Worst Travel Experiences

Tuesday, Tuesday.  Got in 6 miles this morning at 5:15 and with such a short run, I managed to get to work early, early today and am hoping to maybe make it to the 6:00 yoga class tonight.  Only 7 days of the 30 day challenge complete, and my husband is already complaining about not seeing me awake at all.  I feel like this reminds me a little of what it was like when a blogger I read and her husband were both doing Ironman training. 

Since it's Tuesday, I'm going to do the travel prompts again.

Rules for TTT - please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section for this post at Without a License so we can all see your answers! Please invite your readers to link back to their post on this post too so we can see everyone's answers and connect with other bloggers! (Remember to add the TTT graphic above and these rules to your post as well!) TTT Topic: Worst Travel Experience

1) What do you hate the most about traveling?
2) Is there any situation you try to avoid when traveling?
3) How do you avoid that situation?
4) Cruise/Flights/Bikes/Cars/Bus - which is your least favorite way of traveling?
5) What is your worst experience while traveling?

Today's Topic: Worst Experiences!

1) What do you hate the most about traveling?I hate feeling like I overpaid or got scammed.  Note that I don't hate overpaying or getting scammed, I just hate it if I become aware of it.  One problem with traveling to places with tourists is that there are usually plenty of scammers.  When you add a language component, it gets worse. 

2) Is there any situation you try to avoid when traveling?I try to avoid huge waits.  It's sometimes unavoidable but it drives me up the wall.  I feel like travel time is so precious to me (that whole "limited vacation days" thing), that when I end up in line for hours to wait for the tram to take us down from Hua Shan mountain in China for example, or to get into the Uffizi in Florence, I feel like I'm missing out on things I'd prefer. 

3) How do you avoid that situation?
We try to make reservations for places where we can (like the Uffizi), but for other things, we just try to evaluate whether it's worth it and whether it's necessary (i.e., if we could pay more to avoid the line).  Sometimes there's just no way around it.  At Hua Shan, it had started raining, so masses of people were trying to leave at the same time, and we were ready to go as well, so we didn't want to try to wait out the line.  So when we're stuck waiting, we try to make the best of it, talking to each other, observing those around us, sometimes writing out postcards. 

4) Cruise/Flights/Bikes/Cars/Bus - which is your least favorite way of traveling?Can I say cruises if I've never been on one aside from a few days down the Yangtze in China?  I just have no desire to be on a boat going to different ports with a ton of other tourists, eating my meals on a ship and being on a schedule for when to do things. 

5) What is your worst experience while traveling?Hmm, food poisoning, crime, or lost passport in a city with a consulate closed for three days and a scheduled flight in one day?  Probably food poisoning, which has happened twice -- once in China, once in Kenya.  In Kenya, I was alone and almost delirious with fever, the part of me that was rational was very scared.  And in China, I knew what it was and that it would pass, but it was still miserable for a couple days.  I was also a crime victim in Napoli, Italia once, and that was pretty miserable, I felt very vulnerable and exposed and sad afterward, even when I had changed clothes.  The lost passport thing happened in Poland and probably took about two years off the end of my life (but in the end, it wasn't lost, it was with my brother's roommate, long story).