I might have been part of the new record set Friday night for the most people ever on BGP, except that for one small detail. The one hour drive home became a 2.5 hour drive!

 

Our football team played at Beechwood that night (as some of you know, lost 42-6, but never gave up, thanks boys!). The drive home is fairly easy from I-75 to I-71.

 

I was riding with one of the football moms that volunteered to haul all of the equipment (coolers, medical kits, footballs, etc) to all of the away games. Somewhere around the Richwood exit, I drift off to sleep....

 

The next thing I know, I slowly open my eyes to a sign that says "Georgetown 3 miles, Lexington 15 miles". I jump awake......and say, "did that sign read Lexington 15 miles?"

 

Now, in her defense, she is much more of a Louisville driver than a NKY driver and she didn't have her GPS unit with her. She had missed the 75/71 split! Of course, had I not been napping, this wouldn't have happened.

 

We had a good laugh over it, stopped at a gas station to get something to drink. She called her son to tell him that she would be getting home late...and he had done the same thing, too! He was about six miles behind us. :lol:

 

So, the one hour drive took us about two and a half hours to get back home.

 

Anyone else have any similar experiences?

When I was younger, my family and I had been vacationing at Daytona Beach, FL for two weeks. I couldn't stand the long drive home so the night before we left I stayed up all night so I could sleep for most of the drive.

 

The next morning we left, I still hadn't been to sleep yet. I was exhausted. We got in our car and I was asleep before we left the hotel parking lot. I woke up 3 or 4 hours later and asked my dad where we were. To my disappointment, we were not only still in the state of Florida, but we had only made it 30 miles or so. My dad told me that as soon as we got on the interstate that we were stuck in traffic due to a bad wreck ahead of us.

This loosely fits the criteria. It's from my blog over the summer about my trip around the world. A little lengthy, but a good look into life in Southeast Asia.

 

This blog will catch you up on what happened yesterday as I tried to cross the Thai/Cambodian border. This is a real story. I take no liberties with it.

 

The trip from Bangkok to the border is supposed to take about 5 hours. We (Eric and I) were told that buses leave from the bus station about every 30 minutes. No problem. We get up early, have a little breakfast and catch a cab to the bus station. After little to no problem arriving, we find out the buses don't depart every half hour, but every 3 hours. We had just missed the 930 bus so we had to wait for the 1230 bus. Not a huge problem, but I would have preferred not sitting in a plastic chair sucking down diesel fumes for 3 hours.

The bus finally departs, and we're on our way. A fairly uneventful trip, if you don't count the scattered monsoons, randomly picking up large groups of people fromalongside the road, Thai political demonstrations in the middle of the road (literally- a 4 lane road became 2) and the occasional pothole.

 

We arrive at the bus station and patiently wait for our bus. The lady tells us it will be 20 minutes. An hour later, I'm starting to get worried that the border will close by the time we get there. Eric starts chatting up a Thai girl named Tan and we all quickly become friends. She is crossing the border, too, to see her pseudo-boyfriend in Battambang, Cambodia. We decide to stick with each other as we don't speak Thai and she was a single female traveler who has never been to Cambodia before.

 

Now the story gets fun.

 

After a truly uneventful ride (the highlight was learning that Tan's brother is a lady-boy ), the bus dropped us off at the border town Aranyaprathet where we had to get a tuk tuk (think moped with a carriage) to the border station. The driver takes a diversion telling Tan that we need to go to the Cambodian Consulate to get our visas. It's getting dark at this point and my fear is that the consulate is closed. I also feared long lines of travelers just like Eric and I fighting for the last Cambodian visas of the night. I was wrong.

 

Once we removed our shoes and stepped onto the marble floor, we noticed that no one was there except for two guys sitting and smoking cigarettes at a table. One of them jumped up and said "Visa?". We nodded in agreement and almost instantly a shutter opened against the wall with a man inside, lights came on and voila! open for business! We filled out some paperwork and had our visas within 15 minutes. Not hardly the way it would operate in the States, but hey, who cares? We crossed into Cambodia and could immediately tell we were in a different world. Paved roads gave way to dirt and gravel, pressed shirts gave way to sooty clothes, taxis disappeared. Hundreds of people on the street. Street food in all its glory.

 

I will cut short the next 30-60 minutes of the day. Let's just say we bargained and haggled for a taxi. The actual events we much more complicated than that, but eventually some guy knew a guy who knew a guy who was a roommate of a guy who once had a vague idea of where Siem Reap is. 3 hours to get there, they said. A busted Toyota Camry pulled up with a cracked windshield and caked with dust. I traced 'Wash Me' with my finger over the trunk as they told us that if we just got in the car and paid $40 US dollars we would be on our way. Let's set the scene. Imagine we're standing on a pile of rocks, dirt blowing , the smell of fried something-or-other permeating the air, backpacks on, surrounded by Cambodians who all want our dollars. The easiest thing to do was get in the car. And so we did.

 

Only once in the car, we headed back to the border. The driver, who spoke no English turned down into a dark alleyway. A group of Cambodians were perched along side a wall and moved to the car. The driver gets out and opens the trunk, taking our backpacks out and stuffing them in the front seat. The group of guys the proceed to stuff huge Styrofoam boxes into the trunk. They push and push. Kick and push. Slam the trunk, sit on the trunk, jump on the trunk and it is all finally in. Whatever "it" may be. I'm honestly a little worried at this point. What's in the boxes? Cocaine? Heroin? We'll never know. One of the guys tosses a spare tire in the front seat and we're off, heading this time in the right direction.

 

Think for a second. What is the WORST road you've ever seen? It's undoubtedly rocky, made of dirt or gravel and looks like no one has tended to it in years. Now take that image, multiply it by 10 and you've got a Cambodian highway. I'm not even joking. Words really can not express the terror I felt on that road. The driver varied in speeds from 15-80 miles per hour on the road. Once he came precariously close to a slamming into a mound of dirt. Another time we were about 6 inches from another car. Passing on left and right sides, head hitting the ceiling, watching the gas tank drop until the light came on. This is the ride to Siem Reap. Something was also very strange about the ride and it took Eric and I a few minutes to come up with the answer. No lights. None. Oh, the cars had headlights, but the road had no lights itself. Pitch black. This added to my fears.

 

The one moment where I felt particularly unsafe was when the driver pulled over without warning. He got out of the car and went to the trunk. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call. He got back in the car, drove another mile and pulled over again. Off to the side of the road I saw flashlights coming at us. People we coming from the darkness towards the car. Driver gets out and opens the trunk, pulling out one of the boxes. A man loads the box on his moped and speeds off. A girl pays him. He returns to the car and we drive on.

 

Maybe to hear me tell this story doesn't sound so bad, but trust me, it was worrisome. I think I would have felt more safe had I made the trip during the day and could see what was going on around me, but as it was, there was nothing to see. Only more darkness. Couple that with a non-English speaking driver who looked to be having a bad day and I felt pretty unsure of the situation. I am very very very thankful I wasn't making the trip alone. Eric assured me he felt the same way. I think I will consider this another notch in my traveler's belt.

UKPat, I thought your trials in finding an ATM in India were far more entertaining. :lol:

 

When I worked for Holiday Inn, one of my responsibilities was to visit the reservations centers. A co-worker and I booked our flight, booked our hotel, and were off. When we arrived to the airport, we realized we'd booked our flight to the wrong city. :lol: However, being as this was an ocean side city, we decided to see if we could find an ocean view hotel to stay in. So, we rent a car and take off toward the beach. Sure enough, just as our trusty Holiday Inn directory promised, there's a hotel on the beach! Now, will they honor the employee rate? We walk in, and they say, "Sure!". So, we get checked in, and ask them to cancel our reservations at the other hotel. This should have been easy, as you just log in to the Holidex system, pull up the confirmation number, and cancel it. But, our clerk didn't know how to do that. So, she lets me into the office, and I do it myself. The rooms were great, ocean view, just lovely! We change, go out to dinner, and when we come back....I CAN'T GET INTO MY ROOM! I'd left the patio door open, and it had blown the safety bar lock shut. We had to wait for the maintenance guy to be waken up at home, and then get there to help us out.

 

We got lost the next day on our way to the reservations center. But, we got there on time, and we had a lot of fun and enjoyed some great scenery.

 

For the record...the lesson learned was, if you want to go to Raleigh/Charlotte, do not book your flight into Charleston. :lol:

My friend and her husband went to Florida for vacation. They took turns driving. On the way home her husband drove first. After a few hours they stopped to get something to eat. My friend took over the driving and her husband took a nap.

 

He woke up in time to see a "Welcome to Florida" sign. My friend got on the wrong interstate and drove BACK to Florida.

Im sure there will be some interesting vacation mess ups on this thread...

Im trying to think of some myself. This will be a good 1

Check out the movie "Wrong Turn" sometime.

 

On second thought, maybe not.

When my children were very little (1,2 and 4) we visited Gatlinburg with two other families all in the same house. The moment we pulled into the rental agency my middle child threw up. Within hours my 4 year old and 2 year old were running high fevers and vomiting.

 

We spent several hours at an urgent care center, which worked on a cash only basis with other miserable travelers. Both kids had strep throat. Spent the rest of the vacation in the chalet, with no washer/dryer with two kids vomiting. My friends who had children were worried their kids would get it as well. Felt like lepers.

This pales by comparison with some of the above, but;

 

Several years ago we spent a long weekend at a Howard Johnson's (mistake #1) motel in Kingsport, TN (mistake #2, unless you are particularly enamored with the aroma of chemical fumes in the air).

 

We got there and the smoke alarm was going off at regular intervals at a fairly high decibel level. When we called to get it repaired, a maintenance guy came upstairs, tried to fix it without success, told us that there was no replacement unit, and left us with some sage advice - don't start any fires.

 

A couple hours later, after we had gone to the grocery store to get some pop and snacks, the door of the refrigerator fell off when we tried to put the pop in it. I called the desk and they said that the maintenance guy had gone home for the night (doubtless recovering from his previous exertions with our smoke alarm), and that he would come up sometime the next morning with a replacement. That he did - he entered the room with new refrigerator in tow. I happened to be in my skivvies, shaving; while mcmama was still in bed. I guess knocking or calling was too much to hope for.

 

The rest of the weekend went fine (thankfully, we are not pyromaniacs), After returning home, I wrote the corporate Ho-Jo office - not in a mean way; just recounting the smoke alarm and refrigerator experiences. I was secretly hoping to get a refund.

 

I did get a coupon for $25 off my next Ho-Jo stay.

Ashamed to say but I once took the "40 Exit only" ramp, in Nashville, thinking it would continue me traveling on 40.... I lated stopped at some all night BBQ place and he informed me, I was about 40 miles in the wrong direction.

 

Here's another, I once got pulled over for speeding in Macon County, Georgia. It was late a night and all I could think about, was going to jail there and wished, I had never seen the movie.

 

:lol:

I attempted to work all day once, leave work to take a 2-hour nap and then leave Morehead at 7:00 PM to drive all the way to Florida. Everyone in the car fell asleep and at about 4:00 AM somwhere in deep southern South Carolina (near Savannah, I think), I was going in an out. I decided to stop at a gas station that I still swear I saw to this day. So, I hit the exit and my wife's little brother woke up (he was in the front seat while others were sleeping in the back). I headed towards the gas station lights that I saw from the interstate. We came up to a lighted road that looked like road construction or something. I entered the cones and kept driving. A few hundred feet in, the cones started weaving in a zig zag formation. They ended at a guard shack with 4 men holding what appeared to be M-16's. Two of them were pointed at the front windshield from directly in front the car and there was one guard on either side pointing them at the sides of the car. The guard on the drivers side indicated to me to slowly roll the window down. I muttered out "I think I made a worng turn." His response, "Yeah, I think you did. How about we forget about this little incident and you head back to the Interstate."

 

You talk about a bizarre turn of events. I to this day have no idea exactly what we came up on. I assume it was a base of some sort. I know one thing, I was ready to drive after that!

Here's a good one.

 

Two years ago several of my buddies and I were having a few at my place. A lot of the people that were out here were going skiing the next morning. Me and my friend Dustin were not. One beer turned into two, two into three and three into 20. By the end of the night, my buddy Dustin and I had decided that the next morning, we too were going skiing.

 

Everyone had left my house at this point so we went inside, got on the computer and made reservations at the cheapest place around Snow Shoe we could find. We printed off some directions and went to sleep. We couldn't have slept for more than 3 or 4 hours because we woke up at 7 AM to make the 4 hour journey to Snow Shoe.

 

As we got closer to Snow Shoe we started looking for anything that resembled the name of the hotel we were staying at. Our directions kept taking us closer and closer to the end destination with no hotels in sight. At this point, we're on a residential street. We follow the directions to a T and they take us to a house. I decided to get out and ask the owners of the home where the hotel we were staying at was.

 

I walked to the door and knocked and was answered by a very old man. I asked him where the place was and he said "you're here". Yup, that's right, sometime in the wee hours of the morning we had managed to make reservations at a bed and breakfast.

 

So here we are, me and Dustin staying in a bedroom of some guys house. Me, Dustin and several gay couples to be exact. Not that I have a problem with that, I must admit though, I felt a little uncomfortable :lol:

I attempted to work all day once, leave work to take a 2-hour nap and then leave Morehead at 7:00 PM to drive all the way to Florida. Everyone in the car fell asleep and at about 4:00 AM somwhere in deep southern South Carolina (near Savannah, I think), I was going in an out. I decided to stop at a gas station that I still swear I saw to this day. So, I hit the exit and my wife's little brother woke up (he was in the front seat while others were sleeping in the back). I headed towards the gas station lights that I saw from the interstate. We came up to a lighted road that looked like road construction or something. I entered the cones and kept driving. A few hundred feet in, the cones started weaving in a zig zag formation. They ended at a guard shack with 4 men holding what appeared to be M-16's. Two of them were pointed at the front windshield from directly in front the car and there was one guard on either side pointing them at the sides of the car. The guard on the drivers side indicated to me to slowly roll the window down. I muttered out "I think I made a worng turn." His response, "Yeah, I think you did. How about we forget about this little incident and you head back to the Interstate."

 

You talk about a bizarre turn of events. I to this day have no idea exactly what we came up on. I assume it was a base of some sort. I know one thing, I was ready to drive after that!

Do you happen to know what road were you on? Or did you just get off I-75? Because Paris Island as well as an Air Force base are right in that area.

Do you happen to know what road were you on? Or did you just get off I-75? Because Paris Island as well as an Air Force base are right in that area.

 

I have no idea. I don't think it was I-75. I think we were on I-95 heading south.

Two summers ago, I was flying back home to visit my best friend and I am deathly afraid of airplanes and flying. The flight from Cincinnati to Charlotte went smoothly, but the late flight to Charleston was a totally different story. It is a short 30 minute flight to Charleston and I gripped the sides of my seat the entire way, due to the lightning storm going on around us. Right as we get over Charleston, the captain comes over the system and says they have no radar signals, and have lost contact with the towers so they can not see anything and need to head back to Charlotte and not risk landing in Charleston. I am pretty sure I went crazy and started hyperventilating, totally sure we were going to crash and die. =/ When we landed back at Charlotte we were told we needed to get a hotel [on our own penny] and take the 11:00 the next morning. I was NOT about to do that, or fly again, so this guy [who knew some of my friends from CofC] and I rented a car and drove the three and a half hours. To this day, I am not sure why I was dumb enough to rent a car with someone I did not know, and all I could think about was how I deserved to be a headline in a newspaper the next day.