What's the worst start to a holiday you have had?

We booked a hotel for 3 nights when we went on holiday with the intention of moving to a different hotel later. We didn't know the hotel but asked ourselves how bad could it be. It turns out very bad. Honestly the bedroom smelled like there was someone buried under the floor boards. We tucked our noses into the necks of our pyjamas and left swiftly the next morning.
My Mum went to stay in a town in France. She literally arrived on the ferry and went to find a hotel. It was so successful she advised us to do the same. Unfortunately, the day we arrived there was a big festival being held and not a room to be had! We slept at the sister in law of one of the staff in the Information Bureau which was right out in the sticks and were quite worried about what we were heading for.

I was nine, my sister five and my parents were taking us on holiday from Scotland to visit our Danish grandmother.

We were sailing from Newcastle to Esbjerg and left our home the evening before to drive to Newcastle.

Daddy had had his car service the day before to be certain nothing would go wrong on the way. Important as we were taking a caravan with us.

We got to Carter Bar sometime in the late evening and were half-way up that steep hill when the car stopped dead.

Nothing Daddy did helped, so he set off to walk a quarter mile back the way we had come to a lay-by where he had noticed an AA phone box.

Long story short: the AA towed both the car and caravan to Newcastle and found a garage that could and did solve the problem.

When the car had been serviced, the gear-box had been drained, but not refilled with oil!

I wonder if a garage could be found to replace a gear-box in the early hours of Saturday morning these days?

Arriving in a flood with the fire brigade pumping water out of the block of holiday flats we had booked.

Forgot to add being fired on and almost hujacked in Egypt, then the Nile cruise company went bankrupt and we had to fly back via Manchester, as the plane would be grounded if we’d gone to Gatwick first. We left the plane at Manchester - nearly lynched by the other passengers and hired a car to get home to Durham, as DH was flying out to Paris that afternoon. Nightmare.

Strapped for cash my husband built a trailer to take our tent etc. down to Paignton for a camping holiday with our 1 year old son. Someone gave him 2 solid rubber tyres for the trailer to finish the job.

We set off early one Saturday morning, had gone about 15 miles and was going down a hill when I saw a rubber tyre roll down the hill in front of us. I was a bit bemused by that until we realised it was one of ours!

The rubber had heated and expanded so much that it had come off the rim completely. Luckily it was so early there was no traffic about. We had to yank the trailer and contents into a lane and leave it and the tent. We went on to a B and B place in Paignton costing us £££'s.

Unfortunately no one nicked the trailer and it was collected. We then went to another site a year later when I was 7.5 months pregnant. There was a downpour, field like a bog with our car stuck in it. I shall never forget having to help husband push the car out of the mud...with other campers looking on in amusement. I was obviously pregnant so I was disgusted.

We never camped again.

Hurt my back 2 days before due to fly to Borneo for 3 weeks. Got an emergency GP apt the next day ( remember the days), very rude GP said never mind your back thats a basal cell carcinoma on shoulder. Back inproved over next few days booked last minute trip to Sri Lanka. First few days in Colombo. Ate in hotel first night both came down with sickness snd diarrhoea, DH really bad had to have doc and injection. Moved on after few days to beach location, not great at all, locals washing and defecating in sea. On last day when checking out went to settle bill and were questioned as to whereabouts of beach towels. Got back to room to find suitcases open and had been rifled through obviously looking for very tatty beach towels they thought we had taken. Could not get away fast enough and never booked a last minute holiday again!

Earlier this year, last job before leaving to pick up a potted lavender plant from the patio to take to our caravan. Walked back through the living room carrying the said pot to go out to the car, smelled ghastly stink and realised too late that some @#&* cat had done it's business right outside the patio door and I'd trodden in it and walked it through the living room. Cue a list hour cleaning up the disgusting mess and washing the carpet. I have to confess my language was pretty disgusting too but understandable.

Left passport at home

Put diesel instead of petrol in car which then stalled while getting on ferry to Calais

Car skidded on ice on way to B‘ham airport and ended up with broken wheel AND facing traffic on wrong side of road (A45)

. . . . Etc and no joke,

23 hour flight delay, finally arrived hotel rekey our room because we were a no show

Ronald Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers the day before we were due to fly to New York. Very worrying but the army was drafted in so we got there in the end.

I was 6 mths pregnant and poorly with a virus, we were off to Scotland with our 15mth toddler and my parents and my now ex husband was left to fit everything into the car. Got all the way to Dumfries to find he hadn’t thought to bring the pushchair.

The boat crossing on my first visit to the Isles of Scilly. It was pouring down and the boat was going up and down and from side to side. I spent most of my time leaning over the side being ill and wondering why I didn’t just have done with it and throw myself in! The journey took twice as long and then to get to our smaller Island we had to go round the rim of Islands in lashing rain. Had my fairy godmother appeared my wish would have been to be back home.

The next day when we’d dried out I discovered how beautiful the IOS is. We’ve been back several times since but never by boat!

First morning in Cannes got a phone call to tell us our much adored border collie who we had left with my daughter was terminally ill and even if we got a flight back quickly we would only need extending her discomfort. Oh that was an awful start… my lovely family did get proud though and four of them were cuddling her when she was euthanised. We will always be grateful.

Off on our 3 week holiday to South Africa (Cape Town and Kruger) and Mauritius to celebrate our Golden Wedding last year and our suitcases never made it. Had to go out and buy everything from clothes to toiletries, insect repellent, sun cream etc. Not something I want to spend my precious holiday time doing. You don’t realise how much you need till something like this happens. We eventually got them a week after we got home! Just glad they weren’t gone forever.

Being declined boarding by Singapore airlines as less than 6 months on my passport! Had to pay £2k to go with Emirates !! Got an emergency passport in NZ so we could go to Bangkok on way home ! Travel agent did not warn me ! This was 11 years ago !! Nightmare and expensive !!!

When we first married, and were very poor, we went to spend a week in a caravan in Wales in the middle of nowhere. It was damp and smelly and it rained and rained, so we decided to go home after a couple of days.
There was a chemical loo that we should have traipsed across several fields to an emptying place, but as we had not made much use of it my OH decided to just fling the contents over the nearest hedge, saying "No-one will know"... he crept out and heaved it over and stood looking horrified... the hedge was festooned with blue toilet paper°
That'll teach him!

I should mention my daughter having a long awaited break in Cornwall with her family. All went well until the three year old went down with Norovirus. They packed up and came home, stopping many times for him to be sick. She said she just made it to their front door before she started throwing up and by next day they were all ill!

DH and I had packed up the car for a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales . We drove up our road about 50 yards, fortunately quite slowly when suddenly a car parked the wrong way, pulled straight out and hit us full on . No one was hurt but the front of the car was caved in and all the lights broken .
We crawled back home , unloaded the car and phoned our insurance company . Fortunately the insurance company was for once very helpful and were able to have a replacement hire car the next day and we went off to Yorkshire. Our car was a right off much to DH’s fury as he knew it was only body work . But once It’s written off you can’t do anything.

Not long married we bought a tent and headed off to Aberystwyth. The site sloped, we were at the bottom. It poured every day. The tent leaked, a small river ran round it forming a much admired moat, the camping cooker didn’t, the toilet was what felt like a mile uphill, our raincoats never dried, it was freezing cold and seemed to be oh so dark. The car got stuck in the mud, the camp site emptied. We gave up after four days and headed to Mr C’s parents home where his Mam dried everything and looked after us. There was a hot bath. Bliss. We’ve had many happy holidays in Wales since, often camping, never back to Aberystwyth.

Hotels should read gites.

We've booked many beautiful hotels in France so we're very happy to book another through a reputable company. We chose a lovely whitewashed gite with a bicycle leaning up up against the walls. Good reviews. This was over 30 years ago. Us two, my sister and bil and their two little boys.

We couldn't believe it when we got there. It was ramshackle. Filthy, grimy, metal windows, fly papers full of dead flies hanging from the ceiling. The 'barbecue' was three house bricks one side, two the other with the shelf of an oven balanced on them. There was a hole in the floor over which the lino had been pulled up to cover it. The 'walk in shower' had rubble, brooms and a garden rake in it.

The sheets on the bed were wet with damp and we took them off the beds to hang on the line in the 'garden' to dry. The garden was full of cow pats, bottles and cans. We had to stay there one night as we had no choice.

When I complained and, after a long dispute got our money back, the owner said 'You must have very high standards'.

Years ago we booked a sailing holiday in Corfu. Complete novices but were placed with an experienced sailor. Turns out the sailor was ann alcoholic, absolutely wasted and from S Africa so instead of going right to go south we turned left. We ended up sailing into Albanian waters. This was the early 80s where trespassers were shot! Fortunately a Greek gun boat intercepted us in time and at gun point we were escorted back to the Corfu mainland. The radio didn’t work and the drunken sailor was out for the count. We decided to simply motor down to the south of the island through the night and by some extraordinary stroke of luck came upon the rest of the flotilla. Change of captain and we set off again only for the engine to start leaking amidst a major storm. Limped into port and immediately abandoned ship! We went on to have many happy sailing holidays but not for a few years after.

Another year, we spent two weeks over Christmas renting a flat in Tenerife. I was expecting sunshine, but we had rain for around 12 days. Being Christmas, there was some "festivity" opposite our bedroom and there was a small, ancient gramophone playing the same records over and over. I spent most of the time on the bed, reading.

We were driving on the M25 in the days when it was less of a car park, and two heavy lorries played tag with us, sweeping the car almost onto the lane going in the opposite direction. We were unhurt but traumatised.

It was a company car that had been written off, but somehow we managed to get another one and pulled off a repeat performance the next day without the trauma, eventually arriving in France.

Years ago when the children were young, we packed up the car and all got in to set off on holiday.
DH reversed and knocked down our low garden wall with the tow bar.
Then the next door neighbour came over and said he'd found a dead cat in his garden, what should he do?

Told the NDN to ask around, if no owner found, take the cat to the vet. Drove around the wall and set off. A pigeon hit the windscreen on the A3.

That was the three things and the holiday was very enjou0yable!