. My whole upper back peeled straight off. Attractive.

WHEN I FELL DOWN A VOLCANO IN GUATEMALA

Okay, that sounds pretty dramatic. I actually fell down the side of a volcano.. which I guess isn’t that bad. To start off with..the whole volcano experience was a bit of a disaster. Before we left Antigua we were told that we had the option to pay the equivalent of  around £10 for a donkey to take us up part of the way. Upon arriving at the base and seeing how ill and old the animals looked we decided to give it a miss. 10 minutes in half the girls, including myself decided that the terrain was just too steep. Donkey it was. ( slight disclaimer here about my general heath and fitness:  Normally I like to think I would have been able to climb the given hill but on this occasion ( and in fact during the whole of my central america experience) I had ‘rather upset stomach’. Thus meaning I couldn’t really keep anything inside me resulting in me being incredibly tired. 
The way back down the Volcano was on foot. I am unstable as hell when it comes to walking down steep slopes. Topped off with loose gravel, naturally I would fall. I have a scar on my wrist to remind me of this momentous occasion.

WHEN A CREEPY GUY IN MY LA HOSTEL TRIED TO GET IN MY BED

I stayed at Banana Bungalow on Hollywood Bvd. The staff were nice but I wouldn’t stay there again. Here’s why. Firstly, they didn’t give me any bedding in terms of blankets and although I had booked a 6 bed dorm there were 8 beds in it…ANYWAY. After settling into my room for a few moments I noticed there was a guy in the corner of the room. I said hi, as you do. Didn’t really get a response but  after a while we started talking. After a while he started asking some of the most uncomfortable questions. I don’t know what signs I was giving off but during the night he tried to get into my bed. Not Cool. Slept with one eye open after that. The next day I got up at the crack of dawn and headed to Santa Monica. Lesson learnt: NEVER STAY IN A MIXED DORM AGAIN.

WHEN I HAD AN ARGUMENT OVER MY CAMERA WITH A VEGAS BOUNCER

Looking back this is the funniest thing. At the time, I was furious. So to set the scene, we had been out the night before and I had only had my phone. Tonight was the night I was going to take ‘proper photos’ Prior to the nightclub in the Bellagio we had firstly been to see Cirque du Soleil and this was followed by a champagne limo up and down the strip. ( you understand why I had the camera). Anyway.. got to the front of the nightclub queue to be confronted with ‘ You can’t take a professional camera in’ Naturally I asked- ‘ Is there anywhere I can put it’ Response. ‘No’… Great. I had to go all the way back to hotel reception ( its a big hotel) ‘ Are you a guest here’ ….’No, no I’m not’ ( seriously you think I would want to leave my camera here if I had a room upstairs?) The bellman ended up taking the camera. Back to the club. The bouncer decided that he was going to pretend he couldn’t remember me..( perhaps understandable had there actually been a queue) Eventually let me back in only for me then to discover that I hadn’t been given my free drink tokens like the rest of the group. Back down I go. Never seen someone so happy to see me again. Tokens gained, back into the club. Shoes hurting. Left after 1 hour.

WHEN I GOT THE MIDDLE SEAT ON A GRAND CANYON HELICOPTER

Of all the helicopters I dreamed on going on, this was definitely one of them. Now then, these things are not cheap and upon arriving we were told that our seats were decided by weight ( to balance out the helicopter) My question here is.. why do they even bother putting that beyond shit seat in the middle? and I’m not being funny- you should definitely get a discount if you pull that short straw.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

Yep the whole place. Okay, this is a funny point because there have been days that I have been sitting at home where I wished to have been back there ( because lets face it.. It wasn’t that bad) So why was I not Memphis’s biggest fan.. Firstly, it’s a dump, its dirty and at night it’s rather shady. Secondly, when we were there the weather was less than inspiring. Thirdly, the place is a little Elvis crazy and… if Graceland wasn’t there I don’t know who would bother going ( OKAY MAJOR EXAGGERATION ) Looking back the place isn’t that bad, but probably still my least favourite city in The USA.

WHEN I GOT 109 GNAT BITES IN FORSYTH PARK, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Yes, I counted.
It all began in the evening. The whole Contiki group headed to fun and games in the park. The evenings consisted of ‘Contiki Braden’s first ever annual Wiffle Ball and Picnic’ – heavily alcohol fuelled picnic.
I was still overly stuffed from lunch but the whole evening was so enjoyable. Apart from one thing. GNATS.. MIDGES or whatever you want to bloody call them.  After feeling overly itchy, especially as the sun went down it was time to freshen up before visiting a few bars..
4am The next morning: After thinking I had escaped death by bite I woke up to find 109 bites on my arms, legs, stomach and neck. Trust me, I will never complain about have a few measly mosquito bites ever again. SO painful, so itchy and so annoying. I had to buy these super strong antihistamine which completely knocked me out. I spent the remaining days of the tour either in a complete haze, scratching like a stray dog with flees or drunk ( that way I wasn’t half asleep or scratching )
My left arm still bares the scars.

WHEN IT RAINED FOR 4 DAYS ON MY WINTER SUN TRIP TO TURKEY

Rain in a hot climate is never comfortable, and when you visit a primarily summer resort it is not too easy to prevent yourself getting bored. Although I am slowly going off these types of holidays- these days preferring the more adventure(y) type or even city breaks.. I am still partial to lying down and getting a tan. ( everyone looks better with a tan right) The sun did come out towards the end of the week and  I did manage to get my all important ‘Tanning Time’ Looking back,  I guess the weather really did make us think outside the box and get out there to do different things, such as ten pin bowling and ‘Parlour Games’

WHEN I WALKED FOR MILES AND MILES AROUND LAKE ZELL AND DIDN’T EVEN GET HALF WAY ROUND.

Ugh. Okay 8 mile walk starting at 2pm may have been slightly ambitious considering sunset was at around 4:30. So this wasn’t exactly a worst moment, but it was certainly disappointing. I had wanted to film and photograph the whole lake and so when I got half way round and realised that I would have to turn back I felt I had let myself down. To be fair, it was the right decision. After the sun had set it got incredibly cold and my shoes had started to rub quite badly. The walk back was long and boring but I had my music so I just about survived. :p

And so to conclude- Travel is certainly not immune from things going wrong- in fact it’s probably more likely that things will due to strange surroundings and perhaps language barriers. And so you can either cry about this errors, mistakes and problems you encounter or you can just accept whats happened and make it work. Furthermore, these crappy times will make you appreciate the truly amazing times to follow.

VIDEOS
CENTRAL AMERICA CONTIKI
GRAND SOUTHERN CONTIKI I
GRAND SOUTHERN CONTIKI II
TURKEY
ZELL AM SEE

FOR MORE VIDEOS OF TRAVEL/VLOGS
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