Recently, I asked my fellow American tourists in the BuzzFeed community about the worst mistakes they made the first time they traveled abroad.
Here are 13 of their top responses:
1.“I accidentally booked a 12-hour layover on a flight that was already 8 hours long, thinking the layover (for whatever reason) was over the ocean.”
2.“We crossed the Friendship Bridge into Canada, but they sent us back because my wife had pepper spray.”
“US customs got rid of the harmful spray. We went to our Canadian hotel and discovered my wife’s gun in the luggage!”
—larrydbrewer
NBC / Via youtube.com
3.“Not taking out travel insurance. I had never thought about it before, but it may become a necessity. While on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise, I was on an excursion when a woman on the same cruise fell and broke her ankle. “I had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. Some of her relatives, who remained on the cruise, said that, after the airlift and the first three days in the hospital, it was already 10,000 US dollars.”
“Who knows how much it cost me in the end? Now I need travel insurance.”
—stracar
NBC / Via youtube.com
4.“When I was 15, my paternal grandfather discovered that his first wife lived in our home country, Yugoslavia. A few months later, I was 16, and my father took me abroad to meet my grandmother and see relatives who I only met a few years ago. After a few weeks in Europe, I started smoking.
“When it was time for the return trip, I flew alone to Chicago, where my older sister met me at the airport. She asked me if I was smoking and I lied to her.
Later, when I got on the plane to go home, I found a note stating that our grandmother had passed away while I was in the air. She also said that she knew she smoked because she found my cigarettes in my carry-on luggage. She promised not to tell our dad, which she didn’t, but eventually the neighbors arrested me and told my dad.”
—smelly turtle841
Fraternity / Best Image / BACKGRID
5.“While using Apple GPS to search for stores, I accidentally walked into a corporate office.”
“I’m definitely a lot more careful now about bad GPS listings. Some of them don’t translate well.”
—pbbt
Records of the Republic / Via giphy.com
6.“My group procrastinated on planning and then decided to forego the one thing we had all agreed to: day 1 of the decompression spa. We simply abandoned our only pre-flight plan and planned our itinerary once we arrived. BAD IDEA.”
“I didn’t sleep on my 16-hour flight to Korea. I slept quickly at the hotel, and then friends and I chose our ‘random but busy day’ as Day 1 instead of our planned relaxation day at the Korean spa.
Walking around in rags is bad, especially when you’re neurodivergent and dealing with a time difference, new external stimuli, and a lack of access to your coping mechanisms (i.e. edibles are banned in most Asian countries). By the second day, I had a small emotional breakdown over the loss of my travel pass loaded with basically $5 in Korean won. And then, by day 4, my sleep-deprived friend raised her voice at me in a public area, and the overstimulation of it all sent me into a full-blown panic attack.
If you are traveling abroad with a big time difference, make a plan, try to stick to it, and take the time to slow down at the beginning (not the end) because it will take its toll on you or someone in your group.
It was a great trip, but I regret it. I’m sorry we ran out of time to do our Korean spa day. Once we decided to postpone it, it ruined everything, and we took out the day we set aside to breathe and enjoy things, which would have made the other days probably more enjoyable if we had refreshed ourselves instead of continuing to rush. vapors.”
—reneb4b1d76327
NBC / Via youtube.com
7.“When I was in the Marine Corps, I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan. We were not allowed to leave the base for the first three days after we arrived. On the fourth day, we were taken on a tour of Iwakuni and Hiroshima. I have no I have no idea what prompted me to wear new leather flip-flops. When we got to the base, my feet were raw and blood was seeping through the leather patterns.
“I want to say I’ve never made the mistake of wearing new shoes again, but I’d be lying. It took me too long to learn that lesson.”
—shannonm49e341999
NBC / Via youtube.com
8.“We flew to Paris and didn’t read the hotel directions clearly, so we got lost.”
“People say that Parisians are not friendly, but between the train driver who showed my friend where a bathroom was (after we had reached the end of the line) and made us get on the correct train to return with bottles of water, no less, to those people who willingly carried our suitcases up and down the stairs, to the gentleman who let us use his cell phone to call the hotel for directions, he was proven wrong!
We also forgot our current adapter, but the lady in charge of the hotel breakfast area lent us one.”
—laughing tiger39
Netflix
9.“We were stationed in Germany in the ’70s. We had been there about two weeks when we went to a department store. I spoke very little German (please, thank you, and it was about ‘Do you speak English?’) and I hadn’t started classes yet. of German. I asked the employee if she spoke English, to which she responded with a curt, “Nein.” There was no way for her to know I had just arrived and it was a great lesson.”
“I took German language and culture classes and always had my German/English dictionary to refer to if my German wasn’t understandable. It was a fantastic four years and I always appreciated that early lesson!”
—wickedgamer21
MGM / Via youtube.com
10.“Please stop telling people what state you’re from instead of saying the country when they ask you where you’re from in a foreign country.”
eleven.“We traveled to Paris. I didn’t put my faith (or advice) in the concierge’s hands soon enough. He knew all the out-of-the-way places to dine and they were amazing!”
“Some of the places he sent us to were in what looked like people’s homes, with living rooms and dining rooms with tables. Incredible dining experiences that we would have completely missed. Make friends with your concierge!!!”
—creativeking77
NBC / Via youtube.com
12.“In Europe, getting a reservation ON the train does not guarantee a seat!!!”
13.And finally: “This past spring break, I went on a school trip with teachers and administrators. At one point, our group (about eight people) had to take a city bus to travel a short distance to our next tour location. Mind you, this A small bus could fit maybe 20 people. I didn’t, but someone in our group was talking and talking about life when a local, seemingly friendly passenger asked, ‘Excuse me, where are you from?’ and the woman in our group said, ‘Texas.’ The local said, ‘Well, they say everything is bigger in Texas. Does that mean your voice too? Why are you talking so loud?’ ‘ Talk about shame.”
“As I quickly learned, people who travel by public transportation like quiet trips. They are NOT on vacation.”
—fabzombie97
Marvel Studios / Via Disney+
What is the worst mistake you made the first time you traveled abroad? Share your experiences in the comments!
Note: Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.
