Holiday from hell?

Camping on the Isle of Wight.
Directed where to pitch instead of choosing our own plot. The daughters were 6 months, 2 1/2 and 4 1/2
I went outside to hammer in a peg in the rain and wind.
Next thing I knew there was no tent ! Just the hammer and peg!
Tiny daughter ended upside down in her car seat, open to the elements but unhurt.
Middle daughter, still on my husband's lap but both upside down on his deckchair staring up at the sky.
Eldest daughter ( 4 ) half way down the field, wrapped up in our tent !
Lovely people in a caravan took our girls in and fed them smarties!
We packed up what we still had.
Luckily we had friends on I.O.W. so went to them and they dried us out.
Luckily still, we actually managed to get ( unbooked) seats and car space on a ferry back to the mainland on the same day, to drive home !

Holiday booked in Paris with four friends; arrived to find that due to error made by travel agent, we were not booked in to the lovely hotel we had chosen so carefully - foyer full of flowers, swimming pool, terrace with shady umbrellas- and had to find an alternative. Only available hotel - we had come to see an exhibition at the Musee D'Orsay so everywhere fully booked - was a filty hovel in the dirtiest arrondissement in Paris. Carpets were crunchy underfoot, bathrooom slimy everywhere, we ventured out and were treated to another exhibition - the largest amount and variety of dogs mess that I have ever seen. We went home - at once. The agent refunded our money in full, including the taxi fares.

Holidays to remember for sure! Most of you sound so resourceful in emergencies.

We have had many adventures over the years, cars breaking down, camping in diabolical weather, washing in the sea, vowing never to go away with certain people again, and usually so happy to get home.

My most disappointing "holiday" was when my DM offered to take me to Aldeburgh for a cultural weekend. away from my little family - for a rest.
I jumped at the opportunity to stay in a hotel - we never did that as a young family.

DH and DB would look after the boys.

Well we rolled up to find only DM was actually booked in, the hotel was fully booked and no I couldn't sleep on her floor nor share her single bed.
The snooty management found me a place in the basement, where their au-pair had once slept (poor girl) it was a camp bed behind a screen among the washing machine, laundry, clutter etc without a bathroom.
I barely slept and more indignities followed in the morning as there wasn't even a place at table for me!
The rest of the weekend was spent missing my children and wondering why I had agreed to go.

When I later heard what a wonderful time the boys had had in a borrowed campervan I am still jealous!

California. Landed at LA and hired a car, which hubby left at hotel while we went to Disney. 'Trust me' he says, and we got so lost hiking up people's back yards and over freeways. He drove on Highway 1 up coast from LA to San Francisco. Fog the whole way - no amount of 'Vista Points' would let us see the coast. Stopped in a motel, ate bananas and put skins in waste bin beside bed. Heard scuttling in the dark, swiched lights on to see walls and ceiling black with cockroaches. Drove to Carmel and had a dip in sea, nearly died as tumbling over in rip-tide - a crowd of onlookers pointing to large signposts warning no bathing. Drove to San Fran - husband foot fractured like a jigsaw as he fell down a drain. Stopped by Highway Patrol for speeding, cop saw hubby's 'Gucci-boot' plaster-cast and told him he shouldn't be driving and let the lady drive - me. (He had guns - so he didn't argue.) I drove to Grand Canyon, where hubby decided to chase a skunk - seriously! The car stank for a week!