Ask what’s the worst holiday you’ve ever had?

[Alwaysonyonsn]

I’ve been lucky and never stayed somewhere terrible apart from one place.

No one at the front desk for half an hour. I called the number left and no one answered. Knocked on the office door (could hear people) and no one answered.

The room didn’t lock and they pretended not to understand. I had to carry any valuables with me whenever I left.

I live in Kent. It is rather rainy.

New York in my early twenties. I started to feel funny on the plane and then came down with an awful virus where I totally lost my voice and had to stay in bed the whole time we were there. Went out to macey's on the last day and had to lie on the floor as couldn't walk. I didn't drink at the time but I'm cringing looking back as I bet people thought I was just hammered!

Athens with my family when I was about 23. It was the last holiday we had as a family before partners and kids meant that wasn’t really a viable option anymore.

• Db1 had had a cold, his eardrum burst on the flight and he was in pain, miserable and grumpy
• My mum’s luggage got lost so she had no clothes
• My phone got stolen
• My mum fainted in the police station while waiting to report it for a crime number for the insurance

We gave up and got an early flight home. Booked two nights in Cambridge as a consolation prize.

Db2 picked up Db1’s cold and was really poorly so we ended up not going on that either

Have had a few.
1 glamping in the U.K. so cold we left after first night. We were wearing all our clothes and coats and hats in bed and all four of us in one bed with all the blankets and still freezing. It was strange as we had previously loved glamping in a
1 room bell tent set up, decided to upgrade to the large 2 bed safari tent and it was so drafty. Usually tents trap the heat!

2 went to Portugal with ILs as they had a flat there and promised a great but cheap holiday. It was awful. Not enough room so husband and I had to sleep on the floor (they didn’t warn us of this!) there was no aircon in the flat and it was 40degrees all week, and the swimming pool was closed for maintenance. In laws just wanted to sleep late every morning and go out late each night, not feasible for us with two under 5year olds!

3 at Uni and a friend and I decided to visit Morocco as we had watched a film about backpacker hippies there. Reality was we spent the time being harassed by men who wanted to marry us, or traders trying to sell us things. We were followed a few times by men catcalling us and felt like we might be in danger.
never going back to Morocco!

We had 10 days in Lloret de Mar booked in March several years ago. Got to the airport to find that the whole of the Costa Brava was snowed in and the flights couldn't land at Girona. The next flight from our airport was 2 days later so we drove home and back to the airport two days later. In the meantime I emailed the hotel chain head office and the individual hotel several times to let them know we would be arriving late. We managed to fly to Girona two days late and got our shuttle to Lloret. When we arrived they didn't have a room for us - because of the snow the spare rooms had been given to staff, the telephone system was down and electricity for the whole town was being supplied by individual generators. The staff were amazing... they told us to go and get a meal and by the time we had finished they had found us a room. It was in the basement next to a group of teenaged party people so no sleep was had. We mentioned it to reception the next day and they moved us to a much nicer room. Unfortunately I managed to fall out of the bath while showering, tearing down the curtain rail in the process. We reported it to reception and their immediate response was to ask if I needed a doctor... Not a mention of the damage to the bathroom. By the time we had finished breakfast it was all fixed. The town was effectively shut down because there was no electricity, and it was cold as there was still snow on the ground. So - in some ways the holiday was a disaster, but in others it was fabulous because of the excellent service we got from the hotel staff.

It wasn’t terrible but I felt very uncomfortable in Dubai. Witnessed a few things and once you notice the under current there you can’t unsee it. All confirmed when a very threatening local told our taxi driver he had to reverse (both cars refusing to be the one to reverse) as he was a service worker. Summed it up. Wouldn’t go back, not a nice place if you look further than the Instagramable moments

Butlins, as a kid. It was a big family holiday, with aunts, grandparents, cousins etc going. My dad kept drinking, and my parents kept arguing... all week.

Backpacking in Snowdonia. It pissed with rain for 13 days out of 14. I have never been so cold and so wet for so long. I still shudder when I think of it and it was 50 years ago.

The high spot of the holiday was the night it was very windy. When we got up in the morning, ours were two of the only 3 tents still standing. All the people with big, fancy frame tents were trying to sleep in their cars, and their spacious tents, of which we had been very jealous, were flattened and soaked.

I have never been so glad to get home, into a bath, and into a proper bed in my life.

I totally agree with this! Holidays for me have always been more like a nightmare. Realised I'm a home bird.
I'll do a weekend break somewhere I love and/or have WELL researched but other than that I'll dog/cat/children sit while everyone else b*ggers off!

Also - a holiday in Scotland with my parents when my children were very small. We stayed with them for the night before we drove up. My father told us that he would put our suitcases in the car. He left the suitcase with the children's clothes in behind. I had NO spare money at al l, so my mum bought the children one set of clothes each and every evening we trekked down to the laundry (big sinks and a spin dryer) to wash all their clothes by hand and hoped they would dry by the next day..

I really wouldn’t cringe. By New York standards I’m sure no one even noticed.

Oh my word I'm so sorry. That sounds tough

Holiday to caister on sea quite a few years ago . It was awful and I was so glad to come home.

Camping in the new forest in a leaky tent in torrential rain. There was literally a river running through it by morning.

a holiday to Yorkshire as a child. Awful weather, nothing to do and my mother screaming at us constantly. Fun, not. Most holidays involved mum screaming, but at least we mostly had better weather.

While at uni, joined boyfriends family at a villa rental in Spain . Went by coach for cheapness , that was hideous enough. Then the first night his mum announced that we had to be careful with the towels as her new boyfriend ( about three years older than my boyfriend) had given her crabs . Cue massive row and bf and mum not speaking .
I actually left next day and started two hour walk in to town to find travel agent to see if could get flight home . Couldn't but it did get a little better and bf and I basically did our own thing but my god it was tense !

North Africa. Sexual harassment, ghastly heatwave, bitten by insects, rounded off with food poisoning.

West coast of Ireland. Grey skies and drizzle (didn’t see the sun at all for an entire week) and sulky adolescents.

Hammamet in 2010.

All these stories of wet dreary UK breaks aren’t really holidays though are they. My worst holiday was Turkey and I got food poisoning and had to keep waddling to the toilet on the flight back

Various candidates:

The camping one where I picked up an unidentifiable (by chiropodist) foot infection in the showers that needed in depth v. painful freezing therapy to cure.

Tunisia. Hot and hassled for money wherever we went.

Turkey 5*. Not hot but still hassled for money and got two night voms into the bargain.

And going right back a youth hostelling holiday where I discovered Kendal Mintcake does not agree with me At.All. and the organiser managed to site us in
freezing Caernarfon square to wait for the Victoria coach due to depart some fourteen hours later.

@Wishiwasatsoftplay OMG that's horrendous - how can they live like that?

A hotel in Malta. This was before trip advisor. There was a dead rat outside the window. The place was filthy. I still shudder when I think of it. That said, we paid £250 each for a week.

There is lots to do in Lanzarote outside the resorts.

Lord above.

Forgot the British Holidays (now I think part of Haven) where we found a pair of shit covered underpants under the mattress ds2 had been sleeping on all week as we departed.

They gave us a free week anywhere of our choice to compensate and I picked up a death-warmed-up chest infection.

Happy days...

What do you mean UK breaks 'aren't really holidays'? What a ridiculous thing to say .

I once got kidnapped and beaten black and blue in Turkey when I was 27.

My so called best friend at the time fucked off with the kidnapper's barman, who I later found out was gay. She had to have an HIV test.

Kidnapper man took a photograph of my driving licence and long story short, when I finally got rescued and brought home, he sent friends of friends from the local Turkish barber shop to my front door.

God love them actually, they were just like "he is crazy. We are very sorry about him lady."

That took a lot of getting over tbh.