(Photo above: A girl awkwardly ruins my photo)
I’ve had a few “Awkward Travel Moments” in my past few years of traveling and have heard of a few as well that I am sure we can all relate to. Please share yours in the comments.
- You are sleeping on a plane in the aisle seat and you wake up to your single serving friends crotch in your face as they try to climb over you to get to the washroom.
- That moment when you walk into a “spa” in Iceland / Jordan / Turkey / Istanbul / Insert name – wearing your bathing suit and everyone else is stark naked looking at you oddly. (for a post full of similar hilarious awkwardness from Adventurous Kate click HERE)
- That moment when you are trying to talk with someone and neither of you quite speak each others language so the conversations consists of a lot of head nods and yes’s and no’s and then you suddenly realize you have agreed to do “something” you didn’t mean to agree to.
- When you mistake a fellow traveler for being from their “rival” country/city and they get way over the top offended like and Australia / New Zealand, Canada / US or Munich/Berlin.
- Putting the wrong soap in the hostel washer and only realizing after its been turned on and causing a ruckus. ( Candice Walsh)
(Photo above: Me pretending to not be pleased with this girl ruining another photo of mine haha)
- When you are traveling solo and decide to take a photo of yourself in front of that famous thing and a stranger offers to take it for you. However when you see the crap job that they did you wait until they walk away to try it again by yourself but they linger and don’t leave and you awkwardly start taking more photos of yourself in front of them not wanting to wait for them to leave.
- Falling asleep on crowded public transportation and waking yourself up by making a loud sleep noise / drooling / head bobbing just to see everyone staring at you.
- Jumping on to the subway / tube because you got excited that it was there, you don’t want to miss it and it must be the one you need and then as it starts to move you realize its going in the wrong direction.
- Sipping something you are meant to chug like Kava in Fiji or chugging something you are meant to sip like Sake in Japan. Eating with your fingers when you are supposed to eat with a fork, asking for a fork when you are suppose to eat with your fingers.
- Staying in a mixed hostel dorm and walking in on someone changing or them walking in on you.
What awkward travel moments have you experienced while traveling? Please share in the comments! :)
~Cailin
36 Comments
Marcy
December 28, 2011 at 9:56 amGreat list! I was so beyond exhausted during the 24-hour trip to get to Thailand (counting layovers). At one point this kid behind me kept kicking the back of my seat every couple of minutes as I began to nod off. I turned around and yelled at him and his mother. A little later, I became convinced it was turbulence, and the poor kid hadn’t been doing anything.
Cailin
December 28, 2011 at 11:49 amMarcy I would totally of done that too haha
I have yet to get mad and say something to a kid but I am very good at giving bad looks haha
Dalene
December 23, 2011 at 6:34 amI often turn walk and talk expecting that Pete is right beside me, only to find that it is a random stranger and Pete stopped to take a photo awhile back. I have to stop doing that.
Cailin
December 28, 2011 at 11:48 amOr Pete has to stop stopping on you! haha I’ve done that one once or twice I feel your pain :)
Nat
December 21, 2011 at 11:19 pmWe were staying in a small village in France and frequented the local restaurant a few times while we were there. The owner was great and told us stories about his family. Our last night we stopped in to say goodbye and in Quebec French I told him we were sorry we had not met his wife. Well in France French I was telling him we were sorry we had not “known” his wife as in the biblical sense. I realized what I had said when I saw his face. Now that was awkward!
Cailin
December 28, 2011 at 11:48 amhaha oh foreign languages, I cant even begin to think of the awkward things I’ve said to people haha :)
Yvonne
December 21, 2011 at 6:02 pmI’m Swabian not Bavarian and Munich is crap and Berlin is the holy city. How often do I have to tell you this young lady?
LOVED YOUR POST!
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:23 pmhahaha Yvonne! My remark about Munich and Berlin was just for you ;)
AlexBerger
December 21, 2011 at 11:57 amThe cultural collisions between the sexes in hostels always make me chuckle! Great post!
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:24 pmhahaha nice way of putting it, thanks for the comment Alex :)
Sally
December 21, 2011 at 10:35 amLOVE this.
Probably my most awkward travel moment was on a bus in Malaysia. The bus was full, except for the seat next to me as I was the only person on the entire bus traveling by myself. The bus driver didn’t know this and thought I was traveling with a friend so when he spotted the empty seat next to me after we were leaving one of the many pit stops, he stormed down the aisle and started pointing at the seat & yelling at me, “Where’s your friend!” Everyone had turned around and was staring at us, so I was trying to say very quietly that I was traveling alone. He didn’t understand so he just kept on yelling at me until finally I screamed, “I don’t have any friends!”
Umm, yeah, awkward.
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:25 pmhahahaha that is an awesome story! yet so unfortunate haha thanks for sharing Sally :)
Brooke
December 21, 2011 at 6:29 amUgh I hate the one where you fall asleep and do the head-bob thing or when you’re woken up on the plane and the flight attendant is asking you questions, but you have no effing idea what is going on or where you are for a minute. So awkward.
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:28 pmSo true Brooke! I have also had more than one flight attendant purposely make a lot of noise around me to wake me up on purpose wtf? and then you say ficken instead of fish or chicken haha
Dave Hartley
December 21, 2011 at 4:58 amThat moment when you fall asleep on the plane an hour in to a 15hour flight and you wake up to find the middle age woman next to you staring at you while she strokes your face!!
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:29 pmDave, can’t say I’ve experienced that one… haha
Pete Heck
December 21, 2011 at 4:33 amHa! Excellent post. Our most awkward moment was when we walked into our 4 bed dorm room in Edinburgh and this couple were going at it. It was pretty quiet after that…
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:30 pmPete, that might just top the cake of awkwardness!
Heather
December 21, 2011 at 1:11 amClassic! I must say the strangers-taking-photos one, only a Canadian would want to wait until they were gone! lol!
Here’s another one for you:
A guy in Vietnam wanted to be more than friends, I wasn’t really feeling it and turned him down. We ended up hanging out with him and his friends for the next week. He wouldn’t talk to me for most of it. That was a fun one!
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:31 pmHeather is that a Canadian thing? haha I just want to avoid awkward moments at all times haha
thanks for sharing that would be very awkward too!
Amanda
December 21, 2011 at 1:00 amHaha, love it! (Especially the photo ruiner pic.)
I’ve got an awkward one for you: Offering to show someone you met on a random tour around a city you used to live in, only to find out they have no desire to see the city, but would rather shop. So you make up an imaginary lunch date to get away from them, and then run into them 3 times within the next hour…
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 10:32 pmOMG Amanda that would of been extremely awkward haha thats a “slap your forehead” kind of awkward moment haha
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 12:44 amUgh, Amanda I can only imagine how unfortunate that might of been! Things like that make for great stories though don’t they? :)
Amanda Kendle
December 21, 2011 at 12:20 amOh wow, have definitely done quite a few of these. Especially the “yes, of course”, nod, etc when I only half understand the language and suddenly discovering I have agreed to something I shouldn’t have. (I’m vegetarian and had to eat a whole steak because of that once!!)
Abby
December 20, 2011 at 11:36 pmYou’re amazing….
Cailin
December 21, 2011 at 12:43 amhahaha thanks Abby! I think you are quite lovely myself :)
Tawny @ Captain and Clark
December 20, 2011 at 8:03 pmHaha your photo bomb pictures is epic!!! We’ve had some awkward travel moments for sure. Love taking a 6 hour bus ride through the Korean countryside and being woken up by the Korean man sitting next to you, eager to show you pictures he took of you sleeping on his phone. … strange.
Cailin
December 20, 2011 at 8:20 pmThanks Tawny. I have another one where I am pointing at her too haha my sister was laughing quite hysterically as she took the photo.
That is extremely awkward – were the photos attractive at least? Did he allow you to delete them? haha
Hogga
December 20, 2011 at 7:37 pmWhy is SU being weird and not letting me stumble this?
Anywhoo, you’re hilarious and I likes you.
Cailin
December 20, 2011 at 8:18 pmthanks! You’re ok too ;)
Joslin
December 20, 2011 at 2:46 pmI love this cringe-worthy list! The Italians are always gesturing and pointing when trying to communicate with me. Then that awkward moment hits when they realize I’m absolutely terrible at charades. We kind of just smile politely and shrug at each other.
Cailin
December 20, 2011 at 8:17 pmCharades in your own language is one thing but in another language totally different! hahaha ;)
Adventurous Kate
December 20, 2011 at 1:25 pmHAHA! Great list! Another awkward moment from my year was when a random naked dude was knocking on doors in my Liechtenstein hotel at 6 AM! WTF?!?!
Cailin
December 20, 2011 at 8:16 pmthanks Kate! My question is…. Did you let him in? ;)
Gerard ~ GQ trippin
December 20, 2011 at 1:06 pmYeah. One time I remember yelling Deutschland instead of Dutchland to these guys I met from Amsterdam in Rio. You can imagine I got a weird look.
Cailin
December 20, 2011 at 8:16 pmhaha easy mistake, but some people get so angry don’t they? haha