First Person: Shocking travel stories

Holidays can harbour some sweet and sour moments. ET-Travel readers and industry experts share their revelatory moments...

Call it poor timing or sheer bleak luck, sometimes travel trips turn out to be a little messy, thanks to some ‘pests’ we meet enroute. ET-Travel gets up, close and personal with readers and industry experts as they reveal their annoying (at times disgusting) stories. Here goes...

HEY GIRL! STOP KICKING MY SEAT

On a flight to London with my brother, I was just so annoyed by this constant ‘friendly kicking’ of my seat by a young girl. Her parents were oblivious to our glare and eventually I had to ask the airhostess to change my seat for some ‘me time’. It’s only then that the parents understood but smilingly let me change the seat, anyway.

— Biswadeep Thakur, Businessman, Delhi

MADAM, ONE ROTI FOR ME PLEASE

I work as a tour manager for a reputed travel firm. I was managing an all-guys MICE trip from Delhi to Egypt and made it a point that I remain friendly yet assertive for this ‘decent’ team of 350 people. As the buffet opened, I requested everyone to follow me to the seating area on the cruiseliner. All of a sudden, a smart gentleman asked me to get a hot roti for him. And I saw him winking sheepishly at his pals upon making that request. It took great composure but I managed to say, ‘buffet is open for all, so do help yourself’.

— Deepa S, Tour Manager, Mumbai

SAD ACCOMMODATION ON A TOUR PACKAGE

Every travel agency will admit to have received stinkers from their customers about a downgraded accommodation right during the tour. So, when we were on our way to Kashmir from Mumbai, we booked a tour with 3 or 4-star stay throughout. It began with an amazing houseboat stay on Dal Lake, then a villa at Pahalgam but at Gulmarg, we were forced to shift to a dingy, leaky roadside motel. Only after several emails to the travel agency did a mediocre accommodation come our way by late evening. Of course, we fought over an extended email confrontation and finally, got our refund when we returned to Mumbai.

— P Achrekar, Educationist, Mumbai

MY CREDIT CARD GOT SKIMMED IN HOTEL ROOM

My office sent me on a two-month assignment to Nigeria. Once there, the hotel staff was very hospitable to us. They ensured our food was ready at odd hours, too. One day, I got back after a long day at work and saw an email on my phone stating a ` 1 Lakh swipe on my unused credit card. I searched and found that this credit card was left behind in my suitcase in the room itself. Sadly, while I earned international currency during the two months, I ended up losing on 1 Lakh and trust levels.

— Thomas K, Telecom Engineer, Bangalore

LOCAL TOUR GUIDE MADE A PASS AT ME

I was in Amsterdam with my girlfriends and after partying out, we decided on some sightseeing for the night. The local tour guide-cum-chauffeur showed us around and later whispered in my ear that his house was empty to have some quick fun. I was just so shocked to reply. I should’ve slapped him instead...

— Sarika Menda, Management student, Manipal