Five Travel Disaster Stories You Should Read And Learn From

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU EAT

Part of the total travel experience is being able to taste and enjoy the different delicacies of a particular foreign place. It's that awesome Instagram-worthy picture and the bragging rights of experiencing an exotic food. Though with the case of Helen Laird, her travel to Urubamba, Peru was interrupted by a severe stomach problem because of an ice cream. Yep. Ice Cream. Helen fainted and had to be rushed to a medical clinic where she had to be put on IV fluids due to severe dehydration. All of that was happening while the place was in total festive mood with brass band and fireworks which, was a total contrast to poor Helen's trip to the clinic. $1,000 later, Helen continued her Peru tour. "So be paranoid about what you eat as I remember magical Machu Picchu for all the wrong reasons" said Helen.

DOUBLE CHECK YOUR RESERVATION

Steve Warne and his young boys found the perfect spot for a perfect family getaway. A holiday apartment in Cornwall complete with park-like grounds, a pool, a playground for the kids and a near the beach. The place was perfect, yes, but not their timing. Apparently, Steve confused their reserved dates, arrived at the place a week early and since it was a peak season, they can't accommodate them. So the promised paradise of comfort and relaxation later turned into a disaster of staying in a loft above a barn, complete with rats below. Now Steve learned his lesson the hard way and quips "I am now completely anal about checking bookings."

KNOW THE EMERGENCY PLACES OF WHERE YOU VISIT

Most common mistakes of travelers is the tendency to be too dependent on information passed on them by the receptionist or caretakers. One should have the initiative to research about the place on their own and pinpoint the important places of emergency in case something bad can happen. In the case of Janet Peters, she was in Cincinnati when she caught herself a severe case of migraine. He then asked the hotel porter for a doctor of which the kind fellow obliged and took her to a nearby "free clinic". Complete with metal detectors, a man with a large gun and a waiting room full of people with gunshot wounds, overdosing, people screaming, fighting, children crying and all the chaos she can imagine. After her brief injection encounter with a doctor, Janet was fine and went out of the place. Later on she found out that there is a more proper clinic for people like her with health insurance.

ALWAYS KEEP SMALL BILLS IN YOUR POCKET

When visiting other places, the most common form of transportation is through public utility vehicles. That's why Matthew Brown, who traveled to Ecuador, gave a local taxi driver his early Christmas gift. Around four in the morning when Matthew had to take a cab for his trip to the Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito, Ecuador. That moment, he only had $20 in his pocket so he kept glancing at the taxi meter. When they arrived, the cab fare total was at six dollars but the driver said he didn't have a change for the money and was a bit annoyed that Matthew is expecting him to break the $20 early in the morning. As there was no available bank open, Christmas came early to the taxi driver when Matthew was forced to give him the $14 as tip. Matthew is a good guy really but in any other case where he came prepared he could have given a more rational tip to the driver.

CONSIDER THE TIME AND DATE

Travels should be carefully planned if possible and the thing that needs careful consideration is the date. Problems could arise when you picked a wrong date, you could get swarmed by people during peak period and forced to face fully booked places to stay and jacked-up prices on some. Jennifer Reilly decided to spend her New Year's Eve in no less than Las Vegas, the busiest city in the busiest season of the year. With no prior reservation, Jennifer arrived with three of her friends, in a crowded city, scarce room availability, and super expensive prices. They were forced to bunk together and picked a shady room in a hotel that turned out to be too small for all of them. Still positive though, Jennifer decided to make the most out of it and argued that they wouldn't be staying in the room the whole time so it'll be fine. Then one of her friend had a flu, which took them one by one, and made them stay in their crowded room watching the fireworks display on TV.