You worst holiday ever

South Africa. It is a lovely place and all of our booked accommodation was brilliant but I caught shingles on day 2 of a 3 week holiday resulting in horrendous looking sores down the right side of my face. The receptionist got me a doctors appointment who prescribed drugs (of which there were many) and phoned an eye consultant to say he must see me the next day as my sight was compromised. My DH had to drive 4 hours in the wrong direction to get me to the hospital. Luckily my eyesight was ok but I had to return to the doctor the day after to get more meds. Both doctor and consultant were amazing I was so lucky in that respect. I was in constant pain for the remainder of the holiday and looked like something out of a horror movie. I couldn’t wait to get home.

I've gradually gone off holidays over the years; had a few good, some bad and one or two disastrous. Now living in a beautiful part of the UK, I have everything I want on my doorstep (I know I am very lucky indeed) The hassle of planning and packing, an OH who wants to organise everything and everyone but does nothing to help, and the hours waiting around in airports make me want to stay where I am!

We booked a fortnight's mystery holiday with our 2 kids in an effort to get away from my Mum who was causing big problems between us and my daughter. We arrived in Fuengirola which we had heard was the jewel in the Costa Del Sol's crown so were really excited. Our first stop was at Burger King (not my choice!) to feed hungry kids. Who should come walking around the corner but my Mother. It turned out she had been booked into the same hotel after she had also booked a mystery holiday.
Mum thought it was wonderful, we didn't and she never stopped going on about us going all the way to Spain to eat in Burger King. It has become a standing joke between my husband and I whenever we go on holiday.
To make matters worse, we were on the edge of a weather cyclone so we spent 1 day with drizzle, the next with heavy rain and then 1 day of weak sun. This went on for the entire fortnight so we spent most of the time in our apartment with a fractious daughter and an interfering mother.
The one highlight was the Australian Ice Cream booth over the road from the hotel and the Calamari bar under it.

Eloethan, our worst holiday was also sunny beach. It was about 24 years ago. The hotel was supposed to be 3star I wouldn't have given it a 1. It was horendous. Also the staff were ignorant. When we were out walking one day we came across a lovely hotel which we had a look at but only Germans stayed there. We never went back to bulgaria. The only thing it had going for it was that it was cheap

My worst holiday was really my parents' worst one. I was eight I think. We usually went to Worthing, which I loved. One year we went to Felixstowe which had been my mother's favourite as a child. I hated it, much too bleak for me. We went back the following year and after a couple of days I went down with double pneumonia. I spent the rest of the holiday in bed while my parents took it in turns to sit with me. To cap it all the doctor said it wouldn't be wise for me to travel home by coach so we had to go by train.It meant buying train tickets my parents couldn't afford and I don't think they got the coach fairs back either! We never went to Felixstowe again and my mother always suspected I'd done it on purpose.

Never had a bad holiday, but one in Gambia was spoilt by the locals. We stayed at a lovely hotel, good food, nice beach, but the beach vendors constantly called out to everyone to buy their goods. When we went outside the hotel the locals would grab my arm to encourage us to walk with them to buy goods. Worst experience was when we were dragged out of a local taxi by the drivers of the tourist taxis who charged 10 times the amount the locals taxis did. Would never go back there again.

Worst holiday ever was May half term in my last year at school in the 70’s. My mother insisted I tagged along to a caravan she had been offered for free for the week, in Manorbier in Pembrokeshire. It did nothing but rain for the whole week, the caravan was damp when we arrived, the toilet block was nowhere near our caravan so we had to drive to it or get soaked through. Our clothing got damp from hanging in the wardrobes, it was utterly atrocious. We ended up driving home a day early but I would have preferred to stay at home to revise for my exams instead of going to that horrid caravan. Manorbier is a lovely resort when the sun shines but forget it if it’s raining. Five of us in a small caravan was absolutely not fun.

Torquay - many years ago in the mid to late 1980's. My hubby and I had booked a Garden Room apartment. We arrived late Saturday evening, having travelled from North Devon, where we had had a lovely week in Linton & Lynmouth. The bed was dreadfully lumpy, the TV didn't work and there were little or no utensils with which to make a meal (e.g. one Giant saucepan, no utensils such as serving spoons, a mixed bag of knives and forks, no teaspoons tec. I tried to go shopping the next day and had to walk (no bus service on Sundays). I bought food and a couple of small saucepans, cutlery and some utensils such as cooking spoons and a sieve. The Landlord did come and provide a clean (non-lumpy) mattress and a working TV. The "Garden" was waist high grass and weeds, with no apparent view. It rained for three days and we left for home on the Wednesday, without ever seeing the sea! Never again!

Corfu. A luxury bungalow that turned out to be a shed. The whole place was filthy and the proprietor’s son and daughter were often about the place, flirting and fornicating with single guests ... sometimes in the pool. It was horrible and I cried. A friend of mine went to Corfu at the same time. She had only been married a few weeks but they split up when they got home; they too had had a dreadful time. Our best day was a day trip to Albania!

At least I know to avoid Bulgaria !

Two for me. Both UK

First one was on the West coast of Scotland staying with a woman who had been a neighbour in the north east of England. It was supposed to be a catch up and natter type holiday in her lovely home. It all went well till we were driving along with her sister. I was in the back and closed my eyes to rest them. Irene obviously thought I was asleep and amongst a few of the choice things she chose to say about me I think the worst was "She's Catholic you know, hah they should all be taken out and shot! " I didn't stay long after that.

Second was in the Lake District. Husband and I and toddler stayed in caravan for a week with my sister and family. It rained solidly every day and the camp site became a swamp. I was six months pregnant with our second child and was still feeling quite sick. I wore a pale green raincoat which matched my face beautifully. Everyone smoked in the caravan and tempers ran short. Truly the holiday from hell.

Aha.....us too. Bulgaria late 80s.
From getting on the plane and seeing our overhead lockers were cargo nets ?. To the food that was apparently the s@me wherever you tried to eat. To catching the stomach bug that the whole family and all the hotel guests appeared to have. To the money that was worthless and the locals wer3 desperate to have your £s or the German marks or $ anything but thel lev.

Camping at pevensy bay at Eastbourne it rained and as we had two young children then we came home. The tent was damp and the rain was coming in so we were so fed up we just said enough is enough.

We rented a caravan on a site in the Harz mountains, the pictures didn’t do it justice, it was the oldest, tattiest and filthiest caravan on a typical German pristine site. I felt ashamed.
Another time we went to the Brecon Beacons camping, it rained, as it does, we lasted 2 nights.

It was the worst and best holiday I ever had. On the second day of a holiday in Havana, Cuba, I tripped on an unmade street in and fell on to protruding metal face down. I had a huge gash across my mouth, I had 3 teeth knocked in different directions, I looked like the Joker. People were wonderful, My husband was in shock. A lovely lady drove me to a clinic, then on to the French hospital. I was stitched up by doctors very carefully, lots of stitches, given antibiotics and dental work the next day. They found us a hotel nearby overnight. The hospital was modern, the treatment excellent. I decided to continue the holiday, as luck would have it we were trapped in Havana by a major hurricane which cut off the city by flooding the main roads through the rest of Cuba. I caught a tummy bug, fortunately it only lasted overnight. We then had 11 wonderful days in Havana, the weather improved. It is so beautiful, we made friends with locals who were concerned about my injuries and stopped to chat. We were invited to dinner at someone's home, we really felt we experienced the Havana tourists don't see. We still keep in touch three years later with those new friends. My face healed perfectly, just one chipped tooth now and a very tiny scar on my lip. My own doctor and dentist in the UK were amazed at the excellent cosmetic work that was done. We didn't bother to claim on our insurance as the whole bill was only £100. I have wonderful memories of Havana that far outweigh the bad ones. My holiday pictures did not have me in them though, I looked too awful!

Worst one I had was at small hotel in the Lake District which was advertised as child friendly so we booked a week with our then nearly two year old daughter. We had driven up from East Anglia and checked in at around 5pm. We had booked and paid for an evening meal for the first night as it seemed the obvious choice even though it was a bit expensive . However we were told the dinner was only served at 7 which we thought a bit late for a child. Nevertheless we went to dinner with our daughter . However the service was appallingly slow, we received starter at about 7.45 pm, having been told it was a fixed menu and no option to go straight to main course. By almost 9.00 pm the main course had not arrived, our daughter was getting fractious as she was tired and hungry, as were we, so we asked if they could hurry up with the main course. When it eventually arrived at about 9.30pm , the order was wrong. Neither of us could really enjoy the meal as we had to take it in turns to take daughter out into the garden to calm here down.. The restaurant manager even asked us publicly if we could quieten her down because she was disturbing other guests. No apology was made for slow service nor for the complete absence of any child friendly service at all and we decided to abandon our dinner and go bed. I was very upset by the whole experience and we checked out the next morning. If only on line review had existed then I would have perhaps read about the lack of service, or posted a review to warn others with small children of the deceptive advertisement. After that experience it was self catering for many years .....

Shark El Sheik, Egypt, I went with three friends and one of the friends took her son. I was ok-ish the first couple of days then It turned into “dash to the loo central”the only one that wasn’t affected was the sixteen year old, he ate chips the whole time.
Then the Russians arrived, rude obnoxious, reaching over my head at the buffet for food. Not nice having a sweaty hairy armpit perched on my head.
The hotel and grounds were very nice, couldn’t wait to get home.

I was supposed to be going to New York with my ex husband our son and my Nan to visit family. Prior to the holiday he broke his leg in an accident. He couldn't travel so far so we decided on a beach holiday instead. I felt bad on my Nan so asked her to come with us. My brother in law decide to come too. We went to Almeria in Spain. I've been to Spain before but the heat was something else 45c. I had to stay in the apartment all day as I couldn't stand it. My poor Nan was stuck in with me and a poorly baby as he couldn't cope with the heat either. So hop a long ex and his brother had to fend for themselves. It was only one flight each week otherwise I'd have gone home. I've never had any other bad holidays as I normally research so well. Even the £50 week in a caravan in France I won on eBay was actually ok :-). Lesson learned me and heat don't mix.

The one to Tennessee that we've booked twice and not been able to go on.
One had to be cancelled due to a threat of redundancy and the second was the pandemic.
We'll get there one day. I WILL see the Smoky Mountains!

Bobbydog24 I haven't read the whole thread yet but just got to yours which really made me laugh - your husband joining in the shouted conversations of nearby hotel guests and confusing them - serve them right for making all that noise at 2 in the morning!

Katie59 think we rented that same cottage! We survived by laughing about it and going to the pub a lot!

Can't say I've had a Worst Holiday - just some eventful ones - like going to to Malta at Easter so that OH could get the new bathroom installed. Little did we know it started going wrong before we'd left the country - when the bath being delivered was delayed as there was a bomb on the motorway. Then it snowed & had to buy warmer clothes for us all - managed some leggings & cardigans. We came home to find the bath stood up in the dining-room the workmen now on their Easter break & the shower ripped out.

It also snowed in Istanbul with DM, we got caught up in a riot & she had the start of problems leading to her hysterectomy.
In Puerto Rico we walked the wrong way off the ship & never saw the town - however we did see Angel fish swimming in a small inlet. ?
Few rough trips at sea - but disco dancing was Soo much fun! Hope some can relate to this one.?

Butlins Minehead 1990s. Me, son and partner in process of breaking up, plus toddler GC. Chalet with double bed just inside door, kettle lead plugged in, switched on and hanging from wall, very child proof, not! Grubby bedding, I went to complain but didn’t bother to wait in long queue as most of the people waiting had fleas in their beds. Huge hire charge for potty, cheaper to buy one in the town. Lovely little nightclub with live jazz, good entertainment, sandy beach. The cast of the main entertainment rushed down to the beach in their evening interval. 15 minutes afterwards I filled 2 bags with empty bottles they had swigged from and chucked on the sand.
Son signed up to be a waiter and stayed for several months. Hair raising tales of grotty staff accommodation and lively goings on, he had a great time in spite of ruined shoes and footrot from cleaning products swishing around kitchen floor.

My worst holiday was in New Zealand. My father and I went because my sister and family had just moved there. Well my sister had never wanted to go in the first place so the atmosphere was awful. New Zealand has nice scenery but that is it. I found it bland and boring. I think it was the fact that its a new country with no history. The cities are nondescript and drab. Give me Europe with it's culture and history.

A holiday in Greece with friends - nothing wrong except that I caught a really bad stomach bug (both ends) and had to be within a few feet of the loo for a couple of days before it got so bad that I had to be taken to a clinic and put on a drip. The island was small and there was no actual hospital where I could be admitted. The runs were so bad I had no control - had to get dh to go and buy me the biggest sanitary towels when en route to the clinic!

By the time we left I was so weak I had to be carried to the plane, where dh told the crew that no matter what, I had to be seated closest to the loo. I think I looked so awful they didn’t argue! A dd said at the time that I looked like a really old woman (I was early 40s) since I was so dehydrated.

By some miracle I started to feel better on the plane, had a glass of squash that actually stayed down. Back at Heathrow I was taken to a medical centre (on one of those buggy things) where they said I was still very dehydrated.

Never had any such thing before or since, still absolutely love Greece and have been back many times.

DH and I went on holiday to Porth Madog in N. Wales before we were either married or sleeping together. So we had booked separate rooms in a B&B. It poured the whole week. On the first day, having been chucked out unceremoniously after breakfast, we returned wet and weary to discover that DH had been booked into another B&B as his room had been let to a family, presumably at better rates.

Both landladies were rude and chatted to each other in Welsh ignoring us altogether. Never again!