Worst vacations

[jubilantsquirrel]

About 2 years ago (actually, exactly 2 years ago) we took our then 2 year old son and our dog on a fun-filled family weekend trip to one of the islands. Activities included pulling an all nighter because DS1 refused to sleep, like at all, in the hotel room. And then spending 9 hours driving and walking around the island looking for our dog who escaped from the hotel room. Damn dog ended up spending the night in the woods in the rain while we pulled another all nighter, this time due to us being worried sick about the dog. We found him the following morning at 7am running through the hotel parking lot and we immediately packed our shit and went back home.

We haven't done an overnight trip with either the dog or the kid since.

[Deleted]

Not a vacation, per se, but we were invited to visit some people. We assumed we would be staying at their house, and we didn’t find until a day or two before that they expected us to get a hotel room. We had a hotel room with our oldest who was an only at the time. Not sure of her exact age, but under 2yo.

We all ended up contracting some sort of stomach virus. The baby got it first, and we were awakened in the MOTN by baby vomiting sounds. As soon as we got up, it hit us, too. All three of us were in the hotel room with one bathroom and stuff coming out both ends- at least the baby had a diaper.

We were never sure who, but either my H or I inadvertently locked the door to the toilet room from the outside, and for whatever reason, I ended up at the front desk, in the MOTN, covered in vomit and wearing my pajamas, begging for someone to unlock our toilet room door. (I mean, I don’t know why I went instead of him or why we didn’t call from our room.)

[robot]

When DD was 2 months old we went with my MIL, her fiance, her dad and stepmom, and DH's brother and his gf to Yosemite. My MIL stuck us in a different rental house than everyone else so we had a tiny baby with none of her stuff and no help, plus we had to drive back and forth to their house a gajillion times for meals and things. BIL's gf spent the entire trip announcing loudly to anyone who would listen that she hated babies and that they were gross and smelled, etc, etc. MIL wanted us to go so she could spend time with her granddaughter but once we were there she was so worried about her fiance and dad having a good time and doing what they wanted to do. Then we got trapped in a pouring rainstorm with our tiny baby, miles from the cars. It was just a mess and I vowed never to vacation with the whole lot of them at once ever again.

[CestLaVie]

TL/DR: Broke my leg in Cancun and had a 1.5 year old with me.

We went to Cancun for our 5th wedding anniversary. Last minute, we decided to bring DS because he was free (not quite 2 yet).

3 days in, I slipped in a spilled drink on a marble floor at the hotel. I broke 2 bones in my leg, shattered my ankle and dislocated my foot. I went to the hospital via mini van ambulance where the drivers took iphone photos of my messed up leg the whole way. Then I got put under that night to set my foot. Then 2 days later, after insurance was finally verified they did the surgery.

While DH worked on insurance shit, I had to try to contain a 1.5 year old in a hospital room by myself with voice alone. They don't do pain meds, I was given an OTC paracetemol. I was in the hospital for an entire week without medication and it was like a ghost town. I would ring the bell for a nurse and it would take 3-4 hours to get one.

I am so lucky my dad is a pilot. His airline immediately gave him time off, flew my mom and him to Cancun, and they took DS home.

For the hospital to release me, I had to get first class tickets on a specific airline so my leg could be up. I needed blood thinners. They told us they could not fill this prescription at the hospital but there was a pharmacy at the airport through security. So we went. Got through security and no pharmacy. DH and I decided fuck it we just need to risk it and be back in Canada. Because we had first class tickets, we just went into the lounge and got fucking hammered. Medicated myself with alcohol and went on my way. At the airport (they won't give you your file at the hospital) I held up my x ray and found out I had rods and pins everywhere, which I did not know prior to or after the surgery.

I got home, my doctor said they did the surgery properly and gave me morphine FINALLY. I was literally asking DH to buy street drugs and I've never even done one before lol. Desperate.

Sorry for the novel but it was... something.

[hawkward]

Pre-kids, H, a friend, and I had a long weekend in Cornwall that was basically five days of driving. The trip itself would have been fun except we all three came down with swine flu at the furthest point from home and spent the second half of the trip driving home feeling like death. We would choose the driver based on who had the lowest fever. We all had elevated security clearance and weren’t allowed to seek medical care off base either.

[zoeylucy]

Ironically, this thread makes me want a vacation.

[tinyjoys]

All these stories are making me thankful that my "worst vacation story" is the time I got a black eye from a pinecone flying into our window while H & I were on a road trip in the Upper Peninsula.

[elodin]

This past September we got one beach day and had to evacuate because of a hurricane. I feel bad complaining, because it was so devastating to PR and was really just a major fwp for us. But dammit, I looked forward to that vacation all fucking year. And it was our only one since H had to use his other three weeks of vacation for paternity leave. We wound up in a single hotel room with our kids. Which was rough. Thankfully Colonial Williamsburg was pretty fun. I'm still salty that we didn't get to enjoy any quality adult time with our friends that were with us. We had so much fun with them the year before.

[hawkward]

I forgot, last summer we took the boys to Silver Dollar City. Our first hotel had bedbugs. We left that one and then our second hotel had a fire. Everyone was okay, but we had to stand in the parking lot in our pajamas for an hour before we could get our stuff and check out.

[elodin]

Holy shit CestLaVie...what a freaking nightmare!

[melimo1315]

My H did some yardwork the day before we got married. We left the morning after our wedding for our honeymoon. H woke up our first morning there covered in poison ivy. It was infected by day 2 there and we learned he is severely allergic to poison ivy. His eyes swelled shut and one arm swelled so much his hand looked like a lobster claw. He had to stay in the room on meds the whole time and avoid sun exposure.

He felt bad and told me to go places without him. I did for the most part and brought him back meals and pictures. I got a lot of laughs when I said it was my honeymoon when out and about alone.

Someday we plan to go back for a do-over.

[brux]

Mar 27, 2018 6:48:02 GMT -6 HilarityEnsued said:

As an adult, I won't schedule long vacations with anyone unless I've had a test trip with them first.

Like after many visits to my inlaws, I'm very specific on what we will and will not do with them. Now, whenever we are ANYWHERE with them, I have to have access to my own vehicle (rented or otherwise), and it's made clear that we will be doing a lot of our own thing and can spend time together each day but we will not jsut be sitting in their house and looking at each other.

We took a short trip with friends last year. We had never vacationed with them before. DS1 is friends with their only kid. It was fucking awful and we ended up leaving a night early because it was so bad.

So anyway, I've narrowed down my list of who I will and will not vacation will to basically a handful of people.

[brux]

the ripped out chunk of hair has killed me, hufflepug. I can't even scroll up lest I accidentally re-read that.

[Ls2012]

3 summers ago, we took a wknd camping trip to Mammoth Caves (10hr drive). As we were setting up the tents, a wasp was buzzing around. My oldest DD was flipping out and I told her to just stand still and stop flailing.

As I was demonstrating the "hold still" premise, that little fucker decided to land on my leg. And crawl up my shorts. And sting me on my freaking vag.

Cue me, hiding in the car with an ice cube on my parts trying to combat the painful swelling. I spent the rest of the weekend wincing with every step as my underwear and shorts chafed over the spot.

DH and DD1 still think it was hilarious.

[Deleted]

When I in college my family had a wedding in FL after the end of my summer session. So I met them down there and drove back to Maryland with them. On the way back my mom and aunt got into a huge fight over the "assumption women don't know how to drive" that then lead into affirmative action argument. It was so tense. Then the van broke down and my aunt and uncle caught a flight home out of SC. (Haven't ever seen Aunt again depite it being 11 years.)

After 4 hours the van was fixed and we kept going. Somewhere around NC I took over driving and on the Bay bridge tunnels in VA Beach, our van wouldn't go over 20 mph without stalling the engine. So I'm driving a 15 passagener van in a two lane tunnel with it stalling out and us rolling backwards till I could get it going again. My dad was screaming at me and I kept telling him anytime I accelerate the engine dies. He thought I was being stupid (those assumptions about women drivers eh?). Somehow we make it off the bridge without being in a wreck. I pull over and my dad takes over. He finds that the van can only go 20 mph without stalling out. Shock! We make it about 40 miles and the poor van finally dies. We spent 6 hours in a broken van on the side of the road waiting for someone to drive the 90 minutes south to pick us up and take us home. I have never road triped with my parents again.

[bearfootzcontinued]

I had an ovarian cyst burst while we were at an all inclusive in the Riviera Maya. Trying to walk on sand while in excruciating pain is not easy. We got back to the room and I basically got stuck on the toilet - like couldn't stand up because I was in so much pain and had to ask DH for help. We were supposed to go to dinner with the group of friends we were with that night but I could hardly move. I sent him to dinner and told him to find me some good drugs because the ibuprofen wasn't cutting it but he didn't believe me. I was panicked that I'd end up in some weird hospital or that I'd get on the plain and my ovary would explode. (logic and pain don't go together). The next day I hobbled to the swim up bar, felt a little better being in the water, and used tequila as my pain reliever.

[goldenbird]

I'm just cringing at all these. The worst thing that ever happened to me on a trip was eating crab cakes that had bits of shell in them. I was 12 and we were in NYC. My dad was losing his shit that day so I tried to keep eating them. Finally my mom took a bite and realized.

[Dramaphile]

Our last trip was probably the worst, My dad, me and my two year old getting the stomach bug while visiting my parents in San Diego, which meant most of the trip was a bust and we didn't get to see any of our friends or eat at my favorite places. My sister's whole family had it the week before, and my mom. And MH was cranky the last few days of the trip because he was worried he was going to get it (he managed to hold off till two days after we got home).

Other than that, I don't think we've ever had anything genuinely bad. My parents travel a lot and three years ago, my dad ended up in a Turkish hospital for a week with what ended up being a kidney infection and kidney stones. They couldn't figure out what was causing his abdominal pain and started talking exploratory surgery (my dad had part of his intestine removed as a child and apparently the doctor thought that could have something to do with it) when they finally found the stones on an ultrasound.

[daometjing]

When I was 17 we went to Biloxi, Mississippi. My enjoyed gambling, so it wasn't uncommon to go to casinos. My sister was 21, so she was able to gamble, too. My mom wouldn't let me hang out in our hotel while they were in the casino, because where we were staying was a little far away from the casinos. Instead, they left me on various hotel casinos for hours at a time. I read books and ran up a huge bill on her calling card (this was before cell phones) calling my friends to complain. I did finish all my summer reading for my senior year that week.

[gussie]

I went to Alabama for my cousin's wedding. All of a sudden, the night after the wedding, I cannot stop vomiting. We are debating the hospital or just wait it out, but i realize the next afternoon I can't stand on my own. I figure I was just dehydrated and maybe caught a bug. I thought I'd get some fluids and be on my way. My BP was too low for them to let me leave, so I spent 2.5 days in the ICU and missed my flight. Apparently, I had a UTI (my first ever) with no symptoms and it got so bad, I was in septic shock. My mom was with my kids at home and MH was freaking out but trying to be strong for me, but apparently it was bad. The trip out of the ICU, to the airport and flying home was quite rough, but i was glad to be back.

[gussie]

I also had a stomach bug/food poisoning situation at Disney when I was about 8/9, and I can still remember all the places I vomited in the parks.

[gussie]

Two uncles at my sister's wedding in DR had medical issues. One had injured a disk in his back and couldn't move from his bed, and the other's leg swelled up like crazy. The second uncle saw the doctor right away when he got home and they took out 2 liters of fluid around his heart because of an infection he wasn't aware he had. First uncle couldn't come to my wedding because of a medical issue as well, I think weddings are cursed in my family.

[snowyowl]

TL;DR: My ILs are a pain in the ass.

That would be our trip in Teluride with MIL and FIL. This was when I realize MIL was more than just difficult. Many of my “favorite” IL stories came from this trip.

We got engaged at our favorite restaurant the night before we left. When we arrived in Denver we told MIL and FIL. MIL immediately shuts down and is clearly furious, which was confusing because she liked me and was really excited about the prospect of us getting engaged. Turns out she’d made a plan where DH was going to propose in front of them at midnight during New Years fireworks. DH had told her no... but she thought she’d be able to talk him into it and was pissed when we showed up already engaged. She makes snarky comments about it the rest of the trip, including during the fireworks “wouldn’t this have been a nicer proposal? I could have taken pictures!”

Their timeshare is a bedroom for the ILs, a pullout couch in the living room for us. We will spend the rest of the trip waking up to my early rising ILs drinking their coffee a few feet away and watching us sleep. Awkward.

Dinner out the first night, we are talking about our childhoods and DH casually mentioned that he used to walk home from school in junior high. MIL gets all ruffled, “You NEVER walked home, I ALWAYS picked you up.” DH replies that no, he walked home a lot because she worked. No big deal, it was a 10 minute walk on sidewalks for a 13/14 year old.
When we got back to the hotel MIL and FIL call DH into their room and she proceeds to scream and cry about how he made her look like a bad mother in front of me. I can hear the whole thing as she is drunk and at top volume.

FIL wakes DH every morning at 5am to go skiing. Every morning DH tells him he’ll go at 7, he’s going to sleep a little more (we were in a ski on/ski off room so he wouldn’t need a ride, he would just join FIL as he skied past). FIL is pissed every time.

We drive back to Denver and have to stay over night. ILs offer to pay for the room. We discover too late that this means we are all going to stay in one bedroom, but there is a half-wall separating us at least. Tensions are high. They insist on turning out the lights at 8:30, including my book light which is literally one of those tiny ones that attaches to the book. And we are behind a wall. DH and I get up and go to the Applebee’s next door because we aren’t tired.

When we get back, FIL is still awake and pulls DH into the hallway to tell him off for “ignoring them” and not participating in the vacation and embarrassing his mother. This included staying up “late” drinking every night so he couldn’t ski early (which means we stayed up past their 9pm bedtime and had a couple beers).

They still have a timeshare out there and I get at least three emails from MIL a year inviting us to go out there. Nope, never again. It’s been ten years MIL, take a hint.

[olenka]

I went to Mexico City with my boyfriend at the time. The city itself was amazing and it's still an unforgettable trip to this day. But my travel companion was...not ideal. He wanted to spend an inordinate amount of time napping in the room or checking his stocks on the hotel computer. He also gave me shit for not trying to speak Spanish enough and thought I relied on him to communicate (he was from Argentina). He also made a big show of giving money to panhandlers and derided me for not doing the same.

I nearly left early, without him. In the end, we broke up about a week later.

[smiley]

Mar 27, 2018 7:17:38 GMT -6 yummeecookee said:

Mar 27, 2018 7:10:31 GMT -6 @girlnextdoor said:

We went on a long key West vacation in an rv. That part was great. We decided to camp in the everglades for 2 nights. I've never experienced such mosquito hell in my life. Like literal swarms everywhere. H slapped my back and killed like 20 at once. They bit through clothing, undies, even bra. I was pregnant with a 10 month old in tow. I left with THOUSANDS of bites. It made me sick to my stomach and I swelled up everywhere. Mosquitos don't bother h and I had baby wrapped in thick blanket protection so they left with minimal bites. It was hell.

I had a situation like that in Rome. Mh and I decided to sleep w a window open and woke up halfway through the night to what we thought was 1 pesky mosquito. When we turned on the light, it was pretty much a swarm in the room. We closed the window and started swatting and killing the ones that were already in the room. The fuckers were so engorged after feeding on us all night, when we would swat at them, it would leave blood marks on the wall. 😷

When we were in Venice, we ate at a restaurant on the street and saw the biggest rat under a table. Not kidding, the size of a cat. Our waiter just made some joke about Ratatouille. But then he told me not to sleep with the window open and motioned like a rat climbing in. 😂 I will never un-see that.

[rayann]

When I was in junior high, I took a trip to Hershey park with my family. I ended up getting food poisoning and staying in the hotel for most of the trip.

[tincupchalice]

DS1 was 9 weeks old. I'd had a rough delivery and wasn't physically recovered at all. We had to drive 12 hours to our college friend's wedding.

A month or so previously the engine on our SUV had died under warranty and the dealership had replaced it. This is relevant.

So we're cruising up through west virginia towing our camper, when all of a sudden there's this awful bang/thud jerk sound. Something is very wrong. We limp the rig into - no kidding - skeeter's garage.

Turns out that when the dealer did the engine repair, they effed it up and it ended up jacking up the transmission. It took a few hours to get this diagnosis, during which I'm sitting in a corner of skeeter's garage trying to keep a tiny fussy baby calmish.

We thought about it and decided it was better to limp the whole thing at 30 miles an hour the last 90 miles to our destination rather than be stuck indefinitely at Skeeters. We do so, and then begins the process of getting the dealership to cover the repair because it was their fault. This took two weeks, a lawyer, and threats of the BBB and JAG. Two weeks, to even get them to agree to start the repairs. THey tried to argue that it wasn't covered under warranty because the first repair had been improperly done... by their own dealership. Anyway, it eventually got taken care of.

Thank god we had the camper with us, so we weren't out ridiculous lodging fees or anything, and fortunately DH had plenty of leave that he could take easily.

[theseaword]

Thanks to this thread, if I ever end up on a lame trip I can think to myself “at least there are no fire ants” “at least my scalp is intact”.

[boxerific]

My parents have a timeshare in Disney, so when DS3 was 10 weeks old, we packed up the car and drove from MD to FL for a magical week with the whole family. Even my brother was coming... hooray! Halfway through the drive down, we realize we've made a huge tiny mistake. (We'd done it plenty of times but never with such a tiny baby.) Start looking at the auto train for the way back the following weekend.

First night there (Sunday), get everyone settled into their beds to rest up for our park day the next day - DS2 begins vomiting. Monday he seems better but has some residual effects, so my dad stays behind with him and the rest of us go to the park. Tuesday we're all healthy - yay! Wednesday DS1 complains of a tummyache but no issues. We trudge along to the happiest place on earth!!11!1! (Magic Kingdom) where, eventually, we wind up buying a bottle of Pepto for $18 because issues prevail. Wednesday night, I get sick. DS2 gets sick again. Thursday comes and goes - and we're all feeling better. Friday we go to Epcot. Halfway through the day, I'm holding DS3 outside (thank heavens) of an exhibit when he gets sick. Then my dad starts to feel queasy. Super.

Saturday afternoon we had to leave to get to the train station. You pack everything into your car but keep some "carry on" baggage with you. Well, clearly we didn't pack enough clothing because the next 15 hours of train travel quickly wore through MH and my clothing as DS3 continued to get sick. On us. We got off the train in VA, had another 1.5 hours of driving to get home. And declared that we'd never go to Disney again**.

DS3 then continued to get sick 1-2x daily for the next 10 days. Which, according to the pedi, was normal for a tiny baby with a fresh immune system. It was a really rough period.

**MH and I just went without kids in February for a race (about 2 years later). We obviously moved on, but I still say that we're not going back with kids until everyone is potty trained, can puke in a bucket, and we don't have to take a stroller.

[lucilleaustero]

Can't say I have had a bad vacation, but I had a bad few days on one.

DH and I were dating for three months and took a 10 day trip up the California coast. I had done that trip once before.

Things were fine, but by day 4, it was too much time together in the car when we really were still getting to know each other. In Solvang, I got super day drunk. Fell asleep before dinner and was a horrible bitch about being woken up. Ate at The Hitching Post and would not speak to him and left halfway through dinner to walk back to our hotel. Like, left him there. He had done nothing wrong, but I was exhausted and drunk and had one hell of a headache. I cancelled our tour for the next day that he had paid for and refused to leave the room due to my hangover. For days5 and 6 of our trip, we did not talk to each other. We broke up in Santa Cruz and decided to just finish out the trip, but I was such a horror show those two days. We got back together in San Fran.