Share an Unforgettable Travel Moment Here

[kroza]

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all safe and doing well.

As we all know domestic and international travel has been suspended for a while in most countries. Now that we have plenty of time it’s the perfect moment to look back on past journeys. In the end, isn’t that what most of us travel for? The amazing experiences we encounter while discovering new places?

I’ve had a great time these days going through old photos and remembering all the cool places I’ve been lucky to visit, the long walks, the delicious food, the cultures and people I’ve met. I’ve collected stories of all types, really: embarrasing travel fails, scary experiences and funny moments in different parts of the world. Let’s face it: travelling isn’t always as close as the perfect postcards we all see on travel blogs! Sh*t happens! But it’s actually those moments when travel goes wrong that make for the best life lessons!

So, I’d love to hear from crazy adventures from all over the world but of course first I’m going to share with you the day I got up with the wrong foot while on a journey:

It was my first time to the States, and due to one of our flights being cancelled, my husband and I were left for a 10 hour stopover at Miami Airport. We took it easy, grabbed a bite and looked around, tried to kill time but we had been up for like 20 hours in a run. We were simply exhausted! Finally we were going through the final security check before the boarding area when an alarm sounded while my carry on was in the xray scanner. Guards started to gather to look at the screen, made phone calls, closed the belt I was on and derived all passengers to another one.

This was when really pissed off guard approached me and kept asking me what was in the bag. I went with “Well, I can open it if you like” and everyone got crazy “No!!!” I swear I had never seen such a fuzz over a bag, they insisted but I honestly had no idea what could have caused the alarm to ring! All of a sudden a bomb squad officer comes along wearing his special suit and bringing his tool kit with him.

By this time I could already see myself either deported or imprisoned, I started doubting myself “Had I left my bag unattended?” Because I read the list of forbidden items on international fights several times and I was sure I was alright!

After thorough examination the officer was opening the bag, they made sure to stop the other people at the checkpoint and proceeded. What was it that was causing all of this mess!?! Turns out I had accidentally slipped a powerbank into the bag and together with its cable and a traveller’s pocket guide it resembled an explosive device. I know you’re thinking - what an id**t - but I ‘d been awake for so long! ? Luckily after passing my hands’ test for explosives I was released with a warning and could continue but of course my flight was long gone ?

Lesson learnt: always triple check that all of your electronics are in the tray ??

People say you live a journey three times, 1- when you dream it 2- when you live it and 3- when you remember it. I’ve gone first but now it’s your turn! Don’t be shy! I’m sure you Local Guides have plenty of stories to tell.

What’s your most memorable travel anecdote? Waiting to see those comments, photos or posts in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by!

[pacomorett]

It was summer 2015, I was backpacking with friends in Europe and this story takes place in the UK.

We were in London, we went to Abbey Road to take the infamous Beatle photo in the crosswalk. The guy that took the picture was actually a man from Argentina, we called him the fifth beatle because he probably asked 328 different persons (including each one of us) to take a picture of him. Apparently he didn’t like the photographic skills of the regular humans. We laughed for 15 minutes straight watching him trying to get the perfect snap, I think he’s still unhappy with the results.

Anyway, let’s fast forward a couple of days. London was over and it was time to go up North, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

If you traveled in Europe by plane you might be familiar with Ryan Air, if not… Well, it’s a cheap airline that feels that you are in a rollercoaster and not in a plane. Our direct flights from London Stansted to Glasgow were approximately 16 euros. Getting to the damned airport was a lot more.

First we needed to catch a train at Liverpool St Station to get us to the airport which is kind of far away from Central London. But of course there was an underground strike. No subway for us. Next option: buses. Well, this was 4am in the morning so there were not many buses in our area. Taxi it is, we are four persons, we’ll split the fare. The taxi charged us 45 pounds!!! So 15 each, and the train was another 15 pounds. Getting from Hyde Park to Stansted 30 gbp!!! From London to Glasgow 16!!!

Remember the fifth Beatle???

We stumbled upon this good fella again in the airport, running for his life trying to catch his plane on time… Of course we laughed. We managed to get on time, everything was fine for now… Was it???

Of course we fell asleep and almost missed our flight, we were running, passed security and asked for the gate… I remember it perfectly, it was gate 84. The problem? We were between gate 7-8. Running as fast as you can with a 13kilo backpack and camera at 5:30am, challenge accepted.

By gate 40 or 50 I almost gave up and was ready to miss the plane… When we eventually got to the gate, they noticed us that the plane was delayed. Great. I love airports.

[Jesi]

@kroza I love this prompt! I can’t wait to see the answers.

I’m sure our story could easily have happened to me, or anyone sleep deprived. But I’m sure it won’t happen to you again after that whole experience (and hopefully not to me either after reading about it).

A couple of travel moments come to mind, the first one of when I went to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam. I went there a couple of years ago when I already was a Local Guide, so I was taking lots of photos everywhere. The thing is that people aren’t allowed to take photos inside that museum, only in the shop and other areas that aren’t part of the exhibitions. So I didn’t take any photo of the exhibits, but I did take photos in the shop and other areas when I was leaving, even of a map of the premises used by security guards. You may know where this is going… Shortly after taking that photo, not even thinking about it, a security guard came up and asked me what I had just done, and why did I do it. Long story short I ended up showing my most recent contributions to two security guards, trying to get them to understand that I really take photos of everything to upload it to Maps, and they believed it after seeing I even had uploaded photos of supermarkets. I remember one commented to the other “It really is Google Maps! Look at that!” Lol. So two more people learned about the program then.

The other unforgettable travel moment isthe whole morning of the day @Cecilita and me left San Jose to go back to Buenos Aires after Connect Live 2019, we both forgot to set our alarms!! We woke up like an hour later than we wanted and it was a mess… mostly for my side. We hadn’t finished packing, but I also couldn’t find my locks, and still had to go sent a package. It was crazy but fortunately it ended up perfect, and we didn’t have any problems, besides me trying to buy locks at the airport and failing

[Avraham_Jurado]

Que gran publicación @kroza !!

increíble historia y tremenda aventura!! haha muy graciosa!

Viajar te da esos regalos de vivir experiencias no solo cuando estas en el lugar… sino en el aeropuerto mismo! jeje

[kroza]

The down side of being a solo traveller is definitely the photos, even worse if you’re picky with your shots!

Do you think that was karma @pacomorett ? thank god that plane was delayed ! Thanks for sharing your story!

[kroza]

OMG! I can imagine you both @Jesi @Cecilita rushing to get there on time! Who can blame you, the previous days have been crazy!

Hadn’t we all at least once got in trouble for taking pictures for the Map? You can’t Call yourself a LG if you hadn’t have to convince a security guard about your good intended hobby

[kroza]

Gracias @Avraham_Jurado ! Bueno no nos dejes con la intriga y compartinos alguna aventura!

[Silvi]

Que difícil situación @kroza me acuerdo la primera vez que me fui de vacaciones fuera de Argentina, era la primera vez que subía a un avión también, y nos íbamos a Los Ángeles con mí sobrino. Teníamos escala en Houston, si el mismo de “Houston, we have a problem” y si, tuvimos una situación muy fea en ése aeropuerto. Yo paso el control de inmigración bien y espero a mí sobrino, y tarda, y veo que le hacen muchas preguntas y de repente se lo llevan y no me dejan acercarme, te imaginas mí cara, no entendía nada. Dos personas de seguridad lo llevan a una oficina. Quiero acercarme y un policía del aeropuerto no me deja, en mí pobre inglés de entonces le explico la situación y le pregunto que sucede con mí sobrino, sólo me dijo que necesitaban hacerle más preguntas y me indicó que me fuera a sentar. En 2hs teníamos el vuelo de conexión a Los Ángeles. Pasó 1hr y nada, mí sobrino no salía, me acerco al de seguridad (con rifle en mano y mala cara) y vuelvo a preguntarle y me manda a sentarme otra vez. Le comento que en poco tiempo teníamos otro vuelo y me dice que me siente y espere. Ok, media hora después una mujer hablando español sale de ésa oficina y se me acerca y me hace muchas preguntas sobre mí sobrino, y se va diciendo que ya volvía. Media hora después aparece mí sobrino muy pálido, y me cuenta que lo habían retenido porque su nombre completo era igual al de un criminal internacional del cual tenían una alerta. Mientras el trataba de recuperarse del susto a mí me dio mucha gracia, siendo mí sobrino más bueno que Lassie, que lo confundieran con un buscado internacional jaja y si, por suerte nos reprogramaron la conexión pérdida y pudimos disfrutar nuestras vacaciones.

Tengo otras, pero ésta fue la primera y nunca me la voy a olvidar y mi sobrino menos jajaa

Saludos.

Silvi

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[OliverKIWI]

I had a similar experience at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport last August.

Everything was OK until the border control, me and my son were stopped. I was told I have something prohibited in my luggage. It was two of my camera batteries. They are not very big at all. So I had to open up the luggage and got them. My son was not impressed:) @kroza

[BeatrizAguilar]

@kroza ¡Recordar es vivir!

¿Ha viajado en grupo familiar en diferentes vehículos? Siempre hay alguien que quiere ir en el carro del otro, un niño que desea estar con sus demás primos o un abuelo que necesita estar en el puesto de adelante como copiloto porque si no, se marea. Ese fue el caso. Estábamos todos juntos pero revueltos en nuestro recorrido a una playa en Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. La comitiva familiar se detuvo a comprar comida porque hay una calle famosa con varios sitios donde venden empanadas fritas y a mi papá se le antojó degustar una empanada en cada tienda para comparar y elegir cuál era la mejor. Todos nos subimos a nuestros coches y, al llegar a la playa, mi papá no estaba con nosotros. Era esa época en que no habían teléfonos móviles, ni aplicaciones para compartir en tiempo real la ubicación. Mi mamá se puso nerviosa porque no conocíamos bien la zona. Nos culpábamos unos a otros por no poner atención a quienes llevábamos en los vehículos. Así que mis hermanos regresaron a buscar a mi papá en aquella “calle del hambre” - que es como le llamamos en Venezuela a una vía donde se hayan seguidos varios puestos de comida - y allí estaba él, comiendo una empanada más; la última, la más buena, sin saber que estaba perdido

En aquel momento pasamos el susto por el abuelo extraviado, pero ahora que rememoro ese instante, me parece gracioso.

[kroza]

Inolvidable momento sin duda para ambos @SilvyC ! Los controles en todo país, pero especialmente por allá suelen ser rigurosos pero esto fue otro nivel !

[kroza]

Thanks for sharing your story @OliverKIWI ! Well it seems like it’s the little accesories that may get us into trouble. Since that happened to me I keep all of the electronics in only one pocket of one bag si that I can just toss them all together into the tray

[kroza]

Jajaja lo más gracioso es que él estaba de lo más tranquilo! @BeatrizAguilar yo personalmente no porque soy de una familia pequeña, pero acá se estila mucho ir en caravana a Brasil, hay todo tipo de anécdotas en mi ciudad, incluida una de un hombre que hace dos o tres veranos se “olvidó” a su esposa en una estación de servicio!

[TraciC]

@kroza I love this post. I spent some time trying to think about what it would be for me and what popped into my head was when the fire alarm went off at my hotel in Lisbon in December. Some person was smoking in their room even though there were no fewer than 100 signs and warnings throughout not to do it. I met a lovely couple outside from the UK while we were waiting for the firetrucks to come turn off the alarm who was just as grumpy as I was!

That worked out but really, I guess what this post has taught me about myself is I roll with the punches. What was most notable in my travels was when two years ago (during this time, actually), I went to Ireland with two friends on a road trip and we loosely knew where we’d go but picked hotels each night. It was fun to be spontaneous but also to know I could pick places on Google Maps for us based on people’s recommendations. It worked out perfectly for us and even resulted with us singing in a bar that didn’t have singing at 12am in the middle of Ireland, talking about a monkey! LOL

[TraciC]

@kroza I actually just posted about my first visit to the Grand Canyon and it had a doozy: instead of driving 3.5 hours from Phoenix, we wound up driving a whole 5+ hours in the opposite direction!

[kroza]

Thanks @TraciC ! The worst thing is when at first you don’t know why the alarm is on you get really anxious.

Wow I’ve never tried a holiday without a plan, but it must be a real adventure! I should give it a try on my next trip!

[kroza]

Oh nooo @TraciC ! Not you! I’m sure we could dedicate another whole post to Maps Fails you’ve got no idea how many times I’ve walked in the opposite direction before finding my way Thanks for sharing your post, can’t wait check it out!

[OliverKIWI]

@kroza I know the power bank is not allowed to be packed into your luggage. but I wasn’t too sure about the camera battery. I remember I stuffed it in my socks for my previous trip. but obviously the airport has beefed up its security measures and they can scan the rather small size of lithium battery.