Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How about the time that we were going through the mountains and the accelerator on the car started sticking. Every time my husband needed to put on the brakes he had to take his foot off the gas, put his foot under the gas pedal and pull up the gas pedal and then put on the brakes. It was a new car and the Ford dealorship in Kentucky took us right in, put us first and fixed the problem, then we were on the road again headed for Denver, Colorado. I feel so bad that I can't even remember which town we were in, but I really have a positive opinion of Kentucky. That was Southern Hospitality at it best.
My mom, sister, and I went on a trip to NYC/Jersey this past June. I couldn't find anyone to keep my two little Pomeranians(dogs) so they had to come with us. They are 1yr and the puppy was 6 months at the time. The older dog did good with the trip, but the puppy got so car sick it was terrible. He vomited like 5 times on the way. We traveled from Cleveland to NYC (8 hours including the multiple stops for the dogs, normally is should be 6.5 hrs) My poor little baby, I prayed all the way there that he wouldn't die because that is how bad it was. Long story short, if I go on a long trip like that and I can't find anyone to watch them, its better to pay extra to put them in a dog kennal instead of trying to save a few bucks by paying extra to keep them in a hotel.
Three years ago, I signed up for a cheap bus trip to Montreal. They're pretty popular among college students here, mostly because Quebec lets you drink at 18. The price included round-trip transportation, hotel, 3 meal vouchers, and VIP admission at a nightclub. I wasn't expecting much, but they managed to disappoint me.
When we left, we were treated to a 10-minute lecture about why you shouldn't mess around with customs agents, and the perils of smuggling. Then we left. Three hours into the 6-hour drive, we stopped at McDonald's. Fifteen minutes later, when we were back on the road, the driver said "That's the last stop until the border. The bathroom in the back is for emergencies only."
Two hours later, we arrived at Canadian customs. Since it was a charter, the customs agents came onto the bus. Two Koreans didn't have the right paperwork to cross the border. We sat there for 30 minutes. Fortunately, there was a little shack (literally) 1,000 feet down the road, with Cuban cigars, currency exchange, and a bathroom. The line was out the door.
An hour later, we were at the hotel. The "tour operator" said we had to give him a $20 per person damage deposit for the hotel. That's common with large groups, but it usually comes out of your initial deposit, and the tour company pays the hotel directly. Then he said it had to be $20 in American cash. Did I mention that the Canadian dollar was worth 60 cents at the time? Hubby and I walked past him and checked into our hotel. At the front desk, we asked about the damage deposit. They said we needed to pay it, but they don't keep American currency on site. We put the deposit on Hubby's credit card.
We had a choice of 2 hotels, and we'd spent $30 more for the "nice" option. It was worth every penny. From what I heard, the "cheap" hotel was a hellhole.
Montreal was great, but everything else associated with our tour was awful. We couldn't find the deli that took our food vouchers. The nightclub was awful. I'm not a huge club fan, but doesn't VIP status mean you don't pay a cover? We were charged one.
The trip back was worse. We got a 15-minute speech about smuggling. Half the riders were hungover. Some were still drunk. The Koreans had a hard time at US customs. The bus driver smoked all the way back. Whenever he lit up, he turned off the heat and turned on the vents. It was December in New England, and 20 degrees outside. We froze.
Hubby and I went back to Montreal 6 months later, mostly to get tha bad taste out of our mouths. I will never do another bus tour.
Well I cant say it was my worst experience but will tell you all what I almost saw today.
We were doing some work out on the rez, when I went out to my truck to graba bottle water from the ice chest. I hear a plane flying overhead, which isnt uncommon out there, small private planes fly around all the time. But all of a sudden the engine stops, its silent. So I glance up and see this plane coasting, no engine. Get my digital cam going in one hand and my c-phone in the other getting ready to call 911 just in case. Meanwhile, this plane is sorta wobbling, losing altitude slowly, and Im watching all of this. Finally, guess the pilot got the engine started again (whew) and this plane starts climbing. There wouldnt have been enough time to run all the way back into the building and tell someone about it, all I could do was hope to GAWD he doesnt go down.
For awhile I thought for sure someone was going to have a really bad day.
Ive been told, a friend of my dad once told me (this guy had a little 2-seater plane) that an experienced pilot could land a plane pretty smoothly if the engine stalled, or he could land an airliner with only one engine if he had to, they go through some pretty extensive training. So, my guess was either this person today may have either been a rookie out on his own, or, he may have been a good pilot but maybe just panicked (duh, ya think?!). Either way, he got the engine started again and hopefully made it safely to where ever he was going.
....
Ive been told, a friend of my dad once told me (this guy had a little 2-seater plane) that an experienced pilot could land a plane pretty smoothly if the engine stalled, or he could land an airliner with only one engine if he had to, they go through some pretty extensive training. So, my guess was either this person today may have either been a rookie out on his own, or, he may have been a good pilot but maybe just panicked (duh, ya think?!). Either way, he got the engine started again and hopefully made it safely to where ever he was going.
It is possible to land large jetliners without the engines running, as long as you maintain an airspeed that'll keep the aircraft from stalling. This did in fact happen on an Air Transat (of Canada) Airbus A330, on a flight from Toronto to Lisbon. Both engines stopped at cruise altitude because a fuel leak caused the airliner to run out of fuel over the Atlantic. Both pilots managed to glide the aircraft to a runway on the Lajes airbase on the Azores. Keep in mind this aircraft is not small, it's equivelant to the Boeing 767 with 3 rows of seats. I believe 6 or 7 people were also injured when the aircraft had a hard landing, but thank God they managed to land the airliner.
It's not a good feeling when you're at 36,000 feet and you hear the engines stop!
Wow, a lot of you have had some.. dangerous adventures in your travels. I won't visit any place that has political turmoil.
I've only experienced delays and one flight cancellation in all the flights I've taken. The only 2 minor mishaps that happened while flying, I wouldn't call them "bad travel experiences", in fact, I might call it thrilling! - Both of them were due to turbulance. One was on a flight from London to Chicago when I was 10 in 1967, and we hit some real bad turbulance for a couple of minutes, and one time the aircraft (A Boeing 707) dropped a few hundred feet suddenly, and by the time the pilots got around the turbulance, people had their drinks in the ceiling of the cabin!
The same thing happened on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, OR to Phoenix in January of 1997. We were over the Sierra Nevadas and the turbulance was real bad, and again, the aircraft (an MD-83) dropped a few hundred feet suddenly and people's drinks went into the ceiling! Some passengers thought it was scary, but I thought it was fun! More thrilling than being on a roller coaster!
wow! some people have had HORRIFIC experiences! i feel bad for all of you. The worst thing that ever happened to me was missing a flight!
Scratch that. actually this summer i was sitting in line for the I-35 w bridge in Minneapolis, lucky like 20 before it collapsed i got off, frustated because of traffic and accidentally found the hotel. i was frightened!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So I glance up and see this plane coasting, no engine. Get my digital cam going in one hand and my c-phone in the other getting ready to call 911 just in case. Meanwhile, this plane is sorta wobbling, losing altitude slowly, and Im watching all of this. Finally, guess the pilot got the engine started again (whew) and this plane starts climbing. There wouldnt have been enough time to run all the way back into the building and tell someone about it, all I could do was hope to GAWD he doesnt go down.
- Both of them were due to turbulance. One was on a flight from London to Chicago when I was 10 in 1967, and we hit some real bad turbulance for a couple of minutes, and one time the aircraft (A Boeing 707) dropped a few hundred feet suddenly, and by the time the pilots got around the turbulance, people had their drinks in the ceiling of the cabin! 
