I’ve already talked about my top experiences of 2018. But I think it’s important to take these good kind of posts with a grain of salt—because travel is never as glamorous as it might seem. Which is why I like to share my worst travel moments every year!

In 2017, I got really sick in Moldova, had a sketchy arrival into Vilnius and Chisinau, and suffered from both horrible mosquito bites, and some sort of heat rash. Good times.

2018 has also seen its fair share of bad times throughout my travels this year. I’m grateful that I was never seriously injured, I didn’t get robbed, and all of my travels were generally healthy and happy. But without further ado, here are my worst travel moments of 2018!

Getting sick in Istanbul.

I have no idea what it was, but I got really sick at the end of my Caucasus trip this summer in Istanbul. Whether it was food poisoning or not, I got really sick and had to spend half of one of my two precious days in Istanbul lying in bed with the worst stomach cramps I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t want to go too far from the bathroom and had awful diarrhea. All I wanted to do was explore this city I’ve been dreaming of for so long, not lie in bed all morning!!

When I did finally feel well enough to get up, I waited in line for the Hagia Sophia for so long I thought I was going to throw up the entire time I was in there. Thankfully, I managed to make it out fine, and after taking care of myself with lots of water, bananas, and rice, I did feel significantly better the next day. But visiting one of the Wonders of the World while you’re trying not to puke/shit your pants… one of my low points this year.

The oppressive heat in the Caucasus this summer.

I spent two weeks in the Caucasus region this summer, and man oh man did I sweat a lot. In Tbilisi and Yerevan, the temperature was between 90-105˚F every day. It was oppressive heat. And unfortunately, where I was staying in Yerevan wasn’t air conditioned. We tried to get into a good routine, so that we’d go out and explore in the morning and early afternoon, and then head back to our accommodation in the heat of the day. Then, once the sun went down in the early evening, we’d go back out again.

Nowhere was this better seen than on the Tbilisi to Yerevan night train. My first thought when the train showed up? “Wow, that’s a lot of really sweaty half-naked Georgian and Armenian men.” The train was boiling, especially in platskartny (third class). By the time I had made my bed and gotten in my bunk, I was drenched. This summer was one for sweating.

The cold and wind in Iceland.

Being from Minnesota, I’m used to cold temperatures and have the correct winter gear to handle it appropriately. But my last full day in Iceland, the wind picked up. There’s a common saying in Minnesota that the cold temps “wouldn’t be as bad if it weren’t for the wind.” Well, it was unbelievably windy. Despite all of my layers, I could only be outside for 10-15 minutes before my legs went completely numb. Trying to take photos without my mittens on was painful. I froze at Kerid Crater, at Gulfoss, and at Thingvellir National Park. It was like something out of this world—even for someone who grew up spending every winter below zero!

A two-day flight delay.

Coming back to the UK from Minneapolis, we were due to fly through Boston. Well, Boston had a massive blizzard and flood at basically the same time, and the airport was essentially shut down. My first flight (Minneapolis to Boston) was operated by Delta, but my second flight (Boston to London) was operated by Virgin Atlantic. After watching the bad news at Boston for a day, I packed my suitcase, assuming my second flight would still be operating as I hadn’t heard anything to suggest otherwise from Virgin Atlantic.

Well, my second flight was cancelled. And had I not have called Boston Airport to check my flight status, I would have gone to the airport, gotten on my flight to Boston, and spent however much time sat in Boston Airport in apocalyptic weather. I wasn’t told or notified at all that my Virgin Atlantic flight was cancelled. And by the time I found out it was cancelled (right before I would have left for the airport!), the next flight I could get on wasn’t for TWO more days.

I was already feeling like shit about having to leave my family and friends and Minneapolis, and I had finally powered through and packed my suitcase and was all ready to go. So to then have to unpack and repack two days later… well, it sucked. The good thing was that I got to stay an extra two days with my family and friends, and that by staying with my family I didn’t have to pay extra for hotels or car rental. I was also able to claim back all of our food expenses through the airline, and our extra train tickets through our travel insurance.

Oh, and can I just say how awful Virgin Atlantic is for not notifying me that my flight was cancelled?! Because over the next 3 weeks, they sent me both EMAILS AND TEXT MESSAGES asking me to fill out a survey about my flight experience. But had never bothered to tell me my flight was cancelled in the first place. Well, let’s just say they got a pretty colorful response to that survey…

Turning back from Snowdon.

I went to North Wales this February with one main purpose: climbing Mt. Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, and one of the Three Peaks (Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland being the other two). The weather was absolutely beautiful—sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. However, just a few hundred meters from the summit, it became clear that we weren’t going to be able to top out. The path was covered in icy snow, and without crampons it just wasn’t going to be possible. So with a few hundred meters to go, I had to turn back and walk all the way back down. It was a real disappointment, but definitely the right decision.

Midges in Scotland.

I had heard about midges, the tiny Scottish gnat-like bugs that will swarm you and wreak havoc during the summer months. As I’m from Minnesota, I didn’t really think much of it—we have a common joke that the mosquito is the state bird, so I’m used to that kind of stuff. Well, we had an epic camping spot on our road trip in Scotland in Glen Etive, right near the water close to Glencoe. It was absolutely perfect.

And then we woke up in the morning, and I opened the tent door. And there were midges. EVERYWHERE. It was like a massive black cloud. They got up my nose and in my eyes. I was gagging on them. Bug spray didn’t really help much. We packed up the tent in a matter of minutes and got in the car as fast as we could. We wiped all the midges off of us and moved on—but man, that was nasty.

I’ve experienced a lot of racism as a foreigner in the UK this year.

It’s hard being a foreigner in the UK these days. And as a white American, I’m one of the most privileged to speak about it. In the last two years, but especially this year, I have experienced a lot of racism. Some of it has been microaggressions, offhand comments or jokes that went a bit too far. But other times, like when a customer came into my place of work and harassed me about how much I pay in taxes, have been blatantly and inexcusably racist.

I’ve already talked about how hard it can be living in England. And experiencing this kind of racism and this hateful discrimination makes it even harder. I’m lucky that I’m white, and I’m American, and I’ll never experience as much racism as other nationalities—but it is still disgusting. And it is never, ever, acceptable.

Screwing up my knee in the Lake District.

I had what I thought was going to be a great plan to do two big walks in the Lake District on the same day for my birthday weekend. So we hiked up to Blencathra (868 meters) and Skiddaw (931 meters) in the same walk, with a two-hour detour through a marsh in the middle. I have a bad knee, not really from an injury but I did have physical therapy on it several years ago. Let’s just say, I managed to really hurt my good knee. The next day, I couldn’t walk without shooting pain in my knee. So I spent the night before my 26^th birthday in urgent care. Luckily, there wasn’t any serious damage—but it hurt like hell! This was a seriously bad idea to try to do both… but I did make it to the summit on both here!

Taking the wrong trains to Malbork Castle.

On my trip to Poland, I took a daytrip to Malbork Castle. I’m a pretty experienced traveler, and know how to navigate transportation systems in foreign countries. When I went to get my train from Gdansk to Malbork, I asked two different people if the train pulling up was my correct train. They said it was—and it wasn’t until we went about 30 minutes away to Gdynia that I realized I was, in fact, on the wrong train. As the guy on the train next to me said (after I finally got up the courage to ask), “you’re going like completely the wrong way.” I was actually on the way to Szczecin, which is hours away from Malbork in completely the wrong direction!

Luckily, the woman at the ticket desk in Gdynia spoke good English and took pity on me. She switched my ticket, and only charged me the difference in train fares. I had just under an hour to walk around Gdynia, and then got on my correct train to Malbork. I had a fun time exploring the castle—but it was definitely a humbling experience!

So there you go! My worst travel experiences of the year. Travel isn’t always fun and games, and isn’t always easy!

Have you had any bad travel experiences this year?! What were they?

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