Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > United States
Reload this Page >

Slips, trips, falls (and other mishaps) ... ever made a spectacle of yourself while on a trip?

Slips, trips, falls (and other mishaps) ... ever made a spectacle of yourself while on a trip?

Old Apr 30th, 2004, 06:07 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 538
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Slips, trips, falls (and other mishaps) ... ever made a spectacle of yourself while on a trip?

Have you ever done anything really klutzy, and/or made a spectacle of yourself, while on a trip? Care to share?

Me -- After being warned extensively (!) by the guides at Alcatraz to "watch your step", I proceeded to zoom my camera in on a roosting seagull while walking down one of the concrete ramps, stump my toe in a crack, and fall flat (did I say flat!) on my face -- much to the shock and humiliation of my kids.

Someone Else -- On the same trip to SF, I observed another tourist attempting to step off the cable car as it slowed to turn a corner. Talk about stop, drop and roll!
dwoodliff is offline  
Old Apr 30th, 2004, 06:09 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,738
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Not me, because I am soooo graceful, but my daughter was hurrying across one of the ponts in Paris and caught her toe and fell flat on her face/chest in front of everyone.
She was so happy that everyone looked the other way and she was able to get up and rush away, glad that they all pretended not to see her fly through the air..landing with a thud!
(she was fine-she felt a bit like Carrie)
Scarlett is offline  
Old Apr 30th, 2004, 09:24 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 850
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ohmygosh--I remember it like it was yesterday. I am a white-knuckle, rum-drinking/zanax-taking flyer. On a flight to Baltimore several years ago our smooth flight hit an unexpected air pocket and the plane dropped like a stone. My automatic reflex was to grab the poor man next to me. In the process I knocked his full cup of coffee off his tray and the whole thing spilled on his dress slacks. He'd already told me that he was flying up for a meeting and back the same night, which of course meant that he had no other pants. He was a sport about it (notice I didn't say good sport, but I don't blame him). The remaining hour of the flight felt like ten.
Jayne11159 is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 03:05 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh Jayne, I would have really been embarrassed about that one.

I remember once in California I was running across the street to catch a bus, and tripped and fell right in the middle of the road in front of everyone and was quite embarrassed. Oh, and I ended up missing that darned bus too.
Justmom is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 04:33 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 85
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My husband, three children, and I were running through an airport in London to make a connection. I was behind when we hit a long escalator. As we were running up these, carrying lots of hand luggage and passing people who were just riding, my clothes caught on one of the seams of the escalator and I got caught and pulled backwards. Luckily some man essentially saved my life by catching me. I could barely say thank you before running on. My family never even saw it.

I am still pretty embarassed when I think about it and what an idiot I was!
HappyLC is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 06:53 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,779
Received 17 Likes on 1 Post
Dan - I thought we were put on this earth to embarrass and humiliate our kids! Scarlett, I would love to be graceful but I'm not. Here is a sample.

This happened over twenty years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. We were camping at the lake and had been riding around in the boat and waterskiing. We were going back to the campground and drove the boat up onto the beach. The front of the boat was fairly high up in the air.

My husband got out of the boat first by jumping off the front and landing in the sand. I walked up to the front of the boat and jumped. As I went down, the "leg" of my swimsuit caught on a hook on the railing that went around the front of the boat. My swimsuit was rather strong because it didn't tear a hole in it - it just held me there! My feet couldn't reach the ground and I was just kind of dangling and couldn't get back up or down.

Of course my husband and my parents were laughing so hard they couldn't help me! I finally got my husband's attention with some very unlady-like words that were totally called for in my rather unlady-like position.

sundowner is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 07:09 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,785
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I was in Cancun with a girlfriend on spring break in college, spent a few days laying in the sun with the waiters bringing us drinks on the beach, etc.

My body, with too much sun and alcohol leading to dehydration/sun poisoning, decided it had had enough.

We were sitting in a restaurant for dinner, I told my friend I didn't feel well, stood up to go the restroom, and promptly fainted at my table.

A nice doctor suggested I stay out of the sun for the rest of my trip!

Karen
kaudrey is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 01:49 PM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,586
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I've slipped, fallen and made a spectacle of myself! I sprained my ankle in the Grand Canyon. I would love to say that I did it on the last mile hiking back up the Bright Angel, but in fact I was coming back from the bathroom/outhouse and tripped and my ankle slid under me. Whenever this happens to me, I get very light-headed and need to lie down for just about a minute. We were riding down the canyon on a mule trip and I think our mule leader got very afraid that he had a pathetic city wimp with him. Worried about the extent of my injury, he made me ride on my mule right behind him, usually a spot reserved for the youngest child on the trip. That was the first time I had ever sprained my ankle (I have now since done it 3x), so I didn't know how badly it was hurt. Not much, thankfully, and I was extremely grateful it didn't occur earlier on our SW trip, b/c we hiked the Narrows, the Navajo look in Bryce, etc. and there was no way I could have done these hikes with a sprained ankle.

By far my most embarrasing moment was on our March trip to Ft. Lauderdale. My son developed a stomach bug right after we returned our rental car. He threw up right in front of the metal detector in security! I caught his bug while on the plane and spent the flight alternating between the bathroom and lying down on the really clean floor in the back of the plane. Then I (and my 2 sons) got sick right after de-planing and entering the inside gate. Thankfully my older son and I had bags. My younger son just used the floor. I would say that counts as making a huge spectacle of ourselves, doesn't it?!
karens is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 05:16 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,071
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Stepped out of the bus at Disney World and managed to fall flat on my face not only in front of my husband and 5 kids, but also in front of the whole bus. Oh yeah, that's right, and managed to leave most of my skin behind. Did I mention I'm a profuse bleeder? While my family was slapping thier knees in utter abandon at my ever so graceful manuever, I proceeded to coat every thing near me in blood. Yup, one of my finer moments.
jersey is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 05:56 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,738
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hi d ~
sundowner, my remark about being graceful was my joke, it seems like everytime we go somewhere, I have some sort of accident or get sick.
One of the more public mishaps that I can think of right now was when we were staying on Sanibel Island. We took our son fishing, the Yankee watched while I (grew up in NC) showed him how. The dock was lined with men, fishing...and me. I caught a fish. Pulled it in. Showed it to my son. Pulled it off the hook.
You know-fish really wiggle when they are out in the air!
I dropped it on my foot. It hurt a lot. Then it bounced itself right off the dock and back into the water. The guys, all looked disgusted and went back to watching their lines in the water.
My foot really hurt.
So I slid off my Keds and there was this neat little hole right through my foot and my shoe was full of blood!
Well, no one was gonna catch a fish after that shriek I let out!
It seems that fish have these hard little spines in their fins that can pierce a shoe/foot when dropped just so on that shoe/foot.
There was some concern as there was a lot of blood, but I took myself off to a pharmacy where I got bandaides and then of course, had to go to a doctor and get a tetanus shot.
So the next day I had a dead arm and a sore foot. .. and the fish got away~
Scarlett is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 06:36 PM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 510
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh my gosh, Scarlett, that must have HURT!
My most embarrassing moments always seem to happen when I'm snow skiing (a sport a could never catch on to!) My first ski trip was over 20 years ago. I couldn't manage to get off the ski lift and remain upright at the same time. On one occassion, I slid right over to the the snow fence and my skies became entangled in it. I'm laughing, hopelessly stuck, and my boyfriend (at the time!) stood over me, completely embarrassed, yelling at me to get up!
MzPossum is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 08:32 PM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 850
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sundowner--your story made me lol!

Karens--your story reminded me of the time everyone in our family had gotten the flu (one every 24 hours. Everyone but my DH. We were all well enough to go for a long weekend to Disney we'd planned. Right on cue, it hit my husband just as we were about to step on the boat for "It's a Small World". He threw up on the ride attendant. We had to get in the boat, there was no other way out, and NO ONE else would get in it with us--do you blame them?
Jayne11159 is offline  
Old May 1st, 2004, 09:10 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,548
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
While traveling in Greece ten years ago (where did the time go?!) we were in Mykonos in August which is when the place is crawling with young partying Europeans. Coming out of a pharmacy at night I slipped on the steep steps to the street and went flying and landed on the corner of the bottom step on my butt. The crowd (yes, it was packed on the street) gasped. I was mortified, trying so hard not to look like the gauche American that I was. I got the heck out of there and then paused with my friends a block over to asses the damage. I think I had that bruise for six months, no lie! This was after I'd cut my foot on a rock wall earlier in the day. At the rate I was going I was thinking they'd have to take me out of the country in a body bag.
MonicaRichards is offline  
Old May 2nd, 2004, 05:22 AM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
ooh i love embarrassing stories um first one I was 18, and getting out of car in middle of long drive, and as I waited for traffic to pass so I could cross, wind/ passing cars blew my skirt up around me like a Marilyn Monroe impersonation. My travel-sickness drug induced state made it difficult for me to pull my skirt down and so it was maybe 5 or 10 seconds before I recovered my dignity
Next, I was 21, and staying in a place for a week's holiday, with a shared bathroom (at least it was females only) with very flimsy shower curtains, taking a shower when the combined steam/ breeze contrived to blow my shower curtain up up and away in the air. I couldn't do much about it because I had a plastic bag on my head that had fallen down over face at the time- no i wasn't trying to suffocate myself, i only had five minutes to get ready, and I didnt' have a shower cap and couldn't wet my hair- so I waved blindly at the curtain until the breeze went away, while the line of people waiting for showers outside my cubicle collectively gasped and made shocked noises. I don't know if it was more or less embarrasing that they knew who I was.
I don't think that this next one can compare, but I was only 14 at the time so it seemed mortifying- we were camping near the beach in summer and i was using the bathroom in the shared block when I heard these two 'cool' girls come in (I had no friends either, by the way). To my horror, I dropped the toilet roll and it rolled out the door and across the floor, the 2 cool girls burst out laughing, threw the toilet roll back at me, and I was too embarrassed to come out for some time. Ok so it's not really embarrassing, but I didn't get over that for years!! hey!!!
sezm is offline  
Old May 2nd, 2004, 06:23 AM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,738
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Parents can often be the instigators of our Most Embarrassing Moments..
When in camp in the mountains of NC, mine came to visit. With that little Super 88 camera.
Somewhere, hidden in a box, is the film of me, coming out of the pool, all wet and bedraggled, trying to look NOT like a skinny freckled 13 year old but with a little glamor (didn't work) and as I rise from the water, my bathing suit, continues to stay IN the water..who ever heard of a Non-water proof bathing suit?? It just got water logged and heavy and hung lower and lower...oh well, you can imagine the rest..
Scarlett is offline  
Old May 2nd, 2004, 09:57 AM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm a klutz and not proud of it. Maybe it's a balance issues (I suffer from motion sickness problems too).

I fell down a couple of steps at Chitzen Itza (near Cancun). Luckily I was near the bottom and didn't roll down the whole thing. Tour guide was very concerned, but all I had was an injured pride.

And then there was the time I tripped over the cobblestones in Savannah, and someplace in Germany.

And the time I stumbled over my feet in more places than I can remember. I was sober everytime and wearing sensible shoes -- no klutz should wear heels.

At this point in my life I no longer worry what others think about my klutziness. Though it was nice for the tour guide to show concern.
ncgrrl is offline  
Old May 2nd, 2004, 10:58 AM
  #17  
OliveOyl
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Sundowner, I had an "episode" so similar to yours. Too funny. I was swimming in a city swim meet, sitting in the bleachers with the spectators watching the other races until mine was called. I was sitting at the end of a row, and when my race was called, in my excitement to "get it on", I decided to jump off the side rather than walk down. Well, the rear end of my tank suit caught on the end of the bleachers, and I dangled in the air until the rear of the suit ripped and I fell to the ground...now with a gaping hole and my rear exposed to the spectators who had prime seats for "my event". lol Fortunately another racer had extra suits with her, I changed quickly and still swam my event. AND won. haha...the adrenalin was still pumping and I was still "running" (swimming) as hard as I could to escape the spectacle I'd made of myself.

Younger than this, another swimming suit escapade. Going down the slide at the little Country Club lake, the butt of my suit caught on somethng...the suit stayed put near the top of the slide, but my body kept on going, obeying the laws of gravity. Again...an exposed flank.

Another bathing suit escapade with more laws of gravity: I was going SCUBA diving for the first time, again at the above mentioned club, but now I'm in college. The tank is on my back but the straps weren't fastened around my waist yet so it is rubbing around as I got ready. A big group of kids has gathered around us to watch us get ready to go down. I bent over to put on my flippers, and as I did, the tank rubbed just right on the bra hook of my bathing suit and off it came. Now...I was bent double to put on my fins, so you know the top went straight to my wrists, which were down by my feet. Oh wait...these aren't trips! Sorry, but your story sundowner set off a flood of memories for me!

ncgirl...I can relate to your Chitzen Itza story too. I was so fearful of doing the same thing in Tulum (those steps are tteeeeeny and the pyramid is very high)! I went to the top just fine but turned around to come back down and almost got sick. I had to sit down and come down on my butt! With my track reacord, it's a wonder I didn't leave some portion of my shorts at the top of the pyramid, but I came down with clothes in tact...just no way I could stand up coming down. It felt stupid but I'd have felt more stupid living at the top of that pyramid for the rest of my life!! lol
 
Old May 2nd, 2004, 06:44 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 509
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The same thing happened to me in Tulum(many years ago). Luckily my daughter was only three at the time, so we "bumped down together".
This past Christmas my husband and my daughter (who is now 16) were in Munich. One night after a "rather festive" dinner. We were on the U-Bahn going back to our hotel. I was saying something to my daughter and laughing (not very loudly). The train jerked and I reached-out to my daughter for balance.... Well, she reached out to the woman next to her (for balance). Those two were fine... I fell and skidded about 30 feet down the center isle of the train. I finally stopped, only because my Head Hit A Metal Pole-
BONG!!! I saw "little birdies flying" around my head. I was "out" for about 2 minutes. The people in the train were gasping and my hubby kept saying "Are you alright?" My head hurt so bad, but I was SO EMABRRASSED, that I told everyone I was fine. I had a knot on my head for the next 2 weeks.
poochie is offline  
Old May 3rd, 2004, 07:50 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 319
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Well, certainly I have never made a spectacle of myself (hah), but my husband did 28 years ago. Walking along a river in Niagara Falls, Canada, I noticed a sign suggesting people use the handrail, as it was slippery.

"Be careful," I warned him. "The sign says to use the handrail."

Just as he replied, "Nyahhh, that's for OLD people," his legs flew out from under him and he slid along the rocky walkway, covering his pants with wet green slime. We had to return to the motel so he could change. We still joke about heeding posted signs.
sluggo is offline  
Old May 3rd, 2004, 12:28 PM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,879
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mine was in Montreal. I was walking along one of the brick sidewalks and caught my foot on an uneven brick and down I went.

I was not badly injured but had a horizontal laceration across the top of my nose. It looked a lot worse than it was because of all the blood and I quickly attracted several good samaritans.

One of them got me a cab and I asked to be taken to the nearest emergency room. Since I am not a Canadian citizen and not eligible for their health care coverage, a nurse suggested I find a walk-in clinic instead, telling me it would cost around $30 (CND) instead of several hundred the hospital emergency room would charge. I did that, got a butterfly bandage, and retunred to my klutzy tourist routine.

I have had a warm spot for Canada ever since for all the folks that helped me, most especially the nurse who saved me many, many dollars.
dwooddon is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -