Ever been on holiday where you couldn't wait to come home

[GardeningQuestionTime]

OK I'm in the sun and it's February...but I'm stuck on an where nothing to do except snorkel and its too windy.

The hotel needs serious updating, there are cocks crowing all night, the breakfast was minimal. The advertised beach is lovely but literally a beach. My alternative plan of lying on the beach reading are scuppered by no umbrella or lounger.

The hire car is a worryingly battered piece of shit.

I'm being churlish but there's a long 5 days stretching out in front of me.

Honestly some stories of shit holidays would help!

Mine seems positively boring compared to some of these. You poor things!

Tenerife for me. Went with a friend. She didn’t get up til midday, didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything - she had been before. I am an early bird and so ended up doing things in my Own but I was also a student and so my money only went so far. I went to bed every night thinking ‘ another day done.’ Each morning I woke up and said ‘ day x only y days to go.’ I couldn’t wait to come home.

@Odingodof yes it was a package but through one of the ice lolly/ on the beach type companies, not a High Street travel agent. There was a resort rep but he was a local and you could tell he couldn't care less. We only saw him once the whole week. We complained when we got home but just got passed around not really getting anywhere so in the end we chalked it up to experience. We did write a scathing review of the hotel on trip advisor. It would have been prudent of us to check reviews before booking, but lesson learned.

Morocco last year, dog poo everywhere on the beach.
Pool guys kept all the best beds around the pool then you had to pay them for one.
To top it off got food poisoning from the hotel restaurant.
Never ever again

@Magicunicornpower that's how I felt- found it very soulless. I used to take the piss out of Alcudia in Majorca- but in comparison Alcudia looked like paradise - can't see the appeal at all - and the 2nd time we went to what is considered the nicest resort- still wasn't that nice.

@Devilshands and @Mothership4two We were in New York for a week. We were disappointed in it, but made the best of it. The very nice 5* hotel we were staying in across the water in Jersey helped. Plus we don’t mind too much if we don’t like a place if we are not there too long. It’s all part of travelling and seeing ‘life’s rich tapestry’. No doubt we wouldn’t have taken that positive view if we’d been there as long as you were 😮 IRL people always seem amazed that we were not keen on NYC and wouldn’t go back. Do you find that?

@Newchapterbeckons Go to South Africa on Safari. Fabulous accommodation, lovely people, amazing wildlife and lots of it (up close). Everything is efficient and no one shoots at the aircrafts.

We were in the Algarve in December and got an earlier flight home!

no matter where I go and how nice it is, I am always glad to be home and sleep in my own bed!

Same here too! Nothing like your own home / bed.

Luckily it hasn’t happened since in Mombassa, but they have some issues still but more low level.

If I could have found another way to get home I would have gladly! I think the entire Kenyan army had been deployed by that time, and soon to be dh said how much safer it must be now as we stood in the airport - but I looked at them and felt even worse. They were so young! Like 15 year old teens strutting around with sun machine guns. I wanted a more cultural, exciting, tribal adventure but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind even if the country was staggering wild and beautiful!!

I felt so sad for the hotels and people we left behind, and their livelihoods taken away overnight by the actions of a few.

Well SA was a whole different experience. We hired a car in Cape Town and took a wrong turning. Within a few minutes our car was surrounded by police. We had inadvertently ended up in one of the less welcoming townships! We were advised to urgently leave whilst we were still had the chance. Robbing and killing tourists at gun point was considered fair game. We were a little more careful after that. I had wondered why the houses had armed security. Loved SA and will definitely go back.

Viking River Cruise.

Nearly all Americans who after they found out where you lived and what you did for a living would then blank you if you weren't the "right sort".

The crew were horrible, we didn't buy the drinks package as we don't drink but decided we'd pay for our soft drinks at the bar. Couldn't get served to save our life. Waiters ignored us (two females travelling together) Women travelling with husbands were treated like gold.

The best crew member was the Eastern European guy who looked after our cabin, we left him a huge tip.

I was ready to jump ship after 36 hours.

I wound up in hospital on IV antibiotics from food in our "five" star Moroccan hotel. Then I wound up with CDiff from the antibiotics.

I'll never set foot in that country again

Had a few to be honest, twice ive been to Greece, (was quite a few years ago) NEVER EVER AGAIN, 5 star hotel, everything was concrete, bed concrete square with mattress on top, dressing table, bedside cabinet, so things could crawl up and they did. Every time you woke up swung your legs down to get out of bed you'd bash the back of your legs, we were covered in scrapes bruises.
Poured down both times the whole time i was there. Staff were rude.

Uk last year, Northumberland, lovely but again poured down and nothing to do with a child , googled area there was a theme park within 20 miles also a zoo but both out in the open, a toddler soon gets miserable even in coat and wellies in the pouring rain. We left early.

Can you take your beach towel and a book and go read.
Ask at reception for a map go for walk stop for lunch somewhere on route.
Catch a bus or get a taxi into nearest town/tourist attraction.
Enjoy, its freezing here.

2017 flying to Madeira but couldn't land due to high winds, so got diverted to Tenerife for the night. Got put up in a 3* hotel, all the food was beige and the terrifying woman ahead of me in the buffet queue had a huge throat tattoo. A broken pipe meant we woke up to 2 inches of (dirty) water everywhere. Sitting by the pool we witnessed 2 very heated altercations over sunbeds, it was like bloody Fight Club but with mobility scooters. When high winds still at Madeira meant we had to endure a second night I was so upset and might have cried a little bit

Hated Sunnybeach Bulgaria. Locals wanting you to change your money so they could go to the tourists supermarket. Cleaner going through my clothes all the time. Kids lived on crisps and toblerone because the food was awful. We all got tummy bug one after the other, daughter still V&D day we came back. Plane boarding when she passed wind + and I had to race to the toilets to clean her up.
Also Kos. Hotel was still being built. Evening entertainment was a pianist who only knew three tunes and waiters dancing round fire lit meths. Highlight was when one got his pants on fire. No plug in the bath, when you complained they took one from another room. Drinks were extortionate so people sneaked bottles into the restaurant/bar. Since heard it’s a 5* hotel now.

@Devilshands I live in NYC and can confirm that Christmas is not magical, it is a shitshow. I refuse to go anywhere near Midtown for the whole of December because it's a crowded stressful mess.

@Newchapterbeckons bloody hell how terrifying

I don't mean to be nasty, but that story has given me massive laugh halfway through a somewhat trying half term...thank you!

Didn't Frank Sinatra sing 'Its so nice to go travelling....but its so much nicer to come home"

These have given me a laugh. Especially mobility scooter fight club.

Officially over myself now, found some snorkeling, the hotel is sweet and jump-started ourheap of shit hire car

Found a great lunch spot.

I even went so far as to say that if I found myself here again that would be OK.

Yes, I have been in Morocco during a week of downpour, Crete with chilly wind, Lanazarote in a place with nothing to do, Wales camping and flooded. They weren't my best holidays but I still got something from them all, made it into a positive experience by doing whatever we had planned but with waterproofs. Always lovely to be away, different scenery, people and sights. Just try to make the best of it, go out, see the beauty of the area. If knowing it wouldn't be sunny and hot best to have a plan b. Even being in a hotel room, well on my own, would be bliss lol 😆

Tunisa was pretty awful..everyone smoking heavily everywhere, awful food, loud music at pool, freezing pool, bad food, sick husband, lots of harassment, dirty, empty resort. Wouldn't go back if you paid me. (Sousse)

It’s disappointing when reality doesn’t meet expectations.

I don’t think any holiday experience will beat me crying hysterically outside ‘city hall’ in Disneyland Paris. My 8 year old son begging me to locate him a toilet on one side and my 5 year old daughter with severe mental impairments having a meltdown on the other.

Basically I’d applied for a disability access card for dd as she would not be able to handle queues. Applying for it was straight forward, turned up on the day to collect it with the relevant paperwork proving entitlement only to find out I also needed her passport. Checked the email they sent me and at no point did it mention needing her passport!

They wouldn’t budge and so I attempted to do it without the card. Nope! Dd was screaming while I tried to get her to stand in line, fingers in her ears, eyes squeezed shut so she was walking into things. She was reaching the point where she was about to start biting and I just lost it and burst into tears.

It had already been hellish travelling the day before. We’d had special assistance in the airport where a bus had taken us to the plane so we didn’t board at the gate. As I was helping ds off the bus (also has SEN though not as profound) I’d accidentally loosened my grip on the reigns and she attempted to run into the tarmac full of aircraft. She’d bolted through departures three times with me chasing having to leave the hand luggage behind!

Anyway I went back to ‘city hall’ mid breakdown to be told yet again it was impossible without her passport. However a kind manager seeing how distressed I was came out, took one look at dd and could see I needed help. She went in to speak to someone higher up to plead my case and they agreed. I’ve never felt so thankful in all my life but I still inwardly cringe at how much of a spectacle I made of myself…