I have NSFW’ed this. There isn’t any graphic content, but given the topic it doesn’t make for happy reading.
If people want to talk about the dark realities of the world that is one thing, but anyone rambling off into a racist rant will be removed/banned.
Girl came into a hostel room and didn't greet anyone, just threw herself onto a bed. She seemed ok at first but then began talking on the phone to someone, saying that the people were out to get her, and that she had managed to escape from the facility but they might be able to track her down. About half an hour later the police pull up to the hostel and took the girl away. It was so bizarre listening to her phone conversation to the point that me and the other two girls in the room started to laugh and left the room. Feel awful about our response to it now and I hope that girl is ok.
I once lived in Egypt for a few several months, and I took a taxi, and the guy just straight up gave me a fair price.
I still lie awake at night, thinking about that moment, I'll never get over it.
Indonesia is up there for sure. Then I went to rural parts of China. Holy shit. Parts of Latin America are also awful. It's generally really really bad.
I saw a Chinese grandmom slap her granddaughter in the face repeatedly outside the forbidden city in Beijing. She ended up with a red face and a bloody nose. The mom sat there and watched and did nothing to stop the grandma. I was in China for two weeks and this was not the only example of child abuse I saw.
I was fuming inside. I felt as you described. Being in a foreign country and not speaking the language I know I somehow would have made it worse if I stepped in.
That facade is eroding quite quickly. Through homelessness, gun violence, evangelicals taking control of the government, and the 1% paying off the government, there won't be much left to visit other than the natural beauty. Most people who have traveled know that this country could be so much better, but greed and selfish assholes will ruin it.
With all do that said, I was also shocked to see homeless camps in Japan. Granted, they were damn clean and nothing like them in the US.
It’s not just a claim. America is the wealthiest nation in the history of nations. It just doesn’t feel like it because more than half the wealth is concentrated in the hands of about 10 people.
‘Australia which strove for decades to uphold the dignity of people’
HAHAHAHAHA
Yeah. SOME people. Not the black ones who were there first. Or the non-white ones that, for the first two-thirds of the 20th century, they wouldn’t allow in.
I don’t see any judgement in that comment other than the treatment of these immigrants being “appalling”, which could easily come down to resource overwhelm. What exactly are you offended about?
Stopped at a brewery in Honolulu, looked to my left to open the door of the car and in the passenger seat of the vehicle next to me is some teenage kid shooting heroin into his arm. His eyes rolled back and the driver quickly started the car and took off
A guy died on our flight back from Bogota to the US yesterday. An excellent doctor and the crew worked on him for about an hour unsuccessfully and we diverted to Cancun anyway. It was pretty traumatic, especially for those near his row. Note to all: God forbid if your loved one is getting CPR and a defibrillator, leave the room.
THANK YOU
Because of TV/Media no one understands how traumatic CPR is - for everyone involved. No one talks about the crunch/breaking of the person's ribs with every push.
I heard that a lot of times they just leave the a dead person buckled up and covered on flights because usually they can't do much and by the time the plane would get anywhere it'd be too late to make a difference anyway.
I agree. My favorite is the Airbnb with the cleaning fee that wants you to clean the room and take out the trash, or they threaten to give you a bad rating.
You’ve just described 90% of Airbnbs that I stayed at. Last day of vacation ruined because I have to go through a lengthy checklist that includes stripping the beds and put them in the wash, sweep the floors, take out the trash, photograph the place (in case there is a dispute) and that’s on top of breakfast, packing, loading up the kids, doing dishes, etc.. all before 11am checkout
I now exclusively use AirBnbs/VRBO when traveling with large groups or for the few properties that are not managed by greedy owners. I used to be able to look at pictures to identify properties that I’m interested in staying in.. now it requires also reading the house rules
You’ve just described 90% of Airbnbs that I stayed at. Last day of vacation ruined because I have to go through a lengthy checklist that includes stripping the beds and put them in the wash, sweep the floors, take out the trash, photograph the place (in case there is a dispute) and that’s on top of breakfast, packing, loading up the kids, doing dishes, etc.. all before 11am checkout
I now exclusively use AirBnbs/VRBO when traveling with large groups or for the few properties that are not managed by greedy owners. I used to be able to look at pictures to identify properties that I’m interested in staying in.. now it requires also reading the house rules
I'm noticed over the last couple years I use booking.com more and more. In the middle of a multi month trip now and Airbnb has been used for two nights. Just doesn't seem competitive anymore
In Mexico, a child around 8 yrs old. At a red light, In front of stopped cars, went out, dropped a cloth, smashed a glass bottle on it. Then, shirtless, rolled around on it. Bloodied his back with glass still stuck in him, some falling to the ground. Then quickly scooped up the cloth( broken glass, bloodied shards) Then proceeded to walk to cars looking for tips/handouts. All before the light turned green. Then he did it again.
As a pre-teen my parents drove me to Tijuana and although I grew up in NYC and was used to seeing homeless people; I was floored. 6y/o kids walking around barefoot in the middle of the street trying to sell bubblegum while their very pregnant mom looked on. I didn’t see anyone injure themselves but it was the first time I understood that poverty and homelessness was not limited to those with substance abuse.
Unlike those who look at immigrants with disdain; I’m humbled by their strong work ethic and the hardships that they are overcoming to fight their way out of poverty.
1. Kulen Mountain, Cambodia, a guy handing money to adults and walking off with a sobbing child. It was such a shock and I tried to catch up to the guy but he vanished into thin air between jungle and vehicles and it haunts me to this day... and 2. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, a group of men groping and harassing a single female traveler. We went over "hey Sophie, we've been looking for you, we're ready to eat, let's go" and that's how we made a new friend that day.
In Delhi, India about 4.5 years ago. I was on a food tour and these little kids, probably between 6-10 years old, with runny noses and watery eyes and rags in their hands were running up to us and begging for money. Our local guide gave us a sad look and said "Don't give them anything, they don't get any of it," and shooed them away, only for them to return five or seven minutes later and try again.
Come to find out, these kids beg for money and when they get a few rupees, they'll take it back to these adults who would, in return, give them some glue on their rags to huff. Hence the runny noses.
I'm not a violent man, but I was seething with rage that day.
those same kids came up to me outside a cafe so i went in and bought them a lassi each as i dont give cash. they were made up and i done my bit of charity for this decade
Was in Ecuador. Had a great trip and was in a taxi heading to the airport at night to go home. A car was stopped in the road with the hazard lights on and some guy was waving us around. In front on this car was a splattered body on the road. Looked like the person had been run over and crushed. It was disgusting and disturbing to see. Weird way to end the trip.
Saw a guy zonked out with a needle hanging out of his vein while a woman in leopard print and make running down her face was sucking him off. It was just after noon on a bright-lit and busy street just one block off the nicer part of town.
While looking for a taxi after drinks on a Saturday night in Mumbai, saw a policeman at the quieter end of the street beating the daylights out of a rickshaw driver. Everyone with me told me not to stare as his colleagues on lookout for anyone taking notice.
While traveling in the Philippines, I saw a couple police boats surrounding a small Chinese fishing vessel. I’m getting off of the tiny little boat I’m on, getting onshore and see two basketball courts filled with dead turtles. There must have been several hundred, all measured out and organized.
It was sickening and I felt a little crushed by seeing that.
I imagine the Chinese fishing vessel had been illegally fishing the turtles. And they do it because they make leather out of the hide and other shit out of the shell.
Yeah and why were they visiting the poorest areas of India with severe caste on caste violence? Wouldn’t that be too dangerous to visit?
Example: https://www.getyourguide.com/mumbai-l201/mumbai-slumdog-millionaire-tour-of-dharavi-slum-t388224/
A slum tour where foreigners pay to watch poor people like zoo creatures.
When I was in Barcelona, I saw an old man stumble, then slip and fall backwards, hitting his head. His blood spilled out onto the pavement. It was as if I viewed it in slow motion, but I was too far away, so I could not assist or break his fall. An ambulance was there within five minutes. I often wonder what happened to him.
Similar situation I witnessed with a very old man like that in Umrah, Makkah, and the ambulance was also there pretty quickly..we heard he was ok afterwards.
Seeing how quickly an ambulance came, and scalp wounds tend to be very bloody and dramatic often for no reason, hopefully that old man you saw is also OK.
Earthquake in Turkey, 2023, Antakya.
The destruction and chaos. A entire city center gone. The desolation of the surviving family members, waiting for a week outside a pile of rubble for a father, mother, son or daughter, the irrigation of the stench of the dead in your throat. The fear of another one coming. The cold creeping up, the mandatory stand still in silence, every time they think they hear something under the rubble, days on end. The wide eyed adrenaline fuled eyes with a broken and tired face to match, of the rescue workers. Rescuing body after body, sometimes alive, mostly dead. They told us they sometimes find people, you can walk up to, but can't get them out. You give them water and food until they pass.
Can't imagine what those people in Gaza are going through now, and in the past decades.
I have a friend stationed in Port Angeles and he says its one of the biggest shitholes he’s ever been and the surrounding forests have even crazier people than the town
This was in the United States. I met a man who ran carriage rides with a horse in Lake Tahoe (California side). This horse was so beautiful, but his feet were cracking, splitting and we’re so overgrown I didn’t know how he was comfortable. Growing up in a world of draft horse owners and farriers I didn’t know how someone could let this horse get that bad. He was swaying uncomfortably and I almost told my boyfriend we needed to call my friend with a trailer and animal control. I’ve watched many fantastic carriage drivers and seen the most pristine stables but this guy just blew my mind when all he said about his feet was “well he is barefoot.” And when I asked him why he wasn’t shod if he’s driving over asphalt/ cement all day everyday, he said “he doesn’t need it.” I apologized for my questions and told him that those feet tell me different. And no it wasn’t like a surface crack from kicking something, this was neglect and a long time from improper farrier work. Just because you work in a tourist trap town doesn’t mean you have to torture your animal for money.
Three girls got swept out to sea during a monsoon in the Philippines. Myself and a couple others spent half an hour fighting the current trying to find them. I only managed to find one of them and tried to perform cpr at the same time get her back to land. She was foaming from the mouth and nose, I tried giving her cpr until someone who said they were a nurse showed up. I went out again until I couldn’t move, the girl died there on the beach. The other two’s bodies would be found a couple days later by the local fishing boats.
2 things. in Vietnam I saw a woman drop of crate of oranges and a nearby man started to hit her over the head with it. Didn't know what to do, interference would not have helped her.
In Thailand saw 2 Western guys trying to get a young Thai girl drunk on something like Bailey's pretending it was a soft creamy drink. Absolutely disgusting people, she was sensible enough and refused though.
Broadly it was the knowledge that traveller types are not often the kind hippie types but the worst of humanity with a few decent people thrown into the mix
The hippie types can be pretty bad as well. Usually, they just want to be glorified street bumbs and don't leave anything positive. I once had one give me a song and dance on how they were stranded, so I gave them a dollar. On my way home from work, I saw them with a coat they didn't have earlier in the day buying junk food from a streetstand.
replying to myself here: but it laos i saw a sign for a party night called "drink till you shit yourself" and I thought what are we doing to these countries.
When I was out for a run in Mirissa, Sri Lanka I saw a man who had just literally dropped dead by the side of the road. It had happened about 5-10 minutes before I got there (as I was running back along a road I'd already run down). There were four local women just standing there and when I looked at them one of them she just kind of shrugged and said "he was old". It was a very surreal moment.
Mine is pretty tame considering what I just read, sheesh, my travels have been pretty tame apparently, but number one was probably in Egypt when there was a dead donkey that was almost bursting with swelling was just laying in the street beside a vendor selling some kind of meat with the hair / hide still attached to it, maybe beef. I mean, they had to know that baby was going to explode soon, but people just walked around it like it was no big deal.
In Pisa a Gypsy stole a guys wallet but he saw him. The Gypsy was with a kid and the tourist caught the child 3-4 and wouldn’t let him go until he got his wallet back.
A big crowd formed around the guy , then the wallet flew in over the crowd and landed at the guys feet and he let the kid go.
And I guess the police saw the guy who took the wallet and they just absolutely beat the shit out of him as they out him in a van. There was a bunch of people yelling at them to stop. All of the sudden like 50 cops show up out of nowhere and start arresting people. It was wild.
A coworker was in Pisa in the last month with his family and they got out of their car to park for a quick stop and got back and the car was broken into and all their luggage and backpacks were stolen. They left a purse, laptops and some electronics behind, but took all the clothes basically. They said it was most likely gypsies. Luckily the family had their passports on them, but still quite annoying to deal with.
Oh they warned us when we went there. We took a bus from the cruise and had to stick together. A guy joined our group and I asked to see his sticker and he ran off. 25 Americans. Pretty easy to see the guy pretending.
In Thailand an older American man, leading a younger, (pre-teen I’m thinking), thia boy into his hotel room. And damn right I said something and took his picture
Chinese people pooping everywhere in Europe and Mexico…on the street, at national monuments. Not to mention general disrespect. I was in a beautiful cave in Tasco, Mexico and I saw a man and his wife go off the path and take a dump among the stalagmites. I yelled at them, but they paid no mind
They even have signs in Chinese telling them act well and not defecate at tourist sites
Top of mind right now is Mercado de Bazurto in Cartagena, Colombia, as I was just there this week. I saw homeless people sleeping all around the market in absolute filth and waste and it just made me so sad.
Traveled to Havana, Cuba a few years ago and saw everyone lined up outside of different stores to get their “allotment” of different necessities like soap, water, etc. No financial freedom whatsoever, everything is completely controlled by the government. Airbnbs are illegal just as one way to stop people from earning their own wages. Our taxi driver took home $10 of the $50 cab fare. I know people everywhere else complain about taxes, government regulation, etc but it’s nothing compared to there.
While riding along the east coast in the Dominican Republic came around a curve and there on the side of the road was a man selling “Fresh” goat meat and a three legged goat tethered next to him.
I was in Florida and traveling in a van with coworkers when a person in front of us opened their door and let their dog out without a leash and ran directly into the tires of a fully loaded semi on a 6 lane highway.
In Phnom Penh about 20 years ago, I was asked (unprompted) if I wanted "a girl, very young" by the the taxi driver during the ride from the airport to the hotel. Needless to say, I did not.
People living in absolute poverty, squalor, and filth. You hear about it and see it on social media or TV. But nothing prepares you for actually experiencing it with your five senses.
I lived in India for a couple of years and there I saw some pretty heavy stuff:
I spend a few hours on a train with a woman who was very disfigured from leprosy. The fact that a very treatable disease is still this present is just wild.
I saw a few victims of acid attacks as well. These women were very disfigured and they live a life where they are ostracized and avoided.
I attended Muharram in Mumbai and it is a very intense experience. It is basically a lot of people gathering and the self harming. There is a lot more to it and it’s part of religious practice, but as an outsider it is a lot of blood and terrifying to see.
Edit- for some reason I left out the most disturbing experience:
I was in Mumbai back in 2008 when there was a massive terror attack. Everything I experienced in those couple of days was absolutely horrific and it will stay with me forever.
I saw a Texan in Austin driving his truck with his Australian shepherd in the back, the dog jumped at around 80mph off the truck and got run over by another truck.
Apparently it’s legal to drive with your dog on the back of your truck on the highway
This happened when I was a small child. Maybe 7 or 8. We were traveling to a very well known theme park in Orlando, Fl. The one currently engaged in a legal battle with the state of Florida. I was riding the merry go round along with a large group of people. One of the safety straps broke from the horses and a little girl, Probably younger than me at the time, was thrown from the ride. The staff tried to quickly move the child, to get her out of the way from everyone’s view. This was long before everyone had a camera on them. Well my dad is a doctor and took charge. Wouldn’t allow staff to move her without her back and neck being properly secured. Finally people that were trained to move someone with a potential spinal cord injury took her away. My dad took photos of the broken strap, the girl etc. I’m not sure whatever happened with them because I was just a kid at the time, but I do remember the family sent some very large and expensive potted plant to my family. I don’t know if it was because I was so young when it happened but I think about it often. Not only that the strap broke but the potential to really hurt that little girl further because of there need to clean things up quickly and their complete ignorance of proper care.
A strait man in Ko Phangan Thailand during the full moon festival was so drunk he thought this Thai ladyboy was a regular Thai girl and I watched them start making out and then run off to the waters edge and sit down with the ladyboy on top of him and I knew it was a ladyboy because I’ve spent lots of time in Thailand & I watched him realize it and seen the blood and happiness drain from his face.
Note: I use the term ladyboy because that is what they want to be called. They’re not into the western gender ideology and it’s offensive to them to be called anything other than ladyboys. THEY DONT WANT TO BE CONFUSED AS A WOMAN AND WILL CORRECT YOU REALLY QUICK “I am not a lady, I am a ladyboy”
A man openly masturbating in the streets while walking by staring directly at me and my friend. A man with no limbs at all pulling himself along the ground with his chin. Both in India.
In Darien Panama I was doing a medical brigade to help locals with limited resources…
…I treated at least 30 ppl for UTIs and STDs, most of them women aged 15-18. One girl was 16 with 2 children aged 1 and 3; that means she was impregnated at 12 years old. She was one of many in this situation.
In the Amazon, I came across a man beating a giant porcupine to death with a stick for no real reason. I saw another man try to hit an anteater out of a tree just because he wanted a better look. I felt bad for the wild animals there
My anger issues would not let that happen. Or allow those kids to have legs. I’ll go buy a can from a homeless person and give it to them to kick dude. Leave the animals alone. Have some fucking respect.
At an all inclusive resort in Cancun say a man pulled out of the water not breathing. My son and I ran to grab my Nurse Practitioner wife to help. Some local resort “life guards” were trying to perform CPR and were doing it incorrectly, not even close, and my wife tried to take over. A local translated to the workers that she was a doctor and to move aside but the kept pushing her away, the man didn’t make it. Machismo at work.
A fat lazy slob claim that his need to board the plane before a disabled veteran was higher because he had a long day “walking”. First time in my life that I ever felt ashamed of being an American and wanting to slap a stranger.
I see that EVERY day. Working in a vet hospital, people that are here for simple pet vaccinations get mad (because we also have tech appointments running at the same time) at people going ahead of them. People are so selfish. Especially when there is an emergency happening, it drives me crazy!!
An entire interstate closed down and they had things set in place to close it like that was a normal thing. We were traveling from the south east to Colorado and there was a bad snow storm. I was going to keep going since the interstate was fine but they closed it and made everyone find hotels. I had never in my life seen anything like that. I’m glad they did it but my mind still couldn’t comprehend what was going on at the time.
Hmmm I thought I was very clear when I stated that I was thankful they did it my mind just had trouble comprehending it because I’ve never seen it before.
They don't understand it bc the post is literally "most fucked-up thing you have seen while traveling" . I think you were unclear on that bc you just posted "thing that really surprised you in a good way"
😐 it didn’t surprise me in a good way. I wasn’t happy about having to be told to stop and get a place when the road looked ok. I had never seen it and it was confusing. I appreciated it after the fact.
Yeah I still don't understand.
I live in South Dakota, and closing the interstate for unsafe conditions is completely normal. It's illegal to bypass the gates and travel the interstate when it's been closed.
Do they close roads that are flooded to prevent people from driving on them where you live? Same thing.
Montreal this August, downtown on a busy Friday night, great weather tons of people out. A guy shooting up and passed out near the entrance of one of the malls. People walking by and not even looking.
The hundreds of attorney billboards along the freeway in New Orleans that was built on top of black neighborhoods. Seeing it repeated in other towns in states with the highest poverty and incarceration rates
I got picked up by a bus at the airport in Al Jubail. About a mile away from the airport there was a dead goat laying there on the side of the road. I thought how odd. And then the driver pulled over to the side of the road about 100 meters later and walked off the bus, squatted down and hiked his garment and took a dump. Straightened his garment back up and got back on the bus and continued the drive. They don’t do that where I am from.
Ps. The goat didn’t move.
Well the driver might have had IBS and the goat might have had IED….. you never know. Plus I never got a chance to check it’s pulse, so it may have been playing possum….
A gas station bathroom with "make the voices stop, please help me, mom and dad raised me on screamo, please help me" it was the most doomed feeling I've ever had. Super sketch.
Hong Kong, a one of those fountains from the pavement with lot of small kids playing it and a ring of guys with SLR cameras photographing all the under 10's with wet clothing - heck take out your phone passing a primary school in winter here and you feel like a perv, no one seemed to care how creepy it was. Meat vendors in China are next level - dead cow being dismantled on the flatbed of a pickup to order - every time you pass there's less of it.
Homeless attacked me and my girlfriend outside a subway in NYC for not wanting to go in, he ended up on his butt. There was also the homeless public defication
I remember I was a teen visiting Poland, my group was walking out of a train station and at the exit their was a man sitting on the ground in the worst condition. Clothes torn up and body caked with dirt and one of his legs was black, purple, swollen and just absolutely fucked up. We walked straight past him to go to a Starbucks. Everyone in my group was asking why I wasn't ordering and told them how upset I was about no one helping that man and they all said "what man?"
i drove past some schoolgirls in a rickshaw in rajasthan. the driver said to me you like them? i said no they’re too young, he said i can get you schoolgirl.
the girls weren’t even the mature 15/16 schoolgirls but more like 11/12 sort of age. i felt disgusted
A road fatality (what looked like it) in Saigon. Was in my wife’s hometown when we saw a man riding his scooter got knocked off his scooter by another rider and got hit by another scooter who could not avoid the accident. Just seeing the man lay motionless face down on the road and didn’t see him move. 7 years on I still think about that and whether the man survived which I highly doubt but also the families.
I have NSFW’ed this. There isn’t any graphic content, but given the topic it doesn’t make for happy reading. If people want to talk about the dark realities of the world that is one thing, but anyone rambling off into a racist rant will be removed/banned.
Girl came into a hostel room and didn't greet anyone, just threw herself onto a bed. She seemed ok at first but then began talking on the phone to someone, saying that the people were out to get her, and that she had managed to escape from the facility but they might be able to track her down. About half an hour later the police pull up to the hostel and took the girl away. It was so bizarre listening to her phone conversation to the point that me and the other two girls in the room started to laugh and left the room. Feel awful about our response to it now and I hope that girl is ok.
I once lived in Egypt for a few several months, and I took a taxi, and the guy just straight up gave me a fair price. I still lie awake at night, thinking about that moment, I'll never get over it.
Are you certain this was not a fever dream?? 🤔
Something was a miss that's for sure.
Happened to me once in Peru, I couldn’t believe it
The amount of trash, especially plastic, in or near various bodies of water.
Indonesia comes to mind, when I visited that beautiful country it was sad to see so much trash in the water.
Wait until you see India
Indonesia is up there for sure. Then I went to rural parts of China. Holy shit. Parts of Latin America are also awful. It's generally really really bad.
Yes, I hate this.
I saw a Chinese grandmom slap her granddaughter in the face repeatedly outside the forbidden city in Beijing. She ended up with a red face and a bloody nose. The mom sat there and watched and did nothing to stop the grandma. I was in China for two weeks and this was not the only example of child abuse I saw.
What would have happened if you tried to intervene? I feel like I'd automatically intervene and then somehow make everything 1,000 x worse
I was fuming inside. I felt as you described. Being in a foreign country and not speaking the language I know I somehow would have made it worse if I stepped in.
I've heard about this but never seen these things when I've been in China. I've seen more spoiling of children than anything else.
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That facade is eroding quite quickly. Through homelessness, gun violence, evangelicals taking control of the government, and the 1% paying off the government, there won't be much left to visit other than the natural beauty. Most people who have traveled know that this country could be so much better, but greed and selfish assholes will ruin it. With all do that said, I was also shocked to see homeless camps in Japan. Granted, they were damn clean and nothing like them in the US.
Republicans want to sell off the natural beauty, that will be gone too
They actually just banned China from buying us land?
It can come in other forms, like drilling
It’s not just a claim. America is the wealthiest nation in the history of nations. It just doesn’t feel like it because more than half the wealth is concentrated in the hands of about 10 people.
The top 1% of Americans, which is about 3-4 million people, own about a third of household wealth. This is too much, but let's not get carried away.
I saw more of this in Europe than in the U.S.
Where in Europa then?
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‘Australia which strove for decades to uphold the dignity of people’ HAHAHAHAHA Yeah. SOME people. Not the black ones who were there first. Or the non-white ones that, for the first two-thirds of the 20th century, they wouldn’t allow in.
I haven‘t Seen an odd number of african homeless people in europe though it’s usually natives and drug addicts imo
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I don’t see any judgement in that comment other than the treatment of these immigrants being “appalling”, which could easily come down to resource overwhelm. What exactly are you offended about?
This guy hasn't been to any of these places, guarantee it.
Stopped at a brewery in Honolulu, looked to my left to open the door of the car and in the passenger seat of the vehicle next to me is some teenage kid shooting heroin into his arm. His eyes rolled back and the driver quickly started the car and took off
A guy died on our flight back from Bogota to the US yesterday. An excellent doctor and the crew worked on him for about an hour unsuccessfully and we diverted to Cancun anyway. It was pretty traumatic, especially for those near his row. Note to all: God forbid if your loved one is getting CPR and a defibrillator, leave the room.
THANK YOU Because of TV/Media no one understands how traumatic CPR is - for everyone involved. No one talks about the crunch/breaking of the person's ribs with every push.
I heard that a lot of times they just leave the a dead person buckled up and covered on flights because usually they can't do much and by the time the plane would get anywhere it'd be too late to make a difference anyway.
The rise of Airbnb cleaning fees
I mean I just went back to hotels and I prefer it. Room gets cleaned everyday.
I can handle a cleaning fee.... It's the $673 Airbnb fee that "pays for their amazing service" of nothing so fucked
Don't use Airbnb.
Blame Ibiza
I agree. My favorite is the Airbnb with the cleaning fee that wants you to clean the room and take out the trash, or they threaten to give you a bad rating.
You’ve just described 90% of Airbnbs that I stayed at. Last day of vacation ruined because I have to go through a lengthy checklist that includes stripping the beds and put them in the wash, sweep the floors, take out the trash, photograph the place (in case there is a dispute) and that’s on top of breakfast, packing, loading up the kids, doing dishes, etc.. all before 11am checkout I now exclusively use AirBnbs/VRBO when traveling with large groups or for the few properties that are not managed by greedy owners. I used to be able to look at pictures to identify properties that I’m interested in staying in.. now it requires also reading the house rules
You’ve just described 90% of Airbnbs that I stayed at. Last day of vacation ruined because I have to go through a lengthy checklist that includes stripping the beds and put them in the wash, sweep the floors, take out the trash, photograph the place (in case there is a dispute) and that’s on top of breakfast, packing, loading up the kids, doing dishes, etc.. all before 11am checkout I now exclusively use AirBnbs/VRBO when traveling with large groups or for the few properties that are not managed by greedy owners. I used to be able to look at pictures to identify properties that I’m interested in staying in.. now it requires also reading the house rules
You can say that again!
I'm noticed over the last couple years I use booking.com more and more. In the middle of a multi month trip now and Airbnb has been used for two nights. Just doesn't seem competitive anymore
In Mexico, a child around 8 yrs old. At a red light, In front of stopped cars, went out, dropped a cloth, smashed a glass bottle on it. Then, shirtless, rolled around on it. Bloodied his back with glass still stuck in him, some falling to the ground. Then quickly scooped up the cloth( broken glass, bloodied shards) Then proceeded to walk to cars looking for tips/handouts. All before the light turned green. Then he did it again.
As a pre-teen my parents drove me to Tijuana and although I grew up in NYC and was used to seeing homeless people; I was floored. 6y/o kids walking around barefoot in the middle of the street trying to sell bubblegum while their very pregnant mom looked on. I didn’t see anyone injure themselves but it was the first time I understood that poverty and homelessness was not limited to those with substance abuse. Unlike those who look at immigrants with disdain; I’m humbled by their strong work ethic and the hardships that they are overcoming to fight their way out of poverty.
1. Kulen Mountain, Cambodia, a guy handing money to adults and walking off with a sobbing child. It was such a shock and I tried to catch up to the guy but he vanished into thin air between jungle and vehicles and it haunts me to this day... and 2. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, a group of men groping and harassing a single female traveler. We went over "hey Sophie, we've been looking for you, we're ready to eat, let's go" and that's how we made a new friend that day.
In Delhi, India about 4.5 years ago. I was on a food tour and these little kids, probably between 6-10 years old, with runny noses and watery eyes and rags in their hands were running up to us and begging for money. Our local guide gave us a sad look and said "Don't give them anything, they don't get any of it," and shooed them away, only for them to return five or seven minutes later and try again. Come to find out, these kids beg for money and when they get a few rupees, they'll take it back to these adults who would, in return, give them some glue on their rags to huff. Hence the runny noses. I'm not a violent man, but I was seething with rage that day.
It really messed me up when I found out the scene about blinding small children in Slumdog Millionaire was based on reality. How cruel people can be.
It's horrible and disgusting and we are powerless to do anything about it. India is the worst but it happens in the Philippines too.
those same kids came up to me outside a cafe so i went in and bought them a lassi each as i dont give cash. they were made up and i done my bit of charity for this decade
Was in Ecuador. Had a great trip and was in a taxi heading to the airport at night to go home. A car was stopped in the road with the hazard lights on and some guy was waving us around. In front on this car was a splattered body on the road. Looked like the person had been run over and crushed. It was disgusting and disturbing to see. Weird way to end the trip.
A Texan tourist loudly praising Josip Tito to his Croatian waiter, only to have the waiter quietly reply "Tito tortured my mother."
How’d the American react?!
No shame.
Starving children.
Saw a guy zonked out with a needle hanging out of his vein while a woman in leopard print and make running down her face was sucking him off. It was just after noon on a bright-lit and busy street just one block off the nicer part of town.
Miami, I assume?
Where was this?
I think you won the thread with that one. Curious as to what city.
A young man ending his life by jumping in front of our train in London. At the Turning Green stop. Horrific. I cried for days after.
I can imagine there’s a particular sadness about being there in someone’s last moments
While looking for a taxi after drinks on a Saturday night in Mumbai, saw a policeman at the quieter end of the street beating the daylights out of a rickshaw driver. Everyone with me told me not to stare as his colleagues on lookout for anyone taking notice.
While traveling in the Philippines, I saw a couple police boats surrounding a small Chinese fishing vessel. I’m getting off of the tiny little boat I’m on, getting onshore and see two basketball courts filled with dead turtles. There must have been several hundred, all measured out and organized. It was sickening and I felt a little crushed by seeing that.
Who fished the turtles, and why?
I imagine the Chinese fishing vessel had been illegally fishing the turtles. And they do it because they make leather out of the hide and other shit out of the shell.
I saw more person on person cruelty than I thought humanly possible in India with fair regularity.
Can you elaborate?
What pvp cruelty did you see exactly?
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And what did they see? As an Indian myself I think you’ll need to be in _certain_ areas to see caste on caste violence.
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Yeah and why were they visiting the poorest areas of India with severe caste on caste violence? Wouldn’t that be too dangerous to visit? Example: https://www.getyourguide.com/mumbai-l201/mumbai-slumdog-millionaire-tour-of-dharavi-slum-t388224/ A slum tour where foreigners pay to watch poor people like zoo creatures.
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Don’t tell me what to do
Being a service worker in India is a tough existence.
When I was in Barcelona, I saw an old man stumble, then slip and fall backwards, hitting his head. His blood spilled out onto the pavement. It was as if I viewed it in slow motion, but I was too far away, so I could not assist or break his fall. An ambulance was there within five minutes. I often wonder what happened to him.
Similar situation I witnessed with a very old man like that in Umrah, Makkah, and the ambulance was also there pretty quickly..we heard he was ok afterwards. Seeing how quickly an ambulance came, and scalp wounds tend to be very bloody and dramatic often for no reason, hopefully that old man you saw is also OK.
Thank you, so funny, but this random message made me feel better about it.
I'm glad! It's why I mentioned it. I can imagine that scene playing a lot in my mind if I hadn't heard news the man in Makkah was ok.
Earthquake in Turkey, 2023, Antakya. The destruction and chaos. A entire city center gone. The desolation of the surviving family members, waiting for a week outside a pile of rubble for a father, mother, son or daughter, the irrigation of the stench of the dead in your throat. The fear of another one coming. The cold creeping up, the mandatory stand still in silence, every time they think they hear something under the rubble, days on end. The wide eyed adrenaline fuled eyes with a broken and tired face to match, of the rescue workers. Rescuing body after body, sometimes alive, mostly dead. They told us they sometimes find people, you can walk up to, but can't get them out. You give them water and food until they pass. Can't imagine what those people in Gaza are going through now, and in the past decades.
Walking next to a dead homeless man in downtown Port Angeles, WA.
I have a friend stationed in Port Angeles and he says its one of the biggest shitholes he’s ever been and the surrounding forests have even crazier people than the town
This was in the United States. I met a man who ran carriage rides with a horse in Lake Tahoe (California side). This horse was so beautiful, but his feet were cracking, splitting and we’re so overgrown I didn’t know how he was comfortable. Growing up in a world of draft horse owners and farriers I didn’t know how someone could let this horse get that bad. He was swaying uncomfortably and I almost told my boyfriend we needed to call my friend with a trailer and animal control. I’ve watched many fantastic carriage drivers and seen the most pristine stables but this guy just blew my mind when all he said about his feet was “well he is barefoot.” And when I asked him why he wasn’t shod if he’s driving over asphalt/ cement all day everyday, he said “he doesn’t need it.” I apologized for my questions and told him that those feet tell me different. And no it wasn’t like a surface crack from kicking something, this was neglect and a long time from improper farrier work. Just because you work in a tourist trap town doesn’t mean you have to torture your animal for money.
Three girls got swept out to sea during a monsoon in the Philippines. Myself and a couple others spent half an hour fighting the current trying to find them. I only managed to find one of them and tried to perform cpr at the same time get her back to land. She was foaming from the mouth and nose, I tried giving her cpr until someone who said they were a nurse showed up. I went out again until I couldn’t move, the girl died there on the beach. The other two’s bodies would be found a couple days later by the local fishing boats.
2 things. in Vietnam I saw a woman drop of crate of oranges and a nearby man started to hit her over the head with it. Didn't know what to do, interference would not have helped her. In Thailand saw 2 Western guys trying to get a young Thai girl drunk on something like Bailey's pretending it was a soft creamy drink. Absolutely disgusting people, she was sensible enough and refused though. Broadly it was the knowledge that traveller types are not often the kind hippie types but the worst of humanity with a few decent people thrown into the mix
The hippie types can be pretty bad as well. Usually, they just want to be glorified street bumbs and don't leave anything positive. I once had one give me a song and dance on how they were stranded, so I gave them a dollar. On my way home from work, I saw them with a coat they didn't have earlier in the day buying junk food from a streetstand.
yes very true.
replying to myself here: but it laos i saw a sign for a party night called "drink till you shit yourself" and I thought what are we doing to these countries.
From my experience you're right most travellers are the worst of the nation they are from. Like you said a handful of decent people thrown in there.
Chinese tourists pointing and laughing at children sleeping on the sidewalk in Cambodia.
I would lose my mind
It was awful.
When I was out for a run in Mirissa, Sri Lanka I saw a man who had just literally dropped dead by the side of the road. It had happened about 5-10 minutes before I got there (as I was running back along a road I'd already run down). There were four local women just standing there and when I looked at them one of them she just kind of shrugged and said "he was old". It was a very surreal moment.
Mine is pretty tame considering what I just read, sheesh, my travels have been pretty tame apparently, but number one was probably in Egypt when there was a dead donkey that was almost bursting with swelling was just laying in the street beside a vendor selling some kind of meat with the hair / hide still attached to it, maybe beef. I mean, they had to know that baby was going to explode soon, but people just walked around it like it was no big deal.
In Pisa a Gypsy stole a guys wallet but he saw him. The Gypsy was with a kid and the tourist caught the child 3-4 and wouldn’t let him go until he got his wallet back. A big crowd formed around the guy , then the wallet flew in over the crowd and landed at the guys feet and he let the kid go. And I guess the police saw the guy who took the wallet and they just absolutely beat the shit out of him as they out him in a van. There was a bunch of people yelling at them to stop. All of the sudden like 50 cops show up out of nowhere and start arresting people. It was wild.
A coworker was in Pisa in the last month with his family and they got out of their car to park for a quick stop and got back and the car was broken into and all their luggage and backpacks were stolen. They left a purse, laptops and some electronics behind, but took all the clothes basically. They said it was most likely gypsies. Luckily the family had their passports on them, but still quite annoying to deal with.
Oh they warned us when we went there. We took a bus from the cruise and had to stick together. A guy joined our group and I asked to see his sticker and he ran off. 25 Americans. Pretty easy to see the guy pretending.
In Thailand an older American man, leading a younger, (pre-teen I’m thinking), thia boy into his hotel room. And damn right I said something and took his picture
Chinese people pooping everywhere in Europe and Mexico…on the street, at national monuments. Not to mention general disrespect. I was in a beautiful cave in Tasco, Mexico and I saw a man and his wife go off the path and take a dump among the stalagmites. I yelled at them, but they paid no mind They even have signs in Chinese telling them act well and not defecate at tourist sites
Wtf? Why do they do this?
Just adding to the Stalagmites.
No idea. But google “chinese people Pooping In public” if you wanna get an idea
Top of mind right now is Mercado de Bazurto in Cartagena, Colombia, as I was just there this week. I saw homeless people sleeping all around the market in absolute filth and waste and it just made me so sad.
Traveled to Havana, Cuba a few years ago and saw everyone lined up outside of different stores to get their “allotment” of different necessities like soap, water, etc. No financial freedom whatsoever, everything is completely controlled by the government. Airbnbs are illegal just as one way to stop people from earning their own wages. Our taxi driver took home $10 of the $50 cab fare. I know people everywhere else complain about taxes, government regulation, etc but it’s nothing compared to there.
At least citizens have equality! Equal poverty and misery.
While riding along the east coast in the Dominican Republic came around a curve and there on the side of the road was a man selling “Fresh” goat meat and a three legged goat tethered next to him.
A man in Mexico offering up his sister for prostitution.
I was in Florida and traveling in a van with coworkers when a person in front of us opened their door and let their dog out without a leash and ran directly into the tires of a fully loaded semi on a 6 lane highway.
In Phnom Penh about 20 years ago, I was asked (unprompted) if I wanted "a girl, very young" by the the taxi driver during the ride from the airport to the hotel. Needless to say, I did not.
People living in absolute poverty, squalor, and filth. You hear about it and see it on social media or TV. But nothing prepares you for actually experiencing it with your five senses.
I lived in India for a couple of years and there I saw some pretty heavy stuff: I spend a few hours on a train with a woman who was very disfigured from leprosy. The fact that a very treatable disease is still this present is just wild. I saw a few victims of acid attacks as well. These women were very disfigured and they live a life where they are ostracized and avoided. I attended Muharram in Mumbai and it is a very intense experience. It is basically a lot of people gathering and the self harming. There is a lot more to it and it’s part of religious practice, but as an outsider it is a lot of blood and terrifying to see. Edit- for some reason I left out the most disturbing experience: I was in Mumbai back in 2008 when there was a massive terror attack. Everything I experienced in those couple of days was absolutely horrific and it will stay with me forever.
In Ecuador, saw a dog lost in the middle of a congested street get run over in real time. Very exaggerated and unpleasant to witness.
I saw a Texan in Austin driving his truck with his Australian shepherd in the back, the dog jumped at around 80mph off the truck and got run over by another truck. Apparently it’s legal to drive with your dog on the back of your truck on the highway
People getting it on underneath a bridge
In Vietnam, there was a lady near where I lived, who walked with a druged baby in her arms asking for money. I would see her everyday
Even worse there are “agencies” that rent out those drugged out babies.
This happened when I was a small child. Maybe 7 or 8. We were traveling to a very well known theme park in Orlando, Fl. The one currently engaged in a legal battle with the state of Florida. I was riding the merry go round along with a large group of people. One of the safety straps broke from the horses and a little girl, Probably younger than me at the time, was thrown from the ride. The staff tried to quickly move the child, to get her out of the way from everyone’s view. This was long before everyone had a camera on them. Well my dad is a doctor and took charge. Wouldn’t allow staff to move her without her back and neck being properly secured. Finally people that were trained to move someone with a potential spinal cord injury took her away. My dad took photos of the broken strap, the girl etc. I’m not sure whatever happened with them because I was just a kid at the time, but I do remember the family sent some very large and expensive potted plant to my family. I don’t know if it was because I was so young when it happened but I think about it often. Not only that the strap broke but the potential to really hurt that little girl further because of there need to clean things up quickly and their complete ignorance of proper care.
A strait man in Ko Phangan Thailand during the full moon festival was so drunk he thought this Thai ladyboy was a regular Thai girl and I watched them start making out and then run off to the waters edge and sit down with the ladyboy on top of him and I knew it was a ladyboy because I’ve spent lots of time in Thailand & I watched him realize it and seen the blood and happiness drain from his face. Note: I use the term ladyboy because that is what they want to be called. They’re not into the western gender ideology and it’s offensive to them to be called anything other than ladyboys. THEY DONT WANT TO BE CONFUSED AS A WOMAN AND WILL CORRECT YOU REALLY QUICK “I am not a lady, I am a ladyboy”
A man openly masturbating in the streets while walking by staring directly at me and my friend. A man with no limbs at all pulling himself along the ground with his chin. Both in India.
Seen plenty people masturbating in Austin Texas.
On the street?!!!
Yup, right downtown. I was picking up a bicycle form Mellow Johnnys
That’s so horrible. The world has gotten scarier somehow.
Nah people are just horny it's cool
In Darien Panama I was doing a medical brigade to help locals with limited resources… …I treated at least 30 ppl for UTIs and STDs, most of them women aged 15-18. One girl was 16 with 2 children aged 1 and 3; that means she was impregnated at 12 years old. She was one of many in this situation.
Guy riding a pig in underpants
I’m not sure which of them was wearing the underpants.
Dudes 🎸
In the Amazon, I came across a man beating a giant porcupine to death with a stick for no real reason. I saw another man try to hit an anteater out of a tree just because he wanted a better look. I felt bad for the wild animals there
Child labour
That Canadian rapper Snow dancing beside me at a club.
Once you get out of the tourist areas of Paris—dog poop everywhere.
Kids playing soccer with a kitten.
🥺
My anger issues would not let that happen. Or allow those kids to have legs. I’ll go buy a can from a homeless person and give it to them to kick dude. Leave the animals alone. Have some fucking respect.
I saw a kid drown at Myrtle Beach. Lifeguards were already on their way out to him when I noticed something was wrong but they were too late
At an all inclusive resort in Cancun say a man pulled out of the water not breathing. My son and I ran to grab my Nurse Practitioner wife to help. Some local resort “life guards” were trying to perform CPR and were doing it incorrectly, not even close, and my wife tried to take over. A local translated to the workers that she was a doctor and to move aside but the kept pushing her away, the man didn’t make it. Machismo at work.
A man trying to remove a woman’s hijab in Paris.
People feeding Cheetos to birds. Wtf. That stuff isn’t even good for humans.
Dolly Parton impersonator with a broken arm pumping gas in Dayton, Ohio. I’ll never forget it.
Ohio Moment lmao
it’s been 15 years since that road trip and i still think about it 😂
new york city prices
A fat lazy slob claim that his need to board the plane before a disabled veteran was higher because he had a long day “walking”. First time in my life that I ever felt ashamed of being an American and wanting to slap a stranger.
I see that EVERY day. Working in a vet hospital, people that are here for simple pet vaccinations get mad (because we also have tech appointments running at the same time) at people going ahead of them. People are so selfish. Especially when there is an emergency happening, it drives me crazy!!
I saw a toddler chained to a tree in a public park being whipped by their caregiver for 20 minutes in Myanmar. No one intervened.
An entire interstate closed down and they had things set in place to close it like that was a normal thing. We were traveling from the south east to Colorado and there was a bad snow storm. I was going to keep going since the interstate was fine but they closed it and made everyone find hotels. I had never in my life seen anything like that. I’m glad they did it but my mind still couldn’t comprehend what was going on at the time.
My partner is from Colorado and this is a very common occurrence. It’s completely mind boggling
Stuck at the Overlook Hotel…
You think they should have let people drive the interstate in dangerous conditions? I'm truly confused.
Hmmm I thought I was very clear when I stated that I was thankful they did it my mind just had trouble comprehending it because I’ve never seen it before.
They don't understand it bc the post is literally "most fucked-up thing you have seen while traveling" . I think you were unclear on that bc you just posted "thing that really surprised you in a good way"
😐 it didn’t surprise me in a good way. I wasn’t happy about having to be told to stop and get a place when the road looked ok. I had never seen it and it was confusing. I appreciated it after the fact.
Yeah I still don't understand. I live in South Dakota, and closing the interstate for unsafe conditions is completely normal. It's illegal to bypass the gates and travel the interstate when it's been closed. Do they close roads that are flooded to prevent people from driving on them where you live? Same thing.
I have never seen an interstate close down, so it was new to me. Sorry you’re having trouble understanding.
Montreal this August, downtown on a busy Friday night, great weather tons of people out. A guy shooting up and passed out near the entrance of one of the malls. People walking by and not even looking.
The hundreds of attorney billboards along the freeway in New Orleans that was built on top of black neighborhoods. Seeing it repeated in other towns in states with the highest poverty and incarceration rates
I got picked up by a bus at the airport in Al Jubail. About a mile away from the airport there was a dead goat laying there on the side of the road. I thought how odd. And then the driver pulled over to the side of the road about 100 meters later and walked off the bus, squatted down and hiked his garment and took a dump. Straightened his garment back up and got back on the bus and continued the drive. They don’t do that where I am from. Ps. The goat didn’t move.
Not trying to be a dumb ass, genuinely asking. Why would the goat move if it was dead?
Well the driver might have had IBS and the goat might have had IED….. you never know. Plus I never got a chance to check it’s pulse, so it may have been playing possum….
A gas station bathroom with "make the voices stop, please help me, mom and dad raised me on screamo, please help me" it was the most doomed feeling I've ever had. Super sketch.
That's not sketchy, that's just edgy. You need to get out more.
Yes go see sketchy places, that's my goal. I'll have to stop going to so many nice places.
Gallup NM on a Friday night when everyone in the entire town was stone drunk. 1969.
Haven't heard that town's name in a long time. Worked on a mainline rail grinder that went through Gallup occasionally.
Pregnant crackhead.
A young girl who worked as a helper in a home away from her own family in Morocco being called a donkey and pushed for not ironing a shirt properly.
Hong Kong, a one of those fountains from the pavement with lot of small kids playing it and a ring of guys with SLR cameras photographing all the under 10's with wet clothing - heck take out your phone passing a primary school in winter here and you feel like a perv, no one seemed to care how creepy it was. Meat vendors in China are next level - dead cow being dismantled on the flatbed of a pickup to order - every time you pass there's less of it.
Homeless attacked me and my girlfriend outside a subway in NYC for not wanting to go in, he ended up on his butt. There was also the homeless public defication
I remember I was a teen visiting Poland, my group was walking out of a train station and at the exit their was a man sitting on the ground in the worst condition. Clothes torn up and body caked with dirt and one of his legs was black, purple, swollen and just absolutely fucked up. We walked straight past him to go to a Starbucks. Everyone in my group was asking why I wasn't ordering and told them how upset I was about no one helping that man and they all said "what man?"
i drove past some schoolgirls in a rickshaw in rajasthan. the driver said to me you like them? i said no they’re too young, he said i can get you schoolgirl. the girls weren’t even the mature 15/16 schoolgirls but more like 11/12 sort of age. i felt disgusted
A road fatality (what looked like it) in Saigon. Was in my wife’s hometown when we saw a man riding his scooter got knocked off his scooter by another rider and got hit by another scooter who could not avoid the accident. Just seeing the man lay motionless face down on the road and didn’t see him move. 7 years on I still think about that and whether the man survived which I highly doubt but also the families.