May 19, 2003
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What was the worst thing that ever happened to you while you were on vacation?

Last week, we went to Cape Cod for a long-weekend getaway. We were there two hours and my fiance had a heart attack and had to have four stents put into his heart. The entire weekend was a nightmare beyond belief. Thank God with a change of diet and lifestyle, he'll be okay. Yes, I suppose that is the worst thing that has happened to me during a vacation. (*winking at Reba as she knew all about this*)

Fisch, 47
Preston, CT USA

I was in southern Oregon where it's hot as hell and I had pneumonia and a 103 degree fever. Yeah, no good. At least I was just 8, so I've had a lot of time to get over it.

A-Dog, 20
Eugene, OR USA

Totalled my car :(

Talia, 25
Tallahassee, FL USA

I got a scorching sunburn, probably a first or second degree burn, and my dad didn't even take me to the hospital. In fact, he actually just yelled at me as though it was my fault.

Melodi, 19
Gahanna, OH USA

I stayed at a relative's apartment in Hong Kong while his water was unsafe to drink and there wasn't always enough water for a shower.

Cathie, 53
Novi, MI USA

Going touring with an immature, insecure companion.

Jill, 61
Saylorsburg, PA USA

Vacationing with my aunt and cousin. At the last minute my aunt said that it was ok for my cousin's boyfriend to come along (my cousin was 14 at the time). By the middle of the week my aunt realized that the vibes between her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend were more than friendly and she got really mad and kicked him out, took the cigarettes away from him, at
4 am she was outside our hotel room yelling at him at the top of her lungs and we almost were kicked out of our room. She took out any anger she felt at me too even though I had nothing to do with this and she brougt it on herself.

Em, 16
Harrisburg, PA USA

I can't say that I've ever had a worst vacation. Things have not come off as planned. Stresses and strains have occurred. But all in pleasant moments always exist and adventure can always be
found. And a bad experience always turns into a great story in the future.

Felicia, 37
Lowell, MA USA

I guess getting sick. I don't have any horror stories about losing money, or locking myself out of my car or whatever. Having a full-blown cold at the beach was bad enough.

Cindy, 41
VA USA

Usually my one children gets sick. On Vacation, he always orders chicken tenders for dinner. I don't know if it is being in a different environment or what, but at night he usually gets sick to his stomach. One time we were staying in a small little room down the shore. My son woke up and
didn't feel good. He was confused and couldn't remember where the bathroom was. He
proceeded to vomit everywhere, all over the blankets and sheets. I was rinsing the covered blankets in the shower at 3am. No bathtub in the room. And then going out into parking lot and to the main house/building to run the offending foul stenched blankets thru the laundry washing
machine. No soap but it did help. Needless to say the room reeked. And on every vacation that involves swimming, my other son gets a raging ear infection. The type where the ear drum bursts and the ear is oozing. I have been in Medi-Merges in several states and have cut my vacation
short to get back home to our pediatrician.

Janet, 45
E. Brunswick, NJ USA

I totaled my car about nine hours from my house. I was forced to leave it at a junk yard, and return home by a train.

Ryan, 29
Riedlingen GERMANY

I went to China with my family about 6 years ago, and my eldest brother (who was 17 at the time) was never very keen to go. For the whole time we were there he did nothing but bitch and moan at me and my other brother, and made me quite miserable. But nothing too bad's happened yet.

Aly, 17
Cardiff UK

I got really, really sick and stayed sick the whole way home. But even worse than that was when I was out of town looking for a job (does that count as vacation?) and found out that my frog had escaped & died while I was gone. There's other stuff, too. Like trying to decide whether it was safer to ride with someone who'd been drinking or drive a huge van myself, before I had my
license. And some slightly embarrassing stuff that I don't want to share with the whole list.

Karen, 23
Ames, IA USA

I don't really recall anything BAD happening... When I was very young, we went on a camping trip and the dog that my aunt and uncle had got skunked. That was gross, but kind of funny and not
really BAD.

Doug2, 30
Kansas City, KS USA

What vacation? I think I've gone on vacation exactly two times in my entire life and that was many moons ago with my parents. Probably getting tired/cranky and/or running out of money.

Keri-Jade, 23
Brampton, Ontario CANADA

An ATM machine screwed me out of $400 but the bank straightened it out after I got home. Another time I was with someone who doesn't hike very well, kept complaining that we should have had a map or something. Not a fun person to get lost with.

Alias Irrelevante

I was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.

Laura, 38
Lowell, MA USA

We took my grandmother to England for her 85th birthday. We were staying with friends at the start of the trip, and Gramma missed a step and tumbled down a long flight of stairs. I was horrified both for her sake and at the thought of trying to explain a broken neck or hip to my mother and her sisters. Luckily, the damage was not that severe. After excellent attention
from the National Health, including a house call on a holiday eve, she gamely carried
on the trip, despite a broken wrist, a badly bruised face, and assorted contusions.

Jane, 63
West Linn, OR USA

Strange you should ask because JUST LAST WEEK I took a short vacation that didn't turn out exactly as I would have liked. My husband and I drove to Mystic, CT to visit the aquarium there and spend some time with a friend. We had AAA map out a driving route for us and prepare a little TripTik, showing details of each leg of the journey. Foolishly, we didn't bother to look
at the map until we were well on our way. While driving through New Jersey, we got behind a truck that caught fire and burned to the ground. We waited in a long line for over an hour while the Police and Fire Department cleaned up the mess. Then we discovered that AAA had mapped us RIGHT THROUGH NEW YORK CITY AT RUSH HOUR! What Mapquest.com said was a 6 hour trip
took us 12 hours! And I think my husband and I were yelling at each other for about 6 hours of that. When we got to our destination, I found that the hotel we were staying at was located on top of a hill with absolutely no advertising telling where it was. The man behind the desk looked like a character straight out of the Addams Family. The hotel had three stories but only three people were staying there! Is that weird or what? I called my friend, Fisch, and she had an even worse story than mine and it was doubtful whether we would be able to even see one another. Then
to top it off, the weather was awful - cold, windy, overcast with occasional rain. I had to buy a
sweatshirt at the aquarium to keep from freezing. This vacation turned out to be a real bummer.

Reba, 57
Gaithersburg, MD USA

Having major cramps and bleeding heavily the entire time - a full week.

Cristin, 25
Frisco, TX USA

I got food poisoning my last day in Morocco. I wasn't sick at all during the vacation, but the 9 hour flight from Casablanca to New York was absolute HELL! It was "coming out from both ends" (sorry to be vulgar)...and let me tell you, those little airplane bathrooms are not the place for that kind of
stuff!

Tam

I instantly think of years back when my husband sent a then 9 yr old boy to the car's trunk to get something out while the rest of us were in the motel unpacking. My son locked the keys in the trunk when he laid them down to get what he was after. I remember his Dad's temper. One of the reasons we divorced. I can't remember how we got the trunk open.

Laney, 60
TX USA

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