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Overall, we had more ups than downs, but still managed to have our fair share of travel fails in 2018. During the year, we traveled to Austin, Cuba, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Costa Rica, Washington D.C., Charlottesville, Miami, and Denver. There were plenty of fantastic highlights, but as anyone who travels knows, there are always some lowlights. Although in the moment they were rough, we can look back and laugh at them now, which is why we wanted to share our worst travel moments of 2018.
Buying the Wrong Flight
When we decided we were going to Las Vegas for a friend’s birthday, we got really excited and bought our tickets. It was going to be busy because the weekend trip was right after we got back from one week in Cuba.
A month after we bought the tickets to Vegas we were looking at our calendar and realized that we bought our return tickets for the wrong day! Whoops! Luckily through Southwest there’s no fee for changing your flights, so we were able to do that relatively easily. However, flying back on a Sunday instead of a Monday was quite a bit more expensive…
Getting Sick in Costa Rica
Neither of us have a weak stomach when it comes to heights, planes, seasickness, etc. However, the drive up to Monteverde in Costa Rica can get BUMPY.
We knew it would be rough, but not as rough as it was. While driving from Tamarindo (a beach town) to Monteverde (the rainforest) the last half hour is pretty intense. Right when we got out of the shuttle in Monteverde, Becca threw up! Mike didn’t puke, but he didn’t feel well either.
We definitely recommend taking some Dramamine, even if you think you are going to be okay. That way you can take a nap through the ride too!
Potential Shooter in DC
While this wasn’t anything we did poorly, it was certainly a tense moment we experienced.
We were waiting to get our Greyhound bus tickets at Union Station in Washington, D.C., and a man came in and pushed his was to the front of the line. He started swearing at the employee and when she told him to leave, he said he was going to come back and “shoot the place up.”
He left and came back a few minutes later, yelling, and swearing. Thankfully, the security came and got him, followed by the police. While he was clearly intoxicated, it was still an intense situation that was, to say the least, pretty uncomfortable.
Problems Finding Our Airbnb
Our last stop in Costa Rica was San José, where we stayed for a night before flying out. Our bus from La Fortuna to San José couldn’t drop us off where we requested because they “couldn’t go into San José.” We didn’t know/realize this when we booked it. Luckily, they ended up dropping us off at the airport, and we were able to take a taxi from the airport to where we thought our airbnb was.
However, once we were at the location of our Airbnb (or where we thought it was) we could see that this was probably not the right location. There were construction workers outside of the house, and the house was being totally remodeled. Lucky for us, we speak Spanish and were able to communicate with them. We lucked out even more when one of the men working helped us out by letting us use his phone to contact the Airbnb hosts to find the actual location!
While it worked out in the end, it was incredibly stressful in the moment, especially because the Airbnb was not in the center of San José.
Not Being Able to See What We Traveled For
Adding a third bad travel moment from our trip to Costa Rica to this list seems strange because our trip was wonderful, but looking back, it seems we had some bad luck…
We stopped in La Fortuna, Costa Rica primarily to see the famous Arenal volcano that towers over the city. Seeing as though we visited in rainy season, the volcano was not even remotely visible from the city during our couple days there. This was definitely a disappointment, but we were able to see about 85% of it during a tour on the other side of Arenal. Plus, we got to see just about everything we wanted to during our one week in Costa Rica.
We suppose this an unfortunate reality of traveling. Usually you can plan to see all the things you want to see by mapping them out, checking when they’re open, and buying tickets in advance; however, when it comes to mother nature, you can’t always predict everything.
