Mumsnet users share their holiday nightmares with Admiral Travel Insurance

[EllieMumsnet]

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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

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

We'd planned a driving holiday from Toronto, threw the Niagara Falls and onto Upstate NewYork. Everything was planned by the day and we were on the move, every other! This was ruined by Air Canada loosing ALL our luggage for the first 3 days of our holiday. We had nothing than the clothes we travelled in and when we finally got our suitcases back, the driver wanted a tip!!!

Not too awful but cockroaches is one appartment and ants in another! Also when traveling with our 4mo baby we left his buggy at the airport and had to do an expensive round to to retrieve it as we were nearly at the hotel when we realised and couldn't hire one.

When in Kenya, for a friend's wedding I fell over and fractured my zygomatic arch, requiring 6 hours of facial reconstructive surgery in Nairobi. I now have titanium plates holding my face together....but I made it to the wedding!

Went on a group holiday with a group of friends, friend booked accommodation that was cheap. Turns out it was in the middle of nowhere and would take 2 hours to get too and from the area we were meant to be visiting on public transport and no one else in the group wanted to stay there.... we ended up having to spend every other day finding a new place to stay as everywhere was so booked up.

First holiday abroad with BF (now) DH - trying to impress and be all glamorous and jet setter ish.

Until my “travel bunny” a rag eared missing a foot gone grey after being dragged round in a suitcase for 25 years cuddly toy which has been on every holiday I’ve ever been on (albeit in my suitcase) fell out on his foot as he opened my case when we got to the hotel.

Luckily, he found it charming!

Last year, we took a ferry from Split to dubrovnik for the last part of our holiday before flying home... And only realised when we got there that I'd left all our passports under the mattress in our Split apartment!!! Oops...

There was a fuel leak/spill on the plane so the fuselage filled with the smell of fuel mid flight.

We were told not to strike matches!! And everyone looked worried.

It was ok in the end though.

We'd booked a youth hostel in Toronto the days before satnav. The taxi driver said he knew it then took us to a homeless hostel instead, and was very angry when we refused to get out of the car there.

DH and I got stranded in Milan airport after missing our cheap deal 5.15am flight because we went to the wrong part of the airport.

The link network went down so we couldn't get any cash out or pay for new tickets so we had 13 euros and 8 cigarettes to last us til the next flight.

It just so happened to be fashion week so we ended up with my Dad buying us tickets for a flight 13 hrs later which for about 600 quid which we collected at the airport. We had to fly to Gatwick instead of Bristol, my Dad came to get us and on the way back part of the M4 was closed!

Honestly, nightmare holiday! Have flown package ever since!

Oh lots!

The holiday we tag teamed throwing up while the world fell out of our arses in Greece after deciding to find a restaurant that was a little more "authentic".

The holiday we went to a static caravan in Spain in the summer - and it pissed it down all week, like we'd gone to North Wales (but with a much steeper price tag!).

The holiday I forgot to put sunscreen on my upper thighs and arse on the last day of a Thailand holiday - and had to do a wonderfully long trip back sat on a burnt bottom.

The holiday in a rainforest where the monkeys stole my lunch. (I ran away and hid from them)

The holiday where we went skiing and one of our group smashed her head open - but had forgotten her travel insurance, meaning we had to find a grand between us so the rest of the holiday was somewhat spartan...

The holiday where we thought the car had been stolen in Germany, only to discover we'd parked it in another identical street in the old town to the one we thought... (German policeman at least found this amusing)

The holiday my suitcase didn't arrive - for a destination wedding holiday, thankfully we found a department store that was something out of "are you being served?" And I found a suitable replacement outfit (and the emergency knickers I bought are still going strong over a decade later!)

DH now only wants us to go to AI holidays where we stay on the resort all holiday with a tour rep to sort our shit for us.

7 day holiday to Majorca. On day 2 went on coach outing. Day 3 DD aged 4 was sick. Day 4 early hours DS aged 3 was sick, evening of day 4 DH sick. All still being sick well into day 5. I escaped but was chief vomit clearer upper. Had to and eat alone every day. Day 6 everyone ok but feeling fragile. Day 7 came home. Was told the nearby hotel that had a lot of guests on coach trip had come down with outbreak of norovirus. Fortunately we were only ones at our hotel.
The holiday before (Cyprus) DS then 2 had an accident and had to go to hospital when his tooth went through chin.

Thinking it was worth saving on the cost of booking a berth on the overnight ferry to France because we'd just be able to sleep anywhere on the boat. It was a Friday night, there was a stag party AND a coach load of drunk 14 year olds. Got off the ferry at 7am and had to drive for about 8 hours to south west France, I'm surprised my husband didn't have a heart attack as he must have downed about 8 espresso's by the time we got to our cottage. Next time we'll pay the extra 50 quid .

We made the mistake of underestimating the forecast storm as 'just a bit of rain' and went camping anyway. In the middle of the night the tent was literally blowing away around us, tent poles snapping and water flowing through the tent. Horrendously scary, particularly as we had two young kids with us. We escaped to the car and the tent was a write off the next day, as we're most of the other tents.

Straight up - My honeymoon!!!
Two days after we got married my Dh got norovirus. Well he actually contracted it at the wedding due to some unfortunate guests but we didn't know until he got really ill. He hadn't farted the entire time we'd dated then this happened, introduction and a half!!
We were staying in a lovely one bed open plan cottage....
So i spent a good two days on my own, going out and about staying away from him so I didn't get ill (Thankfully I didn't). Ugh so was not the lovely honeymoon we'd planned at all.

I've had flooded tents etc over the years but I still think the honeymoon is the worst.

We went camping once, only once and never again. It was freezing at night, boiling during the day and the toilets were like someone had spontaneously combusted inside roughly 6 years ago and they hadn't been cleaned since

We booked a cottage for a week in North Wales with the intention of it being a walking holiday.
It poured it down every single day. The cottage was horrendously cold and damp, it was July but we needed the heating on constantly and still felt freezing.
At the end of the week the owner charged us an extra £25 because we'd used the heating

In the days before online booking and emails, we woke up on Sunday morning to fly to India, only to realise we hadn't actually collected the tickets from the travel agent. Huge amounts of hassle calling the holiday company to try and resolve in an era when Sunday working was largely not-working.
We did actually get there on the original flight, and with all the accommodation we'd planned, which was a minor miracle as we had none of the sort of voucher booking chits we were supposed to have. There's things I miss about the high street that online options have removed, but having to rely on travel agents is not one of them!

Holiday with some friends in SA. We decided to have a bbq that night so I popped out to do a food run - one friend specifically asked for steaks.

Got car jacked on the way back from the shops. That was pretty terrifying but the worst part was the 'friend' when I returned was devastated not about the car or my safety but because he'd really been looking forward to a steak! Cue lots of complaints that this had ruined his night & why do bad things always happen to him etc etc. Looking back I'm still not sure why I bit my tongue!

Missed a flight, paid £300 for the next available one.
Then, once I landed, my bag was stolen at the airport containing my passport, house keys, car keys, money!! Absolute Disaster. That weekend cost me hundreds of pounds!

Another recent one – I dropped my phone on the runway just as I was making my way to board my plane! Didn’t realise until I had landed exactly where it was thanks to Find My Phone. Miraculously I got it back once I returned and in one piece!

Arriving at friends overseas holiday home, at an ungodly hour, after a long journey, to find we left their keys at home. Cue more driving to find a hotel for the night. Luckily our friends employ a management company who hold a key to the property, so All was well the following day.

Missing a flight by 5 minutes through no fault of our own. (arrived at airport 3 hours before departure, did online check in, stayed at airport hotel the night before). Huge queues at luggage check in, more huge queues at security, more queues and complete chaos getting a monorail to the gate, and the gate then at the opposite end of the terminal building. Missed flight, had to pay £££ for another one the following day (and another night in the airport hotel). The holiday itself was mediocre and not worth the hassle or the extra expense - we wish we'd headed straight home from the airport.

2004, I was 14. Hired a Quad in Greece, fell off, thought I'd broken my back. Ambulance men Picked me up by my Shorts and shoved me onto a bed in the back of a Van that wasn't attached, so just hit the door and back of the seats all the way to the hospital.
Nobody spoke English, and I was put on a ward full of patients due to have operations- I wasn't. Sat there by myself whilst my parents waited outside for 24 hours as they wouldn't let them in the ward.
Had my leg stitched up with no anaesthetic.
And then was let out 2 days later.
Place we had rented quads from wouldn't give my passport back unless I had paid 200 euros for bending the Ariel. Was an absolute nightmare. Ended up paying it to be able to fly home!

Went to Tenerife the same time as a hurricane. Pissed down the entire week with driving wind. Water bubbled through the windows, poured down the walls, the loo backed up, the DC were sick, bugs seemed to come crawling out of everything, I guess because the water levels were so high. No heating of any description in the room, so everything felt cold and damp.

The hotel ran out of rooms to move people to because the water penetration was so bad, so we had to lump it. Was so miserable. Was able to get half my money back when I got home though, which made it slightly less depressing.

Trapped in Khartoum by the Icelandic volcano. With a bunch of morris dancers.

A little break in England, car crash the second night, at insurer was admiral and they were a nightmare. Refused to provide any transport, accommodation, refused to let us get any of our stuff from the vehicle (we were taken to hospital), refused to refund the loss of stuff, offered us less than half what we paid for the car less than a year previous. Basically abandoned us completely, not what you expect from insurance.

Other worse travel experience, again in this country, first night away, in travel lodge, daughter jams her finger in a door and severed the tip of her finger, ambulance trips and time in A&E plus surgery were not part of the plans for that trip.

On our honeymoon DH and I both came down with bronchitis, so instead of a 5* hotel we spent our 2nd week in an Egyptian hospital. Not quite the romantic break I'd envisioned!