Holiday from hell?

Middle 1980s, a fortnight in Bodrum. Flight to and from a military airport, then 4-hour coach trip. Lovely hotel, more of a small apartment than a room as it had a little kitchen and a sitting area, as well as a charming terrace covered in vines, looking down to the sea and Bodrum Castle. There was a gorgeous pool area where meals were served, lit by candles at night - so romantic! This is going to be great, we said.

At midnight the Halikarnassus Disco started up; apparently the largest disco in Bodrum, and didn't finish until 4 a.m. Dining beside the pool encouraged the mosquitoes, I had 37 bites on my legs and arms on the first night. Tripped over and ripped my only pair of trousers beyond repair. Spent most of the second week in the bathroom as I'd picked up a stomach bug. On the way home (another 4-hour coach trip to get to the military airport) we found that our plane home was delayed and so we were stuck for several hours in a compound with no facilities beyond a very questionable loo - no food, no water, no holiday rep.

When we finally landed at Gatwick we were stopped going through Customs; our medium-sized suitcases were turned upside down. Nothing found, of course, and when I asked what they were looking for I was told "carpets"!!

The coach to the parking site was run into by another car and we had to wait for a replacement. We got home just before midnight, not before my then partner had a panic because he hadn't bothered to put petrol in his car and we were down to about the last spoonful ...

Happy memories (NOT!).

We flew to Valencia one year. We were to stay one afternoon and night and then drive to a villa some miles away.
We boarded our early morning flight on time and we sat and waited and waited.
The pilot announced that we had to wait for someone to bring a part onto the flight which was needed for another aircraft. They told us it would be a while so we were sent back to the terminal.
After about an hour, we got back on to be told that the part had arrived but that it actually had to be taken to a different airport in Spain so we would need to divert.
Then we were told that our air crew had been working for too many hours so we had to wait for a new crew. They sent to the terminal for sandwiches and drinks.
We eventually arrived in Valencia 10 hours late. My poor husband then had to drive in the dark in a foreign country trying to find our hotel. When we did find it, we headed straight to the bar!

The one I can remember was a camping trip with family. My DSister made rude homophobic comments to the lads in the next tent. One of them was the brother of DHs work colleague. BIL did his best to explain DSister has mental health issues but it didn't go down well. Then I came down with a v bad eye infection so we went home. Never went on holiday with extended family again.

We had a terrible hotel holiday on Corfu. Sewage backed up in the w.c.'s and sinks and I caught a form of meningitis. Most other guests were ill. My partner thought I would die. The hotel manager threatened guests who complained. We all sued the travel company and they settled on the morning of the court hearing.

In the late 60s my boyfriend and I with two other couples went camping in Cornwall in our little sports cars. Hoods down across Dartmoor we all got sunburnt, arrived at our pitch and put up the tents, ours was a frame tent, the other 2 couples had small tents. It started raining and rained constantly for 2 whole weeks, one girl had to use a washing up bowl on her lap in the car as the soft top roof leaked. Every time we left the tent all three spare wheels had to be tied to the inside of our tent to stop it blowing away and all three couples slept in our tent!! And to top it all off our clothes were so wet we spent most of the time in swimwear and wellies!

Lol. I'm still a bit bitter and twisted about my last holiday in Egypt. The holiday resorts were in a real state and we landed up in a gorgeous hotel, but taken to our room which was not gorgeous. I'm not the complaining type. I have never before marched to the Receptionist and told them to get a team to clean the toilet, (cement on the floor!) wipe the blood off the walls and generally get the place cleaned. Turned out none of the staff had been paid for ages, so there were scenes in the lobby etc. And I came down with the dread Egyptian tummy bug. Not my best but do love Egypt, except for the beggars.
Another terrible holiday was to my best friend's wedding, when my mother took offense that I hadn't prioritised her. She couldn't understand why I needed to go to the wedding. Had an almighty row, which almost wrecked our relationship. Apparently I should have let her have her "tantrum". She's dead now, and I miss her dreadfully but that episode still hurts.

Oh... just remembered a girls' week in Southwold. One of our party was late so I said I'd wait in the cottage as the welcome committee. She opened the door, hit her head on a beam and went down like a sack of spuds, breaking her ankle in the fall.

It was my broken legged Vienna friend!! Again. With me. Again.

We've not holidayed together since.

September 2005- we were caught up in a terrorist alert, at Manchester Airport

We didn't know anything about it, until we got to our destination.

I guessed something was going on half an hour before we were supposed to arrived.

The pilot came over the tannoy to say we were diverting to Corfu, as the plane was too big to land at Zante.

I'm like "WTF" I know how small Corfu is and that lollipop of a runway. I knew something was wrong.

We were kept on board the aircraft for an hour plus. Then we changed planes. The plane was the same size.

When I said this to the flight attendant she just looked at shrugged.

When we finally reached Zante and switched our phones on, we all had loads of panic text from people.

They were frantic we were OK: the breaking news that morning was a man had been picked up on the tarmac and it was from our flight gate, half an hour after our takeoff.

Hence the cloak and dagger responses by the flight team and the pilot.

Oh and lightening does strike twice in the same place. We had family caught up in 9/11 and 7/7 also

I have also camped. We chased our tent around a field in gale force winds before giving up and renting a room. Never camped since.

Then the girly city break to Vienna. First day went well until my roommate broke her leg after fainting in a restaurant. I spent the remainder of the weekend holed up in a room with her because I refused to leave her alone to go exploring with the other girls. During this time, she discovered (via phone) that her hubby was using her weekend away as an opportunity to move out to rehome with ex.

City break to Barcelona. Friend I went with broke her leg falling down some steps.

Is it me?

On the way to USA plane hit by lightning... Going to Poland had to divert to Germany for faulty fire extinguisher to be replaced.. Unscheduled landing in Italy.. when fellow passenger took ill..luggage ruined when left overnight AbuDhabi airport..very unexpected downpour.. It goes one. Just booked for Cape Verde fingers crossed

I planned a holiday to Toronto, Canada. I found a hotel online that I thought looked great. Unfortunately the hotel was in the middle of the red light district. The noises we could hear were horrendous and relentless. When we left the hotel my husband was accosted by female workers - which was funny because if I had lost him I would have been able to find him my the bright red face. There was all sorts happening all around us and lots of drug users. I am now no longer allowed to book the hotels unless I’ve done lots of research.

When our boys were 6 & 8 and recovering from whooping cough we decided to take them to remote part of Scotland (in the hope of not meeting many people!). I had seen in the AA Guide chalets on the side of a Loch (they were 4* rated - no internet then to check them out!). We arrived and my husband, wearing a kilt was walking in front with bags etc., with me behind with our boys. A flock to geese came at him and he kick out at them. They then turned on me, biting my legs badly. My screams fetched local fishermen to beat them off. The 'chalet' was disgusting! Filthy, old, holes in doors etc... DH and I sat up all night fully clothed then I ran to the nearby phone box and called about a cottage on Mull. We were on the next ferry over....we had paid our deposit but no more. The owner said she kept geese as they were more "protective" than her previous guard dogs. Not a good combination for families we thought. We had a fabulous holiday on Mull x

We went to Looe when the children were little. We stayed in an upmarket guest house. The first evening the owner began cooking dinner at around 7pm and didn't serve it until about 10pm. The children were tired and hungry. I told her we'd eat out in the evenings for the rest of the week. I didn't realise she'd taken offense. The next day I washed some of the children's clothes and hung them on the line in the garden. There was ample drying space. When we got home that afternoon she'd put the wet washing in a bin bag and left it on our bed! There was a note saying we should use the laundrette in town! For the rest of the holiday she huffed at us. We were too polite to say anything. This guest house was highly recommend by The Times but we found out her husband was a journalist for that paper.

Just once when I was a child. My brother was in the army so it was just Mum and Dad and me, the only means of cooking was a calor gas stove which smelt so bad it made me sick. I felt so ill the first night Mum put her Evening In Paris perfume on my pillow which to me smelt as bad as the calor gas, I have hated the smell of that perfume ever since. I remember we had to cross a field to get anywhere and there were cows in it which I was scared of and in the evening there were bats flying about which I was even more scared of as somebody had told me they would get caught in my hair and have to be cut out. One day it was very windy and the caravan door slammed shut on my hand, my thumb nail was black for ages. I must have been great company during that holiday!

All the horror camping stories are examples of why I don’t go camping. I’ve only been twice - the first time was on my honeymoon with my ex husband, it set the stage for the rest of our marriage ?! The second time was with a ‘friend’ - NEVER holiday with friends! She was so untidy and there is not room in a tent to be untidy. I’ll never get under canvas again!

Oh, the bush fires in Australia were right near us, that was the last time we ventured anywhere

Age 15 I went on holiday with Mum and Dad to a caravan in Cornwall. The pictures in the brochure looked lovely but must have been of another site - it was miles from the sea and town. The caravan was old but freshly painted inside - so fresh that the paint was still wet.

On a coach driving through hill fires in Europe (scary), sat on the tarmac in Singapore in humid heat for two hours as something was wrong with the electrics of the plane , DH got food poisoning in Wales, the tent took off across a field in a gale in Cornwall, a crash in France, you name it, we've done it!
Quite often someone in the family ended up in hospital A&E during the holiday (quite often me!).

Many years ago we had a stopover in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Driving from the airport was a nightmare as there was a bush fire we had to pass through. Our hotel had no fire escapes, no air conditioning, filthy blankets, intermittent shower and a telephone which rang on and off the whole night. We were on the fourth floor. Breakfast was a pile of rice smothered in ketchup. After breakfast we staggered back up to our room in extreme heat - we were on the equator. I promptly fainted.

We were returning from Scotland after a really nice break when my then partner started to feel really unwell, rather than try to continue the drive, we decided to look for a hotel / b&b for the night.
We found a b&b with one free 'family' room so took it.

It wasn't the best but looked clean and as my son said 'it's just one night mum'.
We'd gone to bed when my partner jumped up saying he'd been bitten....we put the light on and the bed was crawling as the light woke my son, he appeared to be covered in huge blotches.
I said I wasn't staying there and we immediately got our belongings together to leave - as we opened the door to the room, the owner was standing right outside the room holding her dog which was dressed in a little mac and sou'wester and she had a big cape on . This was the middle of August!!
We fled!

When dd's were very young we hired an apartment in a castle in England.
On arrival DH collected the key and as he walked in stopped d he came for me and told the girls to stay, towards the door there was the most awful smell of toilets. We inspected but there was nothing so decided to open windows .One of the windows was propped open by the largest live wasps nest,and everything was dirty and dilapidated.
We went to the car and drove straight home.
We seem to have been plagued with wasps nests ever since. A huge one in the Dordogne right beside the bathroom window,one in Italy behind the main bedroom wall and another in Italy again propping a window open.
I have also had food poisoning on an island in Scotland where the DH had to look after the family for a week and it was uncertain if I would be able to go on the ferry. Torrential rain the night before leaving meant the car would not start and we made the terminus with minutes to spare.
In France it was obvious I needed something strong for the D&S, Dh speaks another language not French he took the girls and went to a pharmacy and came back with something and two very disgruntled children. They said daddy could not make himself understood so he had mimed D&S mutch to their embarrassment.As we went through customs bells rang and I had to explain that the medicine contained opium they thought we were smuggling drugs.
We began to wonder why we booked holidays.

We hired a gite in France as we had done many times before. They were always beautiful.
This one seemed idyllic. The pictures looked lovely. However, it was a ramshackle dump. It was filthy. There were fly papers covered in flies hanging from the ceiling and dead flies stuck to the horrible filthy old windows.
The sheets on the bed were wet with damp. Me and my sister took them off the bed to hang on the line. The garden was full of cow pats, bottles and cans. The shower had rubble, house bricks and brooms in it. There was a big hole in the floor in the living room which had lino pulled over it.
They advertised a barbecue. It was three house bricks one side, two the other with a rack from an oven placed across it.
We had no choice but to stay one night as it was miles from anywhere. We could hear something scratching about outside all night. It was horrendous.The next day we had to drive around looking for somewhere else. Our two families had to spend the holiday separately. We cut the holiday short.
I complained to the owner, who was English. I had taken photos. She said our standards must be 'too high'
After much ado we got our money back.

37 years ago we rented a cottage on the Isle of Mull.
It was direct with the owners via the Sunday Times.
We arrived on the island and whilst looking for the right house we kept passing a wreck of a cottage with a rusty digger in the garden, we joked, poor beggars that rent that for the week!
Yes of course it was ours, when the key fit our hearts sank.

It was filthy, we had no choice but to stay the ferry had gone and money was tight, we set to and cleaned.
Every inch was sparkling but there was an electricity meter set so high 50p boiled a kettle a few times and allowed us to hoover, we broke into the meter and fed 1 50p in hundreds of times.
The owners wouldn’t answer our calls, we met the young girl who was supposed to look after the property but the owners hadn’t paid her in months so she stopped, she was very apologetic.
Eventually we got our money back via the newspaper.

We went on a two week holiday to Kos with DH’s family - ten of us in all. I put my leg through a rotten board on a jetty the first day we were there and spent the first week with the leg bandaged up, so no swimming. One sister in law and her husband fought constantly and she ended up, during one very public row, taking off her wedding ring and throwing it over a wall into a field. A recovery party had to be organised which took up the best part of a day! One of DH’s brothers was stung by a jellyfish and his wife got food poisoning. By the end of the holiday everyone but us had fallen out with everyone else! Restful it wasn’t. Would we do it again? Never!

We enjoyed camping holidays when the children where small it was the only holidays we could afford at the time.
One Easter my parents decided they would like to try camping and we didn't mind at all (thinking it would be a nice family holiday).
On the 3rd night it rained really hard but we managed to stay dry in our tent,however parents had pitched their tent on an incline and woke up to find they had slid down the field still in their sleeping bags with the tent wrapped around them,they packed up all their wet soggy clothes and drove home never to come with us again.

Nanna8 similar to you. When I with an old boyfriend we went camping to the Isle of Arran and just camped in a field he carried the tent on his back so it wasn’t big. In the night it poured with rain and the tent fell down and we were laid in a dark field with motorbikes riding around. Needless to say next day moved to a hotel. Never again.

A few years ago we took the family to centre parcs and spent the four days with a sick little 3 year old being sick and in and out of hospital where he was diagnosed with coeliac disease.

With same old boyfriend we went on a weeks canal holiday to wales with another couple and the other guy broke his leg while we were there and had to go into hospital where he spent the final few days. My friend has to drive home despite only passing her driving test days earlier.
So there have been a few lol.