Trigger warning: Worst/craziest/bizzare holiday vs Lovely/best holiday experiences

[PopsicleHustler]

I have read some incredible threads since I joined mumsnet about some crazy times people have had on their holidays. And some even with posters working abroad.

The ones that stand out to me were :

• a lone woman travelling in India and had a load of Indian men banging out her door. She was so terrified. Her reply said the only thing that stood between her and gang rape was 'a weak wooden door'. I have heard such crazy things about how rape is so common in India and not enough is done about it and the police lack to do anything about it.

• that Morocco is absolutely horrific for being constantly begged for money and being hassled by men. I have watched YouTube videos if people like maryjane byarm who videos and vlogs going round the whole world. And she said Morocco is terrible and relentless for literally everywhere she went people were asking her non stop for men. And greasy scummy men approaching her.

Egypt- where animal abuse is basically as casual as having a coffee in Starbucks. Disgusting.

• turkey, you cant drink the tap water, even brush your teeth or wash salad with their tap water, as you would end up violently ill with Niagara fall style diarrhoea and the rush to the toilet on the airplane is a fight to the death as everyone is fighting their way in to the toilet to puke.

• a road trip in Europe, where a group of female travellers decided to travel along a dodgy road, that were told by locals its very dangerous for tourists, but they thought there is like 6 of us, what could happen. They were mugged and beaten up. And left alongside a very small mountain edge. I cant even remember how they got back to their hotel/hostel or whatever.

• another lady was with her newborn baby and husband,her mother and father, and her sister, sisters husband and small toddler child in Ecuador and were approached by a gang on bikes and a truck. They were all forced into the truck, where they were all beaten up and hit (none of the babies were hit, thankfully) and had the passports stolen, all their money and dropped off in the middle of nowhere. In the dead of night. They apparently were begging the robbers for their bags back at least let them have the babies nappies and milk, even if they do steal all our belongings. Amazingly, the robbers tipped the bags over onto the floor for the family to scavenge through to grab the nappies.they were then dumped in the middle of Ecuador with no shoes. And an elderly gentleman was passing by to go his home, which was like an old wooden shack like literally in the middle of nowhere. He didn't have electric but lived by candlelight, gave them his shoes and food and whatever he could.

I think this lady posted her story on YouTube too.

I also have read lovely stories. About people who have been in truly wonderful places, even nice places in the UK and had a great time and places abroad where they felt easy going round and treated very warmly and were welcomed by the locals.

So I would like to know your craziest and most best holiday experience!
Where you would never go again, and where you cant wait to go back!

Ok that was a lot less light-hearted than I expected...

Why don't you go first and share your own story, OP?

ok i came here expecting to have light hearted stories of friends hooking up with randoms in front of you or getting the runs in an inopportune moments. that was erm disturbing.

BTW been to both Turkey and Morocco and had wonderful times in both with no issues. Generally unless i know the country is safe i always use bottled water and don't have ice/uncooked veg and fruit etc

oh and Egypt too saw no animal abuse....china on the other hand was so disturbed i walked out

I think some of your examples are, er, potentially a bit xenophobic. All the things you describe happen here in the UK too. I've travelled and lived in several of the places you mentioned, and while there was mild annoyances because I stood out as a relatively wealthy westerner, I was never raped or extensively harrassed.

That said, dh and I were staying in Sri Lanka on the way to go visit friends. We'd rented a house that had a locked gate, then a small patio area for shoes, etc. and then the main door into the house. We left shoes in the gap between the gate and the door. A few days in to our time there, dh's nice (ish) trainers disappeared (nicer than my shitty cheap flip flops). We assumed that someone had stolen them. A couple days went by and one day we were coming home and one of the neighbours from a few houses down came running up with dh's shoes. He explained he saw them and was worried that someone was going to nick them if we left them there, so he reached through the bars to get them and took them home with him so he could make sure he gave them back to us safely next time he saw us. We laughed so much because it was such a kind gesture and obviously we'd been a bit silly.

On a more lighthearted note, dh and I also stayed in a hotel in LA once that was sort of half tourists and half 'hostel' (as in locals who were being housed there for whatever reason). The hotel put on a buffet with hot food, cake and 2 hours of unlimited cheap cava every day 5-7pm. It was wonderful, everyone came out by the pool and drank cheap bubbly and ate cake every afternoon! We ended up meeting a guy there who was from the next village over from where dh grew up in a rural part of the UK. He'd been in the navy and got sent to America in like the 80s and just sort of parked there and never left. He'd lived at this random hotel with it's afternoon cake and bubbles for several years now.

We then had to get up at like 3am to leave for a very early flight and I had to get the car out of the car park and down this narrow alley in the middle of the night. And there was a party going on in one of the rooms and (not to stereotype 😬) but I think there may have been some gang affiliation going on based on very specific attire many people had on. One guy had a handgun tucked into the top of his waistband. And they were blocking the exit out this alley. I had to get out of the car in the dark and ask if they wouldn't mind moving....and they could not have been more polite and lovely, apologised for blocking the way, checked we were okay (as obviously in a weird place at 3am), made sure we knew which way to turn to get to the airport. It was just such a truly bizarre yet magical hotel. I'd love to go back again one day and hope it hasn't lost its charm.

@mindutopia sorry if it came across xenophobic. I don't mean that its like that everywhere in those countries. You get good and bad everywhere.

@WonderingWhale sadly I have never been abroad. So I don't have any.

Only been to Northern Ireland and back to southern England. Would love to have adventures around the world.
My dh, on the other hand has been everywhere and has shared some both amazing and crazy experiences including even being an earthquake in Asia.
For me, my dream come true would be to able to see America, New York especially and also to go to France and Nigeria. I'd like to travel to Australia and New Zealand but I dont do well with heat.

I love countries and cultures and reading and hearing peoples travel stories and adventures, hence why I created this thread.

Sorry if you all thought it was going to be a light hearted thread, I didn't want it to be doom and gloom, just interested in hearing people's stories and adventures, the good and the bad.