OUR BIG TRIP
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WORST MOMENTSBackpacking through Europe, Asia and America was a once in a lifetime experience and along the way we saw some amazing sights that will stay with us for the rest of our days.
However it was not all a bed of roses as there were some times that were not particularly enjoyable. Below is a list of our top 10 worst moments. To read a full account about each one please click on the title. This will take you to the relevant archives page from where you will be able to scroll down to the specific posting you are interested in. One of the longest nights of our life. With temperatures dipping to minus 16 degrees celcius outside as a blizzard hit central Spain we found ourselves in a room with stone walls and a faulty central heating system. To make matters the room backed up to a gorge with a sheer drop of more than 200 feet. As the hours passed, dressed in several layers of clothes including our coats, gloves, scarves, socks, t-shirts and fleeces, we tried desperately to fall asleep. But it was largely in vain. It was only after 4am, more than 5 hours after we went to bed, that we finally managed to sleep. But it was such a demoralising experience that we just wanted to get out of there. Consequently 20 minutes after we woke up the next day we packed our stuff and left for the sunnier climbs of Valencia. The journey back to London from Miami was one of the worst flights we have ever been on. Almost all our worst transit fears were realised. The seats had little leg room. The food was inedible. There was a big fat bloke snoring next to us. Other people noisily coughing, sneezing and clearing phlem from their throats. Children screaming at the top of their voice. Passengers behind us kept kicking our seats. The in-flight entertainment systems was not working. And worst of all, despite being a night flight the cabin crew left the lights on all night making sleep very difficult to attain. It was incredibly trying and the moment we stepped off the plane we vowed never to fly Alitalia again.
The hotel from hell. After checking in to our basement room we were awoken at 7.45am the next morning by the sound of a jackhammer drilling furiously above us. Little did we know when we checked in the previous night that the hotel was undergoing renovations to the rooms directly above us. When we complained to the receptionists we were told that they could not move us as we had booked in to economy class room and they had no other such rooms left available in this price range. After speaking to the manager we were eventually given a free upgrade to a better and more expensive 5th floor room. But only when we were woken up again by jackhammers on a further 2 occasions. To compound our miserable stay the receptionist tried to overcharge us. The figure he quoted was ridiculously exhorbitant and would not have been correct even if we had of booked the higher priced room for the entirity of our stay here. Eventually we managed to settle up paying the original price quoted to us. But we left Prague with a very bitter taste in our months. After a fantastic day on Poetto Beach we tried to buy bus tickets back to our accommodation in Cagliari. However the only two ticket agents on the beach told us they had run out of tickets when we tried to buy them and that we would be able to buy them on the bus. Yet when we boarded the vehicle the driver told us that he had no tickets to give us but ushered us on anyway. When we reached our stop which was the end of the line we were suddenly confronted by an army of conductors checking people's tickets. After being led off the bus by one such conductor we told him what had happened. However we could only watch horrified as the conductor proceeded to wave away the driver even though he appeared to be backing up our story. The conductor quoted us a ridiculous figure for and on the spot fine. We refused to pay, reaffirming the reasons why we did not have a ticket. When he subsequently changed the figure of the fine to a lesser number we knew he was trying to rip us off. Making a huge racket and informing him that we were aware that he was ripping us off when continued to argue the toss with him until thankfully he dropped his interest in us. However the incident soured our view of Cagliari and we could not wait to leave after that. A nightmare introduction to a new city. Our taxi driver got lost. We rolled up to the Asia Hotel and they did not have record of our reservation. Saying that they had no rooms available, even though on their reservation schedule there were many rooms free, they wanted to take us to another hotel for the night before returning to their hotel the next day. After saying we deemed this unacceptable the receptionist phoned his manager before informing us that lo and behold he did have a room available. However as we exited the lift on the second floor to go to our room the sight of a rat running passed us in the hallway was the final straw. Telling the recpetionist we did not want to stay here anymore we had a real struggle getting our reservation voucher back. But eventually after Cath tricked the recpetionist into thinking that we would speak to his manager on the phone we grabbed it off his desk and marched out of the hotel. We ended up finding a room in the excellent Dan Chu Hotel but it took us a couple of days to get over the incident.
A particularly nightmarish transit. After almost a week of brilliant sunshine we found ourselves travelling on a catamaran from Hvar to Korcula on a rainy overcast day. The resultant change in the weather seemed to make the sea particularly choppy and as a result the transit felt a bit like a spin in a washing machine. Travelling on an empty stomach did not help our cause either, though having said that if we had of just eated prior to boarding there is a strong possibility that our food would have resurfaced again. I do not think we have ever disembarked a mode of transport so quickly or gratefully as we did this. Though the damage was already done as it took a couple of days for our wobbly sea legs to totally disappear. In order to save money we decided to check in to a hostel in Catania. However when we entered our room we found that we had landed into a pokey little box room with a double bed that was barely worth the name. Despite this we tried to make the best of the situation by spending as little time out of the room until it was time to sleep. However by doing this we failed to realise that the walls in the room were paper thin. When the time came to fall asleep it became evident that we could hear every single sound from the room next door. As it turned out the fact its residents, a middle aged Russian couple, proceeded to argue at the top of their voice until well past 3am meant that we were unable to get any sleep. Even our deliberate loud coughinh and banging of doors when we went to the toilet failed to alert them to our presence. Having gained very little and a low quality of sleep we checked out of the hotel the next morning and booked ourselves into a comfortable 3 star hotel.
Suffering badly from the onset of a heavy cold and a chesty phlemy cough taking a ferry ride to the Madeleine Islands was far from the ideal method of recouperation. But considering that the next ferry was due to leave in 3 days time and our existing accommodation was compact and crampy we had very little alternative but to go. With a snow storm brewing and the sea raging our small boat struggled to make it to across the water with anything approaching a smooth sail. Rocking violently for 6 hours in a see-saw motion very few people on board were exempt from feeling seasick. I have never been party to a more miserable group of people than were the passengers on board that day. Thankfully our hotel was only a 2 minute drive from the port. After checking in we spent most of the rest of the day recovering in bed.
Pompeii is an amazing and captivating place. Yet its one major flaw is that its expansive wide open layout renders it is exposed to the elements. Consequently as we found to our cost an umbrella is a vital piece of equipment to carry with you. Discovering this the hard way, whilst strolling round the complex the heavens suddenly opened. With nowhere to hide we had to run to the visitors centre to try and find cover, but by the time we got there we were literally soaked right through. With our clothes clinging to our skins we had no other choice but to abandon our visit and take the train ride back to our hotel. It was a real shame because the weathe forced us to abandon what had otherwise been a great day.
Sods law really bit us in the bum. On the only occasion on the entire trip that we did not pre-book a hotel room we proceeded after a fantastic day at the Kennedy Space Center to spent almost 3 hours searching for a hotel room. Unbeknown to us many rooms were taken by victims of the recent hurricanes that had battered Florida and left thousands homeless. As a result we went from hotel to hotel trying to find a cheap available rooms. Unfortunately the further along the highway we travelled towards Orlando and Miami the more expensive the rooms got and having turned down the chance to stay in an admittedly dodgy looking Motel 6 for 70 dollars a night we ended up paying the extortionate 130 dollars a night for the pleasure of a night's stay in Jupiter. Although the room was nice, at that price we expected alot more. The only good thing to come out of the experience is that it taught us the value of pre-booking.
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