My 3 Worst Travel Experiences

Life doesn't always go exactly as planned, especially when it comes to travel. No matter how much you plan, unexpected circumstances can turn a dream vacation into a living nightmare. While I am usually able to see the best in every situation there are three cities that have been tainted in my memory due to my unfortunate travel experiences. I fully intend to return to each one of these cities in order to change my perception one day, but for now let me tell you about my holidays in Rome, Pompeii, and Paris. 

1 | ROME
As soon as we touched town in Rome I knew I was in love. I was sixteen and had never been to Europe before. Rome, the city of history, beauty, and culture, was fascinating to me and I couldn't wait to soak it all up.

Less than 48 hours later I was curled up in bed, watching Italian MTV at 2am, crying. Earlier that day we decided to grab dinner in an alley off of Piazza Navona (something an Italian friend of mine now tells me NO ONE should do). By that night I had the worst case of food poisoning I ever had before, and ever had since. My entire vacation was spent in our hotel room eating saltine crackers and staring at Villa Borghese from the window. I missed the Spanish steps, the catacombs, and an awesome Italian cooking class. Luckily our trip in Rome was already halfway over by the time I was quarantined to my room, so I was able to see some of the sights I was looking forward to the most. But lets face it, there is so much to see in Rome and a trip back is in the works! No dodgy spaghetti this time ;)

2 | POMPEII
So you know what happened after I ate a rather foul bowl of spaghetti in Rome. With my food poisoning at its worst, we slowly made our way on a bus to Sorrento via Pompeii. Possibly the worst public transportation experience of my life, but that isn't where the story ends. As the biggest history nerd you've probably ever met (I have a masters in the subject now in case you didn't know), Pompeii was the city I was looking forward to the most on our trip. I forced myself off the bus to visit one of the most famous ancient cities in Italy.

An hour into our tour of Pompeii I thought I was dying. I was seeing spots, my hearing was gone, and I probably looked like death. Within the walls of a tiny Pompeii home I hid myself to puke before passing out. Talk about traumatizing. My family and I joke about how my visit to Pompeii was unique to say the least.

3 | PARIS
Oh Paris. The city that captivates millions across the world through a highly popularized image of romance and sophistication. I was nineteen, and a weekend in Paris with my study abroad group sounded amazing. However, from the get go our trip turned out to be far from what we expected. At the train station we caught someone trying to steal a wallet. At our hotel there were men standing outside yelling God knows what to us every time we went in and out. And at a gift shop along the Seine a homeless man put his hand up my skirt. Needless to say our entire trip left us with a bitter taste in our mouths. I would love to change my perception of this city one day. I had worked up the "idea" of Paris so much that reality was guaranteed to disappoint.

What are some of your worst travel experiences?

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo