Most bizarre travel experiences
Nov 11th, 2003 | 02:22 PM
#1
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Joined: Oct 2003
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Most bizarre travel experiences
Is anyone willing to share their most bizarre travel experiences either as a warning to others or for pure entertainment?
On the subject of travel fiascos, I have one to share. One chilly summer night we found ourselves in a rusty 12 ft. motorboat in the middle of the stormy White Sea in northern Russia. Earlier that day we took a daily ferry from the mainland town of Kem to the Solovetsky islands to tour its historic monastery. That same (and only) ferry was supposed to take us back to the mainland later in the evening. To our surprise and horror, when we returned to the docks from touring the monastery, we were told that the ferry had left an hour early due to bad weather. It was late in the evening and we were stuck on a nearly deserted island.
To put things in perspective, the Solovetsky islands (pop. 900) are located just below the Polar Circle, some 40 miles from the mainland. It is also where Stalin sent political prisoners in the 1920's and 1930's (the infamous GULAG camps). Very few prisoners made it out alive. We were determined to escape their fate at any cost.
To make matters worse, our train back to Moscow was leaving from Kem at 7 a.m. the very next morning. Seeing our predicament, some helpful locals suggested that we hire a fishing boat. They gave us some names and addresses of the people who were known in the village to own boats. So there we went knocking on people's doors late at night pleading with them to take us back to the mainland. On one occasion, we were almost bitten by a German shepherd and then were yelled at by a drunk fisherman who probably wouldn't have qualified for the job anyway. Most fishermen we spoke to (at least those who were sober) were weary about going out to sea in stormy weather, especially late at night.
Finally, the lure of a couple $100 bills did the trick. Our captain was barely 20 years old and his boat looked twice his age. We left the islands shortly after midnight (thankfully, it was rather light because of the "white nights"
. The three-hour ride through the stormy seas in that tiny boat was an absolute adrenaline rush. It was also probably the most reckless thing I have ever done. If the motor died on us or the boat started taking on water, there was certainly no one to save us and no one could have possibly survived in the icy waters. On the plus side, we made it safely to shore just before dawn, picked up our things at the hotel and boarded our morning train to Moscow.
No repeat for me.
On the subject of travel fiascos, I have one to share. One chilly summer night we found ourselves in a rusty 12 ft. motorboat in the middle of the stormy White Sea in northern Russia. Earlier that day we took a daily ferry from the mainland town of Kem to the Solovetsky islands to tour its historic monastery. That same (and only) ferry was supposed to take us back to the mainland later in the evening. To our surprise and horror, when we returned to the docks from touring the monastery, we were told that the ferry had left an hour early due to bad weather. It was late in the evening and we were stuck on a nearly deserted island.
To put things in perspective, the Solovetsky islands (pop. 900) are located just below the Polar Circle, some 40 miles from the mainland. It is also where Stalin sent political prisoners in the 1920's and 1930's (the infamous GULAG camps). Very few prisoners made it out alive. We were determined to escape their fate at any cost.
To make matters worse, our train back to Moscow was leaving from Kem at 7 a.m. the very next morning. Seeing our predicament, some helpful locals suggested that we hire a fishing boat. They gave us some names and addresses of the people who were known in the village to own boats. So there we went knocking on people's doors late at night pleading with them to take us back to the mainland. On one occasion, we were almost bitten by a German shepherd and then were yelled at by a drunk fisherman who probably wouldn't have qualified for the job anyway. Most fishermen we spoke to (at least those who were sober) were weary about going out to sea in stormy weather, especially late at night.
Finally, the lure of a couple $100 bills did the trick. Our captain was barely 20 years old and his boat looked twice his age. We left the islands shortly after midnight (thankfully, it was rather light because of the "white nights"
. The three-hour ride through the stormy seas in that tiny boat was an absolute adrenaline rush. It was also probably the most reckless thing I have ever done. If the motor died on us or the boat started taking on water, there was certainly no one to save us and no one could have possibly survived in the icy waters. On the plus side, we made it safely to shore just before dawn, picked up our things at the hotel and boarded our morning train to Moscow. No repeat for me.
Nov 11th, 2003 | 02:47 PM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
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I could not <b>possibly</b> top that PBT although I do recall this thread you might enjoy. Pay attention to Gardyloo's post-about #5
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34407485
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34407485
Nov 11th, 2003 | 03:20 PM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,130
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PBT, that is awful! Glad you made it thru that one alive. Your story does remind me of one of my own similar experiences, although not as bad as yours.
My husband was severely injured on our tiny island in the West Indies one day after the passing of Hurricane Luis in 1995. Due to the extent of his injuries, and the limited medical care here, the doctors didn't want to fly him to the nearest island because the hospital there had been demolished by the storm. So, we got on a chartered four seater single engine plane bound for San Juan.
We had to make numerous stops on the way to San Juan to pick up other injured people and finally made the normally two hour flight about five hours later only to find an emergency room filled to capacity (also from the hurricane). He finally got treated and we thought we could go home, but another hurricane was approaching, so we couldn't leave the island.
After being stranded in San Juan during Hurricane Marilyn, we finally made it back to an island nearest us only to find no local flights available due to the destruction still abound. We finally found a very young man (looked to be all of 18) with a sign that had the name of our island, as well as three others. We were desparate to get home and went for it.
Much to our shock, when we got to his aircraft (also a single engine, four seater), the thing was covered in duct tape and didn't necessarily look air worthy. But, as I said we were desparate, so we gave him our $50 each and were on our way.
He stopped numerous times on the tarmac and kept hitting his headset because he couldn't hear the control tower. He also kept hitting the equipment on the dash as well, so I assume it wasn't working up to par, either. The plane was normally used to transport lobster and the stench was awful, not to mention looked hideous inside. After taking off, I realized that I could hear an awful lot of water sloshing around in the bottom of the aircraft, and I was hoping we would make it to the next island.
I can tell you that I have never said so many prayers as I did on that flight over the Caribbean Sea. I never thought we would make it, but we did and I was never so glad to see home. I think I actually kissed the tarmac when I disembarked. Oh yeah....I must have because as I was on my knees when I saw the young pilot looking under the aircraft, seeing all this water rushing out, when he said, "I vus vundering vat dat sound vas."
My husband was severely injured on our tiny island in the West Indies one day after the passing of Hurricane Luis in 1995. Due to the extent of his injuries, and the limited medical care here, the doctors didn't want to fly him to the nearest island because the hospital there had been demolished by the storm. So, we got on a chartered four seater single engine plane bound for San Juan.
We had to make numerous stops on the way to San Juan to pick up other injured people and finally made the normally two hour flight about five hours later only to find an emergency room filled to capacity (also from the hurricane). He finally got treated and we thought we could go home, but another hurricane was approaching, so we couldn't leave the island.
After being stranded in San Juan during Hurricane Marilyn, we finally made it back to an island nearest us only to find no local flights available due to the destruction still abound. We finally found a very young man (looked to be all of 18) with a sign that had the name of our island, as well as three others. We were desparate to get home and went for it.
Much to our shock, when we got to his aircraft (also a single engine, four seater), the thing was covered in duct tape and didn't necessarily look air worthy. But, as I said we were desparate, so we gave him our $50 each and were on our way.
He stopped numerous times on the tarmac and kept hitting his headset because he couldn't hear the control tower. He also kept hitting the equipment on the dash as well, so I assume it wasn't working up to par, either. The plane was normally used to transport lobster and the stench was awful, not to mention looked hideous inside. After taking off, I realized that I could hear an awful lot of water sloshing around in the bottom of the aircraft, and I was hoping we would make it to the next island.
I can tell you that I have never said so many prayers as I did on that flight over the Caribbean Sea. I never thought we would make it, but we did and I was never so glad to see home. I think I actually kissed the tarmac when I disembarked. Oh yeah....I must have because as I was on my knees when I saw the young pilot looking under the aircraft, seeing all this water rushing out, when he said, "I vus vundering vat dat sound vas."
Nov 11th, 2003 | 05:28 PM
#5
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 65
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We were in Rome when the great Italian power failure took place. The trains were not running and we missed connecting with our tour in Naples which was then going to the Amalfi coast. We got to Naples a day late and hired a taxi driver named Antonio to take us to Ravello. His taxi was very beat up and about the size of an Escort. We had started up into the mountains when Antonio stops the car, gets out and points to his back. He was very pale and perspiring. It looked like a kidney stone attack to me. Anyway, Antonio flags down a car, says something to us in Italian, gets in the car and disappears. I figured since he left us sitting in his taxi he would be back, but whether it would be that day I was not so sure. So hubby and I sat there, our Italian is very limited, and wondered if we would ever make it to Ravello. 45 minutes later Antonio comes back, shows me his arm and indicates he has received pain medicine and feels better. I think great! He has been shot up with morphine and now he is going to drive us up the narrowest, curviest mountain roads known to man. Well, Antonio did great, he worked very hard to get us to our destination,including taking us on a detour because a storm had washed out the road to Ravello. He charged us exactly what we had agreed upon and we gave him a nice tip for his diligence. Boy were we glad to get to Ravello, though.
Nov 11th, 2003 | 06:20 PM
#6
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mclaurie -- Gardyloo's experience must have been nerve-wrecking. One thing to lose your wallet or credit card, but "everything" is a whole different story.
Thanks Sue_xx_yy.
Statia -- any traveler would have been exhausted by this run-around. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for your husband. We too said a few prayers while on that boat.
omalley -- interesting story. I can too relate to the confusion of a black-out having "survived" one this past summer.
Well, I am done yet. A couple of years ago my family and I traveled to Prague where we stayed at a truly horrific hotel. In retribution, I wrote a scathing review of that dump of a hotel and posted it on the epinions site at www.epinions.com/content_41892220548. For quite some time, when you ran a search for that hotel on Google, the link to my review came up as one of the top search results. I felt vindicated.
Thanks Sue_xx_yy.
Statia -- any traveler would have been exhausted by this run-around. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for your husband. We too said a few prayers while on that boat.
omalley -- interesting story. I can too relate to the confusion of a black-out having "survived" one this past summer.
Well, I am done yet. A couple of years ago my family and I traveled to Prague where we stayed at a truly horrific hotel. In retribution, I wrote a scathing review of that dump of a hotel and posted it on the epinions site at www.epinions.com/content_41892220548. For quite some time, when you ran a search for that hotel on Google, the link to my review came up as one of the top search results. I felt vindicated.
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