My Worst Travel Experiences: Horror Stories From 70 Countries

Travel is amazing. In fact I would say it is the best thing you can possibly do. A trip to Sri Lanka in early 2019 proved to be lifechanging and I’ve dedicated my life to travel ever since.

However things do not always go smoothly on the road. For every 50 days of sheer joy, there will be at least one or two miserable moments to forget. I’m going to share my worst travel experiences with you, and show you the dark side to life on the road.

Most of these could have been avoided if I had the solo travel safety knowledge I have now.

1) Fighting Off a Mugging Attempt in Quito, Ecuador

My scariest travel story to share by far. It wasn’t until almost a day later that the adrenaline finally subsided.

When I first arrived in Quito from Bogota, staff at the hostel I stayed in told me that it was dangerous to have my phone out in the streets. In fact I arrived just as the sun was setting, and they said it wasn’t safe to visit the shop literally 20 seconds away from the hostel.

And this was when it was still reasonably light!

Anyway, after two days exploring Quito, I took a bus back from the brilliant Mitad del Mundo monument, and that’s when things started to get a bit hairy.

The bus didn’t stop where it should’ve done, and I found myself lost in a dodgy part of Quito, around a 10-15 minute walk from where the bus should have dropped me off.

After walking past a shady marketplace, I was on a main road. After turning around and seeing nobody behind me, I got my phone out to check maps.

Big mistake.

Out of nowhere someone snatched it out of my hand, and suddenly two guys were stood in front of me, one with my phone. They must have been following me as they came out of nowhere.

Fortunately they paused at this stage, and I was able to snatch my phone back before kicking the guy who took it.

At this stage I heard yelling and realised a third mugger, seemingly the older brother, was stood right behind me.

Suddenly I was trapped with a wall to my right and muggers covering every other exit.

I kicked my way out of the circle with my phone still in my hand, before running so fast a cheetah would’ve failed to catch me (okay, slight exaggeration).

I eventually made it back to my hostel and had a couple of large bottles of beer to calm the nerves.

I wrote a whole post if you want to know more about my attempted mugging in Quito.

But this was easily one of my worst travel stories.

Even without this incident, Ecuador is not a safe country to visit right now, unless you stick to the Galapagos Islands.

2) Stalked by a Criminal in Corozal, Belize

Shortly after crossing the border from Mexico to Belize, I went straight to the pier to book a ride on a water taxi to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye.

Unfortunately there was no availability until 3pm the next day, so I bought a ticket regardless and planned to book a hotel. There was one which I had looked up online just in case I needed to stay in Corozal for a night.

A man was behind me in the queue for the water taxi tickets, and he heard everything. He introduced himself as a tour guide, and said he would show me a hotel I could stay at.

I said yes, knowing that I would politely decline his offer when I saw the hotel, as I suspected he was trying to scam me with a dodgy place he gets a commission from when people book.

But he took me to the same hotel I looked at online, and the prices were the same as offered on Booking.

At this point I dropped my guard and began to think he was legitimate.

I booked the hotel on the spot for one night. So now he knows exactly where I’m staying, and where I’ll be heading at 3pm the following day. Silly me…

Anyway, exhausted from an early start to get from Bacalar to Belize, I went up to my room for a nap.

When I woke up and headed outside after at least a couple of hours, the self-styled tour guide suddenly came out of nowhere.

He told me he would also be taking the 3pm water taxi to San Pedro to “find work there and turn my (his) life around”. Then he began to tell me how he’d been to prison “several times” for crimes he didn’t seem too keen on explaining in further detail.

The guy would not leave me alone, and rather than admitting to being a vulnerable solo traveller, I told him (falsely) that a friend was waiting for me in San Pedro.

It took a long time to shake him off. And long story short, I went back to the hotel to spend a few more hours before sunset.

I came out to catch the sun setting over the sea. Only to find my new “friend” was waiting outside for me.

He wanted me to drink beer and smoke weed with him whilst bragging about how he can find me some “nice chocolate women”.

In between offers of vice, he would tell me more about his criminal backstory.

I was getting serious bad vibes from this guy now. I was worried what would happen if I turned up alone at the port at 3pm with all my heavy bags and valuables on me, in a country that is notorious for high levels of crime.

After finally slipping away from him to catch the sun setting for ten minutes, I made the 60-second walk back to the hotel.

This time, he was being arrested and put in the back of a police van as I approached the entrance.

After hours of weighing up options in my room, I booked a 7am flight from Corozal to San Pedro. It cost more than the boat ticket, which would now be wasted rather than used, but my gut feeling told me to stay well away from this dodgy chap.

I woke at 6am the following day and checked out as soon as possible before racing down the road in the hope he wouldn’t see me.

Sure enough, it was a little early for my new “friend” to surface, and I was able to get to the airport successfully.

Flying on a propellor plane over the turquoise Caribbean waters was an incredible experience and made this whole ordeal worth it in the end.

But I made mistakes to put myself in a vulnerable position there and it could’ve ended badly had I turned up at the port as planned.

Lesson learned.

3) Stranded in the Sea by El Nido, Philippines

Perhaps you’ve come across pictures of beautiful turquoise waters surrounding paradise beaches, with large rocks rising out of the water.

Whilst there are a few similar-looking spots in Southeast Asia, chances are these images are of El Nido, one of the “highlights” of the Philippines.

In many people’s minds at least, certainly not in ours.

Our first shock came when we arrived in what we now call “Hell Nido”.

For such a bucket list destination, we were shocked to find it so underdeveloped. There were no good budget hotels or hostels. And the whole area was a bit of a dump in all honesty.

Anyway, let’s get straight to the bad part. The boat tour.

We booked a cheap tour with a dodgy company that just happened to rank first on Google for “El Nido boat tours” at the time. Good old helpful content…

But yes, we should’ve done better research here. Anyway, off we set to spend the day touring various beaches on a boat.

The fact that it was raining constantly didn’t help the mood. My girlfriend had a feeling that this tour was a bad idea, despite it being her dream tour. She no longer wanted to go.

I stupidly reassured her that everything would be fine, and off we went exploring the sodden beaches beneath the gloomy skies.

After a few miserable hours in the never-ending rain, the boat broke down.

Oh dear. Now we were stranded in the sea, soaking wet, freezing cold and wearing nothing but swimming gear.

We waited for an eternity to be rescued, but nothing came.

Eventually the crew cooked lunch for us on the stranded boat, handling food without washing hands that had just been in the sea.

One man even touched food despite having black hands from the engine oil he put his hands in just beforehand, whilst trying to fix the issue.

After a while, the buffet was ready. Being so hungry, I reluctantly helped myself to some unhygienically-cooked chicken and fish.

Although I only ate a little, soon realising that this meal would most likely do more harm than good in the coming days. If we made it back to shore…

Anyway, the ice-cold hail came down, lashing against my back hundreds of times a second. I shielded my girlfriend as we wondered when our nightmare would end.

By this stage, my girlfriend felt unwell. We both wanted the tour to end. But finally, after 2 hours, 3 hours, maybe more, a boat arrived.

Much to our frustration they insisted on continuing with the tour. Anything to avoid a refund…

Anyway, they took us and other unenthusiastic travellers to some more gloomy beaches before heading back late in the afternoon.

Despite surviving the scary part, there was still time for more nonsense before bedtime. I wrote a dedicated article on this incident with further details.

I love most places I travel to, but if there’s one I wouldn’t recommend, it’s Hell Nido.

4) Getting Tear Gassed During Riots in Santiago, Chile

My travel plans including a dream Patagonia trip were scuppered when I became ill in Chile’s capital (a miserable place but we’ll save that story for another day).

As a result, I was stuck in a hostel near Parque Forestal for most of the day. I had no appetite for most of the day and didn’t fancy eating anything until later in the afternoon as a result.

By the time late afternoon came, I was ready for something small, like a croissant for example, so I went to the supermarket just 10 minutes away.

As I stepped outside, I saw a bunch of men in what looked like full riot gear. Solid helmets with visors, green armour over their chests, solid leg plates like a 2020s version of a medieval knight… They held batons in their hands and the most exposed one made just his hands and around a quarter of his face visible.

Odd. But I continued walking.

The next sign something wasn’t right, was when I walked past a bus shelter and found the glass had been smashed very recently with (at least) hundreds of shards scattered all over the ground.

The walk continued, and I passed some debris in the road followed by another smashed-up bus stop, all in the span of ten minutes.

I made it to the shop, got what I wanted to buy, and walked back.

The fun started just as I made it to the entrance of my hostel.

Suddenly, a full-blown riot was taking place.

Sirens blaring, police dogs barking, people shouting, water cannons blasting anyone who dared cross the crossroads where this was all taking place, regardless of whether they were a rioter or pedestrian.

I’d later learn that far-left political protestors would riot in Santiago every Friday (this incident happened on a Friday) and would regularly clash with riot police.

And this is exactly what I’d walked straight into.

Adrenaline kicked in, replacing common sense in the process, and I decided to stay outside for a bit and watch the riots unfold (now do you realise why women live longer than men?).

I thought I was being smart by joining a small group observing from behind the police lines.

Not quite.

The water cannons and dog failed to disperse the rock-throwing rioters. So the police turned to a new tactic.

Suddenly, myself and the group of people alongside me all started coughing at once. Tears began streaming down my face. I can’t speak about the others as I could only hear rather than see them in all the commotion.

I quickly realised, I’d just been tear gassed. My eyes were on fire.

After a couple of minutes I regained my senses and stood further back (that’s right, I decided to continue watching).

It was only after gunshots began to ring out that I decided it was too dangerous and made a hasty retreat back into my hostel to tuck into a well-earned croissant.

Probably rubber bullets, but I didn’t know for certain, and decided against taking any chances. Perhaps my first wise move of the evening.

Santiago is one of the roughest and most depressing places I’ve ever been to. And I have more travel experience than many.

Unlike Quito which had some awesome things to counter my bad experience, Santiago had nothing of note. It’s a dirty, smog-covered city with most buildings boarded up and a hostile local population. A rare lowlight of South America.

Riot or no riot, this is a city I thoroughly dislike.

5) Narrowly Avoiding Arrest in Amman, Jordan

As a massive football fanatic, I have a dream of watching top-level football in any country, and Jordan was no exception.

I was in the capital Amman and saw a game was taking place whilst I was there. Al-Wehdat played Mgaear Al-Sarhan on the final day of the season with a possible league title if the hosts won and relegation if the visitors lost.

Off I went to the ground with no ticket. My taxi driver dropped me off and my task would be to purchase one outside the ground, either legitimately or through a tout.

I love to soak up the atmosphere at the football, and will take a photo or video if I see something interesting.

As you can perhaps tell by the fact this is in a post on my worst travel experiences, this wasn’t a good idea…

That is because the interesting thing that caught my eye, was a number of policemen dressed in khaki marching outside the ground.

Stupidly, I let my guard down and took a short video.

Rule number one of travel in the Middle East, do not take pictures of police officers or military. Ever.

One officer saw me and came storming over. Uh oh.

He barked at me to delete whatever I had just taken. He didn’t need to ask. I realised I’d screwed up the moment I saw him coming and hit the delete button in an instant.

He wanted me to show him my phone and give him my passport. Well it was too late to go back now and refusing to comply with police was never going to be a smart idea, so I gave him what he wanted.

For ten minutes (although it felt like ten hours) I was stuck with this guy who spoke no English, whilst I spoke no Arabic. And boy was he angry…

There was a police car alongside us. An officer was on the phone. After ten minutes had passed, the second officer got off the phone and Mr. Angry told him what was going on.

Things could be about to get a whole lot worse for me…

But fortunately, they didn’t. Quite the opposite in fact.

The officer in the car spoke English. Not only that, but he was very warm, friendly and understanding. A great guy, and someone who quickly validated the stereotype about Arab hospitality.

I explained why I was there (to get a ticket for the game) and asked where I could do this. He escorted me towards the entrance.

He met a group of Jordanian ultras and spoke to them in Arabic whilst I looked on with confusion etched upon my face.

One of them typed something into his phone. It turns out they were buying me a ticket to the game.

The friendly police officer waved goodbye and left me in the hands of the ultras. Sure enough, they got me into the ground and that was that.

Within the space of a few minutes, I’d gone from almost being arrested to receiving a free ticket to the game.

The beauty of travel!

But seriously, don’t take photos of anyone in uniform in a Middle Eastern country. This was a seriously dumb move.

In fact, even buildings should be photographed with caution. You never know where a hidden police station or government building could be.

6) Fearing Arrest on a Train Back From Luxor, Egypt

My first scary travel experience came back in February 2019 during my first ever solo trip, to Egypt.

I wanted to get to Luxor from Cairo, and had two options: the overnight tourist sleeper train for around £80 or the daytime local train for £8.

As a budget backpacker trying to save some money, as well as being keen to take in authentic travel experiences, I opted for the local train.

The rule was funny. Foreigners could not buy a ticket for the local train, either online or at the station. But if you got on the train without a ticket, you could just buy one from the inspector without issues.

Anyway, I made it from Cairo to Luxor without issues on the bullet hole-ridden train, where the wind blasted your face for hours on end. It was the return journey that was a little more unsettling.

Within the first hour of the journey back, two men approached me, the only foreigner on the train.

Neither spoke English, but a man nearby spoke a little. He said they were police and I had to go with them. Uh oh…

And so I did. I was taken to a special part of the train with a sign written in Arabic, that seemed to suggest this section was only for police.

This was before I was an experienced traveller who would’ve simply used Google Translate to navigate the language barrier.

I sat there for 7 hours straight not knowing if they wanted to arrest me, or help me. A small part of me wondered if their intentions were positive, since the numerous bullet holes suggested this train wasn’t exactly the Orient Express.

I played games on my phone to distract myself as seven hours became six, then five, then four… Eventually, we made it back to Cairo and it was moment of truth time. What did the police officers want to do with me?

Well they escorted me off the train and took me to safety. That was it. Just like in Jordan, my encounter with the authorities ended on a positive note and I had nothing to fear.

But the lengthy wait to find out whether or not this would be the case was not a pleasant experience and makes this one of my scariest travel stories.

7) Finding Rats in Multiple Hotel Rooms

People will tell you that cheap accommodation means very poor quality. Quite often you’d be pleasantly surprised.

Most of the time, a budget room will either be acceptable (basic but clean) or it will exceed expectations and turn out to be really nice.

But every so often a shocker comes along. And as the heading of this section tells you, I’ve had some pretty nasty ones alongside the many gems.

Worst of all, this wasn’t even a one-off. Or a two-off, or a three-off… I’ve found rats in my hostel/hostel room in India (twice), Colombia, Bahrain and Indonesia. I’ve also seen them running near the kitchen of a place I stayed in Vietnam.

Encounter 1: Agra, India

My first encounter came in Agra, India during a 3-week backpacking trip. We found what seemed to be quite a nice hostel with great rooftop views of the Taj Mahal.

My friend said he thought he saw a lizard in our room, and it just ran under the dresser.

I put my head down and looked underneath the dresser, and came face-to-face with the creature he spotted.

It was no lizard, it was a rat.

We requested a room change after this, which we got. But it was certainly rather unsettling to know we were staying in a place with a rodent problem.

Anyway, that was tame compared to future encounters.

Encounter 2: Dharamshala, India

In fact during my second rat experience in Dharamshala, the staff denied they had rats.

Um, sorry buddy but I literally saw it with my own eyes and I can tell you with certainty that I saw a rat running around my bedroom…

Anyway, this was another of many bad travel experiences in India. Fortunately this country also has a lot of gems to offer on top of the many challenges visitors will face.

Encounter 3: Palomino, Colombia

The next incident was at a guesthouse in Palomino, Colombia with a funny room layout. The bedroom had a bathroom attached to it. Oddly, the bathroom was semi-outdoors with bamboo walls and a thatched roof.

There was a gutter running around the edge, and at night it became a runway for rats.

In the end I was too exhausted to do anything about it and just went to sleep with the bathroom door firmly closed…

Probably not a smart move, but tiredness got the better of me on that occasion.

Rats carry diseases and you definitely shouldn’t do this if you find one on your travels. Get out of there at all costs.

Encounter 4: Manama, Bahrain

Next up was Bahrain. I found a cheap hotel after walking door-to-door asking for prices.

The one I found seemed a little run down, but not horrific. It was the cheapest I could find having walked around most hotels in the vicinity.

The first night passed without incident, as did the second.

Then on my final evening, I was in the bathroom ready to wash and settle down for the night.

I came out without any clothes on, and to my horror, a rat darted across the room right before my eyes.

It disappeared from sight and suddenly my rubbish bin was surrounded by food all over the floor.

I rapidly dressed, threw everything in my bags (after cautiously looking inside for unwanted travel buddies) and went down to reception to request a new room.

I told them I had seen a rat and they looked at me with confused looks on their faces.

After a few minutes with a bit of a language barrier, I managed to get the message across and they came up to move me to a different room… which just happened to be next door.

But the problems didn’t stop here. Whilst there were no rats, which is something I checked for when I first arrived, I still wasn’t alone in this room.

A giant cockroach scuttled across the floor. Just what I needed…

I crushed it with a chair, but didn’t have time to mess around. I would be leaving Bahrain the next day and still had to book my flights.

Long story short, I turned the lights and turned the air con up to full blast overnight in the hope of making my room unattractive to critters.

I sealed my bag tightly and left nothing outside it.

That night certainly wasn’t the best sleep of my life. And it wasn’t my last rodent roommate story either.

Encounter 5: Canggu, Bali, Indonesia

The most recent encounter came in June 2023 when I was in Bali with my girlfriend. We found a popular eco guest house in the beach town of Canggu.

The guest house was completely exposed with no windows. Anything could’ve come in or out of the room

At night time as we were beginning to settle down, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

A rat raced across the hotel room. It doesn’t get any more enjoyable to experience this, regardless of whether it is the first time or the fifth.

Once again, I went to reception to explain the situation and asked for a change of room.

Reception had gone home for the night and only security were there. They tried to get in contact with reception and there were no spare rooms available.

Security were very helpful however. Eventually they managed to find a partner hotel up the road and the guard took me on his scooter to check out the new hotel to see if it was suitable for us to stay in.

I gave the new place the all clear and returned to speak to my girlfriend, who in the meantime had seen the rat once more and tried to ring me to tell me what happened.

Unfortunately, I had left my phone on the bed in the commotion and she was not able to get hold of me.

Fortunately, security were very good. They took us to the new place where we had a much better sleep than we would’ve done in the original guest house.

To be fair, we were able to get a full refund for this one so I guess we got a free night which meant it wasn’t all bad in the end.

Ironically, we walked past the following day and saw they were serving ratatouille for breakfast. We decided to pass on that one…

8) Food Poisoning in Agra (India) and Antigua (Guatemala)

One of the downsides of long-term travel is that it’s inevitable that you will become ill eventually.

I’ve been ill on several occasions on the road but few things are as brutal as food poisoning. It’s often short-lived, but very nasty for at least the first day.

My first bad experience came in 2019 when myself and a friend were set to wake up at 4:30am to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise.

Just as planned our alarm went off at 4:30am. What wasn’t planned however, was the dreadful stomach pains and feelings of nausea I experienced.

I crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom. I won’t go into graphic detail here, but let’s just say I was in no state to go and see the Taj Mahal.

We scrapped our plans for the day and I stayed in the room whilst my friend went around exploring Agra.

The following day was my friends’ last in India, whilst I had several weeks to explore on my own.

Fortunately, I was feeling a little better, although I was still very weak and we decided to go in late morning rather than catch the sunrise.

The Taj Mahal was brilliant, although it was disappointing not to see the sun rising above it as planned.

I struggled for the next few days with stomach issues as this brutal food poisoning took time to recover from.

Certainly one of my toughest illness encounters on the road.

The second time I was struck down with apparent food poisoning came in 2022 when I was in Guatemala.

I arrived in the beautiful colonial city of Antigua with the intention of hiking up Volcan Acatenango the following day.

For those who don’t know, if you hike up Acatenango, you can see Volcan de Fuego in the distance erupting every 15 minutes. This was a serious bucket list experience.

However, within hours of arriving, my stomach began to feel terrible and I experienced some nasty nausea and worse.

Again, without going into graphic detail, I walked back to my hostel, but I didn’t make it back without, well I’ll let you guess what I did on the way back… Let’s just say it’s the thing food poisoning causes you to do…

Anyway, I felt so weak and collapsed into my bed. It was early evening but I had zero strength remaining and went to sleep as soon as I was able to do so.

I woke again at 2am to… You know… And was lucky not to wake up my roommates with the noise that I made.

The following day I felt so weak and knew that it would be at least a few more days before tackling the volcano would become a good idea again.

I checked into a private room for a couple of nights to recover. And whilst I did do the volcano hike around three days later, I still struggled with weakness and a lack of energy.

In reality, I perhaps should’ve waited at least five days before being strong enough to tackle the hike once and for all.

Food poisoning is no joke.

9) Struck Down With a Triple Illness on the Way Back to Bogota, Colombia

In Colombia, I started to feel unwell in the small town of San Gil, with what initially seemed like a bad cold.

I went on a day trip to the nearby small towns of Barichara and Guane. Yet felt progressively worse as time went on.

After staggering around beautiful Barichara, it was time to stop for a cup of warm tea. I don’t normally drink tea, but needed to attempt something to try and feel better.

In fact, my body felt so rough, that I walked out without paying. I completely forgot.

Ambitiously, I attempted the two hour walk to Guane which had been part of the initial plan. My illness became worse with almost every step. Suddenly I was coughing literally every 10 to 20 seconds.

I soon aborted this ill-fated mission and waved down a taxi. Guane seemed cool but I did not have the energy to explore properly.

The decision was made to take a bus back to Barichara and I suddenly remembered the tea I hadn’t paid for. It was time to make amends by heading back to the cafe and using my debit card to settle the bill.

The lady did not look too impressed with me, but at least my conscience was now clear. Anyway, it was time to head back to Bogotá.

I took a bus overnight and felt progressively worse as time went on. Eventually, the bus arrived early in the morning. I headed straight to a pre-booked hotel room. A private room, since this would be a better spot to recover from illness than a shared hostel dorm.

I arrived several hours before the 3pm check-in time and requested an early check-in, but they said this was not possible under any circumstances.

I was desperate and offered to pay extra for an early check-in. Suddenly, mission impossible was impossible no more. Minutes later they magically became able to have the room ready by midday…

My journey from hell was over, but my sickness nightmare had just begun.

After several days of suffering, during which I struggled to get out of bed, I finally decided to go to a doctor.

He did a series of tests, and by the time the results came back he had found I had three different illnesses at once. A nasty case of the flu, bronchitis and a mystery infection he said was pretty standard for travellers in Colombia.

He gave me some medicine and within a couple of days things finally started to change for the better. But this was easily one of my worst sickness experiences on the road.

As a solo traveller, one of the biggest downsides is that you are on your own if you fall ill with no one else coming to your aid. You must take complete control of your situation even through times of great pain and struggle.

In total, this nasty episode lasted for around a week. With many more travels to come, I’m sure I will be struck down by something else at some point. But this is just one of the harsh realities of life on the road.

10) Almost Stranded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The victim of this story was my girlfriend rather than myself. But it was still an incredibly stressful day nonetheless.

She had a daunting 48 hour journey which involved four flights. The first would be from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, the second to Dubai, the third to Brazil and the fourth to Paraguay.

Missing any one of these flights would have resulted in an extra $1,000 being needed to get to her destination.

We arrived at the airport and she attempted to check-in with TransNusa, the budget airline who she was set to fly to Jakarta with.

However, this is where the problems started. They claimed she did not have a valid visa to access Indonesia, despite the fact we had already checked what was needed in advance.

We showed evidence this was not the case, however they were not interested and the staff became increasingly aggressive as we argued our point.

Eventually we requested the manager came over which he did. Yet this did not make the situation any better. Quite the opposite in fact.

The manager was incredibly rude and aggressive and started shouting that it would not be possible for her to fly.

We argued and argued to no avail. This cretin would not change his position despite the fact we were armed with all the evidence necessary.

Eventually, we had to resort to Plan B: to ring Emirates and rearrange her flight so she would be going from Kuala Lumpur directly to Dubai, rather than Jakarta.

The fee they charged for changing the flights was steep, around the $430 mark.

And even sorting this rearrangement was not easy. It took several hours of phone calls and negotiations, with the clock constantly ticking in the meantime.

Every hour that passed was one hour closer to the Dubai to Brazil flight leaving, Which would have meant paying the full $1000+ to fix this issue.

Staff at Kuala Lumpur Airport were great, but we learnt our lesson to stay away from the charlatans of TransNusa in the future.

Lessons Learnt From my Travel Nightmares

A lot of these situations could have been avoided with a little more alertness and smarter preparation. Let’s look at what could’ve been done to avoid each negative story shared above. Perhaps you can use this mini analysis to remain streetwise regardless of whether it’s your first trip to a destination or your fiftieth.

1. The Quito mugging attempt: The wise move here would’ve been to simply not get my phone out in the streets. When in a dodgier country, I always duck into shops or restaurants now if I need to access maps or anything else in public. This was a stupid move from me.
2. The Belize stalker story: I should have declined the “tour guide” when he offered to show me a hotel. Even though I stayed in his recommended place regardless, it would have been smarter to not let him know where I would be staying under any circumstances and come back later to book. Never reveal your whereabouts to strangers when you travel.
3. The Hell Nido boat tour: Check online reviews before booking with a tour company. We didn’t do this, and later found the company we went with had mostly one star reviews. And deservedly so! Also don’t go for the cheapest one. The risk of a dud is much higher, as we found.
4. The Santiago riots: I saw the riot taking place with my very own eyes, and could easily have gone straight into my hostel. Instead curiosity and adrenaline got the better of me. If you see a dangerous situation unfolding, head in the opposite direction. Don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger.
5. Facing arrest in Amman: Don’t take pictures of police officers, military or anything government-related in any country. But especially in a Middle Eastern country. I was dumb here. Luckily I was able to walk away and share my story, but this was a case of playing with fire and it really wasn’t a clever move.
6. The Egyptian train police encounter: This was scary because of a fear of the unknown. I didn’t know what would happen when we got back to Cairo (and it turned out to be nothing). To avoid this situation, always make sure you have access to an offline translation app. That would’ve eased the nerves for sure here.
7. Rats in hotels: There were a few lessons learnt here. Firstly, read reviews before booking places (be wary of any with a low cleanliness rating). Secondly, be wary booking the cheapest accommodation. Thirdly, try and check out rooms in person before booking (if you don’t book online) and take any sign of shabbiness as a potential red flag. Fourthly, don’t leave food out, even in the bins. Lastly, make sure there are no openings in the room which could allow a rat to enter.
8. Food poisoning on the road: You can never dodge this with absolute certainty, but you can reduce your risk. Be wary of street food and unfiltered water. Likewise fruits which have been prepared in unsanitary conditions (I suspect this may be why I was ill in Guatemala). Also make sure you cut meat open before eating it and look out for signs it may be off.
9. Illness on your travels: Illness can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time, in any form. It’s not possible to avoid illness with certainty, but you can take precautions to reduce the risk. Get your travel vaccinations, take any medication that may be necessary for your destination (for example, malaria tablets), be careful with what you eat and drink, take precautions against mosquito bites and be sure to slow down your travels for a few days if you feel under the weather.
10. Being stranded in Malaysia (almost): Pay a bit more to go with a reputable airline. If my girlfriend took her entire trip with Emirates (who were the airline for the majority of her flights) then I doubt this issue would have occurred. We took the cheap option and it cost us more in the long run.

And that concludes this list of my travel experiences which haven’t quite gone to plan. Hitting the road again within weeks of this article going live will inevitably lead to more stories to be added over time.

I want to share with you the realities of travel. Sure, the beautiful beaches, surreal sunsets and magnificent mountains you see on social media are very much a part of travel. But so are these stories which the self-styled influencers aren’t often so keen to share.

What was your worst travel experience? Let us know in the comments below!