To ask what the scariest thing ever to happen to you abroad was?

[RainbowBriteUk]

Mine was unknowingly walking in to a cafe where only men where allowed in the Balkans and they just all stared. Some quite icily. I just turned on my heel and walked out!

It sure was early October. Was the longest night of my life being in locked in our hotel. We nearly went to the music festival but decided against it thankfully.

We went on the 29th Sept and l got my dates a bit muddled there!

I dressed very drably in Cairo baggy black linen trousers sandals plain top no make up. Made zero difference to the non stop sexual harassment- being an unaccompanied female western 20 something was enough what I wore made zero difference

Get tae fuck with your victim blaming. Pretty sure the people on this thread describing their experiences did not deserve it for being "stupid" and "disrespectful". Especially the ones who were children at the time.

I'm not blaming anyone on this thread, many of whom say they were modestly dressed. What I'm saying is that I saw adult women wearing clothes that were not advisable in a Muslim country like really short shorts and tops with spaghetti straps in IMO it's both stupid and disrespectful to wear stuff like that in a place like Morocco.

This thread has terrified me. My 17 year old wants to go on a travelling gap year next year when she’s 18.

Massive car crash travelling through Italy. Wrote off the car, but thankfully we all got out with only minor cuts and bruises and whiplash. I still remember the way the car span round. One of the only times I've seen my dad cry. I was 14.

@MsTSwift

I dressed very drably in Cairo baggy black linen trousers sandals plain top no make up. Made zero difference to the non stop sexual harassment- being an unaccompanied female western 20 something was enough what I wore made zero difference

Same. I covered up in Cairo (no flesh on show) and it didn't stop me from being dragged into a side street by some bloke or being followed and harassed and groped literally everywhere I went.

Western women are seen as whores and unaccompanied western women are up for grabs. I don't feel the need to have any 'respect' for that part of Egyptian culture.

Lost at 1am in Johannesburg, driving around trying to find the place we were staying. Had to stop and ask directions in a lonely gas station . Was terrifying.

Get tae fuck with your victim blaming. Pretty sure the people on this thread describing their experiences did not deserve it for being "stupid" and "disrespectful". Especially the ones who were children at the time.

Hear hear.

I went to Morocco in the 90s with my then boyfriend and I can honestly say I didn't experience groping or anywhere near the level of horror some of the PPs have mentioned, but I was very modestly dressed and saw other western female tourists being ogled and hissed at by the men. They were wearing skimpy clothes though, which was a) stupid and b) disrespectful in a Muslim country.

Sooo.... It's ok for these men to assault and ogle women if theyre not dressed modestly enough? Gotcha.

I think it's more to do with the fact that you were traveling with a man that you were lucky enough not to be assaulted, not because of what you were wearing.

Also... I'm not obliged to respect any culture that dictates women must be covered.

I swore never to set foot in Egypt again. Vile misogynist place. I have never been as harassed as there ever. Not been to Morocco and I don’t want to!

For the lady whose dd going travelling am sure she will be fine. If she does want to go anywhere edgy an organised tour is great (did one in South America in my early twenties) and independent travel only in safer countries.

I swore never to set foot in Egypt again. Vile misogynist place. I have never been as harassed as there ever.

Same. You couldn't pay me to go back. It was terrifying. Even when I left, the taxi driver took me to the wrong airport terminal, refused to let me back in the cab, and I had to walk several miles through a building site, in the dark, on my own with a suitcase, followed and catcalled by men the whole way. Terrifying. Could not wait to leave that country and will never go back.

I've been to Morocco and did get harassed there too, but it was slightly less aggressive and terrifying. Two men followed me around a market and I got so fed up I turned around and yelled at them about how would they like it if men behaved this way with their mum, sister, daughter etc. They slunk off, but then reappeared five minutes later and apologised to me!!! Maybe something sunk in. I did get harassed horribly in Morocco but somehow it felt more manageable there. I remember going out with a Moroccan female friend and if a man so much as looked at either of us, she delivered a public shaming. So I kind of copied her approach of yelling and publicly shaming anyone who disrespected me. It kind of worked, some of the time. It definitely made me feel more confident about walking about by myself there.

I remember thinking i work hard and have come here on holiday and get constant abuse for daring to exist! Fuck that!

@Dumbitdown that's such a terrible story. Reminds me that Britain can be very violent too. I wonder if you and your DP are still together. Head injuries are a nightmare.

Walking through a park in Chicago and a woman came running out of some bushes screaming that someone had got a gun. We ran pretty quick, backpacks and all. Another time staying in a backpackers type hostel in Washington DC, we were so scared we barricaded ourselves in our room by putting beds across the doors.

@faithfulbird20

Most of these experiences are horrific. Travelling isn't safe. A lot of people want to travel the world, kids want to travel and tour the world...why is travelling the world seen as some sort of adventure when it can be unexpectedly unsafe, there's sexual assault, murder, people getting robbed and what not...plus police in those countries are piss poor at their job...corrupt etc ...err no thanks. I'd rather visit somewhere local in the UK.

Don't be ridiculous. Travelling can be absolutely wonderful - experiencing different cultures and breathtaking scenery. I am sure if someone started a thread asking about the worst thing that had happened in the UK there would be lots of equally harrowing experiences. These things sadly happen here too

On a driving holiday in Spain in stormy weather, we came across a flood blocking our intended route. My DH, not the most patient of people, instructed me to find an alternative route. I found a minor road on the map which would connect us back to our planned route further along while bypassing the flood.

The road started climbing a mountain and got narrower and narrower. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm had moved in with lightning, the full works. We decided to abandon the route, so my DH turned the car round with only just enough room to do it without tumbling down the mountainside. I was shaking like a leaf. Needless to say, when we got back to the scene of the flood it had subsided and we were able to follow our original planned route.

My flatmate was sexually attacked walking home from work at 6pm in a nice area of town in an English city. Sadly you can be assaulted anywhere it’s not a case of not travelling and staying safe 🙄. Also what a dull limited life you would lead.

When DS was two we rented a remote ski chalet in France and he caught what appeared to be a regular cold. Then one night he started shaking uncontrollably, we somehow found the address of the tiny doctors' office and drove there.

When we got there he turned blue in the waiting room. When the doctor saw him (who didn't speak English and I didn't speak French) DS started having a seizure. They called an ambulance but it was an hours' wait for it to get to us and DS was collapsed and not responding and I was just holding him.

Normally in every other emergency I think 'this isn't 'it'. Everything's going to be fine in the end.' But that night I really thought it might be 'it'.

In Paris, my hotel room was broken into while I slept, and nicked my bag. I had to file a police report, and then go the consulate for a travel document.

I think I was drugged in the hotel bar, as I had a stinking headache for several days. My two colleagues were fine, but I was the one that put the round onto my room bill.

I was also violently attacked and rped by a stranger in his 40s when I was 17. I arrived late and was meant to be working with friends, they were all at a party at a coworker's house so I got dropped off there in the middle of nowhere. Then they left - something about not enough room in the car, can't remember, but they left me there alone. I remember realising I was the last one there, him saying he would take me to my friends in the morning, and then attacking me for hours while I tried to fight back.

Everyone knew about it and treated it as me being stupid/'that's the way men are.' Which is interesting as it's so often an accusation - that women haven't protected themselves against men - but then we're also supposed to accept #NotAllMen.

@MsTSwift

My flatmate was sexually attacked walking home from work at 6pm in a nice area of town in an English city. Sadly you can be assaulted anywhere it’s not a case of not travelling and staying safe 🙄. Also what a dull limited life you would lead.

That's true, but I do think people are sometimes naive about travel. I know I was. I read the 'rough guide' but when I went to Cairo on my own, I honestly thought I would be fine as long as I took basic precautions, and I was shocked at the level of harassment. I have friends who narrowly escaped being arrested for smoking weed in countries where they would have been thrown in jail, and others who were held up at gunpoint after travelling on roads they weren't supposed to be on. Loads more who have fallen victim to common scams and lost money, passports etc. And some who fell for charming conmen, thinking they were having a holiday romance and ending up ripped off for everything they had. I'm not saying don't travel, but I do think it's a good idea to do some proper research first and be aware that, especially in poorer countries, tourists are often seen as 'fair game'.

Various ones

Being caught in an earthquake and resulting storm and having to return afterwards on the boat.

Being in a hotel basement asleep when the fire alarm went off at 3am.

Being in a coach driving quite close to forest fires raging.

Having to evacuate a well known nightclub strip after the murder of a well known player in their version of mafia.

(I lived and worked abroad for many years!)

Being woken in the middle of the night by an air raid shelter siren due to a storm and flooding and having to abandon the tent and sleep in the village hall with lots of others.

Being caught in a tornado when camping.

Returning to a caravan one evening and switching the lights on and finding it overrun with earwigs.

Nothing as bad as the mugging etc on here but I just seem to have my fair share of volume of bad luck when abroad

Oh and the worst one - being in a bar and the rival gang came in with machine guns and waved them around.