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If you ask me, travel is one of the best things in the world. It’s one of the things I’ve missed the most; there’s just something about stepping into a totally different, or new place that really makes you feel alive.
It can also present some awkward moments, if you’re somewhere that’s unfamiliar in language or culture, and these 16 tourists definitely ran into some sticky situations.
16. So many stories.
I was in Rio de Janeiro in a taxi with a friend. We stopped at a stop sign at a busy intersection and two prostitutes were soliciting themselves. Now, this all happened very quickly, but neither my friend nor I said anything, but the taxi driver told them to get lost. They kept soliciting themselves. The taxi driver told us not to open the doors or windows. The prostitutes pulled out knives and started stabbing/slashing the taxi. The taxi driver pulled out in front of traffic to get away from the situation, but thankfully we didn’t get into a car accident.
In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, my (ex)girlfriend and I hired a driver. We went to a marketplace and the driver informed us it wasn’t the safest place, so he would walk a few meters behind us and observe. Not 5 minutes in and he grabbed us by the arms and said “Don’t turn around, don’t react, I’m going to guide us out.” After getting into the car, we asked what was up. It took several times of asking until he finally said that there was a group of older boys following us with knives and he wouldn’t say anything else.
In Jerusalem myself, a friend, and family experienced a situation that only 4 of us and the tour guide could understand. There was an announcement in Hebrew at the Wailing Wall that a backpack was left unattended. No one was allowed to enter or leave until the bomb squad came and inspected it. Turned out to be a backpack a kid left on accident, but the majority of our group had no clue what was happening until after it was all over.
15. Thanks for the head’s up?
The guy that flashed my friends and I in a very nice park in central Europe. We were having a picnic.
He was very polite about it, saying “Excuse me girls, I’m just going to masturbate in front of you.” And then did so.
14. Not such a fine morning.
I unknowingly booked a hotel a block from the red light district in Paris, once I figured that out I tried not to return too late to my room. The next morning I was so energized and enthused to begin my vacation I threw open my window to greet the day, only to see… the police scraping someone off the road. I wasn’t that high up so it was the first time I saw something so grizzly.
It was definitely murder. They definitely used a knife.
13. How terrifying.
In the middle of the winter, flying back to Canada, from a Caribbean Island.
A middle age man was ready to board the plane with a very thin teenage girl wearing flip flops, shorts and a poncho.
The girl had a shaved head, the man wouldn’t let go of her, she was staring at the floor he entire time, everything looked just odd.
The flight attendants were doing all sorts of delaying manoeuvres. My family and I were late and boarded right after them. Before the flight took off, the police came into the plane and started asking questions, and took the man and girl off the plane. The girl didn’t speak any English, Spanish or French.
I’m convinced that the airline personnel saved a girl being trafficked into Canada.
12. Eerie, for sure.
I was walking through a forest in central France when I came across a group of old style horse drawn Gypsy caravans in a clearing. They were obviously very old and looked like they had just been abandoned. There was a very eerie, unsettling feel to the place so I took a few photos and moved on.
A couple of days later I was talking to an old guy in the village and he explained that the Gypsies had been dragged from their wagons and murdered by the invading Nazis during WW2. Out of respect the surviving Gypsies in the region just left the caravans where they were.
11. I guess that’s how they handle problems there.
Cyprus in the mid nineties, I was 15 and on holiday with my parents.
I saw an old Cypriot guy getting beaten within an inch of his life by a young Russian guy, after a row over unpaid rent. As i understood it the Russian was renting an apartment of the victim.
Police promptly turned up and dragged the Russian guy into the nearest building.
The Cypriot guy was taken to hospital by ambulance and a short while later the Russian guy was brought out of the building on a stretcher and was also taken to hospital once the police had dealt with him.
10. He had a “reputation.”
Was in Serbia and my collegue i was there with and i had rented a car to go explore the beautiful country. We followed google maps but end up on a dirt road in some small village like area and and had to make a turn. It was heavily raining and we got the car stuck. We couldn’t get it unstuck on our own so we wanted to ask for help and as we approached the first nearby house a large dog came running out barking loudly and an elderly looking man came out with a rifle yelling at us in serbian.
We decided next house was a better bet and they were the kindest people on earth. We told them that we had tried the other house with no luck and they told us we were lucky to be alive. Appearantly the man had a reputation but they didn’t wanna to further into details.
No more dirt roads for me thanks.
9. A bit, yes.
In a small town in Korea, I saw two guys run out of a restaurant.
One of them was holding a 10 inch kitchen knife and shoved it into the other guy’s belly. The guy’s standing there holding the knife in his gut and an old lady comes out of the restaurant and starts hitting him in the head with her shoe.
Two other guys jumped on the stabber and held him on the ground. Ambulance came and loaded the stabbee and drove away, cops came and drove the stabber away, restaurant owner came out with a bucket of water and washed the blood off his steps.
Turned out it was a wedding party and there was a bit of a disagreement.
8. That’s a new one.
Sheep wearing plastic bags from the local store tied across their a$s.
Turned out to be sheep birth control. 🤣🤣🤣
Location: Faroe islands in the mid ’90s
7. Definitely don’t come out.
I was hearing an argument happen in an apartment complex between a couple, and then I heard a gunshot, and then silence.
This was in Venezuela.
6. That’s quite a greeting.
In Cambodia I got a ride from the airport to my hostel on a motorcycle. It became clear the driver was drunk. Once there I was offered a child prostitute while waking down the street.
The next day at the killing fields, bones had unearthed themselves due to a recent rain. That was all in the first 24 hours. Not going back to Cambodia.
5. Well that’s a twist.
Was in Mexico City for a work assignment. Had just gone to dinner in the Zona Rosa (pink zone). Walking back to the hotel I saw a hit and run. A pedestrian was thrown thru the air and flung to the ground.
A lot of people witnessed this and an ambulance was called. The ambulance came screaming around the corner, going really fast, and hit another pedestrian. Who then was thrown thru the air and flung to the ground. It was awful.
4. Just…go with it?
i saw some guy get beaten and dragged away in front of club in spain.
it made me so uncomfortable and i didn’t know what to do.
then some people who were with the “beating the guy up” party came over and talked to us for a while.
i think because they could tell i was watching them. the french people i was with didn’t bat an eye.
just said “girl, it happens all the time”
3. I would never have gotten over this, honestly.
Back in 1978 when i was 10, i went to Jamaica with my Mom.
one morning after coming out of the British embassy, i saw four baby mongoose in a rain gully about 5 feet deep behind where we were waiting for a bus.
i thought they were adorable and started feeding them by throwing them biscuits.
Some guy saw me doing that, walked over and dropped a large brick on them killing them instantly. i was pretty inconsolable for several hours.
2. Sometimes you don’t want to know.
My mum was on one of the Spanish islands a few years ago for a family members hen party and she saw a guy get thrown out of club by a bouncer and bang his head on the floor and then a pool of blood formed.
She was so traumatized that she came home the next day.
She didn’t find out what happened to the guy.
1. I’m making a mental note.
I had a knife pulled on me in Germany by a couple of crackheads.
And in Thailand a tourist was smoking a joint on the police started beating the sh%t out of him.
Had an officer holding each arm and leg while another just kept jumping as high as he could and dropping knees onto the man’s face.
He started convulsing and foaming at the mouth so they threw him in the back of the police van and drove away.
I do not know how well I would have handled some of these!
Has anything like this ever happened to you? If so, tell us about it in the comments!
