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.
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Competition: win over £450 of brilliant summer reads
(192 Posts)Whether they're for enjoying in the garden, the park, on the beach, on a plane (or hiding from the rain on the sofa - oh the joys of a British summer) we reckon you can't beat a cracking summer read...we've rounded up some of the best - fiction and non-fiction - picked out by the people who publish them over on our Summer reads 2016 page.
If you'd like the chance to win all these amazing books (worth over £450!), simply tell us about your holiday disasters.
All eligible posts (i.e ones that answer the question!) will be put in the (straw) hat and a winner chosen at random at midday on Monday 1 August.
Usual terms and conditions apply.
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.
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.
Apologies for the misplaced ? In my post. Dammit, there's always some daft mistake that sneaks through.
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!
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! 
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.
Going on holiday with a friend who just wanted to recreate her holiday there the previous year- including holiday romance!
Susanemily I've done both of those too!
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!
3 words - low cost holidays
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.. 
Me and DH went to Turkey and when we got there had a horrendous coach journey to our hotel up mountainous winding roads where the driver on more than one occasion got to near the edge and had all the holidaymakers gripped in their seats, some were actually crying, me included! He stopped for a 'cigarette break' while we 'admired the view' and he left me and DH behind. We screamed and shouted at the coach to stop which it eventually did and we breathed a sigh of relief when we reached our destination. I had a really bad back at this stage and realised our room was the top of a 4 storey hotel which had no lift so each time we went out I had to heave myself up and down the stairs. The beach was a walk down (up on the way back!) a steep hill which sent my back into spasms but I was on holiday and determined to enjoy it! One day I got dehydrated and passed out in the hotel restaurant and had to drink a cocktail of goodness knows what containing 95% salt - disgusting but it did do the trick thankfully. The next day we were on the beach and from the tv monitors from the bars we saw in disbelief that planes had flown into the Twin Towers- yes it was 9/11. I had to stay in my room for two days at this point as my back had seized completely and I saw every news coverage of that terrorist attack from my hotel bed. The last day I was determined to go back to the beach one last time but due to my immobility it took longer than normal and our favourite spot on the beach was taken up with other holidaymakers. Not long after I'd gotten myself 'positioned' on a sun lounger the most horrendous noise appeared to be getting closer - it was a tourist bus who's brakes failed at the top of the hill and ploughed into people on the beach (where we would have been sat if my back had been ok) only coming to a halt as it hit and landed in the ocean. It was awful, so many were hurt and there were police, ambulances and medical staff everywhere. The coach was full of English tourists just arriving from the airport. Luckily they were all ok. We were so glad to be going home the next day but paid for a taxi to the airport - there was no way we were stepping foot near a coach again!
We were holidaying in Ibiza to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and had booked an 'allocated on arrival' to save ourselves a few bob! Much to our amusement we were placed in an 18 to 30 year old hotel!
However it was not too horrendous and found ourselves welcomed into the fold of a group of youngsters much younger than our own kids! ?. As much as we tried to seclude ourselves, we were sought out after our evening meal and encouraged to join in. On our anniversary, hubby was rather jovial after the rather large jug of Sangria we had with our evening meal. Subsequently our new adopted family were encouraging him to 'celebrate'. After crashing into our beds I was awakened by someone knocking on our door, despite my efforts I could not rouse my inebriated hubby! Suddenly a little voice rung out ....... 'Let me in' ...... Shock horror hubby was outside in his canary yellow underpants! He had woken up and gone in search of the toilet!! Woken up in the lift when a rather posh looking lady was about to enter ( his words ), and pressed the button before she could get it. It took hubby a long time to get over his experience, and taught him to not be so competitive in keeping up with the youngsters Lol ?
My DD arranged to take me on holiday to Menorca for my birthday - she even booked us into a hotel near the airport as it was an early flight, and arranged for transport to Bristol Airport in the morning. We joined the queue to check in for Menorca and at the desk was told we were in the queue for the wrong flight. Right destination ..... Wrong flight. They tried to get us on to the right flight but it was closed. My DD pleaded with the very young airport manager to let us join the flight ... But no, he was more intent on throwing his weight around and refused. Not to be outdone on the holiday, my daughter rebooked a flight from Birmingham .... We dashed up to that airport by coach and caught that flight by the skin of our teeth! This turned out to be a very expensive break .... I think that airport manager had seen too many episodes of "airport"..... He was very mean.
We have a regular holiday spot, just to avoid disasters! Our worst was deciding to day trip on the ferry to Guernsey with two little granddaughters (many years ago now). The passage was so rough they were both incredibly sick & had to spend the rest of the day wearing tourist t shirts whilst I carried their soiled ones all day! Try going to a cafe or restaurant carrying two smelly tops around... 
I always, every single time, set off the metal detector at the airport. I deliberately don't wear jewellery or underwired bras, when travelling, so I have no idea why it happens, but I get frisked every single time!
OH and I went on a week's holiday to Northumbria. I was fine when I left home but had a streaming cold by the time I got there. By day 2 it was obvious I also had the flu, I have never felt so ill in my life. We couldn't get the coal fired central heating to work properly and OH had to go and find decent drugs for me. Our active week of cycling was completely ruined as we were in a cottage in the middle of nowhere and TV reception was woeful. I think we were both glad to leave and go home at the end of the week.
I went on a holiday with my fiance (now wife) intending to learn to fly whilst there, we had it all booked in advance.
I was flying around one day accumulating hours prior to my test when I noticed an unusual looking air force base.
I was in California and flew over and over it for a good long while enjoying the sunshine and blue skies and watching the people below running to their planes and either putting them away or getting ready to take off, I assumed it was a drill so I flew away to give them room just in case.
When I landed all the flying instructors along with the other students came running out to meet my plane, looking angry and horrified.
Long story short I had been flying over a restricted military base and they were getting ready to force me down after failing to contact me on my radio. I knew nothing of this as the radio was not working. Eventually everything worked out OK but another fifteen minutes and I would have been in serious trouble.
I passed my test though so all is good.
Oh dear, I've just remembered one that fills me with guilt and horror even now.
1994. We were heading out on holiday and as we waited for our flight to be called at Manchester Airport, in walked the full Leeds United team, all in their official gear, heading off somewhere warm for an important tournament. I forget what or where, but doubt that DS has. He was 9, a fanatical supporter, carrying his newly bought copy of Match with his team on the front cover, and wearing his own full Leeds United kit for the journey.
DH had a chat with a couple of the players, I busied myself taking loads of photos of the DC with the team, particularly of DS with his big (literally, 6' 3") hero, Carlton Palmer. DS was over the moon, never stopped talking about the encounter during the flight and the coach transfer, bought a postcard as soon as we arrived and sat down to write it before we unpacked, to let his best friend know what had happened at the airport.
And it was at that very moment that I realised with a sickening thud that there was no film in my camera.
We'd always done well on fishing trips as we had the car to pile loads of stuff in. However, one year we decided the take the motorbike and just what we could pack on it - disaster! The weather wasn't that great, the only place we could find to camp was rubbish, the ground was lumpy and our cheap light tent had none of the protection and comforts we were used to. We accidentally rolled the tent up with my better half's sunglasses still inside, then ran over the lot as the bike slipped trying to get out. No shower, achy, hungry and thirsty we called it quits and headed home the next day. Fingers crossed as this selection would give me some lovely and interesting reading.
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