18 Tourists Who Had Something to Remember While on Vacation

There are vacations that leave only pictures and souvenirs. And there are those after which life is divided into “before” and “after.” Someone accidentally becomes the hero of local legends, others become the victims of their own curiosity, but all without exception come back home with something more than a suitcase of dirty laundry. The heroes of these stories squeezed every last drop out of their vacation!

The article uses an image created by artificial intelligence.

• I went on holiday with my boyfriend to the sea, everything was great. But on the second day, the bank blocked his card with all his money. That’s it, our holiday was over.
  But then the guy amazed me to the depths of my soul — he found a way out! He worked 2 days as an animator in the hotel in the evenings, until we waited for the money transfer from friends. But I immediately appreciated his ingenuity. After that incident, I realized he was my future husband. © Chamber ** / VK
• I couldn’t wait for my flight to Greece. I went to the counter and suddenly realized I had come to the wrong airport. I felt like a complete fool. And then another “attentive” passenger approaches the counter!
  What do you think? A month later, he proposed to me, and in the summer we’re getting married. And we’ll fly to Greece for the honeymoon! © Caramel / VK
• My friend was about to get married, and her father sent her to the sea so that she could take a break from the pre-wedding fuss. Then she comes back from her vacation, and we are all in complete shock — she brought a new husband with her!
  While she was on holiday, she married a lighthouse keeper. She dozed off while floating on a mattress and started drifting out to sea. So, the lighthouse keeper rescued her, and they fell in love. It happens! © Work Stories / VK
• Friends told me this story. A couple, Sam and Marina, came to their hotel. The entire vacation, they rocked with animators and went to the beach. After a month, Sam comes again. One of the animators sees him in the lobby and joyfully shouts, “Hi! Where’s Marina?”
  And then it turns out that Sam’s very surprised wife is standing next to him. This crazy guy first took his mistress to the resort, and then brought his wife to the same hotel. And he didn’t even think that everyone knows and remembers him there. © Overheard / Ideer

• 9 years ago, I decided to go to Italy with 3 friends. We arrived at a Tuscan farmhouse and stayed there for the night. We all paid the same, but we got rooms with different amenities. Guess who slept in a cold room with bedbugs and creaky beds with almost no blankets? © Janet Reedman / Quora
• A neighbor told me about a trip they took with their young daughter and husband to Greece. They spent 12 days out of 14 in a quarantined room because their daughter had chicken pox. © Confusion / ADME
• On one of the days of our vacation, we were having a trip on a yacht. I went to the gangway to swim, and I hear one of the passengers start a conversation with my wife: where we came from, what we saw, etc. So, I’m sitting there and eavesdropping. Then the lady asks my wife a question:
  — How many years is your husband older than you?
  To understand the reasons for the question: I am 10 years older. My wife doesn’t like it when strangers ask tactless questions, so she says:
  — He’s not my husband. I’m with him for his money.
  I asked her a little later what it was all about. She told me:
  — I don’t care, and now she has enough gossip to share with her neighbors for a month. © CIDR / Pikabu

• In Indonesia, we had dinner at a local restaurant. The dishes contained some fresh vegetables, and we forgot all the warnings about not drinking tap water, not under any circumstances. And fresh vegetables are often washed in tap water, of course.
  Near the late evening, first my sisters, then my mother and father got really sick. I was the only one not feeling sick at all. The next day, my sisters and parents still were really sick, so they stayed in bed. I decided to swim. A lot.
  Feeling heroic at the time, I planned to cross the 20 meter-long swimming pool a dazzling 250 times, thus reaching the magical 5,000-meter limit. But there were a couple of things I missed.
  First of all, it was very hot outside, and swimming under the burning sun, I had totally forgotten to apply sunscreen. When I came back to our room, my parents screamed, “Your back! You look like a lobster!” And that was an understatement, my dear friend.
  When the day progressed, I started to get a headache, and feel nauseous. A full-blooded sunstroke was opening its wings, and invited me inside. © Thomas Cayne / Quora
• Recently, my husband and I visited our friends in Germany for the first time. We sat down for breakfast, my friend cooked scrambled eggs with bacon and put some raw minced meat with salt and pepper on the table. By the end of the breakfast, we had our eyes popped out with shock as our friend spread this minced meat in a thick layer on bread and started to eat it! In response to our cultural shock, we were told that it was normal for them. © Chamber 6 / VK
• During my vacation in Turkey, I got into the habit of swimming in the morning, at 7-8 a.m. So, one day I swim: fish, sand, shells... But then I decide to look around. I turn my head and see a huge sea turtle!
  I look at it, it looks at me, and the next second I’m already rushing toward the shore. I don’t know why I got scared that much at that moment (the turtle obviously didn’t care about me), but I’ve never swum that fast. © Overheard / Ideer

• We rented a place for vacation. The landlady seemed normal, even gave free bikes to the tenants. But one evening we decided to have a barbeque.
  We asked for a grill. It was already quite shabby: in some places the steel color was still showing through the soot, but there were very few clean places left. We grilled the kebab, and I went to wash the grate. I was scrubbing it with all my might.
  And then the landlady passed by, saw the grate and started wailing that I had spoilt it. I was stunned at the absurdity of the situation. The landlady asked for a new one. Her employee came over, took me aside, took the grate and said that everything was fine. © Hasselhoff / Pikabu
• We stayed in a hotel in India. A colleague calls from the next room and asks, “Is this normal in the local area?” I come, she shows me a curtain on the wall, which seemingly covers the window.
  She pulls the curtain aside, and there’s a hole in the wall leading to the flat in the neighboring building. There’s no window on that side, nothing, just people walking around, putting dinner on the table, watching TV. We pulled the curtain back. © Kaiebard / Pikabu
• I had a fling while on vacation. We looked at everything, visited everywhere, decided to rent a small boat with oars.
  I wish we hadn’t done that, because I didn’t know that the sea is not a river. We rowed 20 minutes to the buoy and an hour and a half back, the wave didn’t let us get closer to the shore. I cursed that boat.
  Not only that I didn’t meet the time limit, but I also had so much trouble with the oars that when we came to the shore, I saw the lady off to her room and went to lie down: I had enough adventures for that day. © Overheard / Ideer

• A couple of months ago, we travelled to Mexico. We chose a hotel with excellent reviews and at the right price, and already imagined how we would lie on the beach and sunbathe.
  The plans were disrupted by the rain. It rained every day. Not rejuvenating sprinkles, but downpours.
  The problem was that I had rented an inexpensive room, in which we were supposed to spend the night only, so we had no balcony. Conclusion: sitting in a dark hotel room in Mexico is no fun at all. © Bart Crunk / Quora
• A few years ago, we were on vacation with friends at the sea. The hotel had bicycles in the courtyard. I asked if we could rent them. They said, sure, this is the price per hour.
  I see that there is a flat tire, I ask where I can get a pump. They say they don’t have a pump, but I can go to a shop and buy one. Could you at least tell me the address? In reply, I get, “You need it — you look for it.”
  In the end, 5 people who were ready to rent 5 bikes for 2–3 hours just walked to the sea. I don’t even know how to rate this service. © DenimDef / Pikabu
• We were returning with my parents from Turkey, the plane hit turbulence. There was panic in the cabin, I was crying, my mom was holding my hand, and my dad was doing something on his phone. Everything ended well, we landed. But then Mom looked at Dad’s phone and was stunned.
  Turns out, he was trying to send a message to his mistress about how much he loved her. Mom filed for divorce, had a nervous breakdown and is now being treated for depression. And Dad sincerely blames it all on the weather. © Overheard / Ideer

• We were once invited by acquaintances to spend a vacation together in a country where they had already been, and we had not yet. It was all served under the sauce of “we will show you everything, tell you everything: where to go, where it is interesting,” and so on. We agreed.
  So, we arrived, and it turned out that for them “interesting” is to spend time in 10-story shopping centers, and to fry on the beach in between. And all they talked about was where to eat next. And this is in a country with thousands of years of history, stunning architecture, temples and museums.
  We couldn’t stand it, so after a couple of days we decided to do our own thing. We ended up taking all the blame, like we ruined the whole vacation. © Anxiety Cake / ADME
• I have 2 friends — Nick and Val. They are brothers, and I’ve known them since the last millennium. Both are directors in their own small companies. Nick is the younger one, but he is responsible and more collected. But Val is more creative with the out-of-the-box thinking.
  I don’t know which of them came up with the idea of going on vacation to Thailand with their families for a couple of weeks. Anyway, 2 families get off the plane at the airport and go to get their luggage, and Val heads toward the toilets. The luggage has been received, but Val is still not there. Nick is calm, but the women start to boil. Especially after the phone informs them that the subscriber is unavailable.
  The wives call the security service. Like, you have people disappearing from the toilets. The airport staff look at the surveillance and see Val getting into a taxi and leaving.
  Anyway, a week later, they come down to the restaurant for breakfast, and see Val lying down on the sofa in the lobby. With some tattoos, dirty and unshaven. You can see that the man has had a great time. He kept silent about where he’d been. And Nick swore that he would never take anyone on vacation with him again. © SilverTiger / Pikabu

And here are stories from people whose vacation stays will haunt them forever.