The 12 Scariest Things Travelers Commonly Avoid

Of all travel activities adventurers could hate, bungee jumping came out tops. But then, who has ever wished to be a yo-yo when they grow up? Although there’s “only” 1 death per 500,000 jumps, that’s not enough to entice Reddit user Livin_in_the_USSA to attach to an elastic cord and be shoved off a cliff. “I will never do this out of fear of the rope wrapping around my neck and hanging me.”

Despite the allure of tropical fish swimming past your goggles, a huge portion of travelers say they’d never get a PADI. “I’ve seen way too many ’true story‘ shark attack movies involving scuba divers. And watching Jaws at a terribly young age didn’t help,” says Capital-Muffin-7057 on Reddit, however, more common scuba dangers include oxygen toxicity, decompression sickness, and of course, drowning, according to the CDC. Still wanna see Nemo IRL?

The person who first suggested jumping out of a plane in the name of “fun” definitely wasn’t the kind of person Reddit’s Signal_Specialist867 would be BFFs with.

“As a private pilot I am trained to not jump out of a plane, so skydiving is something that will take me years to try and get over that fear.” The United States Parachute Association suggests 1 fatality per 200,000 jumps, making sky diving more than double the danger of bungee jumping. Holy moly!

Is there anything worse than watching a helicopter crash video? Yes, signing up for one after watching it. Crash videos are rampant on the news and social media, and high-profile accidents such as that of Kobe Bryant in 2020 mean that the devastation is far more of a fixture on our screens than other holiday tragedies. No wonder this Reddit user has no interest in boarding a chopper, no matter what the company’s safety track record, “I mean look at Kobe Bryant. I’m sure they used a reputable helicopter business.”

Whilst the act of sleeping in a shared room is no bother to millions of backpackers worldwide, those used to, um, a higher standard of accommodation deem it their idea of absolute hell. One Reddit user feared a Hostel movie trilogy ending in Tokyo, despite it being known as a “safe” big city.

“The owner of the hostel just came in at midnight to do some cleaning (which it ‘desperately’ needs). He introduced himself and then asked if he could sleep in bed with me tonight. Suffice to say, I’m changing to another place tomorrow morning.”

Kids love it. But kids weigh 50 pounds and are like cute little hummingbirds. Adults, on the other hand, are heavy farm-raised turkeys…and turkeys become mincemeat.

“I absolutely will not zipline. A friend of mine went zip-lining in Costa Rica a week before her wedding. The zipline operator didn’t catch her as she was coming in, and she shattered her knee. [She] had to get married in a wheelchair,” warns Reddit’s PM_ME_KITTEN_TOESIES.

With over 70 million zip-line rides per year in the US alone, commonly reported outcomes include broken bones, bruises, sprained ankles, concussion, and death.

Many people are terrified of flying and have no choice but to do it anyway. Singer Liz McClarnon-Cho was one of them, suffering a crippling fear of planes but traveling the world as part of a chart-topping girl band. It got so bad that she asked to be replaced for overseas tour dates. Now she leisurely takes the long route via land or sea, with a page dedicated to inspiring those who ”want to travel but don’t want to fly” called @no_fly_traveller.

Waterfalls are beauties from a distance, but up close they’re scary AF. The ultimate place for H20 lovin’ thrill seekers? Devil’s Pool at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe—so exhilarating that frolickers routinely award it five stars on GetYourGuide. But Classic_Note_5977 won’t be chasing them anytime soon, “I will never go to devil’s pool [to] put myself in that danger just for a photo.”

Ah, oysters. Luxury on the tongue but quite the opposite elsewhere in your body. The filters of the sea contain zillions of Vibrio and other harmful germs that commonly result in traveler’s diarrhea. The CDC estimates that 80,000 people get Vibrio every year in the US, and 100 die from it (including, tragically, the partner of YouTuber Billy LeBlanc), making a raw seafood platter more lethal than bungee, flying, and skydiving combined.

Jumping off extreme heights sure spooks the travel community, so it comes as no surprise that cliff jumping is also on the list. The activity involves neither parachute nor elastic rope, just you and the sea below. At Spitting Cave, Hawaii, Honolulu Ocean Safety stated that they have responded 52 times over the past five years to cliff jumping injuries, drownings, and near drownings.

“If that shelf is wet, you can be dragged right off that shelf and scraped into the water and not be able to get back out,” a local resident told Khon2.

TikTok has done no favors in reassuring scooter renters that everything’s gonna be alright, and judging by the crash videos we’ve seen, it’s gonna be anything but. Theforeignsun said on the platform, “I’ve been in Bali for a few months now, and I keep on seeing the same thing over and over again…tourists crashing their scooters, getting into accidents, needing surgery, and not having insurance.” In this traffic, it’s hard to imagine anybody getting out scot-free.

Since cruising is famously targeted at the newlywed or nearly dead, you’d be forgiven for assuming the risks are slim, but travelers like Reddit user KingoftheNordMN know better. “El Salvador? No problem. Nigeria? Absolutely. [But a cruise?], No way will I get on a big virus boat.” According to the CDC, cruise ships are a breeding ground for the highly contagious Norovirus, accounting for 90% of GI issues such as vomiting and diarrhea, some of which are lethal. Other cruise ship dangers include port violence, falling overboard, and, if you’re bonkers enough, zip-lining.