15 Travelers Who Ended Up in a Story to Tell

It’s often on the road where the most memorable and strange stories happen to us. When we go somewhere on business, or on holiday, we get out of our usual rhythm and strange things start to happen at every step.

• We arrived at the hotel, got a key card, and went to the room, tired. My husband opens the door, I go in, the room is dark and quiet. We pass the corridor and head to the room and see a half-naked woman sitting on the bed, and a man is lying under the bedspread, the TV is on.
  And at that moment, our frantic eyes meet her frightened ones. Of course, we had to apologize and leave the room. We went down to reception, grumbled a bit about embarrassing another family, and for that we were given a presidential 2-room suite. © Radanna MP / Facebook
• Asked for clothes pegs at reception in Turkey. Translated the request through an online translator and showed it to them. They asked us, “For women?” And they brought a pack of underwear. For women. © Marina Durusheva
• Once on a train (on the top bunk), I couldn’t fall asleep for 3 hours because the man next to me was snoring loudly. I started to shove him with my foot, but the snoring was getting louder and louder. I was so sick of it that I woke up and wanted to yell at him.
  I opened my eyes and saw the man’s surprised face. It turned out that it was the old lady from the bottom bunk. © Overheard / Ideer
• We were flying home from Egypt, security screening. A woman in front of me was taken aside and asked to show the contents of her bag. Angry, she dumps everything out.
  But she blushes when the officer picks up some small object with 2 fingers. The woman turns to her son and asks, “Why did you take my scooter wrench with you? Did you need it at the sea?”
  It turned out to be a small iron wrench — as far as I understood, it’s used to fix some parts. In the end, the wrench was not allowed on board, and the mother scolded her son all the way to boarding.

• I was in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, sitting by myself at an outdoor café. A server came by and asked me, in perfect English, if I’d like for him to open my umbrella. I replied, “Ich spreche kein Deutsch, sprichst du Englisch?” Translation: I don’t speak German, do you speak English?
  He stared at me. I stared at him. Since I didn’t want to dine and dash and was physically incapable of disappearing into the ground, I just said, “Yes, please;” and finished up as quickly as possible. © Chemical_Egg_2761 / Reddit
• When traveling solo in Vietnam, I boarded a public ferry in the lower delta. I noticed that everyone on board was white and dressed kind of fancy, but I figured it was just Europeans traveling in Southeast Asia.
  Then, 15 minutes into the ride, someone started pouring champagne and passing it around to passengers. I was impressed with the service on a public ferry... The person pouring champagne got to me and gave me a puzzled look as I reached for a glass.
  It was then I realized I got on a private boat. We had a good laugh, and they dropped me off at the next public ferry dock. © viceadvice / Reddit
• I’ll always remember our first trip to Italy. My friend fell behind the group, taking pictures of everything. She had no money, no documents, and no knowledge of the language. I alarmed the guide and the whole group, we searched for her, and she, as it turned out, calmly came to the statue of David strictly at the agreed time.
  All would be nothing, but a day later our guide got down with a sudden attack of ulcer, so the rest of the tour I had to act as a guide and interpreter for the whole bus of tourists. Since then, we have been traveling independently for 20 years — we are responsible for ourselves, we don’t depend on anyone. © coolwolf0 / ADME
• We had a holiday in Vietnam. Sunbeds on the beach were for a fee but cheap. A woman about 60 years old comes up and asks, “Can I lie down nearby?” We didn’t understand her right and agreed.
  It turned out that in order to save money, she decided to lie down next to my sunbed. In the shadow of my umbrella. And she stayed there all day. And we couldn’t even talk properly so that not to disturb her. © Overheard / Ideer

• We went on holiday with my boyfriend to the sea so that we could celebrate his birthday there. The fourth day of the holiday: we woke up, washed up, went out on the veranda, and he was looking at me in a strange way. I didn’t pay attention to it.
  So, we’re walking around the city, and he is acting strange. We go to a café, eat, and he’s looking at me and looking, and I can’t understand what he wants. Then the date is announced on the radio.
  I suddenly realize that it’s his birthday! I felt like a jerk for forgetting it so ridiculously. On holiday, you lose track of time. Shame... © Overheard / Ideer
• I was in a tiny town deep in the Pyrenees in France just after coming to the country. I was running to catch a train and could hear it coming but couldn’t figure out where the station was, and I started panicking.
  I saw an older couple walking toward me, but all of the French I knew flew out of my head because I was in such a tizzy. So, basically I ran up to this nice couple and yelled, “Ooh ay el choo-choo” while making the “pull the cord” motion.
  This nice couple pointed me in the right direction, but they were doubled over laughing the entire time. Couldn’t blame them, honestly. Made my train. © its_car_ramrod / Reddit
• 5 years ago, I started learning English from scratch. I took a very basic course, and then my daughter surprised me on Mother’s Day by giving me tickets to Vienna.
  And I went to a café there. There were no seats, people were waiting at the entrance, and the host announced that a table for one had just become vacant. So, I raised my hand and said loudly, “I’m single!”
  Of course, I attracted the attention of everyone around me. And the host replied in English, “Oh, I’m sorry! ” And escorted me to my table. Then I realized that I had made a mistake and laughed. © Larisa Volkova

• I showed up to the flight check in and the lady couldn’t find my ticket when I gave her my passport. She kept trying to go into the system, called 3 others over to help her and then when I opened my booking app I realized I had scheduled it for the same day the next month by mistake. I quietly said, “It’s okay, I’m sorry,” and walked away. © PachaTNM / Reddit
• We were in Poland, went on a tour to the mines in the High Tatras. The organizers made a mistake, and as a result we didn’t have a guide. A girl came out to us and said she could speak Polish, English, Czech, or German.
  The first mishap happened at the entrance, where the helmets were hanging, and it was written in Polish and English that the helmets are for people taller than 6 feet to avoid banging on the low ceiling ledges. Only the tall people didn’t get the helmets: the mothers grabbed them all and put them on their children.
  Then they got indignant that they couldn’t understand anything, so I started to translate to those standing next to me. Everyone happily decided that I was the translator, and after a while they started telling me where I should go, because the guide had already moved on to the next location, and I was still staring at the clusters of druzes. © Fruitcake / ADME
• It happened 30 years ago. Back then, air tickets were sold without seat assignment. The planes were not as full, as they are now. I flew often and liked to choose seat 4G by the window. And to prevent anyone from sitting next to me, I put my briefcase on the neighboring seat.
  And here comes a chubby woman and asks me to remove my suitcase, as she wants to sit next to me. I show her a few unoccupied rows — she doesn’t care, “I want to sit here and that’s it!” I had to get up and move to a vacant row to avoid a scandal. Like, what was that? © Viktor Shulakov / Dzen
• We came to the beach with our children, the eldest is 3 years old. He was strictly forbidden to go into the water without us. At one point, he comes up with a wet head. How so?
  He says: a boy poured water on him. We developed the film, printed the photos and were stunned. I’m posing with the younger one, and in the background the older one is squatting and pouring water on his head from a toy bucket. © Eugenia B / Dzen

And here are some railway stories that travelers are unlikely to forget any time soon.