What is the traveler's worst nightmare?
Civil unrest.
Nothing like traveling to another country only to have its political or economic situation sh*t the bed while you are there. Bonus points if loud and angry riots get broken up by truncheon-wielding police. Extra bonus points if the police decide to use gas and rubber bullets. Unlimited bonus points if everybody decides that real bullets will "liven things up."
Nothing would be more frightening than being stuck in a country that's going to hell all around you. If you are lucky, someone's military might come in and at least secure the airport or the harbor so that you can escape. If you aren't, then you could spend days or even a week before that round of violence peters out, all the while hunkered down in an airport with few toilets, not much food or water and terrified about what will happen next.
Nothing like traveling to another country only to have its political or economic situation sh*t the bed while you are there. Bonus points if loud and angry riots get broken up by truncheon-wielding police. Extra bonus points if the police decide to use gas and rubber bullets. Unlimited bonus points if everybody decides that real bullets will "liven things up."
Nothing would be more frightening than being stuck in a country that's going to hell all around you. If you are lucky, someone's military might come in and at least secure the airport or the harbor so that you can escape. If you aren't, then you could spend days or even a week before that round of violence peters out, all the while hunkered down in an airport with few toilets, not much food or water and terrified about what will happen next.
- Taking antimalaria pills for the first time, then reading up on possible side effects which may include halucinations, and waking up that night to find a dead body in your bed. Of course it turns out that this was a halucination, but now you're alone far away from home, you're not sure what is real, and you can't get off the antimalarials.
- Getting very sick (when you can't even swallow liquids) overnight in Cambodia and then checking up the medical advice for the country in the travel guide - and it reads "don't get sick in Cambodia".
- Being duped
Encountering scams, being pickpocketed, being mugged, having luggage stolen, having a local 'friend' be a confidant scam, or facing government/police corruption makes you start to trust people a lot less, and your general image of a country-- along with your trip, turns sour quickly.
- Travelling under pressure.
For example, if you have a flight/train/bus to catch, running through traffic, trying to find stations, and attempting to maneuver through an alien city-- especially if its in a different language, can make a traveler resign and give up. Being stuck in a taxi/bus/airport terminal as the minutes tick by can also be egregiously aggravating.
- Being targeted.
If you get swarmed the moment you step out of a station, cheated for a meal or taxi ride, frisked at an airport, discriminated against, or sexually harassed for being different, it makes a trip in a country a nightmare, not enjoyable.
- Encountering the unexpected.
Whether its a sudden coup or strike, an unannounced hurricane, protests, a station/airport closed or moved, a hotel room that's nowhere like the pictures, or arriving in a famous city that is not nearly as similar to your romanticized expectations, it can drive a little sense of panic or shock.
- Encountering a problem, where it's your fault
Whether its not arriving at the airport on time, forgetting anti-diarrhea pills or sunscreen, not booking a hotel in advance, not checking the weather before hiking, bringing useless ATM cards, spending all your money, forgetting a phone charger (and that vital Google Translate/Google Maps!), and most of all-- not knowing you needed a visa to enter, you'll be stuck trying to find a scapegoat to blame, when the blame really falls on you.
Encountering scams, being pickpocketed, being mugged, having luggage stolen, having a local 'friend' be a confidant scam, or facing government/police corruption makes you start to trust people a lot less, and your general image of a country-- along with your trip, turns sour quickly.
- Travelling under pressure.
For example, if you have a flight/train/bus to catch, running through traffic, trying to find stations, and attempting to maneuver through an alien city-- especially if its in a different language, can make a traveler resign and give up. Being stuck in a taxi/bus/airport terminal as the minutes tick by can also be egregiously aggravating.
- Being targeted.
If you get swarmed the moment you step out of a station, cheated for a meal or taxi ride, frisked at an airport, discriminated against, or sexually harassed for being different, it makes a trip in a country a nightmare, not enjoyable.
- Encountering the unexpected.
Whether its a sudden coup or strike, an unannounced hurricane, protests, a station/airport closed or moved, a hotel room that's nowhere like the pictures, or arriving in a famous city that is not nearly as similar to your romanticized expectations, it can drive a little sense of panic or shock.
- Encountering a problem, where it's your fault
Whether its not arriving at the airport on time, forgetting anti-diarrhea pills or sunscreen, not booking a hotel in advance, not checking the weather before hiking, bringing useless ATM cards, spending all your money, forgetting a phone charger (and that vital Google Translate/Google Maps!), and most of all-- not knowing you needed a visa to enter, you'll be stuck trying to find a scapegoat to blame, when the blame really falls on you.
- Taking a last-minute train ride to the airport, only to arrive and realize that the train goes to the city with the same name as the airport and not the airport.
- Getting mugged in London.
- Being interrogated at Barcelona customs for being the sole dodgy looking Chinese guy on the flight. The other Chinese guy who was rather more well-dressed gets a pass.
- Being stuck at the Suvarnabhumi airport for 2 weeks during a coup.
- Walking through a dodgy park in Nijmegen and getting followed by a dodgy fella. At night. You turn around, he flashes you a smile, and asks if you'd like to have some fun........hah! No.
- Arriving at your destination. And your luggage doesn't.
- Taking a taxi from Cairo airport to the Pyramids of Giza. Only to have said taxi deliver you to a dodgy shop nowhere near the Pyramids of Giza. You're ushered inside and stared at by a dodgy looking fella with a crew cut. He offers you breakfast. He insists. He charges you $50 for 2 pieces of bread and some rubbery mutton.
- Buying an expensive antique at a souvenir shop in China. Only find the same "antique" being sold at $2 a pop at a flea market elsewhere.
- Hopping on a train from Napoli to Rome. Only to realize that you've hopped on theslow train from Napoli to Rome. A 2-hour ride turned into an 8-hour ride because you didn't stop to check if it's the right train. And you had 9 hours till your flight leaves when you first hopped on the train.
- You take a taxi for a good night out in Wuxi, China. The taxi brings you to the "best club in town" where you are the only customers. You order a beer. They bring you 10. And fruits. And peanuts. And women. You say no and try to leave. Angry men come out of nowhere. They demand you pay about a thousand bucks for the drinks, fruits, peanuts and women you did not ask for. You cry, kowtow, grovel and beg for your life. You give them every cent you have and leave feeling lucky to have all your limbs and extremities still attached.
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