What's your favourite travel story?

[Mattg]

If you could think of one travel experience you've had that was particularly incredible or perhaps even life-changing, what would it be? What's your go-to travel story at a dinner party?

 

[Bundy Bear]

If you could think of one travel experience you've had that was particularly incredible or perhaps even life-changing, what would it be? What's your go-to travel story at a dinner party?

should it be a trip you have taken or one you have read that set a spark.

 

[AIRwin]

Once I was visiting Oxford with a high school friend (while we were still in uni) when we walked past a college and I commented to him that it was my high school teacher's alma mater. As we turned a corner, we bumped into... my high school teacher!

 

[Mattg]

should it be a trip you have taken or one you have read that set a spark.

Preferably one you've taken yourself.

 

[Human]

Our go-to story is quite recent (Dec 2021-Jan 2022). My wife and I were in Iceland, visiting at that time of year because we wanted to see the Northern Lights. The first night after we arrived, we excitedly boarded a minibus for our small-group Northern Lights tour… after waiting for three hours in minus 7 degree weather, they didn’t come out. We got back to our hotel room in Reykjavik at 1am.

The next night we tried again (the tour companies let you rebook for free if the Lights don’t come out). Same story. No lights. Hours standing in below-freezing cold. Back in our hotel room at 1am.

The next night the tour was cancelled due to overcast weather. At that point we made the difficult decision to give up. We’d fallen in love with Iceland anyway, thanks to the tours we were taking and places we were visiting during the day, and we only had a couple of days left in Iceland which we wanted to enjoy, rather than have them ruined by lack of sleep. We were disappointed, but still had so many great memories of Iceland that we knew that the trip was worth it.

The morning of our flight out of Iceland dawned … at about 6am an SMS came through: our flight was cancelled due to the airline (SAS) being unable to crew the flight because of COVID.

We decided to use our last, unexpected night in Iceland to try one last time. And the Northern Lights came out spectacularly! It was truly a magical night.

It’s a great story about how setbacks can turn into opportunities!

 

[AIRwin]

The morning of our flight out of Iceland dawned … at about 6am an SMS came through: our flight was cancelled due to the airline (SAS) being unable to crew the flight because of COVID.

We decided to use our last, unexpected night in Iceland to try one last time. And the Northern Lights came out spectacularly! It was truly a magical night.

The StArS aligned...

 

[kpc]

My perfect / best travel day and experience. Staying on the Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls, we walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge to the Zambian side, took a taxi to the Royal Livingston Hotel to take a tour to the Devil's pool where my life flashed in front of my eyes as I peered over the edge of Victoria Falls; then back to the Zim side to catch a helicopter tour over Victoria Falls, followed by a sunset cruise over the Zambesi river. then finally back to our hotel for a late dinner, exhausted but deliriously happy... this was 11 years ago but I remember every detail like it was yesterday! My best travel day experience ever....

 

[Scash]

Like many here I have a number of dinner table stories, but one in particular sticks. We were heading to Europe in 2018 flying BNE-HKG-DXB-CDG. We were delayed in HKG for 24 hours due to a category 10 typhoon (that was an experience in itself and another dinner topic!). We were flying EK J HKG-DXB-CDG. On the DXB-CDG leg we met a guy at the bar on the A380 who is a born and bred Parisian, but working in China. Chatted quite a bit (and drank quite a bit) and when we disembarked wished him well.

A few days later we were taking a bit of a back street route to the Eifel Tower, when we stopped at a food van to get something to eat. We had just ordered our food and turned around when the guy we met on the plane walked by!!

We caught up for lunch a few days later and have kept in touch since, and are meeting up with him when we head to Paris in July this year. An amazing coincidence in a city of a few million people!

 

[drron]

Too many stories with all our travel but the top ones are to do with nature and wildlife.
Antarctica with many examples but the one that stands out is watching a leucistic Adele penguin at Mawson's hut. Extremely rare. Not an albino as it has normal eyes not pink like albinos.

Inside passage Alaska on an 8 person boat. One day Mrsdrron and I were out in a 2 person kayak when a humpback whale surfaced less than a metre from us. I remember seeing this large eye. Incidentally an eagle flew over weighed down by a large salmon in it's talons whilst a black bear came out on the shore.

Galapagos. Incredible interactions but the most memorable an interaction with 2 juvenile sea lions. On a 16 pax catamaran and I was the second strongest swimmer. The strongest was a 16 year old Israeli lad who was on the spectrum so didn't alway follow orders. I was given the task of being his buddy when snorkeling. One day he just swam out to sea and I had no hope catctching him so signalled to the patrolling zodiac which took off after him. Swimming back to the group 2 sea lions came to play. they would dive down and do some acrobatics before coming to the surface again. Naturally that was a challenge so I followed them down twisting and turning as best I could. On the third occasion as I was surfacing one of them surfaced beside me. Put a flipper around my back and looked into my eyes as much to say don't give up your day job. You suck at this.

Napo Amazon lodge Ecuador. There were 16 guests. Mrsdrron only went on the canoes as she had had a fall. We were divided into 2 groups for the activities. There were 6 keen birders and I was put with them. One excursion was a hide in the tree tops to view the birds. I was in the way so after a couple of pictures of the macaws I went and sat at the back of the hide by myself. After a short time a little bird came and sat on the railing very close to me so I began chirping back as I am want to do. So I called out to the guide to ask what bird is this. OMG he said that is X. There are only 6 breeding pairs around here. Naturally all the birders came over and it flew off before they got their pictures.
About 20 minutes later another small bird did the same. OMG said the guide that is Y. I have never seen one here. They are usually 100 Km north of here. Once again the birders scared it off.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Back in 2006, while visiting Cape Town, Mr LL and I drove to the Cape Park. On the way back from Cape Point Mr LL spotted a pair of ostriches perfectly positioned for a photo opt. We pulled off the road into a parking area. He got out of the car and opened the back door to get the camera out; I stayed in the front seat. He left the back door open and opened the boot to change the lens. While he was doing this (all of 30 seconds) a very large baboon jumped into the back seat. I thought it was Mr LL and turned around to come face to face with the monster. I called out to Mr LL but he did not hear, as he was still standing behind the open boot. I jumped out of the car in a panic and finally got Mr LL's attention – we then opened the other back door and tried to chase the baboon out – it was a comedy – the baboon kept jumping back into the car. We finally got him out and closed all the doors – incident over, we thought, but the baboon decided to attack me – he literally leap out of nowhere at me grabbing my arm and pushing me over backwards. I went flying, landing on my back banging my elbow, smashing my head on the ground – my glasses went flying. Fortunately I was saved from a serious head injury by my ponytail which cushioned my head – however I skinned my elbow (fortunately I was wearing a long sleeved top and a fleece) but I bit my tongue quite badly and my glasses were smashed.

I dusted myself off and we drove off looking for a spot to have our picnic lunch. We stopped a short ways away at great beach and picnic area. I was too freaked out to try and eat outside the car as baboons were literally all over the park – we did not see any at this spot but a pair of ostriches strolled by for a another photo opt.

 

[cgichard]

With a group on Mount Teide (ex-volcanic) on Tenerife, I got bored with walking on what looked liked solid chocolate blamange and went to sit in the modernist café near the top of the cable car. Pecking around for crumbs under the table was a nondescript sparrow-like bird, that turned out to be one of the rarest in the world: Bertholet's pipit.

On another occasion, somewhere high and cold in the Ecuadorian Andes, the birders were guided on a particular track over the ridge in the hope of spotting vultures. I and one other person were not so keen and stayed in the van. From there we had a clear view over a long valley on the other side of the ridge, where two vultures were enjoying coasting the thermals. The birders came back unsuccessful in their quest, and were most annoyed by and almost disbelieved our report.

 

[RooFlyer]

One travel experience you've had that was particularly incredible category.

Without doubt, Darvaza Crater in central Turkmenistan, also known as the Door to Hell. Drive 3hrs through the desert, to reach nowhere in particular, and be confronted with this:



Roaring hell hole, like putting your head in an oven when the wind blew from it.

 

[LadyC]

Best travel experience - driving a Bajaj across the Western side of India with the Gentleman (well he did most of the driving) - we have got plenty of mileage with that story - boom tish!

 

[burmans]

One travel experience you've had that was particularly incredible category.

Without doubt, Darvaza Crater in central Turkmenistan, also known as the Door to Hell. Drive 3hrs through the desert, to reach nowhere in particular, and be confronted with this:

View attachment 315953

Roaring hell hole, like putting your head in an oven when the wind blew from it.

Hoping to do this in June, though this assumes we are actually allowed into the country by then!!

 

[vetrade]

Although Mrs V and I are not really outdoorsy types at home, my No. 1 bucket list item has long been to conquer Trolltunga (the Troll's Tongue) in Norway, ever since I saw a pic of it in a travel article. Truth be known, at 68YO I had serious misgivings as to whether I would be up to the physical challenge despite being moderately fit - plus I'm not very good with heights - but we did manage to do it just 6 months ago.

The only way to get to Trolltunga is to hike and the trail is about 14km each way with an 800m elevation gain, nearly all of it alternating steep climbs or descents over large and small boulders. We kept up a steady pace and did the return trip in 10.5hrs. We were too scared to rest for too long in case we couldn't get back up. Utterly exhausted and could hardly walk for 3 days after but the sense of achievement we felt at the end was euphoric.

Plus, conquering my fears and walking onto that rock ledge was a momentous achievement for me. It is 700m above the lake and we had read that an Aussie girl had fallen to her death there quite recently so the doubts were there. Mrs V joined me on the ledge too but it didn't help my composure that I could feel her trembling. I doubt she even realises now how misplaced her faith in me was in that moment as she clung to me for support.

Truly memorable.

 

[ellen10]

@vetrade that photo makes me queasy just looking at it!