My Worst Journey

Source: Ryan Wu en Unsplash

My worst journey was last Christmas when it took me 50 hours (without much sleep) to get from Madrid to my hometown in Scotland. But it is too long a story to tell here.

My worst car journey was from Madrid to Bilbao in February four years ago. A friend of mine was going to Bilbao on a business trip and invited me to join him there at the weekend. He flew there during the week and lent me his car to drive up to meet him.

I don't like driving much as I often get stressed out behind the wheel. However, I thought the journey would be worth it because I had never been to Bilbao before. I was looking forward to the weekend.

I began to worry after seeing the weather forecast for that weekend. It warned that there was going to be heavy snow in the north of the country and advised against travelling. But my friend was already in Bilbao so I felt I had to go.

I set off, quite apprehensively, early on Saturday morning. The motorway was empty as most people had heeded the warning not to travel. It took me no time at all to arrive in Bilbao. It was then that my trouble began.

At first there were only a few snowflakes. I started to see more and more cars abandoned at the side of the road. I was soon driving in a blizzard but I was too frightened to stop. I thought it was better to persevere. If I stopped, I wouldn't be rescued for many hours. There came points when I could only see a few metres in front of me. I was relieved to see the red tail-lights of a car. I was determined to follow the tracks made by the car in front.

I eventually escaped the storm and reached Bilbao.

Looking back, it was a treacherous journey; one that I should never have made. I doubt that I would even be able to attach the snow chains to the wheels.

Needless to say, I let my friend drive most of the way back to Madrid.

I remember reading in the paper the next day about those that abandoned their car. They were rightly angry because they had to pay at the tolls when continuing their journey.


What has been your worst journey? Was it by air, road or rail?

Comments

Natalia said…
My worst journey was by plane. My boyfriend and I bought a ticket at "viajar.com" website to go to New York, with a stop in London, flying before with Iberia and then with Virgin. As the tickets weren't from the same company and the stop was too short, after running like crazy to reach the check-in desk, we couldn't get the Virgin flight on time (only for 3minutes, I almost killed the Virgin attendant) and had to wait for hours at the airport to see if we could take another flight, which we couldn't. We had to stay at the Ibis Hotel and go back to the airport next morning to take another flight! Due to this problem, when we got back to London from the USA, Virgin had cancelled my ticket to Madrid (I still don't know why, it was only my ticket, not my boyfriend's) and we missed this flight too!!!!
It was really a nightmare!
Graham said…
My worst journey was by plane too. The initial letter of complaint was contained in six full pages. I thought it'd be quicker to write a post about my worst car journey.

... with a stop in London, THE FIRST LEG with Iberia and THE SECOND with Virgin.

I love getting away on holiday and I'm looking forward to going home at Xmas. But I dread flying because something usually goes wrong.

C u tomorrow!
Cristina Jaurrieta said…
Cristina Jaurrieta- My worst journey was not by plane but by bus. It was a year ago when I started my experience as an au-pair in Ireland. I had just arrived to the airport and the only thing I knew was that I had to catch a bus to arrived to my host family's town, where they would pick me up.
I easily found the bus stop, the only problem was that I had to wait two hours the bus to arrive. I was completely alone at the airport, carrying my heavy suitcase wherever I went and hugely nervous. Besides, it was 8:00 p.m. so the sky wasn´t just blue. On top of that, my mobile phone was run out of battery...
When the bus arrived, I got on the bus and charged the battery, so that I could phone my host family and my mother. It was a long way home, and with so much dark outside I found difficult to get to know where I had to get off the bus and of course, I didn´t know where I was. I really wanted to cry when the bus driver started to drive so fast and made me feel dizzy. Hopefully, a kind woman who I had asked told me politely where I had to get off.
That was set off on the wrong foot...
brigida said…

My worst journey was to Croatia. I went with two close friends of mine and some friends of them. Everything was right until we got to Croatia airport. We had rented an apartnment in Dubrovnik. The girl who had done the arrangements with the owner and had his mobile number, the address and the driver´s mobile number, flied to Dubrovnik from Frankfurt. Her plane was supposed to arrive forty minutes later than our. So, in the beggining it was a short wait. But really, she lied us and she arrived three hours later than us. We had to wait for her in the tiny and bored Dubrovnik airport. Fortunately, we had cards!!

We went to Dubrovnik in our summer holidays. I expected to go sightseeing but too go to the beach and go out at night. But was It impossible because this girl had another plans for us; wakin up at 7:00 am and, obviously going to bed early.The situation was so unbearable that one day we decided to split our plans: some of us went to know the beaches and creeks and others went on a trip to Montenegro.
Graham said…
Hi Cristina,

I didn't realize that you were an au-pair while you were in Ireland. Was it an enjoyable experience or did it turn out to be a nightmare?


... I had just arrived at the airport and the only thing I knew was that I had to catch a bus to get to my host family's town, where they would pick me up.

I easily found the bus stop, the only problem was that I had to wait two hours for the bus to arrive. I was completely alone at the airport, carrying my heavy suitcase wherever I went and extremely nervous. Besides, it was 8:00 p.m. so the sky was no longer blue. On top of that, my mobile phone was running / had run out of battery...
When the bus arrived, I got on the bus and charged the battery, so that I could phone my host family and my mother. It was a long way there, and with so much dark outside I found it difficult to see where I had to get off the bus and of course, I didn´t know where I was. I really wanted to cry when the bus driver started to drive so fast and made me feel dizzy. Luckily, a kind woman who I had asked told me where I had to get off.

That was starting/getting off on the wrong foot...

It's good to see you using expressions like the one above though I don't think it's correct in this context. Did you make a bad impression?
Graham said…
Hi Brigida,

I've been to Croatia twice. Once we stopped off in Zagreb on the way to my brother's wedding in Bosnia, while the other time we stayed in some coastal towns. We didn't make it as far south as Dubrovnik. Did you go to any of the islands? I have heard they are quite beautiful.


My worst trip/holiday was to Croatia. I went with two close friends of mine and some friends of theirs. Everything was going fine until we got to Croatia airport. We had rented an apartment in Dubrovnik. The girl who had made the arrangements with the owner and had his mobile number, the address and the driver´s mobile number, was flying to Dubrovnik from Frankfurt. Her plane was supposed to arrive forty minutes later than ours. So at first we thought it would be a short wait. But really, she had lied to us and she arrived three hours later than us. We had to wait for her in tiny, boring Dubrovnik airport. Fortunately, we had cards with us!!

We went to Dubrovnik for our summer holidays. I expected to go sightseeing but also go to the beach and go out at night. But it was impossible because this girl had other plans for us; waking up at 7:00 am and, obviously going to bed early.The situation was so unbearable that one day we decided to split our plans: some of us went to explore/discover the beaches and creeks and others went on a trip to Montenegro.


brigida said…
Yes, I went on a kind of "sailing ship" to three islands. I enjoyed a lot and Dubrovnik shore and beaches reminded me to Palma de Mallorca. Visiting the Wall is whorthy. In the end, it wasn´t so bad journey ;)
Graham said…
Hi Brigida,

It's useful even to write a short comment - I've spotted four mistakes.


... I enjoyed it a lot and Dubrovnik shore and beaches reminded me of Palma de Mallorca. Visiting the wall is worth it. In the end, it wasn´t such a bad journey.


I wouldn't mind going back to that part of the world and exploring the islands.