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A few years ago we couldn't afford to go on holiday so we decided to go away to Wales for a weekend. We had a really old van. We woke up really early and hit the road. After 30miles, the van broke down on the motorway in a roundabout, the clutch (which was previously changed 3times) died again . Highway maintenance took us out from the roundabout and another one to the closest service point than we had to wait for AA. When the guy arrived, he said he didn't have capacity to take us home so we had to wait for a second one. We were driven home by the second car and then the rain started pouring.. Next week we got rid of the car..

A couple of years ago we flew to Tenerife and I was sick on the flight, just tired I think, but on landing the airline insisted I go to hospital to be checked over. Of course, I was fine, but we then had to find a taxi to take us to our hotel where, surprise, surprise, there was no luggage for us.
We couldn't even go down to dinner as I had been sick down my front and didn't have anthing to change into. It took three days for it to turn up, by which time we'd bought minimum requirements to stop us a) wearing the same outfits and b) to stop us smelling!
To top it all, we were there to celebrate my birthday.

We went to Florida and booked a 4* Hotel, in Clearwater. We had our first week in Orlando with the parks and it was wonderful. The idea was a restful 2nd week !!!!!!! Our dreams answered, our room was on a main hotel walkway to pool and beach, only way to stop people looking in was to close the curtains !!!!!!
Great we were back in England with the curtains closed all day. Never thought to check the rooms had windows we could use.

We booked a cruise to Iceland for our wedding anniversary . We wanted to swim in the blue lagoon in Iceland and that was the actual anniversary day. We sailed from Newcastle on a very small cruise ship the service was brilliant and the Captain told us we were lucky because there were two qualified Captains on this ship! We saile up the coast of Norway but it rained everyday for three days until we got to Geirangerfjord the weather was lovely o we went ashore by tender. Our ship being one of four in the area at the time had to anchor in the middle of the fjord. The water looked like apiece of glass all day with not a ripple of wind. When got back on board we found out that our ship had sung round whilst at anchor and smashed into another cruise ship damaging that ships railing a little but our ship had three badly damaged lifeboats which were literally in bits. The next morning all the passengers and luggage were tendered off and loaded on a fleet of coaches. Then began a dash across Norway to Bergen airport to be flown home . The coach driver we had had never driven to Bergen airport so had to follow the coach in front and to keep up went through red traffic lights at a couple of places. Eventually after a long coach trip to the airport flight to Manchester then another coach trip to Newcastle we were delivered to a hotel in Whitley bay about 3.30 am in the morning. We had to be out of our room by 10.am but the owner very kindly found us another room for a couple of nights so we could rest and enjoy a break in Newcastle. We did not get any compensation and only a part refund because they said we had had three days of the cruise. Certainly we will never book wither again but we did enjoy our short break in Newcastle we had a lovely and interesting time there. Still not been back to Norway though!

Our son was a preemie (10 weeks early)and born with a cleft lip and palate. He spent 10 weeks in NICU and almost died when he has his first repair op at 5 months so when he was 6 months old (May BH week) and my dad said he and my stepmum had a "timeshare" holiday caravan near Durdle Door and would we like to use it for a week, we said yes. Turned out to be someone else's ancient caravan that they paid towards so they could use it for a couple of weeks a year. The weather wasn't too warm but we had assumed the caravan would have proper heaters. No such luck. It was so cold that our son had to be wrapped up in jumpers, mitts, you name it and I slept with him in the lounge with a gas heater on and thick duvet over us. I was worried about fumes all night :-( My husband slept in the double bed. Halfway through the night I got woken up by a huge thud from the bedroom. The bed had broken! The following day we found that the gas had run out and the cooker didn't work anyway. It was awful. We went to Poole to see if the b & b we usually used had any room but she was full. We ended up going home and returning for a couple of days at the end of the week when the weather was better but stayed in a hotel instead. My dad never mentioned the bed but didn't offer us a holiday there again either!

3 words - low cost holidays

My holidays usually start with me doing something stupid to the amusement of others. A recent holiday started well, we were called to the boarding gate at the same time as my name was announced over the tannoy for me to report to central security. Much to his delight my husband gleefully introduced me to the security officer. There I was taken to one side and asked to identify my suitcase. I dutifully did, I was then told it would need to be searched as it looked as though there were bullets inside!! This was done, I was mystified but all was revealed when said bullets were found to be my tubes of paint for my holiday!!Quick dash to the plane. I then managed to embarrass myself further by squirting what I thought was nasal spray up my nose to find it was hand sanitizer which foamed down my nostrils!

Susanemily I've done both of those too!

Going on holiday with a friend who just wanted to recreate her holiday there the previous year- including holiday romance!

There have been a few. We went camping and forgot the tent poles. Another time I booked us into a hotel that wasn't were we were going, only found out when we arrived at the wrong one.

Our most memorable holiday mishap occurred after visiting Paris for a week, for our son's wedding. Dh, our 11yo dd2, and I were flying back to our then home in Africa.

We used the self-check-in kiosks at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and then headed for the bag drop desk. When we got there, we realised dd2's carry-on bag was missing so I retraced our steps to find it while dh checked in the cases. I spotted dd2's distinctive red bag from a distance away and hurried to pick it up.

My way was barred by a couple of men so I tried to dodge round them, saying 'Excuse me,' and thinking it was a bit odd they were both wearing camouflage gear. Then an armed policeman spoke to me in French (I only have schoolgirl French) and it dawned on me that not only was I surrounded by at least a dozen men in uniform, the reason I'd been able to see dd's bag was because the concourse of the terminal had been cleared and there were hundreds and hundreds of people in the distance behind barriers watching what was going on! Obviously, dd's abandoned bag had triggered a suspicious package alert.

After trying to explain that the bag had just been forgotten and wasn't a bomb or anything, I was finally led away to an army van outside, which was full of computers and radios and other hi-tech stuff. The soldiers who were there didn't speak English so it was hard to know what was going on and they spent ages communicating with, presumably, higher up authorities. I was getting worried that dh & dd would wonder where I was but I was too terrified to get my phone from my pocket to call in case the soldiers thought I had a gun and shot me.

After about half an hour, they said i would be fined €360 for causing a nuisance and then they let me go, just as dh & dd came sauntering up, looking for me. It was only later, when on the plane, that I realised I wouldn't have to pay the fine because they didn't take any bank card details from me.

At least it showed the security services do work!

A friend and I went shopping one rainy January day and ended up booking a trip to Barbados for the coming November. Soon after, we both met men and started relationships but we still went away as planned in the November. Apart from missing our partners and finding everything really expensive, we had a good holiday. On the final day, we went to do a final bit of shopping before we were due to leave for the airport around 5.30pm. However, getting back to the hotel at about 3pm, there was a board up stating that our flight was delayed by 24 hours. Fortunately they had arranged for us to stay in the hotel for the night and given us an allowance for food, which was just as well as we had almost run out of money.

The following day we left for the airport, 24 hours later than scheduled. The flight was then delayed by another 3 hours, so we were hanging around for ever, when all we wanted to do at that point was get home. Finally we set off home - only to be informaed en route that, due to fog, the plane would not be landing at Gatwick as planned (about 25 minutes from where we lived) but would instead be landing at Cardiff. We then had to get a coach from Cardiff to Gatwick. By the time we were able to see our partners, it was over 30 hours later than planned and we both had to go to work in less than 12 hours!

Apologies for the misplaced ? In my post. Dammit, there's always some daft mistake that sneaks through.

I take my widowed mum away for a week each year? She was 85 when we decided to go to lovely N Wales, not far from us in Cheshire, but Mum doesn't - she said - like to sit in a car all day so didn't want to travel too far. I booked, for a not insubstantial price, what looked like a very smart house high in the hills above Caernarfon, looking out over the bay.
It's started to rain as soon as we crossed into Wales - and didn't stop for more than 30 mins for the whole week. The house was sadly neglected with black damp on the blinds, unchanged sheets in the bed and an overgrown garden - the much vaunted view obscured by high trees, the craftily photographed summer house inaccessibly perched at the top of a near vertical back garden. Worse, the house was accessed by means of a very rough path across a field of sheep; a loose rock flew up and dented the side of my new car as we negotiated it for the first time. That path then changed into a 1 in 3 concreted descent down a drive that looked like it had been transplanted from a ski jump somewhere and had been transformed into a waterfall by the rain.
We spent 6 hours a day, touring N and mid Wales, Mum resolutely refusing to leave the car because Bala, Portmadog, Barmouth, Abersoch, Harlech and many other places all were dismissed as 'nothing here', and she was completely unimpressed by the glorious scenery. I drove miles and miles - often looking for public toilets - without even the reward of a visit to a nice pub in the evening - Mum preferred to eat at Midday and watch TV until bedtime. I do dearly love my Mum, who is still fit and well at 87, but that holiday is seared deep into mind, not least because of the stronge urge to leave her in one of the many toilets we visited and run for the hills (I did resist). Oh, and it stopped raining when we hit the M56 on the way home.

My worst holiday disaster was when I was eleven, and my dad drove us from Cirencester to Newcastle-upon -Tyne. We had only gone about 5miles up the road and i was violently sick and dad wasn't happy when every few miles I was sick. He got really angry but I couldn't help it. I hated every mile , was praying to get there. And when there I was left with my aunty whilst the rest of family went to seaside and other excursion's, I was only 11 Years old? Never
went on holiday again until I got married then it was on a train.

Whilst on holiday sunbathing on a beach having a barbeque
The people on the trip decided to play tug of war.
The women were winning so my 16 year old son jumped up and said “right!”
He ran towards the men tugging.
As he past a gentleman tugger fell sideways on top of him.
My son never did join in the tug of war as he was struggling to get up.

On a visit to my brother in the USA, we went on a 'roadtrip' in his 35ft RV. Travelling north on the I95 to Virginia a back tyre blew - not only did it bring us to an abrupt halt - when the tread shredded it tore out all the electrics for inside the van leaving us with no air conditioning/heating nor the ability to extend the sides of the van.

We sat for 4.5 hours on the grass verge in the heat waiting for assistance and when it came it was in the form of a tiny Kia van with no tools whatsoever!!!!

My brother was furious and sent him away. Eventually we were sent the correct type of assistance and were on our way again. We hadn't got very far when someone flagged us down - the car we were towing (which was brand new)had flames coming from the engine!

End of roadtrip - we headed home.

Daughter and grandson came to visit us in Ghana a week ago. Just after they arrived, we went for a walk round the block, and I fell down a concrete grating severely cutting and grazing my leg. Got it dressed at the clinic, and was prescribed antibiotics, so happily headed off north to the Volta Region. Got a dreadful allergic reaction to the antibiotic, and spent the next week itchy and scratchy and being shifted from one antihistamine cream to another. Now off all creams and still itchy and rashy, but delighted we mad it to the highest waterfall in West Africa, the Wli Falls!

Sunday 28th August 1999, we were on the beach in the Algarve when a police patrol car drove along the sand, an officer with loud hailer shouting "Big wave, get off the beach!" There was pandemonium, everyone scrambling to gather children and belongings and clamber up the cliffs.
On top of the cliff in the baking sun we could see the huge wave on the horizon rolling toward us. Having no previous knowledge of the effects of a Tsunami we continued to stand in our precarious position on the clifftop waiting for the big wave. We waited and waited, eyes on fixed on the horizon until my 9 year old daughter fainted with heatstroke! We hurried back to the hotel where everyone was panicking and rushing up to the higher floors with their children. We revived our daughter in a cool bath and waited for more news of the impending disaster. The main coastal road was closed, all the beaches evacuated and the airport closed - we were terrified!
Although we waited all afternoon the big wave never moved from the horizon and never hit the beaches.
Monday 29th August, headlines in the Portuguese newspapers read: El Mirago!
You can still find the newspaper accounts online of this memorable event which terrified the holidaymakers and embarrassed the Portuguese Authorities.
The following year when went to calm and peaceful Tossa de Mar and we're nearly engulfed by a forest fire - but that's another story!

I was visiting my new in-laws for the first time, in rural France, about 25 years ago.
Marks and Spencer clothes had a certain cachet back then. I asked my husband to find out his mother's size and bought her 2 dresses and 2 blouses.. I thought he had asked his sister for advice, but he had guessed.
They were all far too big and my new mother in law was not amused.Iit was hard to explain, in my inadequate French.

Had to be when on a trip to Venice from Croatia for the day. Dueto problems with my sight when getting on a water taxi I could not judge the distance between the key side and boat. Told the guide I would have problems, was told I would be fine. Next thing I am up to my neck in the Grand Canel. Had to be dragged on the boat like a fish damaging my knee in the process. Had to spend the trip back to Croatia sitting in soakingwet clothes. Next day had to go to the local hospital for my knee and spent the rest of the week hardly able to walk.

floorflock. Why didn't you kick up a big fuss??

Rats! I don't think I've ever had a disastrous holiday. Not sure whether to be pleased or upset now

Going on a cruise! It started with glass under the bed, right near the edge so it couldn't have been cleaned - found when we went to put the cases away. Every time I walked on the carpet in my socks I got covered in long ginger hair (from the previous occupant) and that went on for the 18 days... We did see a vacuum cleaner but perhaps they didn't know how it worked!? We arrived in Venice and there was a thunder storm, we had to buy an umbrella and take cover in a cafe. The holiday as a whole was a complete disaster and showed us why we don't usually take holidays at all/

We went on an organised trip to the Statue of Liberty in New York and somehow couldn't remember the meeting point after exploring on our own. Took the Ferry back from the island to where we were supposed to get on the coach again, but couldn't find it. We had no cash with us - only credit card - so unable to use taxi, and walking would have taken hours. Then we discovered the Water Taxi doing sightseeing tours and accepting credit card payment, and after an enjoyable cruise around
New York's waterways, we were dropped off at our starting point. Not a total disaster after all!