Post: #26

Food poisoning from/on a Continental airlines non-stop 18 hour flight from New Delhi to Newark. Starting puking 4 hours into the flight and last puked as we were in decent into Newark. The funniest part was I was waiting in line for the restroom (this is my first puke) knowing that what was coming was not good and finally I could not wait anymore. So I start puking into the barf bag as I am waiting in line. You would think that the Indians on the flight might let me jump ahead of them 2-3 slots considering I am white as a sheet and puking my brains out, but everyone just stood in line like it was a common occurrence (interesting culture). After Newark I have 2 more connecting flight to get back to the west coast. Worst 30 hours ever. I was also sick for about a week after that. My shit was pure white.

Hate India/Hate Continental. (never sick in India in the 7 weeks I was there on that trip until American airline food)

TD

Post: #27

Tips for travelers- always have a camera (or camera-equivalent like smartphone). Have backup bribe money, and back-up back-up bribe money ALWAYS.

Asia is a cash-society. People forget that.

Wouldn't hurt to have peptobismol and some antibioitics as well. In a pinch, milk+yogurt will help settle your stomach.

Post: #28

Last summer I was in Barcelona and had tickets to Tomorrowland in Belgium. I didn't book my connection from Barcelona to Brussels because I thought a lot of time. Unfortunately I fell into the Barcelona lifestyle and was drunk/hungover for the entire week.

I booked my ticket in a rush opting for the cheapest price on a discount website....boy did I fuck myself.

The big day to go to Tomorrowland arrives. I depart with 1.5 hrs before takeoff. I jump in the cab and tell the cabdriver that I want to go to the airport. 'Which airport?' hmmmmm. Girona?....which is a 1 hour drive away assuming there is no bad traffic. 200 Euros and a stressful 1 hour cab drive later I was running into the airport and made my flight.

Post: #29

When I was flying to the Philippines from China they rushed me to switch flights in the Manila airport to catch my flight to Davao and I didnt go threw immigration. (I thought there would be a immigration at Davao) So I lived as a illegal alien in Davao for around 3 months then when I went to leave I had go to the Manila immigration and pay around $1000 USD in fines.....

Post: #30

When I was heading back home from the US my freshman year. The airline wouldnt change my US departure from Boston so I had to reroute through them. Before I left, I slept through my last final exam, ran to my professors office and begged for a retake, after a bit he said he'd give me whatever my standing grade was. This was 2 hours before catching my first bus.

My flight to Boston was rerouted via Chicago Midway, I missed the bus into Chicago and had to take another one with a transfer at Milwaukee. Once I get into Chicago, I had to take 2 trains from OHare to Midway. When I got in, they told me my flight was delayed so I slept at the airport. My flight involved a double connection, first in Atlanta and then in Detroit before heading to Boston. I got into Boston and hour before my international flight an hustled onto the plane. By then it had been 24 hours.

Once I got into London, I realised my flight was delayed and I had to wait 10 hours. Thankfully Heathrow has no lack of eye candy so I chilled out for a bit before taking a nap. I wake up to the attendant calling my name, the doors were closing. I was hustling to see where it was and realised that the gate was 30 metres away from me, made a dash for it, they locked the door as I entered and I wasn't allowed in. I had to catch the next flight 12 hours later. It had been 44 hours of travel time.

I sit down at a coffeeshop and tell the cute girl my tale, she is friendly and gives me free coffee until my flight. Hung out there for a while and kept myself awake till the next flight. Board it to Dubai and land with few issues. I walk into immigration, my residence has expired and I'm in the visit visa queue, anyone who's been there will notice people with certain passports get treated like cattle, so I'm in a line with third world labourers from Africa and South Asia, the official starts giving me shit. Eventually I make it through and realise at baggage my bags didn't come through, I haven't been in contact with anyone for 56 hours at this point. My cellphone service has been cancelled. I call up a friend after buying a phone card. He rolls in 2 hours later despite living 20 minutes away.

Buddy decides its a great idea to check out the new mall, grab a bite and day game since its on the way to my house which is an hour away. At this point I'm nearing collapse but decide to go through with it. Nothing special happens and we end up at my house, he bounces. I walk up to my house, expecting to see my family. I ring the bell , nothing, I try to break into my house, they've upgraded everything. After 61 hours, I give up and pass out on my front steps in 75 degree weather. My family wakes me up an hour later, they had been out grocery shopping. I walk in, take a shower and pass out for the next 12 hours.

After the experience I try to minimise travel time and maximise efficiency. That shit bit me in the ass when I got back to the US, I had forgotten to check in with a customs program they have for people of certain countries. Ended up detained at the airport for 8 hours and missed my bus back home. Had to arrange my own hotel in Chicago because of that.

The single upside that saved both trips was my luck in sitting next to cute girls around my age. I honed my airplane game but didn't have the balls or energy to go for it with a Polish-Ukrainian girl enroute to London, also because I didn't want a Kumar airplane moment.

Post: #31

Manila International Airport: The madness continues

So after my meltdown at the Manila airport two days before, I arrived back at the airport yesterday morning to catch my flight to BKK. I checked in and had to negotiate with the ticket agent about the baggage fare of 750P I already paid two days before, took care of that then went to immigration. Now they're telling me that instead of the 5000P ($125) fine, they were upping it to 8000P, I said fuck that and had to haggle with them and they gave in and charged me 5000. I then had a hand full of papers: boarding pass, immigration papers (proof of payment) and receipt of payment for the airport tax. I handed the stack to the immigration clerk, she took about five minutes to figure my shit out and she handed me my papers back, I jammed it all in my passport and cleared customs.

Finally, I'm in the boarding area, I'm done with the bullshit and now all I have to do it wait 30 minutes and I can finally go to BKK and be stress free, or so I thought. I had 1000P on me so I decided to pick up a carton of cigarettes, I got back 100P in change so I grabbed a coffee and then they made an announcement that my flight was boarding. I had one last smoke and filed in line, I was one of the last people to board and the agent took my passport and boarding pass, then she says "Sir please wait at the side, there's a problem".

FUCK ME, what could this be? I'm was so God damned close to getting on the plane, how in the world could this be happening, what the fuck is wrong? I'm going into mini-meltdown mode again. The lady explains that I don't have my receipt for the airport tax, fuck, the lady at the immigration desk must have misplaced it, I explain this to her and tell her I can run back to get it, but she tells me that we don't have time, the flight is leaving in four minutes. Then two men who work for Cebu Pacific intervene, I'm obviously upset and starting to raise my voice and tell them "I'm getting on that plane" and they tell me, "sir you have to pay the tax or you can't get on the plane."

At that point I was so fucking pissed that I was considering hijacking the fucking plane, finally I say to the guy "listen man, I already missed a flight and had to pay 18,000P for this flight, I just paid immigration 5000P, I don't have any God damned cash on me, all I have is a carton of cigarettes, I have to get on the plane man, please just let me on, I swear to God that I paid the tax, I just misplaced the receipt". So the guy thinks for a second then says, okay, give me the carton of smokes. I agree but ask him if I can take a pack (I was definitely going to need some when I got off the flight in BKK), being such a nice guy, he tells me to take two. So I take the packs and quickly walk to the plane, last person to board. Only in the Philippines could I bribe an airline employee with a carton of cigarettes!

I'm so glad to have left the Manila airport, I"m not even sure if I'll ever go back to the Philppines after that stressful experience, I've never been so fucking pissed and stressed out in my life, if I do go back, I'll fly into Clark.

Post: #32

Haha, somebody tried to charge 275 for overweight baggages. I started unpacking all my shit and threw it all on the floor. Then started sifting through it in the middle of the line. Lady at the counter gave in and just let it go after I dropped a bottle of vodka on her table.

Post: #33

Here we go again, another flight fuck up, I'm seriously considering giving up on travel after this Asia trip is over, I'll just live vicariously through the RVF travelers, I don't need this stress!

Misadventure in on-line booking: I've booked over a dozen flights in the past six months and I always pay in cash at a travel agent, I know it cost a few extra bucks but I don't have to deal with shitty websites and use my credit card and expose myself to fraud. At the end of the ten or fifteen minute session with the travel agent, they give me my ticket in an envelope and I'm good to go, no need to hit up an internet cafe and print off your online itinerary, its easy. I wish I had done that this time, but I didn't, I decided to book online and Skyscanner sent me to Expedia's Thailand site.

The problem: I whipped out my Visa card and went though the process, then I reached the page where it confirmed my flight and gave me a confirmation number. I then checked my e-mail to see if the electronic itinerary had been sent, it hadn't, so I went back to Expedia to retrieve my flight details with the confirmation number, then the site told me it had been deleted. I called Visa and asked them to check if it had gone through, they told me it hadn't. So I decided to wait, went out for a bit then about two hours later I checked again, no e-mail and confirmation number still wouldn't work. I should add that I booked that flight as a guest on Expedia, then once I saw there was a problem, I registered an account with Expedia, but still could not retrieve my flight details. There's even an option to do so "click here if you purchased flight as a guest and enter itinerary number."

I decided to book another ticket, this time it was on a different flight but same airline, three hours later as the previous one I had initially tried to get on was more expensive by that time. So I booked it and everything went smoothly, I got an electronic itinerary in my inbox a few minutes later and the confirmation number worked, all good, or so I thought.

A couple of hours later, near midnight, I checked my in-box again before going to sleep and to my surprise, the original itinerary was in my in-box, so here I was with two flights, on the same airline, on the same day, each costing 3000 Baht (about $100). I called Expedia's customer support number but got some idiot in the USA who told me that they couldn't do anything and that I would have to call Expedia Thailand, great! I couldn't find a number on the website but filled out an online complaint form. To my surprise, they actually wrote me back in English the next morning with a phone number to call.

Customer Service Hell: So I ring them up and I get a Thai person on the line who spoke broken English, she was actually quite nice, but I don't understand why they can't import some Filipinos to do their English customer service, they import them to sing in bands, so why not? Long story short: After almost an hour on the horn, they cancelled the second ticket but inform me of a 2100 Baht cancellation fee, so I only got 900 Baht (about $30 USD) refunded on my credit card. For fuck sakes, not really a horror story but a pain in the ass, Expedia fucked me over for $70.

Moral of the story: I'm never booking online again, I will pay the few bucks to have a travel agent handle it and I will never deal with Expedia again and advise you guys not too either.

I still have some flying to do in the next few weeks, I'm sure with my luck I will be updating this thread again, but I hope not!

Post: #34

Met this cool girl in Vang Vieng in Laos which is the party tubing area, yeah I was totally drunk as the bars give you free shots every time you go into one and your drinking all day. Didnt get to bang this girl as we tried to get the girls into our hostel but it was a no go. Keep in touch with her and when I was in Bangkok she messaged me saying she was there and I was like fuck ok cool then come and see me, she brought her bags and moved in for a few days and as soon as I saw her I thought shit something is not quite right. In my room she got completely naked as she was going for a shower and yeah she was a completely female body but she just seemed too confident was the only way I could describe it. While she was in the shower I went into her bags and photographed her ID as my friends had told me a ladyboy cant change her ID.

Since the ID was from Lao and I was in thailand I had to send the pic by email to my friend and wait for her reply. Drinking that night and i finally asked her and she got really upset saying of course she wasnt and how angry she was at me for saying that. I felt like a right dick. So I txt my thai friends to come and look at her and then they did all 3 were straight away saying yes she is a man. Back in the taxi I told her I wanted her to pack her bags and she cried her eyes out and I felt so fucking bad, she was still denying it all the way back to mine, calling me all sorts of names. She left and then the next day my friend answered my question and said yeah the ID says Mr (and her name) never expected that in Lao to be honest, lesson learned.

Post: #35

This is from when I was a teenager travelling to India with my parents. We booked those lame tickets through an Indian travel agency and on Air India no less. We flew from JFK in New York to Mumbai, India and had a one hour layover until the next flight. Before flying we had to get our passport validated by some dude at the “agency” in Manhattan where it was a bitch to park and bitch to find the place. When asking why this layover is short, they guy replied it’s okay but you have to pick up bags again and take it on to the plane in Mumbai. That was obviously bad advice, but my naïve dad believed them.

We got to Mumbai airport and not one fucking person could figure out which flight we were to get on from there. We also waited for bags for an hour of course and we were standing there after the flight would have taken off. We had to beg this director guy from Air India to help us. I mean literally beg, because the dude was not nice. We finally got on a local flight and it was decent with prettier stewardesses than Air-India probably would have had (Jet Airways).

Lessons learned :
1. Do not do less than a 2 hour layover when flying overseas.
2. Do not trust policemen and random airport employees at Mumbai airport.
3. Do not trust anyone at Mumbai airport.
4. Do not listen to Indian travel agents that make commissions based on volume.
5. Do not fly to India unless you have family or good friends there.
6. Do not fly Air India period (there are decent Arabian airlines out there). (Jet Airways was at least decent for local travel)

Post: #36

The one visit I had to Brazil, in February 2001, started as a total nightmare. The evening I was due to leave, NYC was hit with a MASSIVE snowstorm. I had to keep checking on the status of the flight before I attempted to leave the house to make sure the flight wasn't cancelled already. I got a cab to the airport (I live only a few minutes from Kennedy) and got there in decent time. I'm on pins and needles waiting for the flight to get cancelled, but we're still due to depart as scheduled. We board the plane, pull away from the gate, and then the nightmare begins. There's a pretty long line-up of planes waiting to get out, so by regulation the plane's wings have to be de-iced every so often. I'm seated in the center row of seats, on the aisle, but a heavy-set dude is in the center seat, so I'm still smushed in my seat. I can't recline, because we haven't taken off yet. My body is in AGONY - my ribs and back are hurting. My knees are pressed up against the seat in front of me. I'm slipping in and out of sleep. A little over 4 hours later, we finally take off. We were held hostage out on the tarmac for OVER FOUR HOURS. This was before they passed the law that if a plane doesn't take off after 3 hours, they have to return to the gate. They can't keep you out there indefinitely anymore. Also, 3 of my boys were waiting for me in Rio. One of them secured a guy's apartment, so I didn't have keys. They had to wait for me, which kind of fucked up their day. So what should have been a 10 1/4 hour trip ended up being more like 15 + hours combined with the cab ride from the airport to the apartment in Ipanema. I arrived in sunny Rio de Janeiro in full winter gear, so I was sweating my ass off going through the airport and customs. I must have been a hilarious sight...HA HA!

Post: #37

When I was 14 I went on a family holiday to France. After a few days of chilling on the beach my dad decides we should do something active. We get in the car and start driving into the mountains for a while until we come up to a place where you can hire canoes. So we hire one each and get on the river. Turns out its way rougher than we expected, the river is running right down through the mountains with a really strong current and loads of rocks. Being 14 I was like fuck it the wilder the better. Until at some point my canoe hits a rock sideways and flips over. Having my legs stuck in the canoe, my right shoulder hits another rock hard and dislocates. I manage to push myself out of the canoe with my legs but the current is so strong it drags me under water.

Anyone who's had his shoulder dislocated knows you wanna keep your arm as still and downwards as you can while its out. Being dragged along by the water however, my dislocated arm is being turned in every way imaginable. I'm taking in lots of water trying not to be dragged under, using all the strength in my legs to swim. Somehow I manage to get to the side of the river and push myself with my back on to a bigger rock so the river doesnt drag me along anymore.

At this point my legs are banged up from all the hits from the rocks, my face is bleeding from getting hit somewhere, and my shoulder is killing me. I keep passing out from the pain when my dad finally comes with his canoe. He manages to get it to the side about 20 meters further, luckily he has his cellphone with him in his canoe some special box to keep shit dry. He calls the French emergency number and explains the situation. However, we're somewhere in the freaking mountains, and the riverbanks go right up on the sides.

Long story short I had to wait for the most painfull 90 minutes of my life until some policemen came along in a boat and took me to a hospital where they put my shoulder back. Looking back I'm just glad I didnt drown.. And I'm never getting in a fucking canoe again.

Post: #38

Last year I went to Costa Rica from Honduras. I took a bus with Ticabus company.

The day before I had to leave Costa Rica back to Honduras, I checked my departure time. Somehow I took a look at the wrong one, (the departure from Honduras, like 2 weeks ago's) and printed it on my mind.

I get up early the next morning to go to the bus station with my friend, my friend's father agreed to take me there. While we were on his car, I take another look at the ticket, just in case. It was there when I saw that I had mistaken the departure time, I couldn't believe it and I said "holy shit" loudly. I was on the back seat so my friend and his father turned their heads to see what was wrong. The look on my friend's father when he saw that we had missed the bus was priceless, but scary. He was pissed as a motherfucker.

He dropped us off at the bus station anyways and I payed a fine to re-schedule to depart in 2 or 3 days (can't remember).

Here is where it gets good.

We go back to my friend's place and we go play soccer to a nearby park. Many other kids and guys arrive to play with us until we were enough to form 3 small teams. I hadn't played soccer in a long time, I guess missing the bus wasn't so bad, or so I thought.

A few minutes later I had the ball and was about to score a goal. A kid comes to defend and sticks his leg to take the ball away, I jump to avoid his leg, but when I land, I didn't manage to land correctly and my ankle twisted. It was a horrible feeling and I knew I was very fucked up in that precise second (I had an ankle sprain on my other foot when I was a kid). I got up with one foot and made my way towards the grass, jumping with one foot.

After a few minutes, my feet was swollen as hell and purple, I couldn't walk. I kept saying to myself it was gonna be ok the next day, but it was not. I went to the doctor and they told me I had a level 3 ankle sprain.

I had to stay my remaining 2 days in Costa Rica without being able to move, inside my friend's room. It was a fucking nightmare. But the real nightmare was getting to the bus station again, this time my friend's dad did not take us there (). Actually, the real nightmare was surviving a 16 hour bus ride with my ankle like that.

Once I returned to my hometown, I had to go through physical therapy and use a removable cask for some months.

Post: #39

(05-01-2013 06:59 AM)truedat Wrote:  So I start puking into the barf bag as I am waiting in line. You would think that the Indians on the flight might let me jump ahead of them 2-3 slots considering I am white as a sheet and puking my brains out, but everyone just stood in line like it was a common occurrence (interesting culture).

No, they're just clueless when they are on aeroplanes.

Flying to India or back was funny because Indian people don't know how to fly or have common sense in regards to things they have never done before. So the plane will land and immediately people are unbuckling and taking their bags out of overhead lockers as we hurtle down the runway. You're watching them thinking 'are you guys fucking serious?' Stewardesses are shouting at them to sit down and they are oblivious standing their putting their coats on. They also have little regard for seat numbers so you get on the plane and you find you have some chutia sitting in your seat who when you tell him to move tries arguing with you and then takes an age to pack up his lunch boxes and shit and get out of your chair. I've flown to India about 20 times and there was always an 'incident' on the plane with them being clueless.

Post: #40

(05-01-2013 06:59 AM)truedat Wrote:  Food poisoning from/on a Continental airlines non-stop 18 hour flight from New Delhi to Newark. Starting puking 4 hours into the flight and last puked as we were in decent into Newark. The funniest part was I was waiting in line for the restroom (this is my first puke) knowing that what was coming was not good and finally I could not wait anymore. So I start puking into the barf bag as I am waiting in line. You would think that the Indians on the flight might let me jump ahead of them 2-3 slots considering I am white as a sheet and puking my brains out, but everyone just stood in line like it was a common occurrence (interesting culture). After Newark I have 2 more connecting flight to get back to the west coast. Worst 30 hours ever. I was also sick for about a week after that. My shit was pure white.

Hate India/Hate Continental. (never sick in India in the 7 weeks I was there on that trip until American airline food)

TD

Thats so racist.

Post: #41

Moscow,April 2013.

On my first morning in the city I was in my hostel and I asked the manager if it was ok to drink the tap water in Moscow as I wanted to make a protein shake. "Sure, this is Moscow" he replied, so I filled the cup up and drank it down.

That evening I met up with a friend in the city and he suggested going to a club called 'Propoganda' in Kitai Gorod. So we get in at midnight and do the circuit, approaching some women and we get talking to two mid-20's Russian girls. Everything is going ok when I notice a cramping in my stomach. Probably gas I think. Half hour later it's still there so I leave my mate and the girls and go to the men's room and sit on the toilet. No movement. Cool. I returned to the set and this time the cramping is getting bad so I return to the toilet. I queue up for the cubicle and get in and sit down. This time my ass hole explodes and sends out a liquid stream of foul smelling water. Fuck! I stay in there about 20 minutes until I am sure everything is out and then gingerly return to my mate. 10 minutes later I feel the cramping return but ten times worse. I rushed to the cubicle again ( there is only one men's sit down toilet in the club and it's right by the urinals - little privacy ). I rush in past people taking a leak and drop my pants and I am pissing liquid shit out of my ass, a steady stream of stinking shit/piss. I'm sweating too. Every time I thought that was it more shit would explode out. I don't know how long I was in there for but people are now knocking on the door and shouting in Russian at me, probably to get a move on. I couldn't leave as more shit was pissing out of my ass. Eventually I feel I have most of it out but I know it's only a matter of time. I opened the door and practically ran through the club to my mate and the girls, I made an excuse about being jet lagged and left. Out on the street I hailed a car to take me to my hostel. It was only a five minute drive but he got lost and could not find it. I was now ready to explode so told him to pull over immediately. I jumped out went into an alleyway and dropped my pants and shit against a wall. This was in view of my taxi driver who must have been thinking 'what the fuck!'. I get back in and we eventually find my hostel. I paid and ran up the stairs and banged on the door. When the night manager opened the door I ran past him and into the toilet in the hallway and dropped my pants just in time to empty my bowels again. Russian internal doors are always so fucking thin and useless so I stank the entire hostel out but I was past caring. It felt so good to be 'home' and able to shit in peace.

I don't know if it was a horror story for me as much as it was for the poor migrant worker who had to clean the toilets in Propoganda. I pebble dashed that bowl.

Post: #42

food poisoning on a tuesday night (threw up 10 times and jad the runs twice) with a 16 hour flight from tokyo to new york on wednesday afternoon.

Post: #43

(05-03-2013 06:24 AM)scotian Wrote:  "I just misplaced the receipt". So the guy thinks for a second then says, okay, give me the carton of smokes.

I've also learned this lesson the hard way as you did. The lesson is that you must save all your airport receipts when traveling in developing countries.  Otherwise you give them ammo to collect bribes from you.  You'll see this in not just in Philippines but other developing countries.  All they want is a bribe to supplement their meager salary.  

(05-01-2013 01:16 AM)scotian Wrote:  So I ask him, what are my options? He informs me that the only way I can get on the flight is to pay 18,000P ($450 USD), I then tell him that this is unacceptable, I've flown all over the world and never heard of this nonsense, we went back and forth for about five minutes and I finally gave in and gave that faggot my credit card. [/b]

If you weren't late to the airport, then you shouldn't have to pay. One time I missed a connection from India to Bangkok.  I missed it because my connecting flight was late.  The airline official said I needed to pay for a new flight, as if it was my fault.  I thought to myself, is this guy scamming me or is he just an idiot?  Instead of listening to that guy, I went to airline's office inside the Delhi airport and spoke with someone else who got me on a flight to Bangkok at no extra charge.

Post: #44

No horror stories to report, unless you consider catching Dengue Fever serious. It sucks but after a couple of days I was capable of moving around on my own. That's one gnarly fever.

Shit all over my toilet in Kanchanaburi - had a thrashed stomach. It ended up all over the toilet and walls. Took me a fucking half an hour to clean it up.

Cebu Pacific is a shitty airline, I had to wait for 12 hours at the gate. They brought in crappy boxed lunches and water and wouldn't let us leave. That was fucked up.

I once flew to Georgetown, Guyana from Bangkok. Took around 40 hours to get there. I stayed for 2 weeks and had to get a contract signed. The day before I was supposed to leave I had a meeting and got it signed, only to find out I was supposed to have left that morning. I had to send a flurry of emails back and forth to the travel agent but the following day I got a ticket. Flew in business class much of the way, which was a relief.

Post: #45

Walking down the street in BKK right around sunset. I had just got back from McDonalds and was headed to a bar. As I was walking, some guy had asked me where I was going. Thinking it was a taxi driver, I said no thanks I am headed down the street. Dude kept following me and asking me something. I kept blowing him off. I the hotel front desk guy and tapped him on the shoulder. The dude tbat was following jumped back like crazy because I almost hit him.

Finally, a bike had cut me off but I kept walking. The guy on the bike showed me a badge. How the fuck am I suppose to know they were Thai police? I finally stopped and they asked for me passport. I showed it to them and told them I was American. They looked at it for a solid minute and still made me empty my pockets. Finally they let me go.

The expats would tell me that the police are assholes but I never believed them. The whole seven weeks I was there I saw maybe ten and I lived on the street in NaNa where there is suppose to be a station. That was the second time I got searched but the first time I had a Thai girl with me. Fucking Ni drugdealers make it hard for a brotha out there. I am just glad I never had to pay them off like Mexico.