Nearly two in three (63 percent) American adults have traveled or plan to travel for leisure this year and about one in four (23 percent) have taken or will take a business Trip, according to a recent Bankrate survey.

However, out of those who have already gone somewhere (either for themselves or work), 77 percent have run into a travel-related problem. When the figure is that big, it would be naive to think that this won't happen to us the next time we pack our suitcase. So let's try and see if we can prevent at least something.

For that, there's a perfect thread. Started on the subreddit 'Solo Travel' by platform user Cwkid, it raised the question, "What's the biggest mistake you've made while traveling?" Here are some of the most popular replies.

#1

 Took a shortcut against the advice of my hostel receptionist and got mugged. 500 euro taken. Had to go home early.

Image credits: MoHataMo_Gheansai

#2

Arrived in Mozambique with only South African Rand. I thought I’d be able to withdraw some cash from an ATM or pay for the visa on arrival with card, but for some reason my card wasn’t working. I couldn’t get into the country because I didn’t have the correct currency to pay for the visa, and my cards weren’t working to withdraw any cash. Luckily a kind person behind me offered to pay for my visa and I was able to get into contact with a family member to help check on my cards and activate them. It was one of the most touching moments of kindness I’d experienced, and also a lesson to always always always carry enough cash on you while traveling.

Image credits: Explorer_Waste

#3

Ran to the train station in Amsterdam. Got on the train to Frankfurt, put my suitcases on their spot and stepped off to have a smoke. Immediately the doors closed behind me and my possessions (minus passport, wallet and phone which were in my pocket) went to Frankfurt without me. A couple of trains and a flight later, I was in Frankfurt waiting for my suitcases but they weren’t on the train. A few long days spent calling around and finally found them in Utrecht (Netherlands conductors took them off before entering Germany). Rented a car and drove the 12 hours round trip from Frankfurt to Utrecht and back to Frankfurt and all was well when I started work on Monday morning. I don’t tell this story often

Image credits: AlwaysUpvoteMN

#4

When I solo traveled in India and was ready to fly out of the country, I didn’t include my middle name when booking the flight ticket. Since the name on my ticket didn’t fully match the name on my passport without the middle name, I wasn’t allowed to board the flight until I called the airline company and had them change it. It was like 4 AM and the company phone lines weren’t open until a later time, but luckily I had like 4-5 hours before my flight departed and was able to have it changed in time.

Image credits: JollyManufacturer

#5

Thinking that a 12 hour overnight layover in Abu Dhabi airport was doable without an airport hotel room. Good lord I was wrong. Worst 12 hours of any travel experience I’ve had thus far. I never skip the travel hotel now lol

Image credits: Taido_Inukai

#6

Partied the whole night at LKF, Hong Kong and went back to my hostel at 6 am. I had a 9:30 am flight home but figured I'd take a ^tiny nap since my backpack was all packed and I'm already checked in anyway.

I woke up at at 9:45 am.

Image credits: unanatkumot

#7

I drove to Canada from Kentucky and forgot my passport. Not as big a deal as you but still a similar sinking in the pit of the stomach.

Image credits: Aggravating-Bunch590

#8

First ever trip on my own to Nepal and Thailand. Got instructions of whst to do on my 16 hour layover in Hong Kong. Was so nervous and anxious being alone for the first time that I followed everyone to the transit and when I realized, I was told I couldn’t get out. Spent the next 16 hours exploring every single nook and cranny of that airport. It’s pretty sweet, but not 16 hours sweet lol

Image credits: Mpiga_Mapepe

#9

* Took a tour group to Railay, Thailand. Place is well known for having rampant water quality issues causing food poisoning. Spent two days cleaning up poop and puke from our guests.

* Went down the wrong road, spent ~1hr getting chased and cornered by street dogs in the middle of the night.

* Took a random pill in Mexico. Almost threw myself off a building. Had serious anxiety for ~2 years afterward.

* Forgot my passport in a hostel while trying to leave Romania - had to leave the bus and thumb my way back 2hrs.

* Forgot my passport in a cab in LA while transiting to go to Australia.
* Booked a hotel in the wrong year for my entire family in Vietnam

Image credits: wherethewifisweak

#10

Booked a train ticket from Rome to Venice, drank way too much the night before, rolled into the train station with about 10 minutes to spare, only to find out that it was daylight savings and I was actually 50 minutes late

Image credits: Snazzypants11

#11

Got pickpocketed hours before my flight out of the Philippines to Australia. Couldn't board my flight because I had to pay the fee for overstaying my visa. Had to spend whatever little change I had at an Internet cafe to email my brother asking for a western union transfer. And shame-eat some Jollibee spaghetti. While waiting for my bro's response (due to the completely different time zones) I didn't know what to do so I slept in a park that night. Seemed alright. Some people walking through the park later that evening were like wtf are you doing, one offered that I could sleep at his place for the night, I accepted. We arrive at his home, which was more like a collection of shacks with all the extended family there. I ask where I'm sleeping, as it looks like there's no extra space, and he says I can have his bed. Of course once I'm in bed he also climbs in bed. Turns out his wife left him because he's (can you guess?) - gay. He's trying to get me to fool around with him, wants to give me a blowjob as he's better than girls anyway. I could just close my eyes and pretend it’s a girl lol. I give him the ultimatum to stop trying or I'm leaving, which was a bluff bc I have no f*****g clue where I am, he gets all huffy and turns over to the other side of the bed and well, that was that. I didn’t really sleep, but didn’t feel any pokey pokings either. We eat cereal in the morning and his cousin who drives a tuk tuk takes me to the western union and the money is there! I rebook my flight and get out of there. The end.

Don’t get pickpocketed with all your cards and cash in one place!

Image credits: yezoob

#12

Left my passport in the hotel safe when flying out of Prague. Didn't realize this until I was at the airport, 90 minutes away from my hotel and no way to do the round trip in time to keep my flight. Contacted the hotel, made arrangements for another cab to bring me my passport. Got my passsport and tried to check in for the flight, but they wouldn't let me because it was now less than an hour to departure and an international flight. I could have just checked in on my phone while waiting, but didn't realize it would be an issue. Ended up spending another night in Prague.

Image credits: ford_chicago

#13

I mistakenly assumed "Departure time" was "Boarding Time". Luckily there was bad weather at the airport so the flight was delayed and I was able to board.

Image credits: ergosumdre

#14

I went to see the pyramids and just kinda forgot about the god damn sphinx. Not really sure how that happened lol

Image credits: yezoob

#15

Using points, I booked a one way flight to get me to Nepal: AMS - FRA - DEL (Delhi) - CCU (Kolkata) - KTM. Lots of stops, but basically a free flight (points!). Great!

I had done tons of solo travel all over at this point, and never thought anything further about my flight until I arrived at AMS airport. "Do you have an India visa?". "No, I'm just transiting on my way to Nepal and I can get that on arrival." I guess they didn't think anything further of it either.

So I arrive in Frankfurt airport, get to my gate, and the Air India agent asks to see my India visa. "No, I'm just transiting on my way to Nepal." He lets me on the flight. Clearly he didn't think anything further of it.

On my flight to Delhi, I start to think more about this. I'm transiting, yes, but I'm also taking an intra-India flight to do so. I hadn't thought about this when booking or so confidently explaining my situation to the gate agents. I looked through the information in the booklet on the flight and it explained that some flights were transiting internationally (with XYZ flight numbers), but some were considered domestic (with other ABC numbers). My ongoing flight was ABC. Uh oh.

I arrive to Delhi and sure enough, someone does think further or my situation. There is a man directing people to either immigration or sterile transit (no customs needed for a transfer). He looks at my flight number on my next flight and points to customs. "So you see, that's not going to be possible...".

So instead, I ended up in a room full of people who also made visa f**k ups and were awaiting deportation. In the end, Air India eventually came through for me and got me on a direct flight to KTM. Huge props to them.

Image credits: edgeoftheworld42

#16

Underestimated how long it would take to get from my hostel to the train station in Berlin and missed my train to Prague by about 5 seconds. Had to purchase a new train ticket for the next train at a heftier premium price.

Image credits: MpMeowMeow

#17

Booked a tour in Nicaragua that was supposed to cost $52 USD. The guy who was working the credit card machine had no idea how to enter the converted rate amount. Ended up with a $5200 charge on my card. Luckily my CC company easily reversed the charge.

Besides that.... eating strange street food that pretty much knocked my stomach and everything attached for the next day.

Image credits: da_london_09

#18

Catalina island, CA. Random day of the week during their off season, late October. Thought we could just camp on the remote end of the island, Two Harbors, though the ferry we booked on a whim in the middle of the day took us to Avalon, the high-end tourist town with very little camping accommodations. No luck getting to Two Harbors from there. A taxi to the other side of the island was $200+. And there weren’t anymore ferries back to the mainland that day. We were basically stranded with too much camping gear in some strange, deserted tourist town. Managed to camp very primitively across from a football stadium. Later in the night a bunch of permanent locals (think line cooks, hired help, etc) had a big tailgate party nearby. And the local deer were VERY friendly, almost aggressive. Felt very surreal.

Image credits: everydaymaenad

#19

Not researching destinations enough. I like travel photography and I try to map out potential shots before I get there. In 2008 I went to Japan and spent three days in Hakone, a rural respite from the mega-cities. I planned to take photos at Lake Ashi, hoping to catch a shot of Mount Fuji with a long lens. But it was too humid for Mount Fuji so I walked the trails and roads around the lake. Just south of Hakone-En I walked along the lake but it didn't look like much so I went back. If I had carried on for another five hundred meters I would have bumped into the [Torri of Peace], the most photographed site at the lake and one of the most beloved icons in Japan. It wasn't till I got home that I realized it. I've missed a lot of stuff because of this. So research your destinations, people! Don't be like me.

Image credits: CitizenTed

#20

Once I was flying from San Cristobal de las Casas to Cancun and I had booked the flight for the right day just the following month. Exact same flight. I didn’t realize until I basically got to the airport (2 hrs from the town) … tried to switch it but there was nothing they could do. Mind you, I had a broken foot so that whole thing was not fun to deal with with a boot in a wheelchair/crutches. I’d never done anything like that. I now always triple check the dates and times.

Image credits: macejoin

#21

I booked a room in Paris for the 22nd but booked my train there for the 21st so I needed emergency accommodation for my first night there. I put in a hotel reservation online, chose the cheapest non-refundable option and then, once it was paid for, realized I had booked it for the next month by accident. $100 dollars I couldn't get refunded, I ended up staying in a smelly, crowded 12 bed hostel room with a bunch of teenagers which cost $70, but it was all I could find 

Image credits: anon

#22

Not my mistake, but I've heard from a friend who was the victim of the Belarusian Ladder Scam. There are regional version, but it allegedly originated in Belarus.

The gist of it is that my friend saw a man in peril hanging onto the side of a building that he was painting. The man was holding onto the scaffolding, clearly in distress. My friend, a good Samaritan, runs to the ladder and climbs up to help the guy. Unbeknownst to him, another man comes out from around a street corner and begins vigorously shaking the ladder, demanding money. They lost 200 euros this way.

Image credits: The_Outlyre

#23

Several years ago when I was still in college I planned a trip over winter break to Mexico to meet a friend; I flew into Cancun to meet him, and then several days later we both flew to CDMX (so I'd booked three one-way flights in total, which is about to become very important). When it came time for me to fly home, I got to the airport and went to use the check-in kiosk, which didn't work for some reason. I went over to the desk, gave them my info, and after a bit of confusion they dropped the horrible truth on me.

I'd booked my flight home for the correct day of the week and time, but a week prior.

I'd probably made the f**k up by selecting the correct date while booking, then the page getting reloaded or something and I was in a rush to get through my previous steps, though I'm not sure how I missed the date in the emails the airline sent me. Regardless, after panicking for a bit, I actually managed to get a flight only a few hours later (with some help from my parents who were actually in front of a computer), but it was definitely a costly mistake, in money and definitely in my pride.

Worst part is this is far from the only time I've mixed up dates with online booking, none have had such high stakes but some have been even more embarrassing, I seem to have a hard time learning this particular lesson.

Image credits: SuperSquashMann

#24

On my first solo trip my departing flight was from Budapest early in the morning. I had a lot of physical forints left over that I wanted to spend... I went to bar with a friend and spent the lot. When we stood up to leave, I realised I'd had a bit too much, considering the fact that I had to go back to my hostel, pack my bag silently, find the bus and navigate the airport. I managed to do ALL of this completely zonked. But as soon as I sat down, I nodded off to sleep. All my hard work, down the drain. When I woke up, I was sober and promptly realised I'd missed my flight. I'm a bit more seasoned now, and if this happened again, I would take it as a sign to stay in the city a little bit longer and take the next cheap flight. But I was 18 at the time and scared s**tless, so I booked a flight for the same day. A couple of hundred euros I'll never get back :( I also went to Auschwitz recently with my boyfriend. We are both living in the Benelux region and are used to efficient and regular public transport. We didn't even think to check the train schedule back to Krakow. We almost got stranded there because they stop at around 7pm.

Image credits: Anonhoumous

#25

Miscommunicating with the co-driver, almost getting killed by a truck, sweet age 21.

Almost walking into a crime rehab center on a remote island near the mexican coast.
climbed the island's hill, got a bit "dereailed" on the way down, and the center's area was open on that side - there was just nothing to run away to.

^(got stopped by two friendly guys telling me I barely missed the "inmates" going for a swim - on their own, which, as they said "could be a little problem".)

Driving in Dushanbe - forgetting my drivers license and car papers in the hostel. Getting into a police checkpoint. Realized it the very moment I saw the cops. but them checking on each car created a jam, no way to turn around.

^(Immediately asked how to get to my destination, which switched the cop to "help the tourist" mode. Got directions, and a friendly goodbye, no papers asked.)

Taking a wrong turn at the Absheron peninsual near Baku, THEN trying to take a photo with one of the pumps, *THEN* handing over my passport to the guard (instead of just showing it). AZ is very paranoid there esp. about Armenian spies.

^(lucky me, no armenian stamp in my passport)

Taking on a hitchiker in Tehran, getting into a scam that I still have to wrap my head around.

^(Cost me four hours and nothing else, but still.)

Getting lost in a posh(!) Buenos Aires subburb, then getting surrounded by a pack of dogs. Free roaming dog in Argentina are *not* afraid of sticks and stones. Getting a hands-on experience on how they hunt "big game".

^(some local saved me.)




Phew. That's kinda cathartic.

Image credits: elperroborrachotoo

#26

Got really drunk alone in Hokkaido after a breakup. Got lost, phone ran out of battery, spent the next hour asking random passers-by to give me directions to my hostel, they'd look it up on Google Maps, tell me, then I'd walk a bit and promptly forget it, repeated this about 10 times and inconvenienced a lot of people. Finally arrived, the hostel was closed at night and locked with a 4 digit code which I had saved ... on my dead phone. By some miracle, despite having only seen the code once, I was able to remember it and let myself in. I'm usually much more prepared, the breakup really compromised my reasoning. So if you're gonna drink in that situation, do it in your room 

Image credits: therico

#27

First international trip I was so excited, I walked right out of the airport without getting a sim card. The tram was fairly new, so they had lovely employees helping the tourists get on their way, so it still didn't hit me. I was staring out the tram window with child-like wonderment the entire trip, just a happy little moron. Then I pulled my phone out for the walking instructions to the hotel and that's when I realized my mistake.

I had looked up the instructions the night before, but it was quickly obvious that I did a p**s poor job remembering them. I hadn't slept on the flight, because of the excitement and I found out Edinburgh has some San Francisco-esque steep streets, which is a blast with luggage. Thankfully a wonderful local was kind enough to point me in the right direction after about 30 minutes of trying on my own. All I could do was laugh at myself, good lesson to learn early on, always have paper back ups of important info. You know, common sense. I will always love Edinburgh for the stupidity it inspired in me and the kindness of the people who helped me.

I have to say, you've got a great attitude about this. While I'm sorry it happened, I think your attitude will likely help in still making the most of this trip. I hope it's better than you expect, and I hope that some day you hit a jackpot of good luck on your travels. And this may be naive of me, but could you call in and check, maybe someone has cancelled or got sick and you can squeeze in? Fingers crossed a miracle is in your near future!

Image credits: UnpaintedHuffhines

#28

Bought $400 worth of festival and gig tickets for the wrong month and they were all non refundable. I thought it meant 7/6 meant 7th of June but apparently on these European tickets it means 6th of July. Deeply frustrating - these events were the whole purpose of the trip! Didn't realise til I turned up

Image credits: Busy-Shelter6383

#29

I arrived in Rome on Easter weekend and didn’t prebook tickets to see the Coliseum for some reason. Maybe I had checked and noticed usually tickets were available same day. Anyways, went to see the Coliseum, but it closed early that day because of Easter weekend celebrations. That was my last day in Rome so yay.

#30

Showed up to the Uffizi musuem with reservations for the wrong day… turns out it was the next day which i had already booked a wine tour.

I called the wine tour and they moved me to the same day, luckily! Barely made it . Think it was meant to be, met some people from the Uk that I talk to regularly now and plan on visiting next year.

#31

My first solo trip and first time out of Europe (to South Korea in 2012). The only pair of shoes I took was the new shoes I just bought and was wearing, which turned out to be very low quality. They had these air chambers in the soles which broke pretty much on the first day and cut into my soles, so both had like 3-5 big blisters spread across them. So I could barely walk, only had those s****y shoes, and it turned out they didn't have my size at any of the nearby shoe stores. Eventually figured out that there was shoe stores with bigger sizes near the American military base. I had a taxi take me there, and the largest shoes they had fit me perfectly. After that the trip was great, but I lost at least 3-4 days to that lol.

Lesson learned: make sure to wear proper shoes and bring backup shoes if you're planning to walk a lot.

#32

I’m a bit scatterbrained but haven’t had any major mishaps when travelling.

I lost my phone when I was on a night out in Budapest but luckily I was with a friend so I could still get in contact with people.

At Monterey airport, I realised at check-in that I didn’t have my phone - all my flight and hotel details were on it so I was starting to panic a bit. I knew it would either be in the taxi (ran outside and the driver was still there - we searched the taxi but no sign) or I’d left it at the guesthouse I’d been staying in. The lovely man at check-in phoned the guesthouse and the manager found my phone on a bench outside. Hopped back in a taxi to collect it, then back to the airport. Managed to make the flight and kept a very close eye on my phone for the rest of the trip.

#33

I went to the wrong airport and had to get a taxi that cost more than 100 euros. worst day of my trip so far.

#34

I was in Vietnam with a friend for a few days. We were splitting, she to go home and I was going to another city... One I thought was like an hour away called Hoi An.... Not to realise that when I'd booked my hostel, it was is Hanoi.

This distinction is a little clearer in Vietnamese but just typing in quickly in Booking.com... I didn't realise. When we were checking out and the receptionist was asking about our plans and she was like "well that's a long journey how are you getting to the airport?" Needless to say I was very confused and stressed.

But I decided to just go to Hanoi since the booking was non-refundable. A quick Skyscanner search, £45 and an overpriced taxi and I was in Hanoi. Felt so stupid though because my friend asked about my side of the trip 3 times before we left.

#35

Booked bus tickets online for a Prague-Berlin trip. Bus at 3:30. Show up at the bus station and...no bus. Went to info desk and they gently reminded me they use 24 time in Europe. My bus left 12 hours earlier! Cost me another $20 to buy another ticket. Cheap lesson learned there.

Once in Krakow I let two sleazy girls lure me to a clip joint, where they tried to charge me about $110 for 3 drinks. I was able to bully and bluster my way out of it.

Used hotels.com to book a room online. No refunds, unlike booking.com Lost about $200 when I changed my plans.

Image credits: Franklin1967000

#36

Was in Paris. Took a train to CDG to catch a flight that cost me round $450. Got to CDG, didn’t realize there was a shuttle between terminals. Took a bus to get to Terminal 2b. Bus took me back to the city center and I had to get another flight for the next morning.

$600 mistake.

EDIT: really it’s a $1050 mistake

Image credits: anon

#37

Got annual travel insurance for Europe, got a chest infection in Israel = no insurance... That was a super crappy holiday. Lesson learned

#38

The whole ''I want to go to out-of-the-way places, see how people really live'' thing, you can get away with it in some countries or regions, in others it verges on stupidity.

The time I ''took some back-streets'' in Ho Chi Minh City, was followed by a guy that was out to rob me (stupidly had a new digital SLR slung around my neck), I ended up getting lost in the tangle of streets with this guy following me the whole way, ended up in a live-kill market. Saw and heard things in that market that should have put me off animal products forever.

The worst though was in Cambodia. Stopped in Battambang for one night. I learnt later that Battambang has another nickname which made total sense to me when I learnt it. I hate touristy areas so went for a wander to the outskirts and found this hotel that looked okay, at least externally. Went in and asked for a room, the owners spoke no English and I certainly don't speak Khmer. Still, I managed to convey that I wished to stay there. They looked horrified, which totally confused me. I was tired, hot and persistent however so they let me take a room for the night.

Got to the room, which I could only describe as being built for orgies. Bed almost in the centre of the room, a weird hexagonal shape and raised up on like a dais. Mirrors everywhere, including on the ceiling. I thought it was hilarious, but made sure I checked the bed linen. Really, I should have just gone back and said ''no thanks'', and kept going. I was absolutely dog-tired though and you get some really bad rooms everywhere you go, so whatever. I had a shower and thought I would head out for something to eat.

It had gotten dark, and just up the road from this hotel was a side street which had lots of fluoro lighting and karaoke pumping from various establishments. Sweet, I like watching karaoke so I decided to head down. You're accustomed to getting looks as a pasty-redhead tourist, especially in SE Asia, but I started to get a little unnerved by just how much I seemed to draw attention. I quickly headed into this karaoke hall that had patrons drinking beer and eating food. Right, let's just go in and get a feed and get the hell out of here back to my Porn Studio room.

Once again, it was like those old Westerns where a stranger walks into the saloon. A buzz kind of went through the place, and *everybody* turned to look at me. I sat quickly, a lovely woman (who spoke no English, and I speak no Khmer) quickly came over with a bucket of Angkor beer bottles in ice. I gestured for a menu, which seemed to cause her some alarm but she came back with one. Menu was written in Khmer so I just picked something off one of the pictures. The food arrived quite promptly, which was merciful, so I just tucked in.

Anyway, in strode this man with an older teenage boy in tow. This caused quite a lot of hushed chatter among the locals and averted gazes. This man was well-dressed, and I thought he looked like some official-type. He looked over at me and then proceeded to stride straight over to me. The next few minutes was one of the most bizarre times of my life. He said ''hello'', and I responded in kind. He said ''you're very handsome'' and then proceeded to reach out and start stroking my head with his hand. I froze completely, my eyes darted to those around me and all I saw were horrified faces peering back at me. I muttered a ''thanks'' and just proceeded to keep eating, my mind racing the whole time. He then said ''very handsome'', and (I'm not kidding) he pushed his groin at me so that, basically, sitting on my left shoulder was his crotch. I flashed a look at the boy and he looked horrified and repulsed. I just sat, stared ahead, and just pretended I wasn't there - his hand stroking my head the whole time. This seemed to take forever, and honestly it took longer for him to register my disgust than it ought to have. He did stop however, just turned and left. I just sat dazed, with pitying looks being shot my way from everyone. The lovely woman came, I paid without finishing my food and just left.

Talking to another traveller about this in Siem Reap, he kindly let me know that Battambang has the nickname of ''Bottombang'' and is quite the sex tourist town, albeit for men who prefer the company of other men. I believe the town has tried to clean up its image in recent years though (my little encounter was about 7-8 years ago).

After that little foray, I decided it best to not venture beyond the ''safe'' touristy areas in my travels. Not by myself at least anyway.

#39

so two major mistakes my husband has made (please dont judge him):

-flight from Orlando to Paris was printed as military time on our tickets. He fudged up the time we were suppose to be there versus take off, so we ended up GETTING to the airport when in reality the flight was taking off so we missed our flight.

- totally separate trip, again Paris related: **Not budgeting**. Right after our wedding, we took off on a 10 day excursion that went to London, Paris, Berlin and Venice. Because we didnt have a joint account set up, he deposited a majority of the money made out to us in his account. I didnt think the wiser. Well that back fired because we were yolo'ing the hell out of our trip and were broke by the time our Paris leg was up. Thankfully I had my own money but because of that we do not share money at all lol. Mind you, this was 8 years ago so he has grown up a lot since then but on a side note I will tell you, not sharing money makes for a happier marriage IMO. Dont beat yourself up too much OP. Happens to the best of us.

#40

My first time flying out of the country I was 16 and traveling alone. It was my first time on a plane. I got up to use the restroom and the woman beside me told me to take my passport (not sure why she couldn’t have watched it for me). I somehow promptly dropped my passport into the toilet where it slipped through the toilet crack and into the… well…

A flight attendant tried to retrieve it (god bless her) but with no luck.