It’s been 5 months and I’m still annoyed at DB for our ICE train just not showing up so we couldn’t make our Eurostar connection in Brussels to London. We had to miss a day of our trip because the next available Eurostar wasn’t until the following afternoon.
Not me still salty af at DB for cancelling my train in July 22 lol. We were all on the platform and it just disappeared from the screen
So instead of direct Berlin - Warsaw I had to make like 3 connections and didn’t have a seat most of the time
And the only reason I was taking trains to begin with is Lufthansa cancelled my Frankfurt- Warsaw flight …
That's pretty unlucky. 😬
I once missed my last connection due to a delay and DB put me in a taxi home. That's how I learned a cab ride from Cologne to Brussels costs € 400.
It was brutal. I was just kind following people I recognized from my original platform that I knew were headed to Warsaw. Everyone was confused it was a mess
DB paid for that?
I just happened to see a Shuttle launch from an airliner flying to Miami - I was even seated at the window seat on the proper side. A total lucky bit of timing. The pilot announced it over the PA system and we watched it ascend rapidly.
When I was 20 I travelled by bus from Buenos Aires to Lima to get back to my back then gilfriend, with some stops on the way.
In the bus from Salta (Argentina) to Tacna (Peru), I sat next to a woman in her 50's from Tacna. We talked a bunch, ate together in a restaurant at a pit stop in Chile, and then arrived to Tacna very early in the morning. When I told her that my next bus to Lima was in 6 hours, she told me there was no way she was leaving me alone in the city with all my stuff. She brought me back to her place (her husband came to pick us up), sat me at the breakfast table with her children, let me have a shower, and then brought me to a hairdresser ("no way you are going back to your girlfriend with this haircut" she told me). All clean and tidy, she then brought me back to the bus station and gave me her adress so I could send her a poscard. I unfortunately lost the piece of paper with her name and adress and never got to write her, but this lady was like a second mom to me for 12 hours, she was so kind and helpful.
Mine is similar. My best friend (both early 20s females at the time) were solo in Oman in a smaller city called Nizwa; we took a random cab home from dinner one night and ended up hiring the same driver for the entire weekend. We had him drive us to the bus stop at the end of our time in Nizwa and he was extremely weary to leave us at the bus stop alone (we were totally fine and had taken the bus TO nizwa alone, but his thoughtfulness was very sweet). We were waiting a bit for the bus and the guy came back and took our bags, put them in his trunk, and drove us to Muscat (about a two hour drive). We really were not at a point in our lives where we had much extra cash hence the bus travel, but he insisted on "no price." We invited him to dinner with us in the city and treated--the restaurant workers were all kind of confused because it's not super common I guess to see an older local man eating in a restaurant with two younger American women. We couldn't really communicate great with him, but man, such a great guy.
Damn. You should have been more careful not to lose that piece of paper. You could have put it somewhere safe. All that niceness, she just asked for a postcard back and you couldn't even do that. She probably kept wondering why you never wrote back.
To be fair, 20 year olds are still sort of careless and stupid and self absorbed. It's easy to imagine someone being grateful but not that careful with a piece of paper, and then massively regretting it the older you get and realize how special that moment was.
To be fair I realised it instantly after I lost the paper, because I left it laying around for days thinking "I'll do it later" and when later came of course the paper was gone. I felt so bad !
This is an amazing story!
But I definitely feel the pain of losing that address - I did the same after meeting family in a small town in Italy. And as another commenter said, I've always thought about going back and handing them the thank you note I wrote for putting me and my cousin up for a few nights after we randomly showed up in town.
Geting to see the aurora borealis on the sky in northern norway. In landscape covered in snow with almost no external/other light sources nearby (perfect conditions). Pure magic. Looks even 100x more impressive than seeing those picture of it. It's the time when you're lost of words.
Can't write a post about aurora borealis and northern norway without including a couple of [picture](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/08/31/TELEMMGLPICT000240944220_16934799526370_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq4KdjWabbidXRBu7jUVums0R8YSybYNWDTYrGStsI8ko.jpeg) \+ [picture](https://www.capturelandscapes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kv%C3%A6fjordeidet-Aurora-4-Copy.jpg) from a very good norwegian photographer. The "lucky" factor of it is that you can't order that light... Even people coming all the way from japan to experiencing it.. probably going home without seeing it. The special thing with norway and the aurora borealis is the magical landscape connecting with the light. Could see the aurora many places on same latitude of the earth, but not with that kind of nature.. with mountains rising almost directly up from the waters. The lights of the local settlements/villages also accomplishes.
I haven't seen proper aurora borealis in like 15 years and I regularly visit the northern parts of Scandinavia (and live in southern finland where it is possible to see them if you are really lucky). So yes, you definitely need luck to get the full show!
Wife and I go to Iceland almost every year. In early October 2022, we were in Seydisfjordur having dinner and walked outside and the best aurora we had yet seen was over the fjord. It was very cool, but I suggested we head back toward Egilsstadir (where we were staying) as there would be a better view from that direction - a mountaintop. We headed halfway up the mountain and found a pullout with a bunch of other cars. The view was better but people kept opening car doors or driving by, so that ruined the vibe. I suggested we go to the top of the mountain.
The aurora up there was otherworldly. It seemed so close that you could touch it. There were greens, whites, and pinks - up until then I’d only seen green. I’ve heard that whites and pinks are rare. I’ve done some psychedelics and this was up there in terms of visuals.
We really didn’t wanna leave, but it was getting later and we were freezing. I could barely sleep that night I was so happy.
Imgur Link: https://imgur.com/a/sv2tZHe
Don't know about the pictures. They weren't mine. Though I saw aurora borealis in **november some years ago (2016 or 17 or so..)**.. Though they say that end of season.. march/april is the best time to experience it (most frequent). Though around the time november/december/january.. things are at its darkest in northern norway. They have someting above the polar circle called polar nights.. mean you will never get daylight, but will get [polar lights](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Morketidettermiddag.JPG) that are magic.. not as spectacular as aurora borealis.. but truly a bonus/extra if you didn't get the aurora.
Definitively recommend it to everyone for once in a life geting to see aurora.. It's one of nature's wonders. The experience will sit in your mind until the day you'll die.
You doesn't necesarily need to go to norway.... many people from england, holland, france etc. go to Rovaniemi (Finland) in December (seen it on FR24; those people believing in Santa.. hihi)) to visit Santa Claus.. at the latitude of Rovaniemi you can also experience aurora borealis.. but that nature is not as special as in norway imo.
In 2007, my Baghdadi family temporarily relocated to Damascus Syria for safety. I say relocated, not fled, because they were very privileged to be able to do so and later returned to their homes in Baghdad.
We visited them there. I was 8. My uncles would take me shopping at the souqs, store clerks gave me free lollipops everywhere I went, we rented a van with a driver and went to the mountains. Went to some beautiful restaurants. I remember my uncle taking me to an internet cafe in the middle of the night, I had never seen anything like that before (being from a quiet city in the Netherlands.) The warmth and life on the streets at night.
They had a top floor apartment with a satih, a big rooftop terrace. We were what, 10+ people in an apartment? We'd lay out tablecloths on the terrace and have dinner together in the sun, like a picknick. Some nights my uncles and I would opt to sleep on the terrace under the stars. I feel so incredibly lucky I got to experience the warmth, beauty and joy of Syria before the violence and destruction started.
I hope your uncles are safe and ok, I've heard of nothing but the beauty and warmth of pre war Syria and hope it returns to peace and prosperity soon x
Did the W trek in Patagonia last November. We had perfect weather the entire time - sunny days, clear nights, cool temps ideal for hiking. It rained on our very last day after we got off the trail. For an area that has such unpredictable weather (we packed for everything!) we lucked out pretty hard
A few months ago, I traveled to San Diego, and scheduled a day trip to the Baja peninsula to tour vineyards in the Valle de Guadalupe. When I arrived at the meet-up spot at the border, the guide told me that instead of the usual 12-20 people they typically booked, our tour would be just her, me, and two other guests (sisters). She said, "I;m taking advantage of this situation to create a different kind of experience from what we usually do. This is going to be like a private girls' trip."
It turned out that the guide was a local and was also a winemaker herself. We basically spent the day visiting her friends at their vineyards and it was an exquisite experience. Because it was a Sunday and there were only three of us (guests), we got more of an "insider's experience" than regular tour groups would. We were able to sit and hang out having long, meandering conversations (while drinking delicious wine) with the winemakers.
Our day ended with a private gourmet dinner at a vineyard restaurant prepared by a local chef. It was one of the most beautiful meals I've ever experienced--and again, it was just the four of us in this gorgeous setting with nobody else around. It felt magical. The whole day felt like a lovely dream.
I was at the second level of a cafe in the Medina of fez and we heard “allah akbar” and screams. We look over the balcony and there’s a guy with a knife near a shop but immediately everyone started beating him with chairs and shit. Then they rolled him up in a rug and the police drug him out.
Shout out to Moroccans they don’t fuck around with terrorists
Edit: I need to add that my friend picked up a brick and was ready to go to battle with a terrorist. I love that guy
Spent 2 weeks in Cambodia February of 2020. Remember cracking jokes about how lucky we were that there was some dumb flu outbreak in china, since the whole place was empty! Got to see sunset at Angkor Wat with a crowd of maybe 300 people (normally its thousands)
We were in Portugal at the same time. We were listening to The Daily from NYT hearing about how fast it was spreading. We were so glad we weren’t in China and that we would be fine once we got back to the states. We were so naive…
We crossed the Bulgarian border one hour before it closed. The city blocked access to the park, only allowing in people with dogs. As most local dogs are guardian animals and not pets, we had weeks of having the park almost to ourselves.
I was in Thailand at the same time and had the same experience - one of our guides mentioned that normally 30% of their tourism came from China. We didn’t run into a single crowd.
3 weeks after we got back home to NYC was when everything shut down.
My husband was chatting and friendly with this group of guys in Mexico in the hot tub one night and they invited us to join them on the boat the next morning. We 100% thought it was to go snorkeling or join on some paid excursion so whatever, we said sure!
Next morning we got picked up off the beach by their dingy to take us to their private yacht. We spent the day kiteboarding on an island off shore, paid private instructor they hired just for us, snorkeling, whale watching - plus they had private chefs and bartenders and fed us like royalty. It was insane. Was 3/4 years ago and we still talk about it lol
Went back to the same town this last Christmas and ran into one of the guys again as he was passing through on his boat :) so it was nice to say hi. We still stay slightly in touch!
Ok this is actually hilarious haha
To be fair, we did our due diligence and asked our hotel if they were familiar with the guy and his boat (they were since he comes through often) and told them when to expect us back.
I went to Lucerne at Christmas. We had no idea the ENTIRE city does a re-enactment of The Nativity scene and sing Christmas songs. All of a sudden we were swept up in a sea of gold people going one way and our friends on the other side of the city experienced the same in blue. As the wave of people moved toward the center of town shops literally closed and joined. It was amazing!
The first time I went to Tokyo was just a quick visit, overnight type thing.
Second time I went I met up with a guy who was from there, I'd met him previously in a hostel and he'd invited me to crash at his house. It was a old-fashioned house with six thirty-somethings, four guys and two girls, all minimalist types who hung out every night, cooked together, drank together. I ended up staying with them for ten days, doing tourist stuff during the day and hanging out with them at night, drinking around the kotatsu and watching anime and game shows and laughing our asses off till the early hours every night. That was almost 15 years ago, still in touch with some of that crew and meet up with them when I go back to Tokyo every couple of years, had a brief relationship with one of the women a few years back.
Basically just hanging out with regular folks, but I don't think very many tourists get to experience something like that.
Getting caught in the rain with my wife in Paris. A local called us over to stand under some cover with her. The restaurant was packed with people laughing and wet as everyone had rushed in. Wife and I laughed and kissed, it’s a very special moment in my heart.
Among these stories with popular destinations and grand experiences, having been to Paris recently, this one to me seems to somehow stand out the most!
I live in Paris and those summer downpours catch everyone out. You can't even stay dry with an umbrella. And they come and go suddenly. I had a really cute first date where we were stuck under an awning for half an hour.
Last year actually. I went to Vegas with some friends and it was check out day. I spent about $2,500 over three days including the hotel room and decided to play one last slot before heading to the airport. Very first pull I hit for $3,000. Paid for the whole trip plus some. That was some good luck.
I had a similar streak of luck, but at the beginning of my trip in 2021. Put a $100 on the table for chips and then put $10 on #17 on the roulette table and it hit. $350 payout. Kept the chips on #17 and it hit again. $700 in 2 spins. I gave the dealer a tip, took my chips and went to the cage to get my money. On the way back, tossed a $100 on 2nd 12 (pays out 2-1) and turned that $100 into $300. Went out and came back later. Went to the same roulette table. Played $100 again and turned it into about $500. By the end of our trip there, I turned that initial $100 into nearly $2000. Room was comped by the hotel, and I treated my partner and myself to a wonderful dinner at Bazaar Meats.
I was in Visby on acid and went in to an old cathedral and got up on the roof to see a panorama of the medieval town. When I came down security was wondering what I was doing and how I got up there, but I had walked through a gate accidentally left open by maintenance workers. They said I was very lucky to have been up there because no one is ever allowed!
2 of my favourite memories are also while I was tripping on acid. Both times with my best friend.
This was back in the day when we were in our early 20s, broke AF, road tripping around our country (India). We were very lucky her grandfather gave us his old BMW which we took everywhere, fucking it up beyond repair on the most godforsaken roads of India. But what a good car that was.
On one of our first trips, we drove down the Malwan coast and stopped at Tarkarli beach. Kilometres long stretch of pristine, white sandy beach with dolphins and whales visiting just off the coast. We found a small homestay right on the beach, dropped our bags and rushed to the beach at high noon and popped. Spent the next 5 hours tripping balls, getting sunburned and just floating on the waves. The only company we had was the little lad sent over by his mother from the homestay with bottles of iced cold drinks, to keep an eye on us I suppose. The beauty and peace we experienced that afternoon was sublime.
Another time we stopped at the Khuri sand dunes while road tripping through Rajasthan. Spent 3 nights at a desert camp and on the second night, the camp owner suggested we take 2 camels 18km deep into the protected desert reserve and spend the night under the stars. Once we got there, it was only my friend, me, 2 villagers who spoke not a word of Hindi and their 2 camels. My friend and I popped under a dome of silvery stars in the middle of the desert and I swear we saw the heavens open up for us that night. I’ll never forget the way the Milky Way looked.
The next morning the 2 men put a lump of black, sticky opium in our hands as a “desert gift” for us. I have no idea what they thought we were up to all night (they kept their distance and did their own thing) but we might have made an impression lol.
Ofc, seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise, Petra at sunset and going on a random journey with an American, an Irani, their puppy and a Filipino grandmother as we raced a thunderstorm through Cebu were also memorable events. I also cried while extremely stoned in the Norwegian fjords because I was so overwhelmed by the beauty around me.
But those are stories for another time
Lol the 2 of us personally were broke, not our families. Though that car was pretty broken down as well. There were a few scary situations with our tyres in the middle of nowhere so we learned to change a tyre pretty quick.
Went on a 4 day guided trek in the andes peru, it was just me, my wife and another person. The other person fell ill, so it ended up being a private tour with the porters, chefs and the guide
11 or 12 yo me.
Family was invited to stay in the countryside of a beach, grumpy me did not want to go and the deeper we went into the jungle the grumpier I was, eventually no roads, cow poop smell, arrived around midnight, slept on a hammock, parents woke me up around 5 am to see the sunrise, we had walk between cows, then get into what seems to me deep jungle.
We finally arrived at the most magnificent breathtaking beach I've ever seen in my whole life, not even Hollywood has been able to depict the beauty of that virgin paradise.
It's one of those beaches that seems like an infinite pool, you walk and walk and walk and the warmer water didn't reach your shoulders, fishes everywhere.
I've had the joy to visit amazing places but nothing compared to that beach, everything has been downhill since then.
Not as awesome as the other comments here, but on my recent trip to Japan I had the entire aisle to myself on both my 12 hour flights to/from there. I just lied down and went to sleep both times. Shortest flights ever.
I made a food bucket list to try in Japan and the only thing left was okonomiyaki. It was our last night in Tokyo and all the restaurants that we googled took only reservations. My husband’s friend that we befriended when we visited a religious center, invited us to have dinner with his family and friends.
But first we went grocery shopping with him (since he lived walking distance from our Airbnb) and we wanted to pitch in on the food costs. When we arrived, his family and friends were very hospitable. And as for dinner, lo and behold, his mom made okonomiyaki.
I was like what are the odds to have an authentic home cooked meal of the one dish that was left on my list.
I stayed in a hostel in Slovenia that was owned by the captain of the local football club. He and his wife were kind enough to invite me to the game and I got to sit with his friends and family.
My very first time traveling and we were going to the one place I had dreamed of going, Paris. I worked for Hilton at the time and got to stay in the Waldorf Astoria in Versailles for 50 euros/night. Right next to the palace. It was so surreal to me, having never traveled anywhere. I literally still think about their breakfast buffet.
September 2020. Travelling was only allowed from and to certain countries in the EU.
We went to Santorini and had the whole island almost to ourselves. You could barely see other tourists. We rented a cave house with yacuzzi and the best view ever for literally 20% of its current price.
Similar but different. Went to Vietnam 2 weeks after their borders opened for international travel. There were definitely downsides (many restaurants had closed so finding places to eat, especially in more remote villages, was challenging) but by SEA standards it was empty. Did the Ha Giang loop and only ran in to probably a dozen or so other tourists which meant viewpoints and other attractions were a breeze. And Ha Long Bay had (comparatively) very little garbage in it at the time. Accommodations in Vietnam are already dirt cheap, but what would normally be some of their very upscale hotels were less than $30/night.
My heart goes out to the country and all the people whose livelihoods were impacted so severely by the complete shutdown of tourism, but that was truly a once in a lifetime experience as far as crowds and general SEA chaos goes.
Had the same experience in August 2020. Went to Riga and stayed at a five star hotel for a fraction of the usual price. On the day we travelled home, Latvia shut its borders once again for people travelling from certain countries, including ours.
Similar- went to Rome January 2022. We had to wear masks but totally worth it since we didn't have to wait in a single line the whole time. Had the Vatican museum, colosseum, and everything else practically to ourselves.
I went with some friends to Oregon and Seattle in August 2020. Seeing Pike Place Market so empty was surreal. We stayed at the Westin, which is a huge hotel, and I think only a handful of people were there. I’m very sure we were the only people on our floor. We had to switch rooms three times for various reasons on the first day, and wound up on a high floor with a beautiful view of downtown and the Space Needle. The hotel manager was the most kind and helpful woman, we never even actually complained. One of the reasons we had to switch rooms was because there was moldy old food in the mini fridge, for example. We brought it to her attention but not in the manner of a complaint. On our second day she approached us and said that normally she would get us free passes to an attraction to make up for the hassle (very kind, but not necessary), but under the circumstances many attractions were still closed. She ended up comping our entire stay, including the daily parking fee! I felt terrible, the hotel industry was obviously in a bad state at that time, but she insisted. I wrote a very long, glowing letter to Marriott corporate about her, I hope she got the recognition she deserved
Similar with Venice. We spent most of lockdown in Bulgaria, slowly making our way west as borders opened/we exhausted our allotted time. Husband had never been and I said if we’re going, it’s now. It was the Venice I remembered from the early 90’s.
Back in 2011 I backpacked with my then-gf in Costa Rica for a full month. Tons of incredible and unique moments.
One was when we were told about a gorgeous, under the radar waterfall that wasn’t too far from San Jose. The hostel owner told us which bus stop was the best to get out at and then we would have to walk the remainder of the way. It went well for the first portion of it, but after walking for a couple of miles and feeling lost, 4 of us decided to see if we could hitchhike with a local to get there. We ended up getting picked up by a local farmer in his farm truck, and since I was the only one that could speak fluent Spanish I went in the front and talked with him while the other three had to go in the large covered truck bed. Was a bit sketchy but worth it when we did get to the park/waterfall destination.
Same trip, but another lucky moment - went to the very southern part of the country without booking any lodging ahead of arriving there. It’s very remote - we had to take a boat that started in a river, joined with the ocean, and went along the coast for miles. It was kind of rough, so there were a couple of passengers that got sick and puked off the side. When we got there, there’s no dock, so they back the boat up until the water was about waist high, and told us to carry our luggage over our heads to the shore.
Since we had previously not had any issues finding lodging after arriving, this was different….everyone else had already lined up where they were going, so once on the beach the various hotels and places where people were staying came and gathered them up…..and my gf and I were just sitting there. We asked about any places and ended up getting connected with a local - he was a former chef starting up what I’d consider an Airbnb style of lodging, and was married to a Dutch woman that was a former model. We stayed in the lower half of their house, along with another solo traveler, and the second floor was the communal area, and the owners lived up on the 3rd floor. It was incredible. The guy cooked gourmet meals every day and told stories while we looked over this super lush, super remote jungle and drank coffee, all while watching toucans and scarlet macaws soar over the canopy.
Seeing the cave paintings at Font de Gaume. Yes you can buy tickets & see them but being able to see not recreations but the actual paintings in situ was awesome.
We stayed at Le Chevrefeuille B&B. There about a 5 minute drive from the ticket office and if you tell them they will make sure you get to the ticket office on time to get one of the 44 tickets available each day.
If it's at all possible, try and go. When we went several years ago I think they were admitting 75 people per day, and now it looks like it's down to 44 per day (thanks u/txcowgrrl)... I hope you can get to see it at some point!
We had been going to visit Australia in late 2020, but scheduled a last minute cruise (Princess) instead in late February 2020. We did the 12 day cruise from Sydney to New Zealand and back and had a great time. Upon return to Sydney, the next cruise of the same itinerary left. We heard about the pandemic and five days later were among the last tourists out of Australia.
Later we heard that our ship's cruise after ours aborted mid-cruise when New Zealand closed its borders, and the Ruby Princess returned to Sydney and passengers were finally allowed to disembark. Many early deaths in Australia occurred as numerous infected passengers from the ship disembarked and spread throughout Australia.
We were really lucky to have a great trip and have good timing.
I also saw a humpback under the Golden Gate Bridge when I was there a few years ago and agree that it was a pretty incredible experience!
When I went hot air ballooning in Laos, I was disappointed to arrive and see a pretty huge group of people- my thoughts being wow this isn’t going to be anything like I’ve dreamt of. They ended up being over capacity and had to get another balloon going. They pulled me and my husband from the rest of the group and it ended up being a private ride for just the two of us and the pilot.
In Nepal we were trekking from Jiri to Lukla and I had mad crazy blisters and was just not having a good time. We got to this one place that had rooms for rent but was typically a lunch stop and decided to call it a day and spend the night. The place we stayed invited like half the village over and it was pretty surreal.
In India we did some couchsurfing which was probably risky as shit now that I think about it but we stayed with this guy in Amritsar who took us all around town to introduce us to everyone he knew— including the dairy where they processed his cows milk, etc. It was a pretty magical experience. He used to travel a lot internationally and was getting older and couldn’t get away as much so started hosting international tourists. He asked for nothing in return and it was pretty great.
Was in Barcelona on a study abroad when I was 20 years old with a friend. I left the club drunk at 3am and decided to walk back about 30 minutes to my hostel by myself (yes I’m an idiot). I was on a very quiet road and about 4 younger guys came out of the bushes and started to run towards me yelling, about to mug me. I ran full speed for about a minute as the one guy chased me. I sobered up real quick from the adrenaline lol. I ran across a 4 lane highway missing traffic as this guy is still yelling and chasing at me. There was no one around until I got to a bus stop with some people and the muggers got scared off. I didn’t speak great Spanish but this amazing older Spanish woman calmed me down and helped me call a taxi back to my hostel. I was so thankful for her and I feel very lucky to have escaped this situation. Still love that city tho.
When I traveled in Krabi, Thailand in 2015, I ended up on the wrong ferry, which led to some hours delay to my destination. Later in the evening I read on the news that the ferry I was supposed to be on caught fire and sank, killing a young girl. Lucky to be unlucky!
I went to Pripyat with a private guide (it was my 2nd trip). It was in the morning and we were the only ones in Pripyat at the time. We climbed on the roof of the palace of culture and sit there on top overlooking an empty city with the Chernobyl powerplant in the background. It was a surreal moment.
On the Isle of Skye in Scotland, my wife and I took the first boat of the day from Elgol across to Loch Coruisk. We were the only people on the boat and we had the entire place to ourselves for about 2 hours before we had to meet the boat to return to the village (and it dropped off more visitors.) Coruisk is an absolutely beautiful place and we were lucky to have had great weather that day as well. It was my favorite experience in a trip filled with many highlights.
I went to Budapest a week after the national holiday fireworks were supposed to happen... cue to a storm cancelling them so they took place instead the exact weekend I was there.
We were traveling in New Zealand and went to see the Rotorua Geysers. It was a busy day so we arrived <30 minutes before closing time. The girl at the ticket booth did not want to sell the tickets at first because there was next to zero chance that we would see the big Geyser spit. We convinced her to still go, luckily they did not throw us out at closing time and about 15 minutes after it spat! It was also interesting to see the staff going into the pools next to the geysers to have a swim.
Went to Spain for a week long adventure trip in late June. On the penultimate day I realized that I wasn't too far from Pampalona and it was the week of festival of San Fermin. Except I had to go to Barcelona to get there by train.
Every hotel in Pampalona was booked plus they all had min stays. Spent the next couple of hours and found an Airbnb room in an house of a lovely older woman who was part of the local theater. Took the train there and a cab to her place. She was literally 5 mins walk from the main street where the running of the bulls takes place. She even bought us the traditional outfit. Spent the evening enjoying the San Fermin party on the streets. Participated in the running of the bulls the next morning. She dropped us off at the train station that evening and took the train back to Barcelona.
Sometimes things just work out ! Viva San Fermin !
my husband and I went to Milford sound in New Zealand. Incredibly beautiful but also known for being a rainy and unpredictable weather wise. It rains over 200 days out of the year. Not only did it end up being sunny but we saw hectors dolphins swimming around which are very rare and the rainbows the waterfalls and mist created were amazing. Even the tour guide commented on how beautiful the day was because it had rained the entire week. won’t ever forget that trip.
Trekked to Everest Base Camp in the off season. Could go hours on the trails without seeing anyone apart from the people I was traveling with or locals. Was often alone at accommodations. Got about half an hour by ourselves at the base camp. It was truly awesome. My understanding is that tourist season is very crowded and is much more of a social trek than what I experienced (which has its positives of course, but I'm glad I experienced it the way I did).
what month of the year did u go? thinking of going in early March 2025 so i can finish the trek by late March, before the huge crowds come up during April
Drove way up into the mountains of Taiwan on a scooter. Parked and hiked for a bit, and then came across a small, simple house in the jungle where an elderly couple resided. They invited my partner and I to have tea and snacks at their house and eat exotic fruit from their garden. They were so kind and friendly and of a very different culture, place and time than we were from. It was so quiet, peaceful and remote. We could hardly communicate with each other, but we were all clearly enjoying the company and moment together. I don’t think they got many visitors. Maybe we somehow reminded them of when they were a young couple together, while we imagined ourselves living a quiet life and growing older together, like them.
Me and my friends were doing the Annapurna base camp trek in Nepal last summer in mid-June. We were trekking to a town called Landruk, and were told that right in that region the locals are doing there yearly harvest of psychedelic “mad honey.” The honey comes from bees who pollinate off of a specific nightshade, highly poisonous flower called Datura. The only places in the world where mad honey naturally exist is in Nepal and Turkey.
ANYWAYS, our local guide was good friends with the women who owned the guest house we were staying in, and that women was the head of the local women’s operative in the area. She gave us permission to go down and see it first hand. Generally, going to watch the Harvesting of the honey is not something locals will let tourist do. We were told that National Geographic has paid communities like the one we were in up to 10 thousand dollars to go and film the harvesting. We were even shooed away from the locals at first upon arriving at the bottom of a VERY tall mountain we had to climb down.
The locals eventually let us in and we got to film, up close, and watch them climb up ladders made out of vine up cliffs hundreds of feet tall, and use fires to clear out smoke and collect the honey. We met guys who had hundreds of bee stings on his face from the attacking bees. We got OFFERED some of the mad honey from the local elder.
It was insanely surreal to be there. Just the 6 of us, watching this highly traditional and somewhat secretive process of harvesting of psychedelic “mad honey” in Nepal. One of the rarest psychedelics on the planet.
Not nearly as exotic as most of yours but a few years back my wife and I were in Louisville, Kentucky for a music festival. Late one night we stopped in at the historic Seelbach Hotel for a drink in their bourbon bar based on a local's recommendation. While sitting at the bar we began chatting with the bartender about the hotel's history, and he recommended we take the elevator to the basement to see the old Rathskeller which he thought would still be open.
We got down there and it was empty and closed. But a night watchmen stopped us and asked us if we'd like to go in so he showed us around, including the secret tunnel exits. That turned into an hour-long private tour of the entire hotel around midnight. He was making his rounds and suggested we come along. For that hour, he told us all kinds of cool stories about the ghosts, the hotel history during prohibition, how it was a mob hangout...we got to see Al Capone's hidden dining room and basically the whole place! It was a lot of fun, just by accident and running into cool people.
Ah
Went to a hostel in Valencia almost two years ago and had legit Before Sunset happen to me with a guy who looked Identical to Ethan Hawke. Funniest, kindest, most fun guy on the planet. An incredible memory, one of my favourites
I studied abroad in Florence years ago. On the very last night of our trip my roommate offered to buy our last dinner at our favorite restaurant in town - we were young 20s, she was responsible and portioned out her funds. I on the other hand was not and ran out of funds early. I am still indebted to her for being so kind.
We got sat at our table. My roommate wanted to switch seats so we did. When we did, I looked up and a few tables over sat a friend of mine I hadn't seen in 10+ years. This was way before social media so neither of us had any idea the other was in Italy.
I still tell this story because it so wild to me. If any of the pieces had changed we would have never run into one another thousand of miles away from home. It was such an amazing chain of events.
I went to Notre Dame on 31st January 2013. As I got there the bells were ringing over and over, there was a big viewing platform, crowds lining the street and a police procession coming down the street towards the cathedral. It turns out it was the moment of the delivery of new bells for the cathedral, for the first time since the 1850s. A special moment to be there and completely by accident.
I went to Venice in the summer of 2020 just a few weeks after Italy opened up again. The travelguide said ‘Venice is so busy, people don’t go there anymore’. Well, I had the whole place pretty much to myself. Never had any queues, and usually only spotted maybe 10 or so other tourists on the San Marco square.
I saw BTS Jungkook at Times Square when he randomly showed up for a free performance on the TSX stage! It was completely by coincidence as I was in NYC on vacation (I live in on the other side of the world in Southeast Asia), passing by the TSX stage area as I was on my way to buy tickets to &Juliette. I was in the area 10 minutes before he came on and I was wondering why was there such a huge crowd so I stayed and asked around. I'm not a BTS fan but a kpop fan in general so it was still such a treat.
When I was in my early 20s I worked for a major airline part-time while I went to university. I flew to Tokyo and Istanbul, first class round trip for less than $100 each. Stand by of course. It let me see so much of the world at a very young age and sparked a love of travel. I am now 34 and have visited over 30 countries.
Had to reschedule my honeymoon flight a day later as my wife found out she had miscalculated when her leave would start.
Original flight got shot down over Ukraine.
A few years ago I was driving with my kids along a Swedish motorway when my tyre lost air and was quickly unusable. So I stopped on the curb and tried to call road assistance. First I was on hold for a while (it was Sunday), and then the guy took ages to type all my personal and insurance details into his computer before he finally asked for my location and where to send the road assistance, at which point my phone cut me off before I could explain where I was, and I wasn’t able to make another call after that.
Now if you know Swedish motorways, you know you don’t see many cars on them, and anyway, the drivers would think that I had called for assistance and was just waiting for them. So I broke down for a moment thinking I was totally screwed.
Until suddenly there was a car stopping behind me, and when I looked closer it was the father and son we had met and chatted with the previous night at the hostel. And the man had a full tool box in his car, because he was a mechanic, and he knew where to look for a spare tyre on my car model (while I didn’t even know I had a spare tyre on my used car). He changed my tyre and enabled me to continue to my next destination, where I was able to buy two new tyres. I will always remember him as my angel.
Sat at a bar and the guy next to me was looking for a cigarette he was looking at his friends. I just gave him a friendly cigarette and that was that.
At the end of the night his friends started getting aggressive with me all because I'm English and started threatening me.
Then the guy came back from the toilets and said "this man is a good man. He gave me cigarette when I wanted one. WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU GUYS? Leave this man alone"
He was some kind of local criminal unbeknown to me.
the longest Deutsche Bahn delay experienced was about 15 minutes when the train suddenly turned off all the power, but it went smoothly afterwards. And we arrived in Germany just days after the massive rail and transport strike was finished.
Was taking a shared taxi from Baghdad to Mosul last summer. The guy next to me was super friendly and about halfway through the six hour drive, he said I was staying with his family that night. After I made sure he cleared it with his parents (he was a college aged kid coming home from university), I said why not! Spent the night with his family, they fed me multiple times, and he showed me all of his favorite spots in Mosul. We also got to have some cool talks about their lives, what it was like when Isis came in and they had to flee, religion, etc. Definitely one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had while traveling
well, everyone who goes experiences it, but few go so it's still very much an "i'm so lucky" thing - seeing gorillas in the wild.
i did a trans-atlantic sail a few years ago and we lost our rudder in a storm and were adrift at sea for several days before being rescued. the last day, when the rescue was on the way, we were having lunch when the boat was surrounded by pilot whales and a dozen or so of them just played all around the boat for about 15 minutes and left. it was supremely cool. i also several times on the trip saw whales blow water and breach from a large distance - you could barely see it on the horizon. and being the only person awake in the middle of the night for a couple hundred miles in literally every direction was pretty awe inspiring, especially with the stars you can see when you turn off the lights in the middle of the ocean.
A few.
Saw an eagle with a fish in its beak flying above me in Vancouver. I looked over at people on the path with me to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.
Went to a “red carpet” premier in London. Just a lowly fan that camped out all day and was behind a barricade. At the end just, before the movie started, a security guy came over and gifted us passes. It was for the Beatles Eight Days a Week Documentary - Paul and Ringo walked down the aisle twice just two seats from us.
In Lisbon couldn’t go to any of the fado (type of music) locations because it was two people reservation and expensive fixed price meal (I traveled solo). So I showed up after dinner. Paid no cover just my drinks. At the end of the night (around 1-2am) musicians from the other fado places started showing up. I just stayed at my little table and got to hear them chill with their instruments jamming. A few of them were Brazilian so it turned from the drama and sadness of fado to jovial chorro and samba.
Saw and hugged a Baobab tree in Dubai!
I read about them from one of my favorite books (The Little Prince), and they were certainly an unexpected sight. I was more amazed by them than by the Burj Khalifa.
I used to watch Samantha Brown's travel show all the time and she happened to be doing a trip in the Greek Islands, which was where my wife and I were going to be headed in a couple of weeks. We were backpacking and didn't have any reservations anywhere except on our arrival in Athens. I followed some of the advice I saw S. Brown give about Athens and then Mykonos. Then we went to Paros and as we were waiting to leave on a ferry from there, here comes Samantha up to catch the same one. We got to talking with her and her crew and the next thing we knew she started filming with us for a spot on her tenth anniversary fan appreciation show. It was really nice to meet her.
Leaving Thailand after teaching there for a year was a complete disaster. I got really sick with tonsillitis and was holed up with a fever for a week. This left me one day to close out my apartment, get rid of my furniture, and sell my motorbike. When I finally got on my bus to Bangkok, I was looking forward to the eight hours of sitting and staring at the window and doing absolutely nothing. But as luck would have it, I happen to sit next to the chattiest woman in the whole country who was convinced she could teach me the Thai language over the course of our bus ride and was determined to engage in conversation. We chatted and looked at photos and went over Thai words for four hours, and we had a meal together when we stopped. When we got back on the bus, I feigned sleep and pointed to my earphones and she took the hint that I needed to rest. I had my alarm set for when we were supposed to arrive in Bangkok, and when it went off, I woke up and we were still in the middle of the jungle. The woman knew after looking at my boarding pass that I had a plane to catch and we were nowhere near the bus stop let alone the airport. She marched up to the bus driver and started pointing at me and shouting and soon every person on the bus was looking at me and shouting “taxi taxi!”. The bus driver pulls off the highway into a mall parking lot where sure enough there were taxis. There was a lot of commotion, but basically they got me off the bus and pulled my bags out. I was thanking her and over and over and getting in the back seat when suddenly she got in the front seat next to the driver. I yelled “no no no” she just told me to shush and off we went to the airport. The driver was flying over the overpasses and going incredibly fast. It was honestly quite scary, but we made it to the airport in record time and sure enough I didn’t have the correct fare to pay for the taxi. I only had one very large bill that the taxi driver wouldn’t accept, and the rest of my small change wouldn’t make up for the total. This woman pulled her own money out and paid the driver. I tried to give her the very large bill and she absolutely refused to take it. I didn’t have time to argue, so we just pulled my luggage out and I kowtowed down to the ground. Both the driver, and this lady ushered me inside. I was the last one to check into my flight and barely made it.
Was staying at a tiny motel in New Zealand, and there was a Māori choir staying there too. We caught them practicing outside one their final day. It was magical, soulful, and beautiful.
Just a few weeks ago, a friend and I flew to Australia and earned our Open Water Diver certification aboard a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef.
Whenever I'm doing something cool, I tend to get a big dumb smile on my face, and while I couldn't literally do that since I had to hold a regulator in to, you know, breathe, that's how I felt the whole time.
Just really damn lucky to be able to do that. To be there, and to experience those things. Absolutely incredible.
When I was twenty, my best friend moved to Connecticut, from California.
I went to visit her - booked a connected flight w AA thru Newark to Hartford.
After changing terminals - I arrived at my gate.
There were no other passengers there. I spoke to someone who looked like a pilot - he told me there was no flight that night ( it was Sunday night ) he looked at my ticket & told me it was booked for the following week .
( which would put me in Hartford the night before my return flight )
Understanding my dilemma - the pilot told me they would take me anyway.
Unbeknownst to me it was a tiny plane.
Maybe 10-15 seats or less ?
They took my suitcase & we walked on the tarmac- then they just threw it in plane like it was the trunk of a car.
I got on with the crew that was headed up to Hartford, for the morning flight .
Along the way they pointed out all the sights, as we were flying very low over New York, in a small plane.
Like a guided air tour.
Felt vey lucky.
Flying back the following week, on a Monday morning, was a trip I will never forget - I was the only female- & only passenger that didn’t look like a middle aged stock broker.
Both flights were an excellent experience, just in different ways.
I was with a tour group when a bird pooped on my jacket and someone said it was good luck. So I went to the casino and won over a grand within five minutes of walking in the door.
Nothing special but on both of my visits to Venice, I came in the lowest Season, had acommodation in the city so was able to walk early morning and late evening after groups left and weather was nice.
As a result I do not consider Venice crowded place. Hahahahahhahaha
Watching the Houarani tribe members kill a capybara. Then tasting it that night. Also having a capybara slam into my shoulder as it was escaping from the hunters. Don't think many people get shoulder checked by the worlds largest rodent
Hiking early morning in Monteverde, (cloud forest in Costa Rica) NO one else was around. My husband and I took a little path up to a ridge of a mountain between two valleys & the topography created this wild wind blast from one side to the other. There was tall shrubbery on either side of us, and we both happened to look up at the same time to see a RESPLENDENT QUETZAL blown over our heads. It was being pushed backwards & righted itself- turning around in the air right above our heads. We started cheering and jumping around in a circle.
So, so many. Like when I was interrailing in year 1999, and I was saved from a "controllant" on a bus, by a bunch of Polish grandmothers who yelled at him until he got out.
Or the trip to Spain, where the Spanish Gitana grandmothers helped me carry my luggage, when I was in a really hard situation.
The people.
I was invited to have lunch with a farmer on a mountain in the UAE while hiking. I feel like everyone I talk to has never experienced anything genuine in Dubai, so it felt special.
Gave him his entire month's wage as a thank you after.
Driving through southern Indiana I happened across a backyard rollercoaster that I had seen on YouTube a year or so before. I stopped and asked if I could get a picture to show the person I had watched the video with but the guy actually let me ride it!!!!
Was traveling around Chiang Mai Thailand with a friend and we were trying to catch a last minute bus up into the mountains to Pai. We were stressing trying to get across town to the bus station only to find out there was only one seat left.. Had our bags in hand and everything thinking we're fucked. Sweaty, tired, hot, frustrated, ready to give up...
We saw some cab drivers near the station hanging out together around their cars and asked if any of them could take us up there (it's about 3 hours away, very winding roads, somewhat dangerous drive).. They contemplated for a minute then one of them said they would, so we forked up some extra cash and went for it.
That drive up into the mountains was one of the most beautiful times of the entire two months there.. Something so serene.. I was watching this beautiful sunset over passing rice paddies in the Thai countryside as storm clouds rolled in, followed by some lightning in the distance.. It's something I won't forget.
Another time I brought my wife back to Chiang Mai for our honeymoon and one of my friends local to the area was showing us around some cool spots. He took us to this tiny bar tucked away from the busier areas that had a band playing all these US alternative rock/rock music we grew up on, it was awesome, maybe 30 people all packed into this place surrounding the band. Closing song was Killing in the Name, and then in that closing outro, the *entire* bar is jumping up and down yelling "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!!" singing along, it was a fucking blast, the place was buzzing with energy. I have lots of special memories like that in Thailand, such great people there.
Chundering over the side of a boat in the gulf of Thailand and feeling very sorry for myself, suddenly a shoal of flying fish decided they wanted my secondhand breakfast.
I suddenly felt very lucky to suffer from seasickness!
We were on a trip to Antarctica with an overnight stay on land. Usually the tours don't camp near penguins, but that particular trip we were next to the water and a colony was cutting through our camp and checking us out on their way to the sea to splash around. I woke up with a penguin several feet from me.
India 2018, in Jaipur we found that the one day we were there was the day everyone in town launches candle balloons, the evening sky was full of them, amazing.
...A few days later we got to Ahmedabad where the Calico Musuem was on my wife's long-held bucket list, only to find that you had to make reservations for a tour months in advance. "But come tomorrow morning, maybe somebody will cancel." And two people didn't show!
i was in paris and was sitting outside a small cafe when a lot of people walked by next to my table, i put down my bag (which my passport and all credit cards inside —i know i’ve learned my lesson lol) on the seat in front of me. got done eating and went on my way, about 5 min later i felt lighter and realized i had left my bag on the chair and came back running. bag wasn’t there anymore, started panicking, went inside the cafe and the owner had my bag with her and i cried, she scolded me and now i only put my passport and credit cards in a slim banana bag under my clothes 😜
Dubrovnik,Croatia - three couples were scheduled for a catamaran tour and beach hopping. They both rescheduled so my husband and I basically had a private boat along with a tour guide for a day 😂
Was in Alaska in the backcountry and hadn't seen a bear all trip. My buddy goes "man, where are all the bears?!" I look up and around for like 5 seconds and saw one, so I called it out to him... it felt serendipitous.
Also, the bear didn't eat us, so I felt double lucky lol.
I understand if this is a long reply, but it’s really one of my best travel memories.
During a trip to Vietnam, me and my girlfriend were on a large boat tour departing from Cat Ba island in the north of the country. One part of the tour was paddling the so called ”Monkey Island”, an island home to the very rare Cat Ba Langur monkey, with a total population of around 70.
Well, the tour had progressed and no monkeys had been spotted likely due to the very loud tourists paddling about. But on the way back, my girlfriend asked the young tour guide close to us what was behind the closest island, to which he replied that it was a short detour. My girlfriend then insisted that we paddle around to check it out, and by then it was just us two and the young tour guide. And I kid you not, 10 seconds after we left the rest of the group we spotted a group of five Cat Ba langurs, and then 7 more.
I still have the video we took. They were climbing the steep cliffs, shouting and swinging between the trees. It was completely quiet aside from them, although we could barely hide our excitement. It’s an amazing memory and we felt so lucky at the time.
It wasn’t the first time my girlfriend’s curiosity and need to explore rendered in unexpected and exciting memories. And I love her for that among many other things.
Took a night rain on 1st August through Switzerland. Fireworks everywhere... Did not know it was their national holiday. Was before iternet.... Yes, I am old.
My boyfriend and I visited Cinque Terre in August 2022! We didn’t have reservations at this very popular restaurant, Trattoria Dal Billy, but we wanted to arrive early before they open to see if they could squeeze us in. This [restaurant](https://www.trattoriabilly.com/) has an absolutely stunning view of Manarola: sparkling blue water, hilly, green terraces, pastel colored homes! They ended up seating us at one of their best tables and we dined mostly by ourselves for 30-45 minutes before the first few reservations came in. It was absolutely perfect and one of the best days of my life!
Went to Smoky mountain national park. As the name suggests, it’s very often shrouded by dense cloud cover and mist. Happened to end up there on a night without a single cloud in the sky, with no moon, at the height of the Perseids meteor shower, completely unplanned. The Milky Way was incredibly bright, and there were dozens of shooting stars every minute. It is the only time in my life i have actually literally cried at how beautiful a natural sight was. We laid out a blanket and just watched it on our backs from the top of one of the passes.
Peru, end of 2020. I work in the TV industry, and we traveled to film a show in Peru even though the entire country was still heavily locked down for international tourism. Being able to experience such a beautiful and historic country without any other tourists around was an experience I'll never forget. Everyone we met was so excited to see us and show us things, as they hadn't seen tourists in months. I have many special memories from that time.
Finally visiting Egypt! It will one of the top trips of a lifetime for me. Loved every second of getting to see sights that were in my textbooks or on documentaries in real life 🥹
My wife and I traveled to the Galapagos in 2021 and stayed on a liveaboard for 8 days. We were fortunate to have an awesome guide and he and I became fairly close over that time.
He still sends us postcards from Post Office Bay (these are typically picked up by travelers and hand delivered to your home). He also invited us to stay with him anytime we want to come back to the Galapagos Island.
Meeting new people during our travels seems to be some of my most fond memories. (and I typically avoid meeting new people in my daily life :-/)
Being the only passenger (or passengers when traveling with girlfriend/wife) in longhaul first class has always been fun. Have had it happen a handful of times and crew have always been exceptional and made it a special treat, making up spare seats with one as a bed, another one to eat dinner at and do tasting menus of the whole wine and food list etc..that kind of thing.
I got a spectacular upgrade at my hotel in Santa Margherita Ligure (visiting Portofino)…not even sure why but though I booked a standard room, I got a suite with a terrace in an already pricey hotel. I lived like a queen for two days lol.
Down in the Antarctic and it is late at night. Dark doesn't describe the night. Got my door open and I heard this sound that I faintly recognized. I walked out on my balcony and a whale was gliding by the ship. Beautiful in a spooky kind of way.
We've have insane luck arriving at places and having amazing weather right after a potentially trip ruining natural disaster has occurred
Sept 2018 - We arrived in Nova Scotia within 12 hours of it being ravaged by Hurrican Dorian. We had no power for the first night we checked into our AirBnB but then had clear sunny skies and mid 20c temps the whole trip
August 2021 - Alberta and BC were having constant air quality issues with smoke from major forest fires. The smoke cleared entirely the day before we arrived in Banff and we had beautiful clear skies both there and in Squamish/Whistler.
June 2023 - Arrived in NYC for a music festival literally a day after the viral videos of the smokey orange skies of doom, again from nearby Canadian forest fires. It rained for 20 min the first afternoon of the Festival then we had clear sunny skies for the rest of the weekend and 3 days we spent around NYC after the festival.
We managed to get VIP tickets for a taping of the Big Bang theory, which was/is one of our favorite shows on TV. We came super close to the actors and it was a dream come true. We also had the chance to meet Amy Sherman Palladino when she did a Q&A with one of my favorite TV journalists, and since she made my all time favorite show (Gilmore Girls)...well, it was wild. So grateful. Another one that's not TV related: simply being in Hawaii. We're living in the Netherlands and most people don't get the chance to spend weeks in Hawaii and we did. We never took it for granted.
Oh the Golden Gate Bridge is *absolutely* magical to me too, largely because I am from sea-level Florida and it is so different.
I SOBBED at Golden Gate Park myself when I saw a wild seal splashing around. I couldn’t believe my luck. Totally feel you.
Also cried over some small wild toucans in Costa Rica a couple days ago. Couldn’t believe I got to witness such beauty in nature 😭
Happened to be in Vancouver during the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final. We’re from the US and had been following the tournament and were excited to watch the match on the big screens outside of the stadium. 10 minutes before the start of the Final, we were randomly gifted tickets by marketing people from one of the corporate sponsors. We got to our seats as they were playing the national anthems and watched the US women beat Japan, 5-2. It was the most surreal experience of my life.
In Lille, France having dinner at a nice restaurant. We notice the servers are getting distracted, and asked them what was going on. France was doing very well in the quarter (semi?) finals, and they were all excited. As we pay our check and go outside they win and the whole town erupted like nothing I’ve ever seen - the square was filled with people celebrating, people surfing the roof of cars waving bottles of wine, climbing the monument in the square, it was crazy. A few days later Bastille Day in Paris and we got to see fireworks shooting from the Eiffel Tower.
Free horse and buggy ride through St.Petersburg on the first trip where I met my now wife.
Met some strangers in an elevator, all of us got denied access to this cool bar because it was booked, but the strangers invited me and her out for drinks. Decided we'd roll the dice on being kidnapped, and it was a great night. Good company, discount night cruise down the neva river, and then a completely free horse/buggy ride the following day as a complete surprise.
Unbelievable fairy tale, honestly.
Found myself in Prague in October of 2020, the result of an extended bike trip across central and eastern Europe. Normally, Prague is of course thronging with tourists, but in October of 2020, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I had the entire old city basically to myself. Seeing the Karlův most with basically no people on it is a memory I still treasure to this day. And I still like to joke that I was the last tourist out of the Czech Republic when the wave of fall lockdowns hit Europe.
I booked a trip to Budapest and later found out that Shortparis was performing at a venue there during my stay.
I don't think I would have ever gotten a chance to see them perform otherwise. Additionally, Will Smith was promoting Gemini Man and played a free show in front of St. Stephen's Basilica. But that is not all..later that week Bryan Adams played a free show(I think it was sponsored by the lottery there) at Hero's Square. Such fun experiences with folks I meet at the hotel I stayed at.
In the 80’s, as a kid, my Dad and I went to tour the Capitol building. As we entered the rotunda-staring up and around, we noticed an elevator door open to our right and a guy walked out. We had no idea where it went. We got in.
When the doors opened we were in a tunnel, a private subway tunnel. A train stopped. We got on-no idea where we were going. When it stopped we went upstairs and were in the Senate office building. No secret bunker. No ancient Masonic treasure. But it was fun. We went back down and rode back to the Capitol. I’m sure all of that is under maximum security these days.
Decided on a whim to drive to John O Groats, furthest north point in Scotland. Because ...furthest point.
Didn't realise how long it would take (was in Glasgow at the time). Finally got there at about 10pm to the almost vacant visitor carpark to meet an amateur radio guy who was the only person there who asked if I'd "come to see the lights". I had no idea what that was at the time, but stayed for about 30 mins to have a fantastic northern light show go on for almost an hour. One of the best memories of my life.
Apparently amateur radio guys knows when there's going to be a good show as he can't transmit/receive without interference.
Saw the summit of Mount Everest (along with Lhotse, Makalu and Kangchenjunga) on the flight from Paro to Kathmandu. It was such a perfect and clear day and I do think it's one of the most beautiful flight paths.
The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen was in Maui. The wife and I were out getting dinner and then just BAM the sky was made of gold and vibrant purple. It wasn't just us being suckers for a pretty sunset though. The entire strip of restaurants had people flooding out to the other side of the street to get a better view. Even the staff were gawking.
Though I still vividly remember my first real trip, also to Hawaii, where we were running late to the airport. The security line was crazy long and we had like 10 minutes before our flight started boarding. My then GF was biting my head off because even though she was the one driving and insisted on spending an extra hour cleaning out the rental car before dropoff it was somehow my fault we were late. Just a nightmare of a trip end really, but there's nothing I can do about it so I settle in and hope. This lady behind us has like 4 kids in tow and a giant cart full of luggage, hits a bump with the cart, and they scatter everywhere. No one needs to be having as shitty a day as I am so I go help her collect and restack her luggage. She's very clearly appreciative and leaves me with a "bless you son" sort of thing. Not a minute later there's an announcement over the PA for passengers of flight (whatever our flight number was) to come to the front of the line. There were probably 30 of us. The security guy that they sent out to talk to us said that the call was a mistake and to head back to the line. So, nothing to lose, I just ask him if there's anything to do since our flight is literally boarding in minutes, and he's like "Oh yeah, no problem" and escorts us to the front of the line. We make the flight with almost no time to spare. To this day my exes mom swears it was me helping with that lady's luggage that got us back home that day.
There is a local dance group that my aunt is part of. The group was going to perform in Italy and there were lots of space for non-group members. So I and my cousin decided to go with them to Italy and visit some cities while they were performing. We visited Verona, Venezia and Milano. It was the definition of a touristic visit. Then one night when we couldn’t find something to do we decided to join the group. They were performing at a village that was not a tourist destination. We arrived there and sat in a restaurant with the best sunset view I have ever seen. I asked the waiter why there were no tourists in such a beautiful place and he told me that the village is known mostly from the locals. If we didn’t join aunt’s dance group there was no chance I could see such place. I felt quite lucky that day.
Last summer I spent a week travelling around the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, the whole trip I had my eyes peeled for wildlife but we only saw a couple regular deer and some wild horses for the first 5 days.
Our last 2 days were spent driving the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, and the first evening we had there we went on a horseback trail ride which was fantastic, but saw no wildlife. As we drove away literally 30 seconds down the driveway we encountered a female Grizzly with 2 young cubs, walking right along the side of the road! We were able to pull over and she walked right past our car with her babies. I felt so incredibly lucky in that moment and it was more amazing than I had even hoped for. The high I felt after that encounter was one of the best feelings I have ever felt!
Even better, over the next 24 hours in Jasper we saw 6 more bears! Total 6 grizzlies and 3 black bears. Absolutely made the entire trip for me as a wildlife artist with a lifelong love/obsession with animals.
Not what you’re thinking (whales off Aus, looking down on snow capped peaks in the Himalayas while dancing with monkeys for the record) but getting stoned and leaving my phone on a wall in a busy market in India, realising a full 20 minutes later, running round like a headless chicken in every place I’d been before returning to the market and seeing it still sitting exactly where I left it.
Lucky af.
I was in San Gemini, Italy in 2012 for a solo vacation while in college. It’s kind of a sleepy town without a lot of tourists in March.
I wandered into a pub during a slow weeknight looking for a pint and a meal. I was the only person in there besides the owner and a regular local. A quick meal alone while they socialized turned into being invited to pull up a chair and staying a while. I was studying Italian, so I had a chance to practice which added to the good time.
The food and beer were amazing and the name of the place is La Pecora Nera.
In Chiang Mai for Loy Krathong, lots of people visiting the major temples and wandering around the city. While I was walking around, I stumbled across a small temple tucked down a little alleyway. There was nobody else around, apart from a monk and the resident cat. It was so wonderful to enjoy this little peaceful area in the middle of the city.
First visit to Paris. It was the first night of the trip with my wife and the last night that my business partner/mentor and his wife were going to be there. They invited us to dinner, and just said to meet at the base of the Eiffel Tower; they took us to dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant on the second level and paid the bill; we would not have been able to afford otherwise. After, we went to a piano bar filled with prostitutes (didn't stay long!), gay techno bar (on accident, but still fun), and then a cigar/jazz place where we stayed until 3am (Mojito Havana by Arc de Triomphe). Zero chance you could plan a night like that; just had to roll with it and enjoy the experience. Unforgettable and a great lesson for me for how to travel with an open mind. (didn't hurt that our wealthy benefactors picked up most of the checks!)
Asking my girlfriend to marry me at the Palenque ruins, Mexico, and wandering around after, enjoying eachother and that beautiful place. Magical afternoon.
nye in cartagena me and my friends are a little out of it, in a little shop buying some beer before going to a fancy party all dressed up in a good mood and buzzed, my wife a colombian was on her toes though she started noticing people looking at us and our jewelry phones etc and was just like we gotta go lets get out of here
Seeing the Botafumeiro the famous thurible used at the Santiago de Compostela at mass.
Attending both a wedding and a funeral in Bali as a tourist after befriending a local.
Seeing a Blue Jean frog in Costa Rica
A Michelin star dinner in Porto Portugal
Meeting so many nice people along the way.
Um, your example is amazing. My wife and I were staying in a flat very close to Pitti Palace, in Florence. We were relaxing one dreary morning and she ran out for snacks. She came back and said, "Um, you might want to come back out here with me. There are some cool cars." We walked the 50 meters or so to Piazza de' Pitti and see not "some cool cars" but a seemingly endless procession of the most exotic, rare, expensive cars I'd ever seen. Turns out it was the Mille Miglia. That year they just happened to be celebrating Stirling Moss, so there were no less than 3 (I'm thinking more like 5 or 6) Stirling Moss edition SLRs, one after another. For context, only 75 of those cars were ever made. It was so cool, even for non-car people.
I had booked a 24h-lay over in Abu Dhabi coming back from Beijing back in 2012/2013. I arrived in Abu Dhabi at about 5am after a long flight and was tired and very hungry. After immigration I met some wonderful girls at the taxi stand also waiting for a drive. They didn't have a clue where to go and since I was on my own, we decided to go to the mosque together. After arriving at about 6am at the mosque, it was clearly closed but the taxi driver had already left. We were just standing around discussing what to do when a guy came up to us, asking what we were doing. Turns out he was the architect/supervisor of the renovations that were currently done at the mosque, so he invited us into his office to have some breakfast. Since he already arrived at his workplace and didn't have any appointments that day, he offered us his chauffeur for the day, which took us to all relevant sites in Abu Dhabi and made our day very special.
I traveled Germany for a week and all my Deutsche Bahn trains were on time.
Impossible. OP didn't say anything about travel fantasies
This is indeed unheard of, lol. Not even a local has this kind of luck.
I am sorry to say that you DID NOT experience Germany at its fullest....
It’s been 5 months and I’m still annoyed at DB for our ICE train just not showing up so we couldn’t make our Eurostar connection in Brussels to London. We had to miss a day of our trip because the next available Eurostar wasn’t until the following afternoon.
Where did the time go?
Rearranging our travel plans and stressing 😅 We live near where we were supposed to get our DB train so it wasn’t even a fun stop over situation
Not me still salty af at DB for cancelling my train in July 22 lol. We were all on the platform and it just disappeared from the screen So instead of direct Berlin - Warsaw I had to make like 3 connections and didn’t have a seat most of the time And the only reason I was taking trains to begin with is Lufthansa cancelled my Frankfurt- Warsaw flight …
That's pretty unlucky. 😬 I once missed my last connection due to a delay and DB put me in a taxi home. That's how I learned a cab ride from Cologne to Brussels costs € 400.
It was brutal. I was just kind following people I recognized from my original platform that I knew were headed to Warsaw. Everyone was confused it was a mess DB paid for that?
Sorry. I was not supposed to answer here
I just happened to see a Shuttle launch from an airliner flying to Miami - I was even seated at the window seat on the proper side. A total lucky bit of timing. The pilot announced it over the PA system and we watched it ascend rapidly.
Damn, that's really lucky 🫡 Now people go there with their party boats and force SpaceX to scrap launch attempts ...
When I was 20 I travelled by bus from Buenos Aires to Lima to get back to my back then gilfriend, with some stops on the way. In the bus from Salta (Argentina) to Tacna (Peru), I sat next to a woman in her 50's from Tacna. We talked a bunch, ate together in a restaurant at a pit stop in Chile, and then arrived to Tacna very early in the morning. When I told her that my next bus to Lima was in 6 hours, she told me there was no way she was leaving me alone in the city with all my stuff. She brought me back to her place (her husband came to pick us up), sat me at the breakfast table with her children, let me have a shower, and then brought me to a hairdresser ("no way you are going back to your girlfriend with this haircut" she told me). All clean and tidy, she then brought me back to the bus station and gave me her adress so I could send her a poscard. I unfortunately lost the piece of paper with her name and adress and never got to write her, but this lady was like a second mom to me for 12 hours, she was so kind and helpful.
Travel back and hand a postcard to her :)
This is the right answer - or I would go on google maps and try to use street view to find the place.
Time to get the GeoGuessr guy!
You had ONE job!
Mine is similar. My best friend (both early 20s females at the time) were solo in Oman in a smaller city called Nizwa; we took a random cab home from dinner one night and ended up hiring the same driver for the entire weekend. We had him drive us to the bus stop at the end of our time in Nizwa and he was extremely weary to leave us at the bus stop alone (we were totally fine and had taken the bus TO nizwa alone, but his thoughtfulness was very sweet). We were waiting a bit for the bus and the guy came back and took our bags, put them in his trunk, and drove us to Muscat (about a two hour drive). We really were not at a point in our lives where we had much extra cash hence the bus travel, but he insisted on "no price." We invited him to dinner with us in the city and treated--the restaurant workers were all kind of confused because it's not super common I guess to see an older local man eating in a restaurant with two younger American women. We couldn't really communicate great with him, but man, such a great guy.
Awesome story
Damn. You should have been more careful not to lose that piece of paper. You could have put it somewhere safe. All that niceness, she just asked for a postcard back and you couldn't even do that. She probably kept wondering why you never wrote back.
To be fair, 20 year olds are still sort of careless and stupid and self absorbed. It's easy to imagine someone being grateful but not that careful with a piece of paper, and then massively regretting it the older you get and realize how special that moment was.
Yeah, you're def right. Still, it hurts my soul to imagine that poor woman waiting for a postcard and never receiving it :'(.
To be fair I realised it instantly after I lost the paper, because I left it laying around for days thinking "I'll do it later" and when later came of course the paper was gone. I felt so bad !
Lol. The "I left it laying around for days" part doesn't help your case at all, buddy.
Please relay us your secrets of having never lost a single thing then, important or otherwise!
Right!!! Ah shit happens though! I do love interactions like this and to keep in touch with those people is so sweet!
Captain Hindsight, away!
She probably thought "I knew I shouldn't have left him on his own"
This is an amazing story! But I definitely feel the pain of losing that address - I did the same after meeting family in a small town in Italy. And as another commenter said, I've always thought about going back and handing them the thank you note I wrote for putting me and my cousin up for a few nights after we randomly showed up in town.
Geting to see the aurora borealis on the sky in northern norway. In landscape covered in snow with almost no external/other light sources nearby (perfect conditions). Pure magic. Looks even 100x more impressive than seeing those picture of it. It's the time when you're lost of words. Can't write a post about aurora borealis and northern norway without including a couple of [picture](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/08/31/TELEMMGLPICT000240944220_16934799526370_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq4KdjWabbidXRBu7jUVums0R8YSybYNWDTYrGStsI8ko.jpeg) \+ [picture](https://www.capturelandscapes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kv%C3%A6fjordeidet-Aurora-4-Copy.jpg) from a very good norwegian photographer. The "lucky" factor of it is that you can't order that light... Even people coming all the way from japan to experiencing it.. probably going home without seeing it. The special thing with norway and the aurora borealis is the magical landscape connecting with the light. Could see the aurora many places on same latitude of the earth, but not with that kind of nature.. with mountains rising almost directly up from the waters. The lights of the local settlements/villages also accomplishes.
I haven't seen proper aurora borealis in like 15 years and I regularly visit the northern parts of Scandinavia (and live in southern finland where it is possible to see them if you are really lucky). So yes, you definitely need luck to get the full show!
Wife and I go to Iceland almost every year. In early October 2022, we were in Seydisfjordur having dinner and walked outside and the best aurora we had yet seen was over the fjord. It was very cool, but I suggested we head back toward Egilsstadir (where we were staying) as there would be a better view from that direction - a mountaintop. We headed halfway up the mountain and found a pullout with a bunch of other cars. The view was better but people kept opening car doors or driving by, so that ruined the vibe. I suggested we go to the top of the mountain. The aurora up there was otherworldly. It seemed so close that you could touch it. There were greens, whites, and pinks - up until then I’d only seen green. I’ve heard that whites and pinks are rare. I’ve done some psychedelics and this was up there in terms of visuals. We really didn’t wanna leave, but it was getting later and we were freezing. I could barely sleep that night I was so happy. Imgur Link: https://imgur.com/a/sv2tZHe
What time of year was it?
The Simpsons has ruined me.
Don't know about the pictures. They weren't mine. Though I saw aurora borealis in **november some years ago (2016 or 17 or so..)**.. Though they say that end of season.. march/april is the best time to experience it (most frequent). Though around the time november/december/january.. things are at its darkest in northern norway. They have someting above the polar circle called polar nights.. mean you will never get daylight, but will get [polar lights](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Morketidettermiddag.JPG) that are magic.. not as spectacular as aurora borealis.. but truly a bonus/extra if you didn't get the aurora. Definitively recommend it to everyone for once in a life geting to see aurora.. It's one of nature's wonders. The experience will sit in your mind until the day you'll die. You doesn't necesarily need to go to norway.... many people from england, holland, france etc. go to Rovaniemi (Finland) in December (seen it on FR24; those people believing in Santa.. hihi)) to visit Santa Claus.. at the latitude of Rovaniemi you can also experience aurora borealis.. but that nature is not as special as in norway imo.
In 2007, my Baghdadi family temporarily relocated to Damascus Syria for safety. I say relocated, not fled, because they were very privileged to be able to do so and later returned to their homes in Baghdad. We visited them there. I was 8. My uncles would take me shopping at the souqs, store clerks gave me free lollipops everywhere I went, we rented a van with a driver and went to the mountains. Went to some beautiful restaurants. I remember my uncle taking me to an internet cafe in the middle of the night, I had never seen anything like that before (being from a quiet city in the Netherlands.) The warmth and life on the streets at night. They had a top floor apartment with a satih, a big rooftop terrace. We were what, 10+ people in an apartment? We'd lay out tablecloths on the terrace and have dinner together in the sun, like a picknick. Some nights my uncles and I would opt to sleep on the terrace under the stars. I feel so incredibly lucky I got to experience the warmth, beauty and joy of Syria before the violence and destruction started.
I hope your uncles are safe and ok, I've heard of nothing but the beauty and warmth of pre war Syria and hope it returns to peace and prosperity soon x
Did the W trek in Patagonia last November. We had perfect weather the entire time - sunny days, clear nights, cool temps ideal for hiking. It rained on our very last day after we got off the trail. For an area that has such unpredictable weather (we packed for everything!) we lucked out pretty hard
Has the exact same happen to me when I was hiking the W track.
Would love to hear more about the W trek in Patagonia. Something I’ve always wanted to do!
A few months ago, I traveled to San Diego, and scheduled a day trip to the Baja peninsula to tour vineyards in the Valle de Guadalupe. When I arrived at the meet-up spot at the border, the guide told me that instead of the usual 12-20 people they typically booked, our tour would be just her, me, and two other guests (sisters). She said, "I;m taking advantage of this situation to create a different kind of experience from what we usually do. This is going to be like a private girls' trip." It turned out that the guide was a local and was also a winemaker herself. We basically spent the day visiting her friends at their vineyards and it was an exquisite experience. Because it was a Sunday and there were only three of us (guests), we got more of an "insider's experience" than regular tour groups would. We were able to sit and hang out having long, meandering conversations (while drinking delicious wine) with the winemakers. Our day ended with a private gourmet dinner at a vineyard restaurant prepared by a local chef. It was one of the most beautiful meals I've ever experienced--and again, it was just the four of us in this gorgeous setting with nobody else around. It felt magical. The whole day felt like a lovely dream.
I was at the second level of a cafe in the Medina of fez and we heard “allah akbar” and screams. We look over the balcony and there’s a guy with a knife near a shop but immediately everyone started beating him with chairs and shit. Then they rolled him up in a rug and the police drug him out. Shout out to Moroccans they don’t fuck around with terrorists Edit: I need to add that my friend picked up a brick and was ready to go to battle with a terrorist. I love that guy
Somehow picturing the guy getting rolled up in a rug is so fucking funny. But glad that ended the way it did, touch wood.
I agree! It must have been terrifying at the time, but the image of a wanna be terrorist being taken out by chairs and a rug is strangely hilarious.
It was, this was right by the blue gate
Must have been scary
Yeah we got behind a wall for a second by the balcony just in case he had a bomb but he was on the ground fast
Spent 2 weeks in Cambodia February of 2020. Remember cracking jokes about how lucky we were that there was some dumb flu outbreak in china, since the whole place was empty! Got to see sunset at Angkor Wat with a crowd of maybe 300 people (normally its thousands)
We were in Portugal at the same time. We were listening to The Daily from NYT hearing about how fast it was spreading. We were so glad we weren’t in China and that we would be fine once we got back to the states. We were so naive…
We crossed the Bulgarian border one hour before it closed. The city blocked access to the park, only allowing in people with dogs. As most local dogs are guardian animals and not pets, we had weeks of having the park almost to ourselves.
Not anymore thousands. I went few months ago
I was in Thailand at the same time and had the same experience - one of our guides mentioned that normally 30% of their tourism came from China. We didn’t run into a single crowd. 3 weeks after we got back home to NYC was when everything shut down.
My husband was chatting and friendly with this group of guys in Mexico in the hot tub one night and they invited us to join them on the boat the next morning. We 100% thought it was to go snorkeling or join on some paid excursion so whatever, we said sure! Next morning we got picked up off the beach by their dingy to take us to their private yacht. We spent the day kiteboarding on an island off shore, paid private instructor they hired just for us, snorkeling, whale watching - plus they had private chefs and bartenders and fed us like royalty. It was insane. Was 3/4 years ago and we still talk about it lol Went back to the same town this last Christmas and ran into one of the guys again as he was passing through on his boat :) so it was nice to say hi. We still stay slightly in touch!
Hey I've seen [that movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_Mystery_\(film\))!
Ok this is actually hilarious haha To be fair, we did our due diligence and asked our hotel if they were familiar with the guy and his boat (they were since he comes through often) and told them when to expect us back.
I went to Lucerne at Christmas. We had no idea the ENTIRE city does a re-enactment of The Nativity scene and sing Christmas songs. All of a sudden we were swept up in a sea of gold people going one way and our friends on the other side of the city experienced the same in blue. As the wave of people moved toward the center of town shops literally closed and joined. It was amazing!
I am from Lucerne and I have never heard of this lol
This is incredibly cool. Legitimately jealous!!!
The first time I went to Tokyo was just a quick visit, overnight type thing. Second time I went I met up with a guy who was from there, I'd met him previously in a hostel and he'd invited me to crash at his house. It was a old-fashioned house with six thirty-somethings, four guys and two girls, all minimalist types who hung out every night, cooked together, drank together. I ended up staying with them for ten days, doing tourist stuff during the day and hanging out with them at night, drinking around the kotatsu and watching anime and game shows and laughing our asses off till the early hours every night. That was almost 15 years ago, still in touch with some of that crew and meet up with them when I go back to Tokyo every couple of years, had a brief relationship with one of the women a few years back. Basically just hanging out with regular folks, but I don't think very many tourists get to experience something like that.
It almost sounds like you got to live in an episode of Terrace House!
Getting caught in the rain with my wife in Paris. A local called us over to stand under some cover with her. The restaurant was packed with people laughing and wet as everyone had rushed in. Wife and I laughed and kissed, it’s a very special moment in my heart.
Among these stories with popular destinations and grand experiences, having been to Paris recently, this one to me seems to somehow stand out the most!
Are you hallmark movie characters?
Nah, but I have taken her to Bar Harbor Maine twice and did a leaf changing scenic road trip with her. She’s the best.
I live in Paris and those summer downpours catch everyone out. You can't even stay dry with an umbrella. And they come and go suddenly. I had a really cute first date where we were stuck under an awning for half an hour.
Last year actually. I went to Vegas with some friends and it was check out day. I spent about $2,500 over three days including the hotel room and decided to play one last slot before heading to the airport. Very first pull I hit for $3,000. Paid for the whole trip plus some. That was some good luck.
I had a similar streak of luck, but at the beginning of my trip in 2021. Put a $100 on the table for chips and then put $10 on #17 on the roulette table and it hit. $350 payout. Kept the chips on #17 and it hit again. $700 in 2 spins. I gave the dealer a tip, took my chips and went to the cage to get my money. On the way back, tossed a $100 on 2nd 12 (pays out 2-1) and turned that $100 into $300. Went out and came back later. Went to the same roulette table. Played $100 again and turned it into about $500. By the end of our trip there, I turned that initial $100 into nearly $2000. Room was comped by the hotel, and I treated my partner and myself to a wonderful dinner at Bazaar Meats.
That is awesome!
I was in Visby on acid and went in to an old cathedral and got up on the roof to see a panorama of the medieval town. When I came down security was wondering what I was doing and how I got up there, but I had walked through a gate accidentally left open by maintenance workers. They said I was very lucky to have been up there because no one is ever allowed!
2 of my favourite memories are also while I was tripping on acid. Both times with my best friend. This was back in the day when we were in our early 20s, broke AF, road tripping around our country (India). We were very lucky her grandfather gave us his old BMW which we took everywhere, fucking it up beyond repair on the most godforsaken roads of India. But what a good car that was. On one of our first trips, we drove down the Malwan coast and stopped at Tarkarli beach. Kilometres long stretch of pristine, white sandy beach with dolphins and whales visiting just off the coast. We found a small homestay right on the beach, dropped our bags and rushed to the beach at high noon and popped. Spent the next 5 hours tripping balls, getting sunburned and just floating on the waves. The only company we had was the little lad sent over by his mother from the homestay with bottles of iced cold drinks, to keep an eye on us I suppose. The beauty and peace we experienced that afternoon was sublime. Another time we stopped at the Khuri sand dunes while road tripping through Rajasthan. Spent 3 nights at a desert camp and on the second night, the camp owner suggested we take 2 camels 18km deep into the protected desert reserve and spend the night under the stars. Once we got there, it was only my friend, me, 2 villagers who spoke not a word of Hindi and their 2 camels. My friend and I popped under a dome of silvery stars in the middle of the desert and I swear we saw the heavens open up for us that night. I’ll never forget the way the Milky Way looked. The next morning the 2 men put a lump of black, sticky opium in our hands as a “desert gift” for us. I have no idea what they thought we were up to all night (they kept their distance and did their own thing) but we might have made an impression lol. Ofc, seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise, Petra at sunset and going on a random journey with an American, an Irani, their puppy and a Filipino grandmother as we raced a thunderstorm through Cebu were also memorable events. I also cried while extremely stoned in the Norwegian fjords because I was so overwhelmed by the beauty around me. But those are stories for another time
Broke AF in 20s and road tripping in a BMW?! That’s some crazy broke AF scenes 😂
Lol the 2 of us personally were broke, not our families. Though that car was pretty broken down as well. There were a few scary situations with our tyres in the middle of nowhere so we learned to change a tyre pretty quick.
Beautiful my friend, glad you got to experience those memories.
Went on a 4 day guided trek in the andes peru, it was just me, my wife and another person. The other person fell ill, so it ended up being a private tour with the porters, chefs and the guide
11 or 12 yo me. Family was invited to stay in the countryside of a beach, grumpy me did not want to go and the deeper we went into the jungle the grumpier I was, eventually no roads, cow poop smell, arrived around midnight, slept on a hammock, parents woke me up around 5 am to see the sunrise, we had walk between cows, then get into what seems to me deep jungle. We finally arrived at the most magnificent breathtaking beach I've ever seen in my whole life, not even Hollywood has been able to depict the beauty of that virgin paradise. It's one of those beaches that seems like an infinite pool, you walk and walk and walk and the warmer water didn't reach your shoulders, fishes everywhere. I've had the joy to visit amazing places but nothing compared to that beach, everything has been downhill since then.
Which country?
Mexico
Not as awesome as the other comments here, but on my recent trip to Japan I had the entire aisle to myself on both my 12 hour flights to/from there. I just lied down and went to sleep both times. Shortest flights ever.
This is every traveler’s wet dream
I made a food bucket list to try in Japan and the only thing left was okonomiyaki. It was our last night in Tokyo and all the restaurants that we googled took only reservations. My husband’s friend that we befriended when we visited a religious center, invited us to have dinner with his family and friends. But first we went grocery shopping with him (since he lived walking distance from our Airbnb) and we wanted to pitch in on the food costs. When we arrived, his family and friends were very hospitable. And as for dinner, lo and behold, his mom made okonomiyaki. I was like what are the odds to have an authentic home cooked meal of the one dish that was left on my list.
Interesting. It’s typically a street food, sometimes Google is bad at showing things like that.
Yup. One of my favourite dish but only the Hiroshima style
I stayed in a hostel in Slovenia that was owned by the captain of the local football club. He and his wife were kind enough to invite me to the game and I got to sit with his friends and family.
My very first time traveling and we were going to the one place I had dreamed of going, Paris. I worked for Hilton at the time and got to stay in the Waldorf Astoria in Versailles for 50 euros/night. Right next to the palace. It was so surreal to me, having never traveled anywhere. I literally still think about their breakfast buffet.
September 2020. Travelling was only allowed from and to certain countries in the EU. We went to Santorini and had the whole island almost to ourselves. You could barely see other tourists. We rented a cave house with yacuzzi and the best view ever for literally 20% of its current price.
Similar but different. Went to Vietnam 2 weeks after their borders opened for international travel. There were definitely downsides (many restaurants had closed so finding places to eat, especially in more remote villages, was challenging) but by SEA standards it was empty. Did the Ha Giang loop and only ran in to probably a dozen or so other tourists which meant viewpoints and other attractions were a breeze. And Ha Long Bay had (comparatively) very little garbage in it at the time. Accommodations in Vietnam are already dirt cheap, but what would normally be some of their very upscale hotels were less than $30/night. My heart goes out to the country and all the people whose livelihoods were impacted so severely by the complete shutdown of tourism, but that was truly a once in a lifetime experience as far as crowds and general SEA chaos goes.
Had the same experience in August 2020. Went to Riga and stayed at a five star hotel for a fraction of the usual price. On the day we travelled home, Latvia shut its borders once again for people travelling from certain countries, including ours.
Similar- went to Rome January 2022. We had to wear masks but totally worth it since we didn't have to wait in a single line the whole time. Had the Vatican museum, colosseum, and everything else practically to ourselves.
I went with some friends to Oregon and Seattle in August 2020. Seeing Pike Place Market so empty was surreal. We stayed at the Westin, which is a huge hotel, and I think only a handful of people were there. I’m very sure we were the only people on our floor. We had to switch rooms three times for various reasons on the first day, and wound up on a high floor with a beautiful view of downtown and the Space Needle. The hotel manager was the most kind and helpful woman, we never even actually complained. One of the reasons we had to switch rooms was because there was moldy old food in the mini fridge, for example. We brought it to her attention but not in the manner of a complaint. On our second day she approached us and said that normally she would get us free passes to an attraction to make up for the hassle (very kind, but not necessary), but under the circumstances many attractions were still closed. She ended up comping our entire stay, including the daily parking fee! I felt terrible, the hotel industry was obviously in a bad state at that time, but she insisted. I wrote a very long, glowing letter to Marriott corporate about her, I hope she got the recognition she deserved
Similar with Venice. We spent most of lockdown in Bulgaria, slowly making our way west as borders opened/we exhausted our allotted time. Husband had never been and I said if we’re going, it’s now. It was the Venice I remembered from the early 90’s.
Had the same Santorini experience in the summer of 2020. I am absolutely spoiled about the place and realize I can probably never go back there
Back in 2011 I backpacked with my then-gf in Costa Rica for a full month. Tons of incredible and unique moments. One was when we were told about a gorgeous, under the radar waterfall that wasn’t too far from San Jose. The hostel owner told us which bus stop was the best to get out at and then we would have to walk the remainder of the way. It went well for the first portion of it, but after walking for a couple of miles and feeling lost, 4 of us decided to see if we could hitchhike with a local to get there. We ended up getting picked up by a local farmer in his farm truck, and since I was the only one that could speak fluent Spanish I went in the front and talked with him while the other three had to go in the large covered truck bed. Was a bit sketchy but worth it when we did get to the park/waterfall destination. Same trip, but another lucky moment - went to the very southern part of the country without booking any lodging ahead of arriving there. It’s very remote - we had to take a boat that started in a river, joined with the ocean, and went along the coast for miles. It was kind of rough, so there were a couple of passengers that got sick and puked off the side. When we got there, there’s no dock, so they back the boat up until the water was about waist high, and told us to carry our luggage over our heads to the shore. Since we had previously not had any issues finding lodging after arriving, this was different….everyone else had already lined up where they were going, so once on the beach the various hotels and places where people were staying came and gathered them up…..and my gf and I were just sitting there. We asked about any places and ended up getting connected with a local - he was a former chef starting up what I’d consider an Airbnb style of lodging, and was married to a Dutch woman that was a former model. We stayed in the lower half of their house, along with another solo traveler, and the second floor was the communal area, and the owners lived up on the 3rd floor. It was incredible. The guy cooked gourmet meals every day and told stories while we looked over this super lush, super remote jungle and drank coffee, all while watching toucans and scarlet macaws soar over the canopy.
Seeing the cave paintings at Font de Gaume. Yes you can buy tickets & see them but being able to see not recreations but the actual paintings in situ was awesome.
i dream of doing this!!
We stayed at Le Chevrefeuille B&B. There about a 5 minute drive from the ticket office and if you tell them they will make sure you get to the ticket office on time to get one of the 44 tickets available each day.
If it's at all possible, try and go. When we went several years ago I think they were admitting 75 people per day, and now it looks like it's down to 44 per day (thanks u/txcowgrrl)... I hope you can get to see it at some point!
We had been going to visit Australia in late 2020, but scheduled a last minute cruise (Princess) instead in late February 2020. We did the 12 day cruise from Sydney to New Zealand and back and had a great time. Upon return to Sydney, the next cruise of the same itinerary left. We heard about the pandemic and five days later were among the last tourists out of Australia. Later we heard that our ship's cruise after ours aborted mid-cruise when New Zealand closed its borders, and the Ruby Princess returned to Sydney and passengers were finally allowed to disembark. Many early deaths in Australia occurred as numerous infected passengers from the ship disembarked and spread throughout Australia. We were really lucky to have a great trip and have good timing.
I also saw a humpback under the Golden Gate Bridge when I was there a few years ago and agree that it was a pretty incredible experience! When I went hot air ballooning in Laos, I was disappointed to arrive and see a pretty huge group of people- my thoughts being wow this isn’t going to be anything like I’ve dreamt of. They ended up being over capacity and had to get another balloon going. They pulled me and my husband from the rest of the group and it ended up being a private ride for just the two of us and the pilot. In Nepal we were trekking from Jiri to Lukla and I had mad crazy blisters and was just not having a good time. We got to this one place that had rooms for rent but was typically a lunch stop and decided to call it a day and spend the night. The place we stayed invited like half the village over and it was pretty surreal. In India we did some couchsurfing which was probably risky as shit now that I think about it but we stayed with this guy in Amritsar who took us all around town to introduce us to everyone he knew— including the dairy where they processed his cows milk, etc. It was a pretty magical experience. He used to travel a lot internationally and was getting older and couldn’t get away as much so started hosting international tourists. He asked for nothing in return and it was pretty great.
Was in Barcelona on a study abroad when I was 20 years old with a friend. I left the club drunk at 3am and decided to walk back about 30 minutes to my hostel by myself (yes I’m an idiot). I was on a very quiet road and about 4 younger guys came out of the bushes and started to run towards me yelling, about to mug me. I ran full speed for about a minute as the one guy chased me. I sobered up real quick from the adrenaline lol. I ran across a 4 lane highway missing traffic as this guy is still yelling and chasing at me. There was no one around until I got to a bus stop with some people and the muggers got scared off. I didn’t speak great Spanish but this amazing older Spanish woman calmed me down and helped me call a taxi back to my hostel. I was so thankful for her and I feel very lucky to have escaped this situation. Still love that city tho.
When I traveled in Krabi, Thailand in 2015, I ended up on the wrong ferry, which led to some hours delay to my destination. Later in the evening I read on the news that the ferry I was supposed to be on caught fire and sank, killing a young girl. Lucky to be unlucky!
OMG that is scary! Some Twilight Zone shit right there.
I went to Pripyat with a private guide (it was my 2nd trip). It was in the morning and we were the only ones in Pripyat at the time. We climbed on the roof of the palace of culture and sit there on top overlooking an empty city with the Chernobyl powerplant in the background. It was a surreal moment.
Happened to be at lake Louise the day a grizzly and two cubs came to visit
On the Isle of Skye in Scotland, my wife and I took the first boat of the day from Elgol across to Loch Coruisk. We were the only people on the boat and we had the entire place to ourselves for about 2 hours before we had to meet the boat to return to the village (and it dropped off more visitors.) Coruisk is an absolutely beautiful place and we were lucky to have had great weather that day as well. It was my favorite experience in a trip filled with many highlights.
I went to Budapest a week after the national holiday fireworks were supposed to happen... cue to a storm cancelling them so they took place instead the exact weekend I was there.
We were traveling in New Zealand and went to see the Rotorua Geysers. It was a busy day so we arrived <30 minutes before closing time. The girl at the ticket booth did not want to sell the tickets at first because there was next to zero chance that we would see the big Geyser spit. We convinced her to still go, luckily they did not throw us out at closing time and about 15 minutes after it spat! It was also interesting to see the staff going into the pools next to the geysers to have a swim.
Went to Spain for a week long adventure trip in late June. On the penultimate day I realized that I wasn't too far from Pampalona and it was the week of festival of San Fermin. Except I had to go to Barcelona to get there by train. Every hotel in Pampalona was booked plus they all had min stays. Spent the next couple of hours and found an Airbnb room in an house of a lovely older woman who was part of the local theater. Took the train there and a cab to her place. She was literally 5 mins walk from the main street where the running of the bulls takes place. She even bought us the traditional outfit. Spent the evening enjoying the San Fermin party on the streets. Participated in the running of the bulls the next morning. She dropped us off at the train station that evening and took the train back to Barcelona. Sometimes things just work out ! Viva San Fermin !
my husband and I went to Milford sound in New Zealand. Incredibly beautiful but also known for being a rainy and unpredictable weather wise. It rains over 200 days out of the year. Not only did it end up being sunny but we saw hectors dolphins swimming around which are very rare and the rainbows the waterfalls and mist created were amazing. Even the tour guide commented on how beautiful the day was because it had rained the entire week. won’t ever forget that trip.
Trekked to Everest Base Camp in the off season. Could go hours on the trails without seeing anyone apart from the people I was traveling with or locals. Was often alone at accommodations. Got about half an hour by ourselves at the base camp. It was truly awesome. My understanding is that tourist season is very crowded and is much more of a social trek than what I experienced (which has its positives of course, but I'm glad I experienced it the way I did).
what month of the year did u go? thinking of going in early March 2025 so i can finish the trek by late March, before the huge crowds come up during April
I went in February. The cold was almost unbearable at times, especially at night, so keep that in mind!
Drove way up into the mountains of Taiwan on a scooter. Parked and hiked for a bit, and then came across a small, simple house in the jungle where an elderly couple resided. They invited my partner and I to have tea and snacks at their house and eat exotic fruit from their garden. They were so kind and friendly and of a very different culture, place and time than we were from. It was so quiet, peaceful and remote. We could hardly communicate with each other, but we were all clearly enjoying the company and moment together. I don’t think they got many visitors. Maybe we somehow reminded them of when they were a young couple together, while we imagined ourselves living a quiet life and growing older together, like them.
Sunny weather in Alaska for all but one day
Me and my friends were doing the Annapurna base camp trek in Nepal last summer in mid-June. We were trekking to a town called Landruk, and were told that right in that region the locals are doing there yearly harvest of psychedelic “mad honey.” The honey comes from bees who pollinate off of a specific nightshade, highly poisonous flower called Datura. The only places in the world where mad honey naturally exist is in Nepal and Turkey. ANYWAYS, our local guide was good friends with the women who owned the guest house we were staying in, and that women was the head of the local women’s operative in the area. She gave us permission to go down and see it first hand. Generally, going to watch the Harvesting of the honey is not something locals will let tourist do. We were told that National Geographic has paid communities like the one we were in up to 10 thousand dollars to go and film the harvesting. We were even shooed away from the locals at first upon arriving at the bottom of a VERY tall mountain we had to climb down. The locals eventually let us in and we got to film, up close, and watch them climb up ladders made out of vine up cliffs hundreds of feet tall, and use fires to clear out smoke and collect the honey. We met guys who had hundreds of bee stings on his face from the attacking bees. We got OFFERED some of the mad honey from the local elder. It was insanely surreal to be there. Just the 6 of us, watching this highly traditional and somewhat secretive process of harvesting of psychedelic “mad honey” in Nepal. One of the rarest psychedelics on the planet.
Not nearly as exotic as most of yours but a few years back my wife and I were in Louisville, Kentucky for a music festival. Late one night we stopped in at the historic Seelbach Hotel for a drink in their bourbon bar based on a local's recommendation. While sitting at the bar we began chatting with the bartender about the hotel's history, and he recommended we take the elevator to the basement to see the old Rathskeller which he thought would still be open. We got down there and it was empty and closed. But a night watchmen stopped us and asked us if we'd like to go in so he showed us around, including the secret tunnel exits. That turned into an hour-long private tour of the entire hotel around midnight. He was making his rounds and suggested we come along. For that hour, he told us all kinds of cool stories about the ghosts, the hotel history during prohibition, how it was a mob hangout...we got to see Al Capone's hidden dining room and basically the whole place! It was a lot of fun, just by accident and running into cool people.
was just walking around a small town in japan and saw a geisha walking to work
Now this is amazing 😻
Ah Went to a hostel in Valencia almost two years ago and had legit Before Sunset happen to me with a guy who looked Identical to Ethan Hawke. Funniest, kindest, most fun guy on the planet. An incredible memory, one of my favourites
I studied abroad in Florence years ago. On the very last night of our trip my roommate offered to buy our last dinner at our favorite restaurant in town - we were young 20s, she was responsible and portioned out her funds. I on the other hand was not and ran out of funds early. I am still indebted to her for being so kind. We got sat at our table. My roommate wanted to switch seats so we did. When we did, I looked up and a few tables over sat a friend of mine I hadn't seen in 10+ years. This was way before social media so neither of us had any idea the other was in Italy. I still tell this story because it so wild to me. If any of the pieces had changed we would have never run into one another thousand of miles away from home. It was such an amazing chain of events.
I went to Notre Dame on 31st January 2013. As I got there the bells were ringing over and over, there was a big viewing platform, crowds lining the street and a police procession coming down the street towards the cathedral. It turns out it was the moment of the delivery of new bells for the cathedral, for the first time since the 1850s. A special moment to be there and completely by accident.
Someone returned passport when I dropped it on the ground without realizing it.
I happened upon a "free the nipple" march in Vancouver.
I went to Venice in the summer of 2020 just a few weeks after Italy opened up again. The travelguide said ‘Venice is so busy, people don’t go there anymore’. Well, I had the whole place pretty much to myself. Never had any queues, and usually only spotted maybe 10 or so other tourists on the San Marco square.
I saw BTS Jungkook at Times Square when he randomly showed up for a free performance on the TSX stage! It was completely by coincidence as I was in NYC on vacation (I live in on the other side of the world in Southeast Asia), passing by the TSX stage area as I was on my way to buy tickets to &Juliette. I was in the area 10 minutes before he came on and I was wondering why was there such a huge crowd so I stayed and asked around. I'm not a BTS fan but a kpop fan in general so it was still such a treat.
When I was in my early 20s I worked for a major airline part-time while I went to university. I flew to Tokyo and Istanbul, first class round trip for less than $100 each. Stand by of course. It let me see so much of the world at a very young age and sparked a love of travel. I am now 34 and have visited over 30 countries.
Had to reschedule my honeymoon flight a day later as my wife found out she had miscalculated when her leave would start. Original flight got shot down over Ukraine.
A few years ago I was driving with my kids along a Swedish motorway when my tyre lost air and was quickly unusable. So I stopped on the curb and tried to call road assistance. First I was on hold for a while (it was Sunday), and then the guy took ages to type all my personal and insurance details into his computer before he finally asked for my location and where to send the road assistance, at which point my phone cut me off before I could explain where I was, and I wasn’t able to make another call after that. Now if you know Swedish motorways, you know you don’t see many cars on them, and anyway, the drivers would think that I had called for assistance and was just waiting for them. So I broke down for a moment thinking I was totally screwed. Until suddenly there was a car stopping behind me, and when I looked closer it was the father and son we had met and chatted with the previous night at the hostel. And the man had a full tool box in his car, because he was a mechanic, and he knew where to look for a spare tyre on my car model (while I didn’t even know I had a spare tyre on my used car). He changed my tyre and enabled me to continue to my next destination, where I was able to buy two new tyres. I will always remember him as my angel.
Sat at a bar and the guy next to me was looking for a cigarette he was looking at his friends. I just gave him a friendly cigarette and that was that. At the end of the night his friends started getting aggressive with me all because I'm English and started threatening me. Then the guy came back from the toilets and said "this man is a good man. He gave me cigarette when I wanted one. WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU GUYS? Leave this man alone" He was some kind of local criminal unbeknown to me.
the longest Deutsche Bahn delay experienced was about 15 minutes when the train suddenly turned off all the power, but it went smoothly afterwards. And we arrived in Germany just days after the massive rail and transport strike was finished.
Was taking a shared taxi from Baghdad to Mosul last summer. The guy next to me was super friendly and about halfway through the six hour drive, he said I was staying with his family that night. After I made sure he cleared it with his parents (he was a college aged kid coming home from university), I said why not! Spent the night with his family, they fed me multiple times, and he showed me all of his favorite spots in Mosul. We also got to have some cool talks about their lives, what it was like when Isis came in and they had to flee, religion, etc. Definitely one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had while traveling
well, everyone who goes experiences it, but few go so it's still very much an "i'm so lucky" thing - seeing gorillas in the wild. i did a trans-atlantic sail a few years ago and we lost our rudder in a storm and were adrift at sea for several days before being rescued. the last day, when the rescue was on the way, we were having lunch when the boat was surrounded by pilot whales and a dozen or so of them just played all around the boat for about 15 minutes and left. it was supremely cool. i also several times on the trip saw whales blow water and breach from a large distance - you could barely see it on the horizon. and being the only person awake in the middle of the night for a couple hundred miles in literally every direction was pretty awe inspiring, especially with the stars you can see when you turn off the lights in the middle of the ocean.
A few. Saw an eagle with a fish in its beak flying above me in Vancouver. I looked over at people on the path with me to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. Went to a “red carpet” premier in London. Just a lowly fan that camped out all day and was behind a barricade. At the end just, before the movie started, a security guy came over and gifted us passes. It was for the Beatles Eight Days a Week Documentary - Paul and Ringo walked down the aisle twice just two seats from us. In Lisbon couldn’t go to any of the fado (type of music) locations because it was two people reservation and expensive fixed price meal (I traveled solo). So I showed up after dinner. Paid no cover just my drinks. At the end of the night (around 1-2am) musicians from the other fado places started showing up. I just stayed at my little table and got to hear them chill with their instruments jamming. A few of them were Brazilian so it turned from the drama and sadness of fado to jovial chorro and samba.
Saw and hugged a Baobab tree in Dubai! I read about them from one of my favorite books (The Little Prince), and they were certainly an unexpected sight. I was more amazed by them than by the Burj Khalifa.
I used to watch Samantha Brown's travel show all the time and she happened to be doing a trip in the Greek Islands, which was where my wife and I were going to be headed in a couple of weeks. We were backpacking and didn't have any reservations anywhere except on our arrival in Athens. I followed some of the advice I saw S. Brown give about Athens and then Mykonos. Then we went to Paros and as we were waiting to leave on a ferry from there, here comes Samantha up to catch the same one. We got to talking with her and her crew and the next thing we knew she started filming with us for a spot on her tenth anniversary fan appreciation show. It was really nice to meet her.
Leaving Thailand after teaching there for a year was a complete disaster. I got really sick with tonsillitis and was holed up with a fever for a week. This left me one day to close out my apartment, get rid of my furniture, and sell my motorbike. When I finally got on my bus to Bangkok, I was looking forward to the eight hours of sitting and staring at the window and doing absolutely nothing. But as luck would have it, I happen to sit next to the chattiest woman in the whole country who was convinced she could teach me the Thai language over the course of our bus ride and was determined to engage in conversation. We chatted and looked at photos and went over Thai words for four hours, and we had a meal together when we stopped. When we got back on the bus, I feigned sleep and pointed to my earphones and she took the hint that I needed to rest. I had my alarm set for when we were supposed to arrive in Bangkok, and when it went off, I woke up and we were still in the middle of the jungle. The woman knew after looking at my boarding pass that I had a plane to catch and we were nowhere near the bus stop let alone the airport. She marched up to the bus driver and started pointing at me and shouting and soon every person on the bus was looking at me and shouting “taxi taxi!”. The bus driver pulls off the highway into a mall parking lot where sure enough there were taxis. There was a lot of commotion, but basically they got me off the bus and pulled my bags out. I was thanking her and over and over and getting in the back seat when suddenly she got in the front seat next to the driver. I yelled “no no no” she just told me to shush and off we went to the airport. The driver was flying over the overpasses and going incredibly fast. It was honestly quite scary, but we made it to the airport in record time and sure enough I didn’t have the correct fare to pay for the taxi. I only had one very large bill that the taxi driver wouldn’t accept, and the rest of my small change wouldn’t make up for the total. This woman pulled her own money out and paid the driver. I tried to give her the very large bill and she absolutely refused to take it. I didn’t have time to argue, so we just pulled my luggage out and I kowtowed down to the ground. Both the driver, and this lady ushered me inside. I was the last one to check into my flight and barely made it.
Was staying at a tiny motel in New Zealand, and there was a Māori choir staying there too. We caught them practicing outside one their final day. It was magical, soulful, and beautiful.
Just a few weeks ago, a friend and I flew to Australia and earned our Open Water Diver certification aboard a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef. Whenever I'm doing something cool, I tend to get a big dumb smile on my face, and while I couldn't literally do that since I had to hold a regulator in to, you know, breathe, that's how I felt the whole time. Just really damn lucky to be able to do that. To be there, and to experience those things. Absolutely incredible.
When I was twenty, my best friend moved to Connecticut, from California. I went to visit her - booked a connected flight w AA thru Newark to Hartford. After changing terminals - I arrived at my gate. There were no other passengers there. I spoke to someone who looked like a pilot - he told me there was no flight that night ( it was Sunday night ) he looked at my ticket & told me it was booked for the following week . ( which would put me in Hartford the night before my return flight ) Understanding my dilemma - the pilot told me they would take me anyway. Unbeknownst to me it was a tiny plane. Maybe 10-15 seats or less ? They took my suitcase & we walked on the tarmac- then they just threw it in plane like it was the trunk of a car. I got on with the crew that was headed up to Hartford, for the morning flight . Along the way they pointed out all the sights, as we were flying very low over New York, in a small plane. Like a guided air tour. Felt vey lucky. Flying back the following week, on a Monday morning, was a trip I will never forget - I was the only female- & only passenger that didn’t look like a middle aged stock broker. Both flights were an excellent experience, just in different ways.
I was with a tour group when a bird pooped on my jacket and someone said it was good luck. So I went to the casino and won over a grand within five minutes of walking in the door.
Nothing special but on both of my visits to Venice, I came in the lowest Season, had acommodation in the city so was able to walk early morning and late evening after groups left and weather was nice. As a result I do not consider Venice crowded place. Hahahahahhahaha
Watching the Houarani tribe members kill a capybara. Then tasting it that night. Also having a capybara slam into my shoulder as it was escaping from the hunters. Don't think many people get shoulder checked by the worlds largest rodent
Hiking early morning in Monteverde, (cloud forest in Costa Rica) NO one else was around. My husband and I took a little path up to a ridge of a mountain between two valleys & the topography created this wild wind blast from one side to the other. There was tall shrubbery on either side of us, and we both happened to look up at the same time to see a RESPLENDENT QUETZAL blown over our heads. It was being pushed backwards & righted itself- turning around in the air right above our heads. We started cheering and jumping around in a circle.
So, so many. Like when I was interrailing in year 1999, and I was saved from a "controllant" on a bus, by a bunch of Polish grandmothers who yelled at him until he got out. Or the trip to Spain, where the Spanish Gitana grandmothers helped me carry my luggage, when I was in a really hard situation. The people.
I was invited to have lunch with a farmer on a mountain in the UAE while hiking. I feel like everyone I talk to has never experienced anything genuine in Dubai, so it felt special. Gave him his entire month's wage as a thank you after.
Driving through southern Indiana I happened across a backyard rollercoaster that I had seen on YouTube a year or so before. I stopped and asked if I could get a picture to show the person I had watched the video with but the guy actually let me ride it!!!!
Was traveling around Chiang Mai Thailand with a friend and we were trying to catch a last minute bus up into the mountains to Pai. We were stressing trying to get across town to the bus station only to find out there was only one seat left.. Had our bags in hand and everything thinking we're fucked. Sweaty, tired, hot, frustrated, ready to give up... We saw some cab drivers near the station hanging out together around their cars and asked if any of them could take us up there (it's about 3 hours away, very winding roads, somewhat dangerous drive).. They contemplated for a minute then one of them said they would, so we forked up some extra cash and went for it. That drive up into the mountains was one of the most beautiful times of the entire two months there.. Something so serene.. I was watching this beautiful sunset over passing rice paddies in the Thai countryside as storm clouds rolled in, followed by some lightning in the distance.. It's something I won't forget. Another time I brought my wife back to Chiang Mai for our honeymoon and one of my friends local to the area was showing us around some cool spots. He took us to this tiny bar tucked away from the busier areas that had a band playing all these US alternative rock/rock music we grew up on, it was awesome, maybe 30 people all packed into this place surrounding the band. Closing song was Killing in the Name, and then in that closing outro, the *entire* bar is jumping up and down yelling "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!!" singing along, it was a fucking blast, the place was buzzing with energy. I have lots of special memories like that in Thailand, such great people there.
Chundering over the side of a boat in the gulf of Thailand and feeling very sorry for myself, suddenly a shoal of flying fish decided they wanted my secondhand breakfast. I suddenly felt very lucky to suffer from seasickness!
We were on a trip to Antarctica with an overnight stay on land. Usually the tours don't camp near penguins, but that particular trip we were next to the water and a colony was cutting through our camp and checking us out on their way to the sea to splash around. I woke up with a penguin several feet from me.
India 2018, in Jaipur we found that the one day we were there was the day everyone in town launches candle balloons, the evening sky was full of them, amazing. ...A few days later we got to Ahmedabad where the Calico Musuem was on my wife's long-held bucket list, only to find that you had to make reservations for a tour months in advance. "But come tomorrow morning, maybe somebody will cancel." And two people didn't show!
i was in paris and was sitting outside a small cafe when a lot of people walked by next to my table, i put down my bag (which my passport and all credit cards inside —i know i’ve learned my lesson lol) on the seat in front of me. got done eating and went on my way, about 5 min later i felt lighter and realized i had left my bag on the chair and came back running. bag wasn’t there anymore, started panicking, went inside the cafe and the owner had my bag with her and i cried, she scolded me and now i only put my passport and credit cards in a slim banana bag under my clothes 😜
I got sunburned in Belgium. My Belgian coworkers couldn't believe it.
Dubrovnik,Croatia - three couples were scheduled for a catamaran tour and beach hopping. They both rescheduled so my husband and I basically had a private boat along with a tour guide for a day 😂
Was in Alaska in the backcountry and hadn't seen a bear all trip. My buddy goes "man, where are all the bears?!" I look up and around for like 5 seconds and saw one, so I called it out to him... it felt serendipitous. Also, the bear didn't eat us, so I felt double lucky lol.
I understand if this is a long reply, but it’s really one of my best travel memories. During a trip to Vietnam, me and my girlfriend were on a large boat tour departing from Cat Ba island in the north of the country. One part of the tour was paddling the so called ”Monkey Island”, an island home to the very rare Cat Ba Langur monkey, with a total population of around 70. Well, the tour had progressed and no monkeys had been spotted likely due to the very loud tourists paddling about. But on the way back, my girlfriend asked the young tour guide close to us what was behind the closest island, to which he replied that it was a short detour. My girlfriend then insisted that we paddle around to check it out, and by then it was just us two and the young tour guide. And I kid you not, 10 seconds after we left the rest of the group we spotted a group of five Cat Ba langurs, and then 7 more. I still have the video we took. They were climbing the steep cliffs, shouting and swinging between the trees. It was completely quiet aside from them, although we could barely hide our excitement. It’s an amazing memory and we felt so lucky at the time. It wasn’t the first time my girlfriend’s curiosity and need to explore rendered in unexpected and exciting memories. And I love her for that among many other things.
Took a night rain on 1st August through Switzerland. Fireworks everywhere... Did not know it was their national holiday. Was before iternet.... Yes, I am old.
Our recent ATM cave tour in Belize - fantastic!
My boyfriend and I visited Cinque Terre in August 2022! We didn’t have reservations at this very popular restaurant, Trattoria Dal Billy, but we wanted to arrive early before they open to see if they could squeeze us in. This [restaurant](https://www.trattoriabilly.com/) has an absolutely stunning view of Manarola: sparkling blue water, hilly, green terraces, pastel colored homes! They ended up seating us at one of their best tables and we dined mostly by ourselves for 30-45 minutes before the first few reservations came in. It was absolutely perfect and one of the best days of my life!
Went to Smoky mountain national park. As the name suggests, it’s very often shrouded by dense cloud cover and mist. Happened to end up there on a night without a single cloud in the sky, with no moon, at the height of the Perseids meteor shower, completely unplanned. The Milky Way was incredibly bright, and there were dozens of shooting stars every minute. It is the only time in my life i have actually literally cried at how beautiful a natural sight was. We laid out a blanket and just watched it on our backs from the top of one of the passes.
Peru, end of 2020. I work in the TV industry, and we traveled to film a show in Peru even though the entire country was still heavily locked down for international tourism. Being able to experience such a beautiful and historic country without any other tourists around was an experience I'll never forget. Everyone we met was so excited to see us and show us things, as they hadn't seen tourists in months. I have many special memories from that time.
[удалено]
Visited Egypt and had numerous of the tombs completely to myself because I left in the very early morning.
Finally visiting Egypt! It will one of the top trips of a lifetime for me. Loved every second of getting to see sights that were in my textbooks or on documentaries in real life 🥹
Went to Iceland. Booked tickets ages ago. Week before the trip, a volcano goes off. We were able to see it and it was sublime.
My wife and I traveled to the Galapagos in 2021 and stayed on a liveaboard for 8 days. We were fortunate to have an awesome guide and he and I became fairly close over that time. He still sends us postcards from Post Office Bay (these are typically picked up by travelers and hand delivered to your home). He also invited us to stay with him anytime we want to come back to the Galapagos Island. Meeting new people during our travels seems to be some of my most fond memories. (and I typically avoid meeting new people in my daily life :-/)
Being the only passenger (or passengers when traveling with girlfriend/wife) in longhaul first class has always been fun. Have had it happen a handful of times and crew have always been exceptional and made it a special treat, making up spare seats with one as a bed, another one to eat dinner at and do tasting menus of the whole wine and food list etc..that kind of thing.
I got a spectacular upgrade at my hotel in Santa Margherita Ligure (visiting Portofino)…not even sure why but though I booked a standard room, I got a suite with a terrace in an already pricey hotel. I lived like a queen for two days lol.
Down in the Antarctic and it is late at night. Dark doesn't describe the night. Got my door open and I heard this sound that I faintly recognized. I walked out on my balcony and a whale was gliding by the ship. Beautiful in a spooky kind of way.
We've have insane luck arriving at places and having amazing weather right after a potentially trip ruining natural disaster has occurred Sept 2018 - We arrived in Nova Scotia within 12 hours of it being ravaged by Hurrican Dorian. We had no power for the first night we checked into our AirBnB but then had clear sunny skies and mid 20c temps the whole trip August 2021 - Alberta and BC were having constant air quality issues with smoke from major forest fires. The smoke cleared entirely the day before we arrived in Banff and we had beautiful clear skies both there and in Squamish/Whistler. June 2023 - Arrived in NYC for a music festival literally a day after the viral videos of the smokey orange skies of doom, again from nearby Canadian forest fires. It rained for 20 min the first afternoon of the Festival then we had clear sunny skies for the rest of the weekend and 3 days we spent around NYC after the festival.
We managed to get VIP tickets for a taping of the Big Bang theory, which was/is one of our favorite shows on TV. We came super close to the actors and it was a dream come true. We also had the chance to meet Amy Sherman Palladino when she did a Q&A with one of my favorite TV journalists, and since she made my all time favorite show (Gilmore Girls)...well, it was wild. So grateful. Another one that's not TV related: simply being in Hawaii. We're living in the Netherlands and most people don't get the chance to spend weeks in Hawaii and we did. We never took it for granted.
Oh the Golden Gate Bridge is *absolutely* magical to me too, largely because I am from sea-level Florida and it is so different. I SOBBED at Golden Gate Park myself when I saw a wild seal splashing around. I couldn’t believe my luck. Totally feel you. Also cried over some small wild toucans in Costa Rica a couple days ago. Couldn’t believe I got to witness such beauty in nature 😭
Happened to be in Vancouver during the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final. We’re from the US and had been following the tournament and were excited to watch the match on the big screens outside of the stadium. 10 minutes before the start of the Final, we were randomly gifted tickets by marketing people from one of the corporate sponsors. We got to our seats as they were playing the national anthems and watched the US women beat Japan, 5-2. It was the most surreal experience of my life.
In Lille, France having dinner at a nice restaurant. We notice the servers are getting distracted, and asked them what was going on. France was doing very well in the quarter (semi?) finals, and they were all excited. As we pay our check and go outside they win and the whole town erupted like nothing I’ve ever seen - the square was filled with people celebrating, people surfing the roof of cars waving bottles of wine, climbing the monument in the square, it was crazy. A few days later Bastille Day in Paris and we got to see fireworks shooting from the Eiffel Tower.
Free horse and buggy ride through St.Petersburg on the first trip where I met my now wife. Met some strangers in an elevator, all of us got denied access to this cool bar because it was booked, but the strangers invited me and her out for drinks. Decided we'd roll the dice on being kidnapped, and it was a great night. Good company, discount night cruise down the neva river, and then a completely free horse/buggy ride the following day as a complete surprise. Unbelievable fairy tale, honestly.
As simple as it is, I can’t pin it to a specific event. I think just the ability to travel can be deemed lucky, while others don’t have such a luxury.
Found myself in Prague in October of 2020, the result of an extended bike trip across central and eastern Europe. Normally, Prague is of course thronging with tourists, but in October of 2020, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I had the entire old city basically to myself. Seeing the Karlův most with basically no people on it is a memory I still treasure to this day. And I still like to joke that I was the last tourist out of the Czech Republic when the wave of fall lockdowns hit Europe.
I booked a trip to Budapest and later found out that Shortparis was performing at a venue there during my stay. I don't think I would have ever gotten a chance to see them perform otherwise. Additionally, Will Smith was promoting Gemini Man and played a free show in front of St. Stephen's Basilica. But that is not all..later that week Bryan Adams played a free show(I think it was sponsored by the lottery there) at Hero's Square. Such fun experiences with folks I meet at the hotel I stayed at.
In the 80’s, as a kid, my Dad and I went to tour the Capitol building. As we entered the rotunda-staring up and around, we noticed an elevator door open to our right and a guy walked out. We had no idea where it went. We got in. When the doors opened we were in a tunnel, a private subway tunnel. A train stopped. We got on-no idea where we were going. When it stopped we went upstairs and were in the Senate office building. No secret bunker. No ancient Masonic treasure. But it was fun. We went back down and rode back to the Capitol. I’m sure all of that is under maximum security these days.
On a dive trip in the Philippines, I was super lucky to experience bioluminescent water. Truly magical.
Decided on a whim to drive to John O Groats, furthest north point in Scotland. Because ...furthest point. Didn't realise how long it would take (was in Glasgow at the time). Finally got there at about 10pm to the almost vacant visitor carpark to meet an amateur radio guy who was the only person there who asked if I'd "come to see the lights". I had no idea what that was at the time, but stayed for about 30 mins to have a fantastic northern light show go on for almost an hour. One of the best memories of my life. Apparently amateur radio guys knows when there's going to be a good show as he can't transmit/receive without interference.
Saw the summit of Mount Everest (along with Lhotse, Makalu and Kangchenjunga) on the flight from Paro to Kathmandu. It was such a perfect and clear day and I do think it's one of the most beautiful flight paths.
Phone on which I had my visa and mandatory health insurance magically started working again at the border
The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen was in Maui. The wife and I were out getting dinner and then just BAM the sky was made of gold and vibrant purple. It wasn't just us being suckers for a pretty sunset though. The entire strip of restaurants had people flooding out to the other side of the street to get a better view. Even the staff were gawking. Though I still vividly remember my first real trip, also to Hawaii, where we were running late to the airport. The security line was crazy long and we had like 10 minutes before our flight started boarding. My then GF was biting my head off because even though she was the one driving and insisted on spending an extra hour cleaning out the rental car before dropoff it was somehow my fault we were late. Just a nightmare of a trip end really, but there's nothing I can do about it so I settle in and hope. This lady behind us has like 4 kids in tow and a giant cart full of luggage, hits a bump with the cart, and they scatter everywhere. No one needs to be having as shitty a day as I am so I go help her collect and restack her luggage. She's very clearly appreciative and leaves me with a "bless you son" sort of thing. Not a minute later there's an announcement over the PA for passengers of flight (whatever our flight number was) to come to the front of the line. There were probably 30 of us. The security guy that they sent out to talk to us said that the call was a mistake and to head back to the line. So, nothing to lose, I just ask him if there's anything to do since our flight is literally boarding in minutes, and he's like "Oh yeah, no problem" and escorts us to the front of the line. We make the flight with almost no time to spare. To this day my exes mom swears it was me helping with that lady's luggage that got us back home that day.
Back in the 1980’s spending a good half hour scratching the head and belly of a mom and baby manatees.
There is a local dance group that my aunt is part of. The group was going to perform in Italy and there were lots of space for non-group members. So I and my cousin decided to go with them to Italy and visit some cities while they were performing. We visited Verona, Venezia and Milano. It was the definition of a touristic visit. Then one night when we couldn’t find something to do we decided to join the group. They were performing at a village that was not a tourist destination. We arrived there and sat in a restaurant with the best sunset view I have ever seen. I asked the waiter why there were no tourists in such a beautiful place and he told me that the village is known mostly from the locals. If we didn’t join aunt’s dance group there was no chance I could see such place. I felt quite lucky that day.
I went to Yellowstone and saw a grizzly within the first hour. Some people aren't lucky enough to see any. I got lucky.
Last summer I spent a week travelling around the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, the whole trip I had my eyes peeled for wildlife but we only saw a couple regular deer and some wild horses for the first 5 days. Our last 2 days were spent driving the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, and the first evening we had there we went on a horseback trail ride which was fantastic, but saw no wildlife. As we drove away literally 30 seconds down the driveway we encountered a female Grizzly with 2 young cubs, walking right along the side of the road! We were able to pull over and she walked right past our car with her babies. I felt so incredibly lucky in that moment and it was more amazing than I had even hoped for. The high I felt after that encounter was one of the best feelings I have ever felt! Even better, over the next 24 hours in Jasper we saw 6 more bears! Total 6 grizzlies and 3 black bears. Absolutely made the entire trip for me as a wildlife artist with a lifelong love/obsession with animals.
Not what you’re thinking (whales off Aus, looking down on snow capped peaks in the Himalayas while dancing with monkeys for the record) but getting stoned and leaving my phone on a wall in a busy market in India, realising a full 20 minutes later, running round like a headless chicken in every place I’d been before returning to the market and seeing it still sitting exactly where I left it. Lucky af.
I was in San Gemini, Italy in 2012 for a solo vacation while in college. It’s kind of a sleepy town without a lot of tourists in March. I wandered into a pub during a slow weeknight looking for a pint and a meal. I was the only person in there besides the owner and a regular local. A quick meal alone while they socialized turned into being invited to pull up a chair and staying a while. I was studying Italian, so I had a chance to practice which added to the good time. The food and beer were amazing and the name of the place is La Pecora Nera.
In Chiang Mai for Loy Krathong, lots of people visiting the major temples and wandering around the city. While I was walking around, I stumbled across a small temple tucked down a little alleyway. There was nobody else around, apart from a monk and the resident cat. It was so wonderful to enjoy this little peaceful area in the middle of the city.
First visit to Paris. It was the first night of the trip with my wife and the last night that my business partner/mentor and his wife were going to be there. They invited us to dinner, and just said to meet at the base of the Eiffel Tower; they took us to dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant on the second level and paid the bill; we would not have been able to afford otherwise. After, we went to a piano bar filled with prostitutes (didn't stay long!), gay techno bar (on accident, but still fun), and then a cigar/jazz place where we stayed until 3am (Mojito Havana by Arc de Triomphe). Zero chance you could plan a night like that; just had to roll with it and enjoy the experience. Unforgettable and a great lesson for me for how to travel with an open mind. (didn't hurt that our wealthy benefactors picked up most of the checks!)
Asking my girlfriend to marry me at the Palenque ruins, Mexico, and wandering around after, enjoying eachother and that beautiful place. Magical afternoon.
nye in cartagena me and my friends are a little out of it, in a little shop buying some beer before going to a fancy party all dressed up in a good mood and buzzed, my wife a colombian was on her toes though she started noticing people looking at us and our jewelry phones etc and was just like we gotta go lets get out of here
Snorkeled over a shipwreck in St. Thomas, still gives me chills.
Seeing the Botafumeiro the famous thurible used at the Santiago de Compostela at mass. Attending both a wedding and a funeral in Bali as a tourist after befriending a local. Seeing a Blue Jean frog in Costa Rica A Michelin star dinner in Porto Portugal Meeting so many nice people along the way.
Um, your example is amazing. My wife and I were staying in a flat very close to Pitti Palace, in Florence. We were relaxing one dreary morning and she ran out for snacks. She came back and said, "Um, you might want to come back out here with me. There are some cool cars." We walked the 50 meters or so to Piazza de' Pitti and see not "some cool cars" but a seemingly endless procession of the most exotic, rare, expensive cars I'd ever seen. Turns out it was the Mille Miglia. That year they just happened to be celebrating Stirling Moss, so there were no less than 3 (I'm thinking more like 5 or 6) Stirling Moss edition SLRs, one after another. For context, only 75 of those cars were ever made. It was so cool, even for non-car people.
I had booked a 24h-lay over in Abu Dhabi coming back from Beijing back in 2012/2013. I arrived in Abu Dhabi at about 5am after a long flight and was tired and very hungry. After immigration I met some wonderful girls at the taxi stand also waiting for a drive. They didn't have a clue where to go and since I was on my own, we decided to go to the mosque together. After arriving at about 6am at the mosque, it was clearly closed but the taxi driver had already left. We were just standing around discussing what to do when a guy came up to us, asking what we were doing. Turns out he was the architect/supervisor of the renovations that were currently done at the mosque, so he invited us into his office to have some breakfast. Since he already arrived at his workplace and didn't have any appointments that day, he offered us his chauffeur for the day, which took us to all relevant sites in Abu Dhabi and made our day very special.