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Mumsnet users share their holiday nightmares with Admiral Travel Insurance

315 replies

EllieMumsnet · 03/04/2018 09:03

This activity is now closed

We can all laugh about our nightmare holiday moments when we are back in the comfort of our own home, but at the time they can often seem like the end of the world! The team at Admiral Travel Insurance have asked us to find out what holiday nightmares, however big or small, made you wish you’d stayed at home at the time.

So what's the worst holiday mishap you’ve had to deal with? Did you have a suncream explosion in your suitcase? Or realise you didn’t actually book the hotel you thought you did? Perhaps you planned a beach holiday and it rained every day? Or you discovered the major mistake of not practising putting up your new tent before you went camping?

Whatever your holiday nightmare moment, please share it below and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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Mumsnet users share their holiday nightmares with Admiral Travel Insurance
OP posts:
LeeR1985 · 16/04/2018 20:56

The only nightmare moment I had was when I went to ibiza with the missus, we didn't really plan it properly and forgot to add luggage so had to pay silly amounts at check in for a bag and forgot to sort out travel so had to pay 50 euros for a taxi

KJB1978 · 16/04/2018 21:14

Our holiday company gave us the wrong flight information for our connecting flight from Vegas to LA to get back to London so when we arrived at the airport there was no flight. I disolved into a blubbering wreck and the staff took pity on me and managed to squeeze us into a flight and we caught our flight home with minutes to spare.

lhlee62 · 16/04/2018 21:57

I went to China when I was 10, we stayed in a hotel in the middle of no where for a couple of nights. From the balcony, about 100 ft away, I could see a dead dog down by the river. It had been there a while and there were scavengers! This was over 25 yrs ago and I still remember it!

Chrisboswell9281 · 16/04/2018 21:58

first family holiday and forgot the little ones favourite cuddly toy. nightmare!!!

moneypenny66 · 16/04/2018 22:05

First day at Center parcs we went to the pool and my son tripped going up the steps to one of the slides, and fell and cut his knee. Had to go to the local hospital to have it glued and he couldn't go in the pool for the rest of the trip, or do anything else really!

pfcpompeysarah · 16/04/2018 22:14

A couple of nightmares, I won a cruise so took my young son and my parents as they often treat us to holidays instead, at the airport after the baggage checking, when running super late already thanks to a problem with the airports computer system, my mum says she can't find her passport. It looked like we were going to miss the flight to Barcelona where the cruise was to start, after much inner swearing and frantic searching, asking customer service (who were ZERO help) we found it at the end of one of the baggage check lanes, nobody had thought to hand it in or announce it over the tannoy, so frustrating. The other was my first holiday with just me and my mum when I was about 17, we went on a coach trip to Eurodisney, staying in Paris and scheduled to travel to the theme park, the only problem was the company went bust and we ended up unable to stay at the hotel, no longer able to go to Eurodisney and having to pay the fees to get the ferry back and the coach drivers wage.

vickyors · 16/04/2018 22:33

Worst holiday mishap- arriving in Rwanda without my suitcase. I was wearing my western clothes, but had packed in my bag all of my skirts and clothes for the countryside- and my mozzie net! It was an embarrassing couple of days- but everyone leant me things, and my bag arrived 4 weeks later.. plus, I wore beautiful local clothes..

buckley1983 · 16/04/2018 22:41

We took our 18 month old to Center Parcs & were sooo excited for ages! However, within a few hours of arriving it became apparent that LO was not well at all - very grotty, snotty, hot & restless. Didn't sleep well, cried for ages, nothing would soothe him - went to the medical centre & it was viral (as it always is!) - we tag-teamed throughout the day & night & made it through - but all absolutely knackered & wishing we were at home! Within a few days of getting home - the chicken pox spots appeared, but he was nice as pie then!
I thought our holiday experience was bad.. but reading some of these posts - we got off very lightly!! :)

juju3 · 16/04/2018 22:42

Traveling 200 miles to a holiday cottage in autumn and finding I had forgotten a coat

pkelly2018 · 16/04/2018 22:43

One of the first holidays myself and my husband took was to Paris - this was many years ago before the advent of the Internet and the power of research that we now take for granted. The hotel we stayed in was the grottiest place but as money was tight we had to make do with it. I still shudder at the thought of it!

mrpeterhall · 17/04/2018 06:54

A family holiday in Cornwall with four small kids. Rained from the moment we set out until we got there; ate our lunch in the car in a traffic jam. And it then rained every single day for the next week. Our kids went stir crazy in the caravan. The nearest my wife and I came to a divorce

EmilyK83 · 17/04/2018 10:05

Ending up with food poisoning on the second day of a two week holiday to Thailand. Had to spend all my time in close proximity to a toilet...not ideal!!

badgermum · 17/04/2018 10:50

A family holiday to Tunisia turned into the holiday from hell when we found that half the hotel had paid upfront for all inclusive and half were only b&b so were paying for their drink and food as they went and everything was service led so all of us who had paid all inclusive couldn't get served any drinks with our meals and we had to form a separate queue at bar and could only get two drinks at a time per person in the queue so as a family of five we had to either queue with the children for up to half and hour at the time or just share a drink, the food was the same, one day when everyone could take no more and the holiday company rep was no where to be seen some customer staged a sit in at reception and in the managers office. Eventually the holiday rep turned up and agreed that all inclusive would receive the same level of service as those who were paying, Needless to say we never booked with that company again. Fortunately we've had a further all inclusive holiday since which was wonderful .

HannahLI · 17/04/2018 13:37

We went camping last summer, on the last night my son picked up a sickness bug and from 11pm at night onwards and at least once every hour until the morning he threw up. As we were camping we didn't have lots of space for duplicates, and as it was the middle of the night we didn't have the luxury of driving to pick up extra blankets or replacing sleeping bags. We arrived home with pretty much everything we owned needing to be washed and feeling more exhausted than when we went.

jen1984j · 17/04/2018 14:37

We booked a holiday to Majorca to arrive and find the hotel fully booked. It was the height of the season and they struggled to get us in anywhere and we ended up staying in 4 hotels in a week!!

angiehoggett · 17/04/2018 16:04

we had some bags stolen once it really ruined our holiday especially as nobody wanted to help us!

CopperPan · 17/04/2018 16:17

Our worst holiday was camping in Wales at an activity centre - it was stormy and rained heavily all week and that meant we couldn't take part in the watersports and climbing activities. We had travelled without a car as well, because everything was supposed to be available on site, but it meant we were stuck there with not much to do except play board games in our little tent while hearing the gales around us.

MrRichTea · 17/04/2018 16:27

Missing our flight & "living" in the airport for what felt like forever!

princesssmithee · 17/04/2018 17:04

the receptionist in Turkey followed me up to my hotel floor and took me into another room when i was drunk and tried to do sexual things with me. i had to go to police station

tillymint21 · 17/04/2018 18:32

Food poisoning on the first night - the effects went on for days and I barely left the holiday home.

Greensmurf1 · 17/04/2018 18:37

Went to Tenerife and stayed in a refurbished farmhouse which wasn’t refurbished quite so well for rainy weather. We had to call the owners when water started pouring in through the windows and we ran out of towels to catch the expanding pond in the dining room. The mouse-droppings on the soap, sponge and throughout the kitchen made self-catering a less attractive option than we had planned. Still, it was better than my colleague’s trip to an all-inclusive resort there where his credit cards, phone, iPod,kindle and prescription sunglasses were stolen.

jandoc · 17/04/2018 18:46

it has to be when my brother left his passport at his friend's house two hours before our flight left

ailsasheldon · 17/04/2018 18:59

On returning from a package holiday to Cyprus we were informed on checking in that we had no booking for flights to England, our booking was in fact for a flight from Mexico to Dublin . The kids were hysterical, my husband was a shouting crazy man, Thank fully a rep took pity on us and got us back to the UK. Here is my story! minitravellers.co.uk/doesnt-quite-go-to-plan/

cluckyhen · 17/04/2018 19:40

The worst for me was waking up to find a man burgling our room. hubby chased him but he managed to swipe my phone and wallet and I have never been so scared. Still can't sleep in a ground floor apt.

sammylea80 · 17/04/2018 20:06

before the days of Trip adviser we booked a holiday to Greece. On arrival to the hotel the apartment was on top of a bar and the music was blaring out at 4am. The hotel room was grim, covered in Mosquitoes and the shower flooded the bedroom! It was so bad we just packed our cases and spent the whole of the next day walking from hotel to hotel in the intense heat to find a new place to stay. It was horrendous, we ended up paying an extra £800 for the one other room left in the resort!