Everyone looks forward to heading out on vacation. Despite the hassles—crowds, delays, bad weather, bad food, that hotel that looks nothing like the pictures—travel can be one of the best experiences of a lifetime. But sometimes things go really wrong and affect people’s lives forever. Here are 10 stories of people who set out on vacation and came back with a harrowing tale to tell—or never came back at all.
Visiting Victoria Falls in southern Africa is a dream for many, but for 22-year-old Erin Langworthy, it turned into a nightmare. The Australian was bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge while visiting Zambia in 2012 when the cord snapped and she plunged 111 meters (364 ft) into the crocodile-infested Zambesi River below. She was swept down the swollen river, her feet still bound together by 10 meters (30 ft) of rope, and spent 40 minutes in the water, until she finally managed to grab onto some rocks and an employee of the bungee company pulled her onto the river bank.
Langworthy was taken to Victoria Falls Clinic in Zimbabwe, but didn’t reach the clinic until five and a half hours after her jump. Though her lungs were partially collapsed and her body was covered in bruises, Langworthy didn’t suffer any serious injuries and returned home two weeks later. She had been the 106th person to jump off the bridge that day.
A 26-year-old German tourist went missing this year while attempting to walk almost halfway across Australia alone. He survived by eating flies. Daniel Dudzisz had been homeless for two years and had taken to walking long distances on his own. He had planned to walk 3,860 kilometers (2,400 mi) from New South Wales to Uluru, but found himself lost and stranded between two flooded banks of a river for 10 days. News of his disappearance didn’t alarm those who had encountered Dudzisz; opal miner Andrew Plax said Dudzisz was a uniquely tough traveler who had walked enormous distances on other continents, drinking water from troughs and puddles, and “could live off the smell of an oily rag.” He had no doubt the missing hiker would be found alive.
Dudzisz, who is diabetic, fortunately had enough insulin with him. He turned to eating flies for nutrients when his small supply of cereal and baked beans ran out, and he was eventually rescued by a passing motorist. Dudzisz refused medical treatment and was determined to finish his walk, though he promised to stick to main roads and only walk during daylight hours.
British tourist Rochelle Harris was on a flight back from a holiday in Peru in 2013 when she began experiencing a powerful headache and shooting pains in her face. She also began hearing strange scratching noises and had a discharge from her ear. On returning home, 27-year-old Harris paid a visit to a doctor. After initially blaming an ear infection, doctors soon discovered eight large maggots wriggling around inside Harris’s ear canal. She remembered walking through a swarm of flies while hiking on her vacation and one had been buzzing in her ear, but once she waved the fly away, she thought nothing more of it. The insect was a “new world screw-worm fly,” which generally lay their larvae in the wounds of warm-blooded animals. Once they hatched 24 hours later, the maggots chewed a 12-millimeter (half inch) hole in Rochelle Harris’s ear canal. The ordeal didn’t cause any permanent damage to Harris and, surprisingly, the incident made her less squeamish about bugs.
British youth worker Keith Brown was traveling to London from Ethiopia with his wife when he was detained by customs officers while connecting in Dubai. He was found to have cannabis on his person, was arrested on drug possession charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison. He had 0.003 grams (0.0001 oz) of cannabis stuck to the bottom of his shoe. This is about the size of a grain of sugar—not nearly enough to have any psychotropic effect. Fortunately for the 43-year-old father of three, he was pardoned and released early on in his sentence. The UAE is notoriously tough and unyielding on drug crime—a German national was imprisoned for carrying over-the-counter jet lag pills that are legal in Dubai, and a Swiss traveler was reportedly jailed for having poppy seeds on his clothing after eating a bread roll at Heathrow Airport.
In 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel told her mother she was spending spring break no more than 32 kilometers (20 mi) from their home in Rochester, New York. Instead, she headed to the party town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with her boyfriend and friends. While there, she went to the Blue Water Hotel to visit a friend who was staying there. She stayed about 10 minutes, then walked out of the hotel lobby at 9:00 PM, never to be seen again. Surveillance cameras caught her entering and leaving the Blue Water, but offered no other clues.
The following day, her cell phone signal disappeared. The signal was later tracked to a swampy area, sparking even greater fears for Brittanee’s safety. The area was searched extensively, but nothing was ever discovered. Police interviewed the friend she had visited at the Blue Water Hotel, who had somewhat suspiciously returned home to Rochester that night at 2:00 AM, and searched the room of a person of interest at another hotel, but no concrete evidence or trace of Brittanee Drexel was ever found. Brittanee’s mother eventually moved from Rochester to Myrtle Beach to feel closer to her daughter and to stay involved in the investigation.
Widower Gary Lutes wanted to share his love of caving with his two sons, Buddy (age 13) and Tim (age 9). In June 1990, he drove with the boys from their home in Florida to explore the New Trout Cave in West Virginia. They set off into the cave wearing headlamps and carrying a pack of supplies including food, water, and extra headlamps. After 305 meters (1,000 ft), they reached a section known as “The Maze,” full of jagged rocks and tight spaces. Fearing the pack would become a hindrance, Lutes left it behind, intending to return in the half hour he estimated they had left in their headlamps.
After only a few minutes, the boys’ lamps burned out. Lutes decided to return to the pack, but soon realized they were lost. Lutes’s lamp died and the family was plunged into darkness. Gary and the boys were trapped in the cave for five days with no food, water, or light. They began hallucinating, retching from the soot left over from past mining operations in the cave, and Gary developed chest pains. On the fifth day, the family was rescued after a nearby resident alerted authorities that the car had been parked outside the cave for days.
The National Cave Rescue Association questioned why Lutes carried just one pack into the cave only to leave it behind and said that as an experienced caver, he should have known better: “This rescue should never have taken place. Gary Lutes violated every rule that the NSS and the rest of organized caving preaches to each and every one of us: Carry three sources of light each! Tell someone where you are caving and when you will return!”
While vacationing in Florida, two 17-year-old teens from Indiana were seriously injured while parasailing in a horrific incident that was caught on video. As wind speeds increased due to an incoming storm, the operator of the boat made an attempt to bring the girls down—only to have the rope snap, leaving Sidney and Alexis strapped in and at the mercy of strong winds. Horrified onlookers saw them sail overheard, screaming, heading straight for an apartment building. They slammed into a balcony, where building residents tried to grab onto them, but the wind was too strong. They hit nearby power lines and crashed into a parking lot, landing on a windshield and shattering it.
Sidney Good suffered brain trauma and cracked vertebrae and will suffer long-term health issues including vision problems. Alexis Fairchild had a broken back, head trauma, and serious lacerations, presumably from the car windshield. The incident sparked fury at the lack of safety regulations for water sports companies.
While traveling in Indonesia with her boyfriend, 23-year-old British beauty therapist Cheznye Emmons had to be rushed out of the jungle when she fell seriously ill and was unable to see. Arriving at the nearest hospital five hours later, she was put into an induced coma. Emmons, her boyfriend, and a friend had purchased a bottle of alcohol from a local shop with an original label reading “Gin” and had several drinks. It was later discovered that the gin had been removed and replaced with cheaper home-brewed methanol, which can cause seizures, kidney failure, blindness, and death. Five days after the incident, when it became clear that Emmons would never recover, her parents made the heartbreaking decision to turn off their daughter’s life support. The store was investigated and shut down. Potent home-brewed alcohol is a serious problem in Indonesia—in 2009, 25 people died in Bali after drinking a local spirit tainted with methanol.
In 1980, the Chamberlain family was camping at Uluru (then known as Ayer’s Rock) as part of a large group. As night fell, Lindy Chamberlain placed her nine-week-old daughter Azaria into their tent. Some time later, screams erupted as Lindy discovered Azaria missing, blood on the tent, and dingo tracks nearby. The initial finding in 1981 was that Azaria had in fact been taken and presumably killed by the wild dogs. However, authorities and the public found it difficult to believe that the animals would come into a camp and attack without provocation and so suspicion fell onto the parents. The next year, Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of the murder of her daughter and sentenced to life in prison while her husband Michael was charged as an accessory.
Lindy served three years in prison, until Azaria’s bloody jacket was found near a dingo lair and she was pardoned and released. In 2012, after extensive investigation bolstered by reports of other attacks by dingoes on children, a coroner finally ruled that a dingo was responsible for Azaria Chamberlain’s death. The story has inspired books, a miniseries, an opera, and most famously the film A Cry in the Dark starring Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain.
Tech editor James Kim, his wife Kati, and their two young daughters set off from Portland, Oregon the day after Thanksgiving 2006, heading for the southern coast. After missing a turnoff, the Kims followed what looked like a shortcut on their map, but was in fact a treacherous road over the mountains. After realizing the route was impassable, the Kims attempted to back their car out, but were unable to do so. They spent the night in the car, only to wake up surrounded by deep snow: They were stranded. The Kims ran the car engine to stay warm and burned tires after the gas ran out. Katie Kim breastfed Penelope, four years old, and Sabine, seven months. After several days, James Kim decided he had to go for help. He set off, saying he would return shortly if he couldn’t find a way out. He never made it back to the car. After nine days, helicopters hired by James Kim’s parents discovered and rescued Kati Kim and her girls.
The body of James Kim was discovered in a creek two days later—he had walked several miles through a steep canyon, but sadly ended up only one mile (as the crow flies) from his family’s car. Tragically, if he’d walked a mile in the other direction, he would have found an empty lodge packed full of food and supplies.
Caroline Coupe is a passionate world traveler who thankfully has no travel horror stories of her own. An avid photographer and aspiring writer, Caroline recently launched her travel blog, LoveLiveTravel and can be found on Twitter at @lovelivetravel.
]]>Most famous vacation spots suck. It’s just a fact. They used to be great but time and opportunism have reduced them all to expensive, crowded, commoditized versions of themselves. Nowadays taking the family to see Mount Rushmore is not so much about admiring the megalithic majesty as it is about taking a photo, buying a shirt, complaining about parking, heading home, and editing out the crowd of tourists in the photo.
That’s not to say that there aren’t hundreds of amazing sights, activities, and memories waiting for you on your future vacations, just that those good times aren’t exactly where they used to be. New must-see spots pop up all the time while the old standbys march past their prime. Here are ten of those so-called must-sees that aren’t worth the hype, i.e., ten of the worst vacation spots in America.
For an entire century, Atlantic City was one of the premier vacation destinations for American families. In the 1910s-1930s, its newly-erected hotels were flooded with guests who flocked to its beaches and famous boardwalk. Even the post-WWII hardships caused by the explosion of suburban homes with private pools didn’t kill the city. The addition of legalized gambling revitalized it and rebranded it as the East Coast Las Vegas. And it stayed that way until the turn of the century beat the once-proud city into a pulp.
With Las Vegas on the rise and an economic recession in full swing, Atlantic City started to die in the 2000s. Five of its major casinos closed, jobs dried up, and the city currently has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. It’s just sad to be there. The skyline is darker than it used to be and so are the city’s prospects. A last-ditch revitalization effort was recently nixed due to the pandemic, and its city council president recently described the future as a potential “Armageddon in Atlantic City.”
For country music fans, Nashville is a must. It’s the undisputed home of country music and one of the nation’s greatest musical hotspots. Walking down its neon-lit streets, music-lovers can hop from bar to bar, catching all of tomorrow’s greatest singers on their way up to stardom. Well, in theory.
In reality, the Nashville that people picture is just one tiny downtown area surrounded by miles and miles of suburbia. “The Music City” is really just “The Music Half a Mile and Lots of Strip Malls.” You can walk the whole main drag in a few hours and be done with that city. And sure, there are some great neighborhoods to live in, but not to vacation in. Nashville is better as a one-night stop on your way to somewhere better.
Manhattan’s Empire State Building is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. It was also the tallest building in the world for 39 years. It’s perhaps the single most central component of the already spectacular New York City skyline. This is ironically why the view from atop it is pretty disappointing.
One of the main reasons to reach the top of one of the world’s tallest buildings (only 49th?!) is the view, especially in a metropolis like New York City. Except for the view from atop the Empire State Building is A.) not even atop it, just the 86th floor unless you pay extra, B.) obscured by crisscrossing safety rails, and C.) has no Empire State Building in it. Combine that with the insane price per ticket and multi-hour wait time and you get a tourist trap that is entirely skippable.
Let’s be clear: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is super fun to visit if you’re a music fan, especially if classic rock, first wave psychedelia, or guitars are your thing. The reason the Hall of Fame is one of the worst spots to visit is entirely because it’s in Cleveland.
Cleveland, Ohio is nicknamed “The Mistake by the Lake” for a reason. The city is incredibly poor and as a result, the crime rate is staggering. It has four times the violent crime as the national average. It’s rated more dangerous than 98% of American cities. Its pollution problem is so bad that its rivers catch fire. Though Drew Carey once got us all to sing that Cleveland rocks, the parody phrase Cleveland sucks has easily become the more popular slogan.
Alien lovers rejoice! There’s a mecca for xenophiles on Earth and lucky for us Americans, and it’s just a stone’s throw from Albuquerque, NM. Any sci-fi-loving family is in for a treat at the UFO capital of the world. Roswell is famous for being the country’s most active hotspot for UFO activity… wait. Depending on the metric, that’s actually either Washington or Vermont. Well at least Roswell is home to the infamous Area 51… no wait, that’s about 700 miles away in Nevada.
Okay, well, at least Roswell is the site of the most famous UFO incident in history, the 1947 Roswell incident. It’s in the name! Except that crash was about 75 miles north of Roswell and closer to Corona or Albuquerque. What is Roswell famous for again?
The family road trip is an American staple. And because every corner of the US is dotted with monuments and landmarks that recount its history, road trips can be as educational as they are fun. What better way to start or end such a fun family trip than at Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims famously first landed on the Mayflower, beginning the first settlement of America. Oof, where to begin.
As just a random rock only mythically associated with one of many European colonies, there are better fake monuments to stop for.
Take everything I said about Roswell, replace the words’ aliens’ and ‘UFOs’ with ‘stars’ and ‘celebs,’ and you get Hollywood. Millions visit Hollywood every year for the chance to bump elbows with a-listers, apparently not understanding that if you were a celebrity, that is the last place you would ever hang out.
Can you imagine if Harrison Ford actually spent his days patrolling around his footprints on the Walk of Fame? You wouldn’t want a picture; you’d want to find him a hobby and a therapist. Instead of actors, Hollywood is full of overpriced shops, homeless people, desperate failed actors in Spider-Man costumes, and oh yeah—thousands of other tourists.
Malls are really in their own renaissance right now. Because online shopping was never invented, malls have only gotten bigger, better, and more alive. Oops, it’s the opposite, and malls are dying left and right. Most that are still around are left with empty storefronts and abandoned sections that make them look like a George Romero movie. But even the best and most vibrant of them, like the Mall of America, are still just malls.
Even the best mall in the country is still just a mall with the same stores as every other mall—just more of them. Is it really a vacation destination just because there are two Sephoras instead of one? Do you really need to visit the Gap, Aeropostale, and L.L. Bean back to back? Don’t you have enough fleece vests? Won’t that Sbarro taste the same as every Sbarro? Making a lame thing bigger doesn’t make it a vacation.
Not much needs to be said about Times Square. The fact that it was ever considered a sight to see is baffling. It is an intersection with a lot of advertisements. That’s it. Sure, there are shops too, but they sell M&M’s in less crowded places, trust me.
I suppose you could go during the New Year’s Eve ball drop, but be prepared to wait ten hours in a standing-room-only crowd with a diaper on because there is no other way to pee.
Disney World might be the single most famous vacation destination in the world. In several ways, it’s the best place ever, especially if you can suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to commit fully. Disney World is where dreams come true. But those dreams come at a price. A few dozen major prices, actually, which you’ll pay constantly and all at once.
For one, there’s the actual price. To spend one week at Disney World as a family of four, it will cost as much as a car. Not a new car, but definitely not an old one. While you’re there, everywhere you go is screaming kid after screaming kid. And everything they sell there—which is everything not bolted down—is designed to make kids scream even more. That includes the food, which is just sugar on fat on sugar.
And everything has a line. You’ll walk half an hour to then wait an hour for a three-minute ride so you can walk another half an hour to wait another hour, etc. Probably worst of all: it’s in Orlando. Orlando is its own pocket dimension ruled by meth, mosquitoes, and violent crime. Yes, it’s fun seeing Mickey Mouse, but not in exchange for half a year’s salary, 20 pounds, and a novel strain of malaria.
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