"Parents got mugged in Colombia. My brother and I heard my mom scream in panic. Sprinted back, just in time to see her swing her purse around and connect. Guy went down hard thanks to the $1,200 Nikon in her purse."
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"A big wave came in and brought oodles of jellyfish. One big jelly slapped a boy across the chest. Almost everyone got stung. As it turned out, the jellyfish weren’t poisonous, but their stings burned and itched unbelievably. For the next few days, everyone had to urinate on each other to sooth the wounds."
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"My husband found me curled up in the shower, my throat closing up and my skin breaking out in hives. He ran out of the room and grabbed some Benadryl from the resort's market. We later discovered that I was having an allergic reaction to the massage oil, which had an almond oil base. I'm anaphylactic to tree nuts!"
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"I had been warned not to drink the water, so I ordered a coke. With ice. It completely slipped my mind that ice and water are the same thing. I woke up the next morning with horrible food poisoning. I spent the next five days in bed, eating crackers and sipping Gatorade."
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"My best friend and I were headed to London…when she broke her ankle on the jetway! For the next week, we had to navigate London by wheelchair."
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"A few of the bikes caught on an electrical wire and flew off the bus—landing on a cop car! The adventure tour company started saying it was our fault and we were liable for the damage. Eventually, just to get out of the situation, my friends and I ended up paying $60 extra for the “damage.”"
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"At the Maine border, Noah announced from the backseat that Josefina was "covered in green" and that "she doesn't like it." We turned around to discover that she'd had a diaper explosion and had smeared the contents of her diaper all over herself and anything within reach. We calmly pulled off at the next exit and parked at the local Friendly's so Karel could bathe her in the ladies' room sink."
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"We took the sailboat down to the beach. We're having this nice evening cruise, and we got stuck on a sandbar. We were right in front of this restaurant that looked out over the bay. We were providing great entertainment for the people dining at the restaurant, and eventually the Coast Guard had to come and rescue us."
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"On our way to Colorado from Houston, we had the mini-van packed to the gills, including a lot of stuff tied to the luggage rack on the roof. Not far outside Houston, the rope snapped and ALL of our belongings went flying over I10! Luckily for us, a few nice big-rig drivers stopped, effectively shutting down the entire freeway, while we collected our things."
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"The side of the RV came loose (you could actually see the highway zooming by), we had torrential downpours for days (the RV lacked a few windows), there were several flat tires, and we were stranded in Nebraska because we ran out of money. But my family persevered. We found the humor in everything that went wrong. My parents made sure of it."
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"We were on what was supposed to be a 10-hour bus ride to Mozambique that lasted 24 hours. Not only did we have 23 people and 45 backpacks shoved in a bus that holds 21 people, but we hit a closed bridge and had to sleep in the dirt on the side of the road. It was crazy, and maybe dangerous, but we’d just spent Christmas with 40 orphans who were showered with presents from generous donors, so we were ready for whatever adventure was next."
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"While visiting my sister in Marseille I decided it was a really good idea to get my haircut even though I don't speak French. He started chopping away then asked me, “Red?” I thought he meant did I want red hair, so I said, “No.” After watching my hair transform into some sort of atomic mushroom, my friend reappeared and explained, “Oh, no; he said 'raide'—it means do you want it straight?” The moral of the story is: learn the language or live with the big hair!"
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"Crash landed in a hot air balloon in the Egyptian desert. Twelve passengers piled in the sand [are] greeted/rescued by friendly villagers."
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"A jeep in a ditch in the shadow of a smoking volcano. A banged-up kneecap. All worth it for the magnificent Serengeti."
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