What is the worst holiday you have had?

[TwinklyFawn]

I will start. In 2023 i went to the haven caravan park in Berwick. I stupidly forgot to pack a shower mat and i slipped while getting out of the shower. Anyway i had to phone an ambulance as i could not put any weight on my right leg. At the hospital the doctor asked me to stand up. I could put a bit of weight on my leg but i fell again when i tried to walk. My knee just gave way. I still shudder when i think about this holiday.

Reading about the dead body reminded me of going to Costa Brava as a kid so just called n mum did details as think they hid the worst from today time 🤣

So this was mid 70’s, I was about 8/9 brother about 7, sister about 5.

We flew with Danair who no one under 50 will remember. The plane was a clunky piece of crap that looked like it belonged behind the iron curtain.

We landed at Barcelona and was ferried onto a coach that had seen far better days and probably been in service since Franco was a toddler. The driver chain smoked, there was no air con and the windows were sealed shut.

On arriving at our hotel mum my quickly noticed this wasn’t the one we booked. She told the rep who replied our hotel was closed due to a cockroach infestation so they’d moved us - to this absolute dump! As we walked through we noticed the swimming pool was drained and surrounded with red tape.

We cracked un and was shown to out rooms. The adjoining rooms we’d booked were not available at this new prison so we had a triple and a twin - neither of which had a bathroom. So we had to walk down the corridor to the shared loo and shower whenever we need to go or wash.

Next morning we went to breakfast - to be served stale cornflakes and dry bread. Dad asked about the pool and the waiter just said ‘shut use beach’ The beach was just opposite- under a subway as we were literally inches away from the railway line.

So my dad went for a wander to find the hotel he’d actually booked which rather than closed for emergency cleaning, looked condemned. He found that another decent looking hotel was also available through the same company - Intasun for those old enough to remember. He asked the rep if we could be moved to that hotel and she said it was full - despite him asking at reception and they did have rooms! Only when he offered to pay a supplement they miraculously found two available rooms - different floors but with private bathrooms and this one had a pool with real water

Well for the next few days we had a lovely fun holiday. Jumping in the pool, going out to cafes and sitting with a Fanta lemon outside cute little bars with dad had a beer and mum sipped the local vino.

Then about a week in, we came out of the sink v room and there was an old lady asleep on an armchair in reception - you know where this is going right?
Went to our rooms got washed and changed and went out for the evening - the old girl still sleeping soundly.

Came back a few hours later and she was still there - but now with a blanket over her head! And next morning still there now with red tape around the chair and a couple of Spanish guardia standing in front of her moving in anyone stripping for a look.

Despite the dramas we actually had a fabulous family holiday. Our first time aboard and a good chance to enjoy a far simpler Spain to how it is now.

Tunesia.
The country was great and we saw some amazing sites but the hotel just ruined it. Horrid food and awful staff. Rubbish piles everywhere and green pools.
the entertainment lot spent all their time doing the following
fawning over older women trying to get stuff out of them,

trying to touch up younger women including myself, one told me he can give me a better time then husband

trying to get people to give them their phones, trainers etc

shouted “don’t be lazy” constantly while pulling people off beds, even tipping beds up to get people to try and join in the entertainment. They even pushed some people in the pool. I was terrified as I have a fear of being out my depth and being pushed in a pool would have made me seriously panic. I stuck to DH like glue the whole time as they stayed away from him after he told them in no uncertain turns to leave us alone when one tried to pull me up off a sunbed and would not take no for an answer.

longest 2 weeks of my life

Very tame compared to all these stories, but in the early '80s I went on a holiday, boating on the Thames, with two of my flatmates, we were very different people but we got on well. In the house. Where we could get away from each other and hang out with our own friends.
Not on a tiny boat where we couldn't get away from each other. No-one liked what the others cooked, no-one wanted to do what the others did: a week has never seemed so long!
Oddly enough once we got back home we got on well again, but no-one mentioned the holiday or suggested going away together, ever again!

What was wrong with Lake Como?

I just remembered a holiday to Kaprun in Austria in the 90s one September. We booked 2 weeks and the first week was great but then basically the whole resort shut down. Seriously, everything closed - we couldn't even hire a bike. I wonder if they still do that.

1987 or so. I was a student and had very little money but a friend had a family apartment in Tenerife and I could pay my flight. She had way more money than me and spent the whole time complaining I couldn't do all the things her mum was paying for her to do.

A weeks all inclusive in Egypt. Whole family got the worst food poisoning. Young kids, dealing with liquid poop everywhere. One morning I finally felt like I was feeling better and thought I might risk a cheeky toot on the way to breakfast. Well, that was a big mistake!

France last year, it was our first holiday abroad as a family (with DS3 and DS1), with us driving all the way to a remote villa near Avignon, with an overnight stay at a hotel just outside Paris. We were to spend the week with four other couples and their children.

By the first evening there, it became apparent we barely knew the other couples (they were more friends or acquaintances of friends). The following three days saw an increasing tension in the house, unpleasant comments being made about our children, the other couples arranging things together and excluding us etc. by the Wednesday, it was very apparent that we were overstaying our welcome. This culminated in overhearing some absolutely horrendous things being said about us in the early hours of the morning when the other couples were drinking downstairs. We decided there and then to pack our bags and make the 1000km journey home, stopping over near Calais on the way home. 24 hours later, both children and ourselves were utterly exhausted after a hellish journey, and almost £1000 worse off, but relieved to be home by 3am and resolved never to holiday with several other couples again!

Many many years ago I made the mistake of going away in a group that included my ex-boyfriend. He spent the time demonstrating many of the character traits that had caused us to split up in the first place, and we had a couple of lovely rows. To add to the fun another couple in the group were in the throes of splitting up, and disappeared off into the garden for long stretches for soul-searching convos while the rest of us just wanted to get pissed in said garden. Ex-BF's sister spent the time flirting outrageously with another member of the group who was in hot pursuit, whilst another bloke who lusted after her looked on sadly and moaned to the rest of us about what an outrage it was.

The only thing I remember fondly is being taught the finer points of sand castle construction by a friend's brother.

Oh the food poisoning stories are giving me a panic. No matter how careful you are, our bodies are fragile. And we are away from home.

Iceland.
I would love to go back but our holiday was a disaster

Day2 went to the blue lagoon. We were snowed in. They evacuated the water and we spent 12 hours sitting on the floor of the hotel reception.
Towels as blankets and a police escort to leave the resort.

Day4 attempted to go home. Dangerous drive to the airport in a terrible snowstorm. All flights cancelled
Spent 2 nights (3 days) in the departure lounge.
Was given a bottle of water and a blanket on day 2. Limited food as all but one of the food outlets were closed. Barely any staff.
Luggage was checked in but I did have a spare pair of knickers in my hand luggage.

Abandoned by our airline and had to spend an extra £1500 for new flights and £300 for a hotel when we were finally released from the airport. We had to say even longer as all the flights were booked up (it was 3 days before Xmas) luckily we had good travel insurance and it was eventually all refunded.

The police closed the airport and we were banned from leaving which is why we were stuck there for 3 days.

Unlike @Malbecfan who had taken out holiday insurance (OMG can you imagine if you had not!)…

…I went in my teens with my bf, to Spain for 3 months. Of course we couldn't afford ( or didn't think we could afford) holiday insurance for that long and decided to chance going without.

SO…late one evening we ran the car out of petrol, filled a drum at the petrol station but this wouldn't tip enough to transfer the petrol from the drum to fill the car. Decided we needed a funnel….so BF tried to smash the bottom off a beer bottle to make one…🤯

The broken glass split the whole length of his finger, blood gushing from an open wound, something that looked like a sausage that has burst its skin in the pan.

Without insurance we were too scared to go to A&E - not only worrying about how much it would cost to have it stitched, but also how much it would cost to have the stitches removed.
I spent, what felt like days, nipping the gash together with my fingers and bandaging his hand.

I also decided that he was at risk of some awful disease from the dirty bottle, so frequently dipped his finger in near dettol.🤯🤬

Two lessons
Always buy holiday insurance.
Never, ever moan about the NHS ( and the free at source access we have)

As I was going away at the beginning of October I couldn’t do sober October so instead did sober September as this also contributed to the holiday diet.
On the first night in Spain after a good amount of cava and in a torrential downpour going back to our apartment, I fell and broke a hand and foot. Of course I did not realise this until the next morning.

Cue a visit to the local A&E where I have to admit I got exemplary care and was assessed, x rayed and out within 3 hours. All free on my GHIC card and it made me realise the sorry state of our NHS. The only fly in the ointment was it was plaster of paris cast not a boot so I needed a wheelchair as I couldn’t use crutches.
It also made me value my travel insurance as equally there were great and arranged extra seats for the journey home and the airport assistance with the airline.

@MarSeaLane I do use our story when people make posts about how much insurance costs. It was the best £52 I have ever spent - the costs of the surgeries, evacuation, hospital bills plus new flights came to well over $250k.

However, to add insult to injury, the next year we went to Madeira. DH's travel insurance was really expensive compared the the rest of us. When I queried it, I was told it was due to the claim. My response was that it could never happen again as his appendix wouldn't grow back, but that made no difference.

We booked caravan holiday down south quite a few years ago. The site was awful, the food was chicken in a basket or burger in a basket. . It rained every day, we were at the top of a massive hill that was awful to walk up. My car broke down during the stay . Kids entertainment was dire/non existent. Then after an awful holiday on the way back we got stuck in a 8 hour standstill jam on the motorway . It took 14 hours to get home.

3* hotel in Cala d’or. Parts of it absolutely stank of fish. Room was horrible, broken tiles, dripping water from ceiling. First time I’d taken my child abroad post separation, on a budget, wanted it to be lovely. Almost didn’t get there, in airport check in queue with 2 passports - both were my child’s. Thank god for my wonderful dad and the local taxi firm. Cala D’or itself was nice though.

Doesn’t it just ! What a strong lady dealing with all that 😞

noro virus which started on a 13 hour plane journey. Absolute hell. By the time we landed my husband and daughter were in airline pjs and their clothes were in chemical waste bags being disposed of after my DD threw up everywhere. We got to our holiday spot and in turn each got sick over the coming days, finally DS 6months old got it and almost ended up in hospital. We couldn’t wait to leave and go home.

An all-inclusive in Kos in 2021.

We usually go to a lovely Airbnb in Spain but Covid testing was way cheaper with an AI that year. It just wasn't what we were expecting though.

Gorgeous weather and the public areas of the hotel were beautiful, but the rooms were quite basic (and totally different from the photos).

The other guests were a bit meh - a lot of uneducated Brits with very bad table manners.

The food was very disappointing - it was obvious that many meals were repurposed from the previous nights meal! Nearly all the staff were miserable and over-worked too.

But the worse thing for us was seeing the rest of the island. We hired a car for three days and returned it after three hours, as there's just nothing beyond the big hotels but what looked like poverty - it was like a strange and faintly depressing bubble.

Never again...

Pre Brexit we had excellent care at a Spanish A&E without needing to use our Travel Insurance (which we did have).
On one occasion SIL badly cut her finger and they stitched her up and gave her Antiobiotics with no questions asked.
Another time when baby DS had a bad cough we ended up tacking onto the end of a Paediatric clinic

The one where we arrived at the small family run hotel, on the small island the day after the husband had run off with the member of staff he'd been having an affair with taking the contents of the joint bank accounts with him.

Our worse was almost the opposite..
arranged a villa for 4 families we knew. Itinerary discussed in advance. One family didn’t want to do discussed plan. They went home.

another disaster was the only holiday we invited MIL on. She refused to even consider getting up earlier than her usual 10am to try and get the beach in before afternoon nap. And blocked the loo with a massive poo and then spent ages in the only remaining toilet.
we’ve never asked her again.

This is why every penny for travel insurance is so worth it.
Glad all turned out ok.

I never had an outrageously terrible holiday but myself and a friend decided to do a joint holiday with our families to Melbourne, Australia in 2006 (we were living in NZ at the time) for a mutual friend's wedding. Not long after the accommodation was booked, DH couldnt go due to work commitments, which was a PITA and I wasnt happy.

We went separately, our flights were delayed for hours, and when we finally got to the hotel, DD (aged 7) and I had to share a room because my friend, their DH and their two dds decided to put all their crap in what was suppose to be DD's room so it could be used as a play room, and we also had the smallest room. I dont mind sharing but we paid 1/3 of the accommodation costs so it was the principal of the matter. Then all the activities were decided by them, their DDs were slightly younger and they didnt like the beach / pool, so it was stuff DD and I didnt particularly enjoy. Worst of it was, we ended up at bloody Ikea for hours one afternoon.

In hindsight, I wish I stood up to them and went off on our own but our DDs were flower girls and I didnt want to cause a fall out. I learnt a valuable lesson, never do joint holidays.

Oyr first trip to Thailand went with a stop in Moscow!! Sucked