Mumsnet users share their best and worst travel stories with Arla BIG Milk

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Whether you’re going on a day out or on holiday, the journeys to your destination and back can make or break the entire trip. They help to determine if you have memories of a BIG adventure or a disappointing day. Arla would like to hear about your best and worst travel stories.

Here’s what Arla Big Milk has to say: “We know how important it is to get your little explorers out in the world around them, so we’ve partnered with Magic Light to bring you yearlong BIG Adventures. We’re also running an on pack monthly prize draw, available across UK grocery retailers, to give you the chance to win an amazing trip to Chessington World of Adventures Resort. Helping to fuel these BIG Adventures, Arla Big Milk is simply fresh whole milk that’s enriched with essential nutrients. So, if you want to join in on the adventure, come visit our site to explore activities for your Easter holidays.”

Do you have any travel stories that were memorable for all the wrong reasons? Perhaps you’ve experienced the misfortune of a child vomiting all over the back seats of the car or all over you following too many sweets? Perhaps you checked into your hotel and found that you’d got the date wrong? Have you had to fill time after your flight was delayed playing a dreaded game of eye-spy for hours on end?

Or, maybe you’ve been lucky in your travels and you managed to sleep throughout an entire journey, arriving bright eyed and bushy tailed at your destination? Perhaps you remember a journey where your children gave up bickering and actually liked each other for once? Perhaps you’ve been unexpectedly upgraded to first class or premium service and lapped up the free luxury?

Share either your best or your worst travel story on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

2 worst ones

one was a moment at 4 am when I realised that my daughter, who has cystic fibrosis, was seriously ill and we needed toget back to the UK as quickly as physically possible. We were at Port Adventura - there was a bus leaving at 6 am for the airport, so we had to control her raging temperature with paracetamol, get packed and on the bus, then get the first flight out. I meanwhile had to co-ordinate with the hospital in the UK, who arranged a bed for her in my local hospital. my partner came out to collect us and took us straight there.

The second one was a holiday to the Gambia when we got stranded the wrong side of the river and the only way over was a local river taxi, which broke down midstream and was leaking. After a huge argument we were allowed to swap boats midriver, which ended up being a traumatic experience.

Worst has to be the time we flew home from Vancouver and about an hour in the toilet which was a row or two in front of us started leaking out into the plane. It was so smelly :(

Worst journey had to be in Thailand. On a very small ferry which started to capsize. It was about a mile from shore, and we had worked out that we could probably swim to the shore. Luckily a swarm of long tailed boats were just coming back to the beach from a days fishing and were rescued, along with the 30 other people on the boat.

Best- hiring a super cheap eurocamp caravan in italy for just dd and I. Sat on in the sun together eating fruit salads and watching feral kittens play together. I'll never forget :)

So many terrible journeys to choose from. I think it's probably the time when we got to the airport hotel after a two hour drive for an early morning flight to discover we'd left our passports on the table at home and had to do a four hour round trip to retrieve them. We got about an hour's sleep that night, not the best start to the holiday but at least we hadn't gone straight to the airport!

Whilst in Mexico My partner booked a boat fishing trip just for us 2, The Rep whom we booked it through told us to get sea sickness tablets and take one before hand and we did, (But we both do not suffer from sea sickness) Well when they turned up to pick us up on the beach they was very late coming as the sea was very rough ( I was kinda Hoping they didn't come) as I needed to use the ladies but my partner said its ok they will be one on the boat. they could not get right up to the beach so we had to wade out to them, 4 hours I was on that boat needing to use the ladies because they was no Loo, Waves was splashing against my face I was even thinking about hanging over the side just to go but Mexico as sharks so I couldn't and then I started feeling sick to cut a long story short they could not drop us back off were they picked us up from because of the rough sea so we ended up miles away having to jump in the sea yet again because they couldn't get up to the beach which had a festival going on and loads of people was watching us wading back up to the beach, Total night mare we jumped in the first taxi wet through and went back to the hotel. I told my partner Do not ask me never again to go on a fishing trip .

We landed... straight into a nationwide coup and had to leg it by road to the nearest boarder to leave.

True story.

Worst trip for me was a school trip to France on the way back gales and the ferry was awful. Piles of sick everywhere and then my sister started eating greasy chips - I joined the people vomiting at that stage.

Best trip holiday in Northumberland with DD we got there and went to look at the sea as we were staying in Beadnell which is beautiful. DR was about 2 and She toddled down to paddle in the sea fell over, got soaked and started giggling, she loved going in the sea we discovered!

Nice weekend away planned in holiday flat. We were all fit and well, however the usually healthy dog decided the be sick all over the carpet and then move into one of the bedrooms and be sick all over the duvet, then back into his own bed when he was sick again. Poor dog! There was no washing machine in the flat so one day of our two night stay was spent sitting in a launderette waiting for the washer then the tumble dryer to finish! It cost a fortune too!! Luckily the dog recovered and is back to his usual healthy self - such terrible timing!!

The worst was a trip to Bruges. Got stuck in traffic so had to change ferry crossing. Then got on ferry and weather was so bad so had to get off again. Never got anywhere!

Our best journeys with children seem to be by train. Mine love intercity journeys, we travelled to Birmingham to visit family and the whole journey passed easily with nothing more to entertain us than a book or two and chatting about what was outside the window. I would always recommend going by train if stations are convenient for your journey.

One of my most eventful journeys was during a trip to New York. We got off the plane at jfk and decided to have the full on nyc experience by taking a yellow cab into Manhattan to our hotel.

We were excitedly looking out of the window as we approached the big Apple, on the fast lane of the freeway when all of a sudden the car conked out....it died completely, in the fast lane! Obviously we were very nervous but about a minute later a nypd patrol car came up behind us, a few minutes later we found ourselves being "pushed" off the freeway bumper to bumper by the patrol car! Eventually the cab coasted to a stop just off the junction, but we had no idea where we were or how we'd make it to our hotel.

Thankfully the cab driver called a friend of his to take us to our destination in his non yellow cab car but it wasn't half nerve wracking - not only the breakdown but also being driven into the city by a random fella! But we're alive to tell the tale!

An awful one was a longish car journey in which I turned around to see that my daughter had randomly scratched her face all over with her nails

This is fun. We went to Cornwall on holiday early last year. On our last night I returned home to find that both children were sick with chickenpox. So I had to clean up a big mess after dinner. Luckily I left a apology note and some thank you flowers as a gift on the morning of the last day for the cottage owner just in case. I was not pleased with myself.

We went camping. It rained when I say rained it RAINED RAINED RAINED oh and then there was thunder and lightening. We were next to a massive tree so we all spend another sleepless night worrying about being fried. We had a row and went home and I spend longer than we had been on holiday cleaning everything - socks, the pram, the tent, the car.

We sold all out camping stuff on gumtree and we have talked about that trip ever again.

We had been to Plymouth on a day trip and on the train on the way back my son threw up his meatball sub he'd had for dinner. There was no running water in the loos and I had no spare clothes (seeing as he was 11). One of his teaching assistants happened to be on the same train and gave me a pair of leggings she'd bought in Primark for him to wear. The whole thing was mortifiying.

We also went to Capetown to visit family when my son was a baby. On the way back the flight was packed, we couldn't get a seat where the crib clipped onto the wall and he cried and cried.

I think the worst journey was when I was embarassed as usually I talk about car sickness and we always have bags to puke in. I mean I make sure the kids remember, but this time we all forgot. I ended up the one being sick and had to open the car window to puke outside. As it was on the motorway we couldn't stop, so the puke ended up flying out at other cars. I still laugh about it to this day haha.

Worst journey: taking one year old DS on holiday. He puked on the way to airport. Had to clean up to best of ability but the vom was in the seat belt holes etc. Had to put vom filled clothes into luggage to take with us. He had to sit on my lap on the plane, he stunk the entire time. Get back to UK. Forgot about the vom. Open car car. The smell all the way home! Obvs hadn't cleaned properly in the car park.

Having to check into a foreign airport on the way back home to England. To be then told our plane is late (12 hours!!!!) No mention of why, who, what etc. Just expected to wait. When it arrived we were told it's a bit smaller than expected and who would like to stay bk for the next plane and those ppl would get free tickets....On their airline! Big fat No from me, I jumped straight into the queue, battled through security got home to realise luggage hadn't arrived! Went bk two days later to collect my luggage (small miracles). Soon after I heard that same airline, a plane of theirs crashed into some mountains!!! It was a nightmare...

Worst journey was the journey home after a family holiday abroad. My niece who was 2 threw the biggest tantrum in the toilet that people where knocking on the door to check if she was ok. She’d wee’d everywhere so we were trying to change her clothes but we couldn’t get that far because of the tantrum so she was naked and slipping on her wee.

The best journey we have had is when we leave really early, this meant we missed the traffic getting there and when the children woke we had arrived and they were ready to enjoy the day.

Worst journey: driving all the way up to Scotland for a holiday, DS said he felt a bit sick just after we'd had a break. Luckily we were still on an A road, so pulled over just in time for him to throw up all over the coats on the back seat.

Best journey: driving to Wales for a holiday. Left home at 6am and made plenty of stops for a walk, a pub lunch and another walk before arriving in time to unpack and go to the local village pub for dinner. Really nice journey, no stressing about time and not in the car for too long at a time.

The worst journey I had must have been the one where we went for a walk with my mother in law's king charles spaniel and it rolled in a cow pat - the car smelt absolutely foul after that.

One of the best has to be catching the helicopter to go to the Isles of Scilly and seeing the coast of Cornwall from the air. Absolutely beautiful.

Our best holidays have been camping - often not even far from home. The fun of setting up the tent, of nights under canvas, of cooking - and even washing up - outdoors, of walks, swimming in the sea, playing Uno or cards, sheltering from the rain, walking to the farm shop for the morning croissants, or finding a shop to buy fruit, the excitement of the converted van-pizza-oven or fish and chip van visiting to buy for tea. Camping trips are a little like lockdown - things are stripped right down to quite basic things - but are just so much fun. Mine DDs are now teenagers - typically so - and they still ask about when we can next go camping.

A few years ago my colleague and I were lucky enough to unexpectedly win a grant to visit a partner school in rural Nepal. Won the grant in the January and were leaving in the February. Two days after winning the grant I found out I was pregnant! Severe morning sickness started on the trip and our hosts thought I had some dreadful disease as I didn't tell them I was pregnant. The very patriarchal hosts we had we're already shocked that my new husband had "let" me travel without him.

It was the most amazing trip apart from the morning sickness in squat toilets.