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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:
AngelwingsPetlamb · 13/04/2018 17:24

Arrived on a 2 week holiday only to find out that I had not brought any clothes at all for my dc ! He was ok about having a whole new wardrobe but it was a little extra expense I would have preferred not to have.

applesareredandgreen · 13/04/2018 21:45

Arrived at Malaga airport around 10.30 pm to find that our late night flight wasn't listed on departure board. Lady at EasyJet desk advised that we had been emailed details of our flight time change - and our flight was just disappearing down the runway. Luckily they were able to transfer us without charge to a flight the following evening (no proof we had received the change info but DH has previous form for deleting emails without reading....).

So we went back to car hire, got the only car left from the only car hire firm still open - very small fiat-type thing and we had to sit on our suitcases as there was no room in the boot. Found a hotel for the night and I wasn't too upset as I thought 'extra days holiday '. Unfortunately absolutely pissed it down all day so we were just driving up and down the highway of the Costa del Sol in the pouring rain in our tiny little car.

Previous holiday to the same place pre-DC and pre- internet / smart phones etc DH and I spent the whole week on the wrong time after not having put our watches forward on arrival. We spent the whole week wondering why the Church clock had the wrong time and the shops kept closing early! The only reason we didn't miss our flight back is because I had food poisoning and as we had to vacate our hotel room and I had nowhere to lie and he sick in peace we ended up going to the airport early for somewhere to go .

goose1964 · 13/04/2018 21:46

I've been lucky so far but my worst was coming home from Barbados , firstly the taxi to the airport broke down so we only just made checkin . Then the plane to NY was late so they told us that the airline would put us up overnight and provide a tour around NY before the flight the following day, but when we arrived they'd held the plane so we were ushered on at great speed. Only after waiting at bag collection did we realise our luggage was not on the flight. We had to argue with them that waiting overnight was not feasible due to our distance from the airport did they offer to courier them. Unfortunately it was a cold April day and our coats were packed. Waiting for trains was so cold

gazzalw · 14/04/2018 10:07

Happened a long time ago. We went on a self-catering holiday to a much family loved university town in the UK. Only problem was that when we arrived there was student still in residence. With under 18s in the family party it was decidedly less than ideal. We ended up having a two night break in a nearby hotel but it wasn't the holiday we'd planned Sad.

Oh and there was the time DW was on an amazing adventure in Nepal and left her money belt (with £1K worth of travellers' cheques) under her pillow. She only realised what had happened when she got back to Kathmandu (a tortuous 12 hour coach journey later).

Ren1974 · 14/04/2018 11:26

I usually book all our holidays but one year my husband came home excited as he had booked us a bargain break in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, upon arrival we were told our hotel had been overbooked so we were moved to another, but it was a hotel that catered for tourists from Germany and the food was awful!! The whole resort was man made and lacked any character and the local restaurants got every order completely wrong. Therefore each evening consisted of a trip to Macdonalds and a few drinks at bar where a local singer would sing the same songs each night (his playlist ironically included "I want to go home" and "Leaving on a jet plane") My poor hubby hasn't dared book another holiday since.

Flooffloof · 14/04/2018 15:48

I have a rating system about things that go wrong generally, it goes from llan-gogogoch to New York, if it's New York it can't get worse. But that was sooo long ago now. The latest is a cottage in the "north"
Booked by me, specific to our needs which are
Enclosed garden

VilootShesCute · 14/04/2018 16:55

When I was a child i slipped in a supermarket on a broken bottle of gin. Had to have the huge shard of glass removed without any pain relief and then could only swim with a rubber glove taped over my hand. My poor parents had to force antibiotics down me while I screamed about it every day. Bless them.

dilydaly · 14/04/2018 23:22

Our holiday nightmare happened when me, my husband, 2 children and my mother went on holiday to Rhodes. We stayed in your usual 3* all inclusive hotel, all was find until we opened the fridge. It was black with mould inside. We went to complain and we were chasing them for half the day to get it sorted. They finally took it away and brought us a clean one. We put some drinks that we'd bought (soft drinks and alcohol) into the fridge only to realise that while this fridge was clean(er!) it wasn't actually working! We told them and they said that someone would come and get it later that day. We headed off down to the pool, my husband is Greek and his family had flown out for 2 days to be with us. We came back after an hour or so and the fridge had gone and been replaced with a working one, minus our drinks! We told them we wanted our drinks back but nobody had seen any drinks .... basically the person sorting the fridge had pinched all our drinks! After a LOT of arguing they gave our drinks back. I got hold of the manager and said I wanted to put in an official complaint and that I'd be taking this much further once I got home. They moved us into an apartment with private pool as compensation, but we'd still lost a day with my in laws over the fiasco. Will never go back to that hotel!

Feargalthecat · 15/04/2018 15:03

My nightmare was pre kids holiday with DH on a Greek island.

He took ill during the second week with pancreatitis we were sent to an island hospital then as he got worse transported by ferry to the Greek mainland. We spent three weeks there before being medically transferred back to the UK.

It was a really horrible experience and although in our twenties I was so glad we were insured especially when we received a settled bill via our insurance company for around £8000. At the time I'd always thought my insurance was mainly for our suitcases going missing!

FindTheSilverLining · 15/04/2018 16:53

Booked a hotel for my friend's wedding. Arrived at the hotel at 11am as the coach to the wedding was leaving at 11.30 but couldn't checked in to the hotel yet. Reception staff assured us that there would be someone on the check in desk all night and we could collect our key when we got back after the wedding (coach was returning around midnight). When we returned there was no one around and despite looking everywhere for someone and behind the reception desk for our key, no one show we themselves all night! We ended up sleeping on the hotel reception chairs - we'll tried to sleep! Someone eventually arrived at 6.30... they tried to charge us for the night's stay!!

SuzCG · 15/04/2018 19:26

Isle of Wight - we went in August planning a lovely week exploring the beaches just before my DS started school for the first time - make the most of those last days together...

It rained 6 days out of 7!

(We will never go back to the IoW)

Bicnod · 15/04/2018 20:24

Vomiting bug at Center Parcs Envy

Worst holiday ever and cost an absolute bloody fortune (not least in laundry!!)

Antonia2549 · 15/04/2018 23:38

We were abroad in Lanzarote. My daughter 12 at the time got injured by an 8 year old. The 8 year old was abused by his mum. He threw a billiards stick to her face. She was badly injured.

The hotel didn't want to know. The family of the boy denied the incident. The insurance company told us to go to a local hospital. It was closed as it was New Year's Day.

When I finally found a private hospital they charged us a fortune. My travel insurance company refused to pay the hospital costs. The hospital said we were able to leave until their bill was settled.

When we got back home to London. The insurance company refused to pay for legal costs for me to sue the parents of the thug.

I approached several injury legal firms who would not take my case as they said it wasn't serious enough.

I have had to personally find the case and await the hearing date.

Even though the thug was only 8 years old he had a history of violence clearly a disturb child. The family live in Essex and we in London.

Zoeyph · 16/04/2018 07:14

Couple of years back we visited Egypt and stayed all inclusive. Around the 2nd week we eat in one of the restaurants, which was busy but the food was cold. The following day hubby and I both ill with sickness and diarrhoea. We went to the Dr at our hotel and before they would see us they wanted £200 per person. I nipped to local chemist and got over counter meds which helped us both.

flozza42 · 16/04/2018 07:31

Years ago when my son was young he fell and hit his head whilst on holiday and we spent two days in hospital on the other side of the island it was a nightmare but i was just so relieved he was ok in the end

runkaterun · 16/04/2018 07:40

I fell over on my way back to the room one night in greece the place we were staying hadnt put the lights on. I landed on my face not a good look for the rest of the holiday

Spices001 · 16/04/2018 07:48

A vile caravan in Prestatyn! Cold, mouldy & everything was dirty. Couldn’t even take a shower, my daughter caught a chest infection, never again !

vonniebab2 · 16/04/2018 08:05

In the middle of the night the fire alarm going off at the hotel and getting out asap it was really frightening

Narnianescape · 16/04/2018 08:11

The return flight being cancelled and being stuck in Portugal for a week with a 8 month old baby.

Eastpoint · 16/04/2018 08:12

We missed our flight back from Manila at the end of the Easter holidays one year. We flew into Manila airport on time but we had to change terminal the traffic was so bad around the airport we couldn’t do anything. Then there were weren’t any flights out for 3 days for 5 people apart from one that had 5 spaces in business class. Complete nightmare - work, school, pets etc.

Catmadroo · 16/04/2018 08:15

I was in Las Vegas and it snowed first time n 20 years, just like england they shut down airport and it was just a tiny bit of snow that didn't even settle, therefore our flight was delayed and we missed our connection in Los Angeles so us and a group of other passengers had to stay another night in LA and I missed a day off work.

xcxcsophiexcxc · 16/04/2018 08:33

Getting stuck in a nightmare customs queue and then my bag was flagged up which had also an insane queue. The gate was over 20 mins away on top of that and I ended up just missing my flight . I was so pissed especially since there was nothing wrong with the items on my bag !

happysouls · 16/04/2018 08:35

I've been pretty lucky I think. An 8 hour delay at the airport was a bit dull but filled with reading and food. The noisy entertainment on a holiday complex in Cyprus somewhat changed the plans for the holiday. That was a shame because the apartment was lovely and we had wanted to cook meals and sit out on the balcony in the evenings but the continuous noise meant that we took off walking each evening instead. Have to go with the flow!

Aspergers · 16/04/2018 08:51

travelling with a young family & a double buggy to find we are on the top floor with a spiral staircase to climb each day. Apartment had a dangerous travel cot, sockets hanging off the wall and a rude manager - not the greatest start to a holiday. Apartment changed but travel cots were all dangerous and we were asked to either not use them or sign a waiver if the children got hurt - we bought our own travel cots

omgitslani · 16/04/2018 08:53

A five hour airport delay was the worst. We have purposefully chosen to travel the very early hours, so that the little ones would sleep through the delay but due to the delay, not only were they tired and worn out, their body clocks kept them up and miserable for the entire flight!