15 Travelers Who Ended Up in a Story to Tell (2025)

• Wearrived atthe hotel, got akey card, and went tothe room, tired. Myhusband opens the door, Igo in, the room isdark and quiet. Wepass the corridor and head tothe room and see ahalf-naked woman sitting onthe bed, and aman islying under the bedspread, theTV ison.
  And atthat moment, our frantic eyes meet her frightened ones. Ofcourse, wehad toapologize and leave the room. Wewent down toreception, grumbled abit about embarrassing another family, and for that wewere given apresidential 2-room suite.©Radanna MP/ Facebook
• Asked for clothes pegs atreception inTurkey. Translated the request through anonline translator and showed ittothem. They askedus, “For women?” And they brought apack ofunderwear. For women.©Marina Durusheva
• Once onatrain (onthe top bunk), Icouldn’t fall asleep for 3hours because the man next tomewas snoring loudly. Istarted toshove him with myfoot, but the snoring was getting louder and louder. Iwas sosick ofitthatI woke upand wanted toyell athim.
  Iopened myeyes and saw the man’s surprised face. Itturned out that itwas the old lady from the bottom bunk.©Overheard/ Ideer
• Wewere flying home from Egypt, security screening. Awoman infront ofmewas taken aside and asked toshow the contents ofher bag. Angry, she dumps everything out.
  But she blushes when the officer picks upsome small object with 2fingers. The woman turns toher son and asks, “Why did you take myscooter wrench with you? Did you need itatthe sea?”
  Itturned out tobeasmall iron wrench— asfar asIunderstood, it’s used tofix some parts. Inthe end, the wrench was not allowed onboard, and the mother scolded her son all the way toboarding.

• Iwas inthe German-speaking part ofSwitzerland, sitting bymyself atanoutdoor café. Aserver came byand askedme, inperfect English, ifI’d like for him toopen myumbrella. Ireplied, “Ich spreche kein Deutsch, sprichst duEnglisch?” Translation: Idon’t speak German, doyou speak English?
  Hestared atme. Istared athim. Since Ididn’t want todine and dash and was physically incapable ofdisappearing into the ground, Ijust said, “Yes, please;” and finished upasquickly aspossible.©Chemical_Egg_2761/ Reddit
• When traveling solo inVietnam, Iboarded apublic ferry inthe lower delta. Inoticed that everyone onboard was white and dressed kind offancy, butI figured itwas just Europeans traveling inSoutheast Asia.
  Then, 15minutes into the ride, someone started pouring champagne and passing itaround topassengers. Iwas impressed with the service onapublic ferry... The person pouring champagne got tomeand gave meapuzzled look asI reached for aglass.
  Itwas thenI realizedI got onaprivate boat. Wehad agood laugh, and they dropped meoff atthe next public ferry dock.©viceadvice/ Reddit
• I’ll always remember our first trip toItaly. Myfriend fell behind the group, taking pictures ofeverything. She had nomoney, nodocuments, and noknowledge ofthe language. Ialarmed the guide and the whole group, wesearched for her, and she, asitturned out, calmly came tothe statue ofDavid strictly atthe agreed time.
  All would benothing, but aday later our guide got down with asudden attack ofulcer, sothe rest ofthe tourI had toact asaguide and interpreter for the whole bus oftourists. Since then, wehave been traveling independently for 20years— weare responsible for ourselves, wedon’t depend onanyone.©coolwolf0/ ADME
• Wehad aholiday inVietnam. Sunbeds onthe beach were for afee but cheap. Awoman about 60years old comes upand asks, “Can Ilie down nearby?” Wedidn’t understand her right and agreed.
  Itturned out that inorder tosave money, she decided tolie down next tomysunbed. Inthe shadow ofmyumbrella. And she stayed there all day. And wecouldn’t even talk properly sothat not todisturb her.©Overheard/ Ideer

• Wewent onholiday with myboyfriend tothe sea sothat wecould celebrate his birthday there. The fourth day ofthe holiday: wewokeup, washedup, went out onthe veranda, and hewas looking atmeinastrange way. Ididn’t pay attention toit.
  So, we’re walking around the city, and heisacting strange. Wegotoacafé, eat, and he’s looking atmeand looking, andI can’t understand what hewants. Then the date isannounced onthe radio.
  Isuddenly realize that it’s his birthday! Ifelt like ajerk for forgetting itsoridiculously. Onholiday, you lose track oftime. Shame... ©Overheard/ Ideer
• Iwas inatiny town deep inthe Pyrenees inFrance just after coming tothe country. Iwas running tocatch atrain and could hear itcoming but couldn’t figure out where the station was, andI started panicking.
  Isaw anolder couple walking towardme, but all ofthe French Iknew flew out ofmyhead becauseI was insuch atizzy. So, basicallyI ran uptothis nice couple and yelled, “Ooh ayelchoo-choo” while making the “pull the cord” motion.
  This nice couple pointed meinthe right direction, but they were doubled over laughing the entire time. Couldn’t blame them, honestly. Made mytrain.©its_car_ramrod/ Reddit
• 5years ago, Istarted learning English from scratch. Itook avery basic course, and then mydaughter surprised meonMother’s Day bygiving metickets toVienna.
  And Iwent toacafé there. There were noseats, people were waiting atthe entrance, and the host announced that atable for one had just become vacant. So, Iraised myhand and said loudly, “I’m single!”
  Ofcourse, Iattracted the attention ofeveryone aroundme. And the host replied inEnglish, “Oh, I’m sorry! ” And escorted metomytable. Then Irealized thatI had made amistake and laughed.©Larisa Volkova

• Ishowed uptothe flight check inand the lady couldn’t find myticket whenI gave her mypassport. She kept trying togointo the system, called 3others over tohelp her and then whenI opened mybooking appI realizedI had scheduled itfor the same day the next month bymistake. Iquietly said, “It’s okay, I’m sorry,” and walked away.©PachaTNM/ Reddit
• Wewere inPoland, went onatour tothe mines inthe High Tatras. The organizers made amistake, and asaresult wedidn’t have aguide. Agirl came out tous and said she could speak Polish, English, Czech, orGerman.
  The first mishap happened atthe entrance, where the helmets were hanging, and itwas written inPolish and English that the helmets are for people taller than 6feet toavoid banging onthe low ceiling ledges. Only the tall people didn’t get the helmets: the mothers grabbed them all and put them ontheir children.
  Then they got indignant that they couldn’t understand anything, soI started totranslate tothose standing next tome. Everyone happily decided thatI was the translator, and after awhile they started telling mewhereI shouldgo, because the guide had already moved ontothe next location, andI was still staring atthe clusters ofdruzes.©Fruitcake/ ADME
• Ithappened 30years ago. Back then, air tickets were sold without seat assignment. The planes were not asfull, asthey are now. Iflew often and liked tochoose seat 4Gbythe window. And toprevent anyone from sitting next tome, Iput mybriefcase onthe neighboring seat.
  And here comes achubby woman and asks metoremove mysuitcase, asshe wants tosit next tome. Ishow her afew unoccupied rows— she doesn’t care, “Iwant tosit here and that’s it!” Ihad toget upand move toavacant row toavoid ascandal. Like, what was that? ©Viktor Shulakov/ Dzen
• Wecame tothe beach with our children, the eldest is3years old. Hewas strictly forbidden togointo the water withoutus. Atone point, hecomes upwith awet head. How so?
  Hesays: aboy poured water onhim. Wedeveloped the film, printed the photos and were stunned. I’m posing with the younger one, and inthe background the older one issquatting and pouring water onhis head from atoy bucket.©Eugenia B/ Dzen

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