Red Hat Trip

These short and interesting travel stories will make you laugh!
From crazy travel stories about bathroom accidents, to interesting stories about language barriers, to wild travel stories that take you to the wildlife park, this list will definitely make you laugh.
I even attached a video to share my strangest experience as a sofa guest.
Before rolling, I suggest you pick up your favorite drink and sit down comfortably, because we have 16 interesting travel stories to help you smile on your face.
After reading, welcome to share your best travel story in the comments below!
Short and interesting travel stories — also true!
1. Classify into embarrassing travel stories
One of my most embarrassing funny stories happened when I was backpacking in South America — especially in the 4 × 4 During the trip.
This trip will take you through the desert for three days, and you will see some extraordinary scenic spots, such as the pink lagoon where flamingos search for food, the abandoned train cemetery, and the most important and world-famous Uyuni Salt Field.
During the trip, you share a car with four or five other people.
Once, I sat in the front seat and the car became very hot. Our driver can’t speak English, but I can speak good Spanish — or at least I think I do.
“Estoy caliente!” I said, looking straight at the driver. What puzzled me was that instead of rolling down the window, he looked frightened Or confused?
I decided that my New York accent might be confusing him. “Estoy caliente!” I said again, this time with an accent that I think sounds more like a native. He looked more frightened — cut off — confused.
Suddenly, a native Spanish speaker in the car spoke from the back.
“Well, I don’t think you want to tell the driver that you are hungry, are you?”
Obviously, the way I say “I’m hot” literally translates into, well, another meaning of this sentence. When my face turned red, I decided that I really didn’t need to open the window, but just sat quietly and tried to disappear by melting on the car seat.
However, when it comes to learning language while traveling, embarrassing mistakes can certainly become a great teacher. In addition, I can add this to my list of funny holiday stories to share at the party.
Jesse Festa, Jesse is on the road
2. My craziest sofa guest story
This is one of my most interesting travel stories.
For this anecdote, part of it is an interesting travel story, and part of it is a horrible travel story.
By the way, if you like crazy and interesting travel story videos like this, please be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the ringtone icon, so that you will be notified when future videos are released.
I have recorded some shorter travel stories and plan to release them in the next few weeks.

Bob Marley and his friends exchanged greetings outside the tent in the Sahara Desert of Morocco. The photo was taken by Daniela Franco.
3. An unhappy night with Bob Marley
During the trip to Morocco in 2015, my husband and I stayed in the Sahara Desert for several days as a member of the tour group.
I rode a camel for the first time and spent the night in a Bedouin tent in the desert. I was extremely excited. I don’t know that I am going to experience the longest and most unpleasant night in my life.
When we started riding camels, I hung upside down on the saddle, one foot in the air. My camel, Bob Marley, decided to stand up before I could get on the saddle.
When our Bedouin guide pushed me onto the camel’s back, I grabbed the saddle. Bob Marley gave a grunt of disapproval and we rode away. I thought my journey would be very bumpy; But except that the camel named after Jimi Hendrix in front of me had a stomach of anger, it turned out to be a very pleasant journey.
After dinner, I improvised a few drums by the campfire, and my husband and I went back to the tent and had a good sleep. Our bed is just a mattress on the carpet.
Although I wrapped myself in several thick blankets, I was shaking from head to foot. My husband immediately fell asleep, and so did the rest of our group — from the snoring in the air.
Two hours later, I was still awake — and cold.
Fortunately, the snoring began to weaken, and I gradually fell asleep, only to be awakened from my sleep by a very loud and unusual sound. It sounded like a roar, followed by a very terrible smell.
I tried to continue sleeping, but someone or something began to chew loudly. Then there was another moan, another unpleasant smell, and more loud chewing. This situation lasted at least another two hours.
After feeling like an endless night, I looked at the time. To my delight, it is time to get up and watch the sunrise. I stumbled out of our tent, picked up a cup of freshly brewed mint tea, and dragged my sleepy body out of the Bedouin camp.
There, Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix and the whole caravan were stationed outside the tent where my husband and I spent the night. Bob Marley made direct eye contact with me. I can swear that I found a proud smile on his face.
-Daniela of the irascible camel

Beautiful Sapa, Vietnam. The photo was provided by Zach and Julie Ruhr.
4. Trying to urinate on a bumpy bus
If you like love stories in travel, there is a humorous turning point in our honeymoon travel story.
When we spent our honeymoon in Sapa, Vietnam, we had to fly to the big city of Hanoi.
From Hanoi, we can take bus, train or rental car to Sapa. Because we were cheap, we decided to take the bus. Furthermore, we booked an overnight bus trip so that we could save one night’s accommodation reservation.
We showed up at the bus station at 11:30 p.m. and were ready to leave at midnight. Everything went well. We got on the bus and arrived at our bed, which was a row of five large plastic beds without cushions. But we got a blanket and settled down in an uncomfortable bed for the night.
At about 3 o’clock in the morning, I woke up and wanted to urinate. When we were on the highway, the driver only spoke Vietnamese, so I couldn’t tell him the fact that I had to pee.
During the riot, the driver also noticed that there was a payment problem with our reservation. My sober husband is trying to solve this problem.
I still have to go. It has become an emergency. The bus is still reeling along the highway in Vietnam. It was 3:15 in the morning, my bladder had burst, and my new husband was trying to have a Google Translation conversation with the driver to clarify our reservation.
I tried to express my urgency in the conversation translated by Google, but failed. All I got was a bottle from my husband.
A soda bottle? What should I do with it? The mouth of that thing is the size of a thumb. I’m not Jason Bourne aiming at urination.
Realizing that I have few choices, I try to use this bottle. After some awkward operations, I opened the gate. As you might have guessed, I peed in the bed And my husband’s bed.
Fortunately, the sound of urine spraying on the plastic bed did not attract the attention of any neighbors or bus drivers. In other words, he deliberately ignored this point.
After finding out the reservation problem, my husband returned to his bed and found that the lake water had formed in the middle of the bed.
After a shock and suppressed laughter, we cleaned it up with a blanket, and then went on an extremely uncomfortable journey for three hours, and finally stopped at Sapa. We couldn’t leave the bus quickly.
On the positive side, this is our favorite interesting story about travel, which can be shared.
-Zach and Julie, from The Road of Ruhr.

At the scene of the chest incident, there was a relatively easy time. Photos provided by Justine Jenkins.
5. The time I gave my chest massage in Morocco
Massage and spa should be peaceful, soothing and calm. But what happens if you want to enjoy a relaxing hot spring experience in another country without doing a survey?
You may find yourself swimming in your underwear and massaging your chest, which is your case.
When my husband and I were in Morocco, we decided to have a traditional Moroccan bath massage in our hotel All kinds of funny things follow
First of all, the staff asked us to take off our clothes. They only spoke French, so there were many crazy gestures.
Then we were taken to a room where we could directly see a woman being rubbed in the nude.
No robe, no door It’s all kinds of nudity. We were shocked and immediately began to think. “Wait… is this what Türkiye’s bathroom massage looks like?”
Fortunately, it is not in our case, but it is not much better.
We put on our underwear because we actually thought we were just receiving a pleasant back massage like that in Britain.
We are wrong.
We were taken to a steam room, wiped with mud in front of strangers, and then asked to wash off. Next, we found ourselves swimming in a saltwater swimming pool. All this is done when we wear our daily underwear.
Finally, we arrived at the massage section. We were separated and I was asked to take off my clothes completely.
When I lay on my face, it was good, but then came a decisive word.
Flip
Yes, then I found that my chest was massaged by a completely stranger! This is my story.
The moral of this story.
Do your research well. Do not wear underwear to Morocco, Türkiye bathroom massage. For safety, you can choose swimming equipment.
-Justin of the World Wanderer

Camping in Serengeti — it looks calm in the morning. Photos provided by Jennifer Coe.

6. When nature calls, really
I have many interesting stories about travel, but one of my favorite stories happened in Serengeti.
Now, there are many wonderful things about camping in Serengeti.
This is a relatively affordable way of hunting. You will meet other adventurous people. You’re camping in the damn Serengeti! Like, hello, how cool!
However, this type of wildlife park may have one or two bad places For example, I don’t know what is outside the tent at night.
Personally, I really don’t want to face hyenas — or anything else — and I know they may be there. My way to avoid it is not to drink too much water in the daytime. Apart from the bathroom, nothing can attract me to leave the tent at night.
Well, one day I was thirsty and drank more water than I should.
What about the result?
You guessed right — I wanted to pee around 3:00 in the morning.
Let me take you back a few hours ago to the afternoon. That night, we camped in a place shared with some park keepers. Earlier that day, the forest rangers brought a goat to the camp. I thought they were going to take the goat farther away. I didn’t think so much.
Well, guess what’s the dinner for the rangers?
goat.
That night, in the safe tent, we could hear the hyenas eating the leftovers. This is really creepy.
This also means that I absolutely know that the hyena is in the camp, between me and the bathroom. Well, by 3:00 in the morning, I had no choice. I cared more about hyenas than about my bladder.
However, we were strongly warned not to go out by ourselves. So I asked my friend if she wanted to take risks. She said no and suggested that I go back to bed.
I tried, I really did. An hour later, I asked her again, “Issa, do you want to take risks?”
Her answer did not change.
Just behind our tent is the dining hut and a hill. I feel very desperate. Really, my bladder is going to explode. I went to the back of the tent and did my job on that mountain.
After that, I went back to the tent. There was no place near the campfire or where the hyena was. I’m safe! I was not eaten or attacked by anything. Basically, I am a superman.
The next morning, we were packing up for the day’s hunting activities. The guide casually asked us if we heard the voice of the lion the night before.
No, we didn’t hear them. Obviously, they are nearby.
Where are their nests?
It’s on the other side of the hill behind the camp.
This story will definitely be included in my crazy and interesting adventure story list.
-Jenny in Where Jenny Goes

Lindsay is in Moscow. Photos provided by Lindsay Poors.
7. Naked and confused in Moscow
I thought I knew everything about Russian banyan trees — until I found myself lying naked and sweating on a table in Moscow. There were 12 naked women of different ages in front of me. They were strangers to me, and were whipped by a kind but very strong woman named Olga with several birch branches.
And I have actually paid the price for this beating. This is all part of the experience!
In short, Banya is similar to a sauna. But the biggest difference is that there is high humidity in “Banya”, while the air in the sauna room is very dry. For more than a thousand years, they have been a part of Russian life.
Another interesting aspect of Banya, Russia, is the use of birch branches (venik) for whipping. This should be good for your health and improve your immune system. To be honest, if you have a person who knows what you are doing, it really feels good.
When I signed up, I knew that I would probably be whipped naked — I had done it in a private bathhouse before; However, this is my first time in a public bathhouse. I didn’t expect to be shown to people in other bathhouses during the whipping process. I imagine it will be more, ah, private?
But I was there, naked in front of everyone, beaten by Olga, who shouted orders in Russian I think it should be like this: “Now, turn it over! Lift your leg!”. Raise your leg! Cover your chest! Move your ass down again! ”
In fact, although I don’t know what she is talking about. So she gave up and just began to pull me and move my naked body parts to the place they needed — which made everyone in Banyari very happy, and they did not stint their laughter.
Olga hit/massaged almost every inch of my body with a branch. Then, once she finished, she took my hand to a shower area, asked me to sit down and poured a bucket of cold water on my head. Then there is a bucket of warm water, and then another bucket of cold water. After that, my body was completely shocked! At this time, I found that my body was so fragile.
Needless to say, this time Banya’s experience is easier than my previous experience; However, I still feel like a millionaire after finishing, and I will definitely do it again.
-Lindsay, from “I can travel with clothes”.

Priya Wen and her family are in Santa Barbara, California. The photo was taken by Priya Vin.
8. A traveller’s story beyond the world (literally)
When the weather starts to warm, we like to spend a few days on the beach. In fact, any beach can be used, but Miami has a special place in our hearts. We even have a favorite hotel near the beach, where we always stay.
After a few days of idleness on the beach and spending too much time walking on the boardwalk during a trip, we decided to go for a ride.
We rented a car and drove to Key West. Our plan is to enjoy the scenery on Highway 1, perhaps taste lime pie, and then return, but the result of this day is more unforgettable than that.
This is an amazing driving, and our eyes have been staring at the window. The scenery is beautiful. It feels like we are driving on the water.
It takes about three hours to drive from Miami to Key West on the beautiful coastal overseas highway. When we approached Key West, suddenly, Mr. Suburb — my husband — stopped the car, picked up his camera, and ran out to look at the sky — leaving me looking at him blankly.
After several minutes of observation, pointing to a shining object in the sky, he was quite excited to announce that he had found a UFO. I should mention here that my husband likes his sci-fi movies and UFO programs — such as the Blue Book Project — and believes that we are not alone.
We finally got back to the car, stopped at a nearby store and asked others in the parking lot.
“Do you see that shiny thing in the sky?”
The man looked up and casually replied, “You mean the weather airship?”
We later learned that what we saw in the sky was “fat Albert”, or a version of the radar airship used by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to monitor the shipping situation here.
The shining object in the sky is not a UFO or an alien spacecraft, but a weather airship. This is one of the short and interesting travel stories. When we talk about our travel, we always mention this story.
At the beginning of the story, a child said, “Remember the time when Dad thought he saw the UFO?” It always made us laugh.
-Priya, from outside the suburbs

Dominica’s road trip in Spain has become a common thing. The photo was provided by Dominique Bass.
9. Unhappy travel experience with ghost shrimp in Spain
A few years ago, my family and I went on a wonderful trip to Andalusia, Spain.
We spent several hours traveling by road in the best places in the region, enjoying Spanish cuisine, such as fresh seafood and delicious agricultural products. Buying food in the local market is definitely a highlight of this trip.
In order to travel around, we rented a car from a recommended company. We were lucky to have received a better car than the standard we ordered. It is a well-equipped van with keyless unlocking, automatic door and large interior space. I must say, quite luxurious.
During this week-long trip, once we opened the door and saw a terrible smell. We almost fainted. Our first thought is that something must be dead inside.
We noticed that the odor came from the trunk. It turned out that the night before, a little liquid leaked out of the bag containing fresh shrimp.
We tried to clean the trunk with the cleaning supplies in the rented apartment. Then we found some self-made methods to eliminate the smell. In desperation, we even tried a freshener specially designed for the smell of livestock.
However, unfortunately, the ghost of dead shrimp still exists. In the next trip, we opened all the windows while driving.
Before the last day, we went to the gas station. I suddenly ran to the store to look for car freshener. My mother was decisive and tried to talk with the staff — here we are Polish, she can only say a few words in Spanish.
She pinched her nose, made a sign to tell, and then said “Carpet.”. The service staff began to laugh, but luckily he understood her. After a while, he came to our car with a huge professional atomizer and sprayed all the interior. We are very grateful because the problem seems to have disappeared.
But the terrible smell reappeared the next day; It was the day we left.
Early in the morning, we left the apartment and went to the car rental company. We are nervous about what the employees of the car rental company will say about the smell. We are also wondering whether the insurance will cover such an event.
Fortunately, while waiting for the service, we locked the car in the parking lot of the rental company, which was the last time the car key driver worked. At that moment, the battery was dead. The representative of the car agency failed to open the car.
As it was early in the morning, the main office with spare keys was still closed, and this person was only responsible for parking. He noticed that we had bought the full car insurance and only asked if we had added fuel tank.
When we got home, we found that the car rental company sent an email thanking us for using their service. So we think that this peculiar smell is within the insurance coverage. Although we were very embarrassed about this incident at that time, we can look back and smile.
The moral of this story.
Be sure to buy full insurance. You never know when the shrimp will decide to run away.
-Dominic, Sunday from Wonderland

Tarak explores Beijing by rickshaw
10. Accidental massage
I have worked in Beijing for many years. I often go to a place called Dragonfly for massage. I like it very much. Once, I was in an unfamiliar area of Beijing and wanted to have a massage.
The local dragonfly massage shop is too complex and far away, so I decided to go elsewhere and try something different.
I remember seeing that there seemed to be a massage shop a few blocks from where I lived, so I walked over. This place doesn’t look exactly like the SPA place I’m familiar with.
I think this should be my first warning.
There are pictures of smiling women in the window. I think they are all kinds of massage therapists. Blue and red flashing neon lights adorn the outside.
To be honest, I feel a little uneasy, but I think it’s just because I’ve never been there before. I know from experience that many times, in a strange culture, things may feel strange, but once you dive into it, you may find a wonderful new experience or place, or pleasant food you have never tasted.
With this in mind, I went in.
In it, I tried to convey to the waitress what I wanted to massage. I rubbed my shoulder with my fingers to imitate the massage. She disappeared into a dark room and soon returned with another woman. She asked me some questions in Chinese.
I repeated my pantomime, and the two women had a long and warm conversation behind the curtain. I don’t understand what’s in it.
Finally, they took me to a small room with dim light, and there was something I thought was a massage table in the middle. I undressed and lay face down on the table as usual.
A woman came in and began to massage me. This is not a good massage, but it must be enough. An hour later, the lady said that the massage was over and gave me a cup of green tea. I paid the money, gave the lady a tip, and then returned to my hotel.
The next day is Monday. Everyone came to the office to discuss their weekend. I told my colleague about my massage.
“Oh! Don’t tell me you went to Dragonfly all the way?” a colleague asked in surprise. I explained my massage experience at the spa a few blocks away.
After determining the specific location, they told me that it was a high-end brothel. Everyone was very funny about my behavior. I think they are still laughing.
-Tarak in Traveling with Tarak

Adam on the hammock in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The photo was taken by Adam McConnell.
11. Hanging hammock novice
In 2009, I spent a semester studying abroad in Cuba, which was actually my first international trip.
There are many beautiful places in Cuba. Perhaps the best is the tenacity and creativity of the people in solving problems and in the absence of what we take for granted.
In fact, I have to learn some of these skills by myself.
Shortly after our arrival, I bought a hammock at a craftsman’s market in Havana. I can’t wait to hang it, and there is a pair of perfect trees in the courtyard of our apartment hotel.
There is only one problem. I can’t find the rope anywhere. I must have gone to five hardware stores. No rope found.
Finally, I picked up a few pieces of cloth and old wires in a clearing. Now I think I can go.
After returning to the hotel, a security guard helped me solve the problem — thanks to the kindness of strangers — I settled down with Cuban Free Wine and my book, and enjoyed the relaxation in the hammock for the first time. until….
Bang! “。
About 10 seconds later, the cloth of the hammock broke, and I lay on the ground, covered with rum and coke.
Together with my new security friend, we tried again several times to keep it hanging. I also fell several times.
My two classmates were obviously very happy outside the window, and even made videos of these failed attempts. Fortunately, this video was lost or deleted before it was shared with the whole group.
Not discouraged, I ventured out and found some thicker cables. With this, I finally succeeded in hanging up the hammock. I even took it around most of the island and hung it on the porch of my hometown in the United States with the same cable in the next few years.
The experience I learned is that perseverance is very important. Before trying to drink in the hammock, you must check whether your hammock is stable. If you are not sure, make sure that no one is watching outside the window.
-Adam of the Cartagena explorer

Mattey and his traveling companions are in Death Valley. The photo was provided by Maathai-Haruska.
12. Road travel with a stubborn mouse
This is an adventure travel story in Death Valley National Park. My friends and I think its name is because there is nothing to live there.
We are wrong.
When cooking dinner at the camp, one of us came up with an idea to open all the doors at night to release the foul air inside.
This is not a good idea.
The next morning, we packed up everything and were ready to find other places in Death Valley. Suddenly, a mouse jumped on my leg! “I said.
“Children, we have a mouse in the car!” I screamed.
My brother turned to me incredulously. “What are you talking about?”
I got a similar look from Yakub. He nervously asked, “Are you sure?”
The mouse soon disappeared, leaving me trying to make the rest of the people believe me.
However, the truth came out the next morning. Yakub grabbed a bag of spaghetti and began to sprinkle it on the trunk of the car. The mouse must have bitten a hole in it.
Now they believe me, so we began to carry out the task of driving the mouse out of the car.
Our first plan is to download some mobile applications that produce squeaky mouse sound. In the evening, we turn on everything possible and turn the volume of our mobile phone to the maximum. After a period of time, we were all going crazy because of the terrible sound. On the other hand, the mouse doesn’t mind at all, and I can only imagine that it is laughing at us quietly.
In the morning, we found more mouse damage — a leaking bucket soaked half of our stuff, and the mouse ate my earphone. In addition, we began to worry about the power problem of the car.
We decided to go to Wal Mart to buy a mousetrap next. Before going to bed, we carefully filled the clip with cheese and spread them evenly on the car, eager to see if we caught the mouse in the morning.
Unfortunately, when we woke up, they were all empty — and we found more holes in the packed food. There are spaghetti everywhere!
Obviously, if there was enough food in the car, these traps would be meaningless to her.
On the other hand, we understand this mouse. She may not have seen so much food in her life in Death Valley, and suddenly there was such a big feast! Which mouse doesn’t want to explore such a paradise for rodents?
Before we arrived at Yosemite National Park, she traveled more than 600 miles with us. This trip brings new hope to our struggle.
Bears grab 130 cars in Yosemite every year, so every camping site has a bear box. So we completely unloaded our car. Every crumb was removed.
This is our last hope. If it doesn’t work, nothing can work.
We set a trap and went to bed. She appeared in the morning, one of the fattest mice we have ever seen. We all agree that she may have just experienced the most wonderful “all-inclusive travel” in her life.
-Maathai from the Czech world

Malawi fishermen who came to rescue Jacqui. The photo was provided by Jacques Hale.
13. Accidental fall into the water where crocodiles are found
If you are looking for interesting adventure stories, but also a bit scary — even travel disaster stories — this story is suitable for you.
In 2010, when we visited Malawi on a land trip across Africa, wildlife park tourism did not really rise.
Health and safety are not the main considerations, and there must be a big gap between them and our wildlife parks in South Africa, Tanzania and Botswana.
When we arrived at Lionde National Park in the south of Malawi, we were very excited because we knew it was a good place to observe elephants.
We rely on our camp to reserve a canoe adventure for us. Fortunately, we found a large number of elephants – and even hippos – along the coastline as soon as we started.
The leader on the canoe behind us suddenly shouted to our guide. Then there was an unexpected collision, and we were thrown out of the canoe.
Our canoe was overturned by a hippo! In the next time, we were all confused.
The next time is vague. Fortunately, the local fishermen saw the riot and came to help. We know there are crocodiles and hippos in the water, so we want to leave as soon as possible. We managed to drag ourselves into the fishermen’s canoe, and then were rowed back to the shore.
Surprisingly, no one was injured. We are very grateful to the local fishermen. While we were drying our bodies, we were shocked to be asked to pay the travel expenses. They finally agreed to reduce the fee by 50%, and we paid with the wet paper money in our wallet.
In those days, we didn’t travel with smart phones, so it was a little difficult to find a reputable travel company.
Usually, some experience can be learned from these travel stories. Now, we suggest to search for reputable travel companies on Google, although like all wildlife exploration, we always look forward to accidents! ”
-Jacquie, from “backpackers”.

14. Be remembered by TSA
In the past three years, I have traveled from the Kansas City Airport about every other week.
Before I left home, I cleaned the refrigerator and put any fruit that would deteriorate into a storage bag.
I have TSA pre-check, but I know it is easier to take it out of my wallet and put it in a trash can, and it will not be questioned.
Last summer, when I was passing, the X-ray inspector said, “Hey! It’s Strawberry Girl!”
Then the other three cheered up and waved to me.
Apart from that day, it was peach slices. I think I let them down.
-Katy-Butwell, Katy-B travel network

Teresa walks in front of the town hall castle in MonteCour-Fromonville. The photo was provided by Teresa McKinney.
15. Confusion of French towns
In 2019, my husband and I traveled to France to attend the wedding of my former exchange student, Chris Taylor.
On the second day after the wedding, we set out from the hotel and went to the small village of Monkul-Fromontville to participate in a luncheon for close friends and family.
Shortly after arriving at the small village, we happened to pass by Chris Taylor’s family and gathered in a small parking lot. We want to know whether we should stop, but they don’t seem to have settled down, and Google Maps continues to guide us.
We continue to drive forward. Finally, Google Maps did one thing. It said that you have arrived, but you look around and don’t know where you have arrived.
My husband and I are very confused. According to the invitation, the destination is Chateau de la Mairie de Montsourt-Fromonville, but there is no relevant address. When I entered it on Google, I found it was a city hall.
Looking around, we did see a castle-style building in the distance, but it seemed too fancy for a luncheon. In addition, will Chris Taylor really hold a luncheon at the City Hall?
We turned around and decided to go back to the parking lot where we first saw Chris Taylor and her family. Of course, when we got there, there was no one outside. We approached a residential building nearby and thought that the lunch might be held in someone’s personal residence there, so we inquired around.
Unfortunately, there is no sign of gathering in this quiet building. As we walked away, I heard a voice behind us saying, “Bonjour”.
Turning around, I found a woman I had never seen in my life. I didn’t know how to explain our obvious prying behavior in French.
“Nous cherchons une fete”。 (We are looking for a party)
The woman continued to stare at me.
“Pas ici?”
The woman shook her head and said “No” with a puzzled look on her face. Feeling her eyes falling on us, we left immediately to avoid further harm from my limited French.
Depressed, we followed Google Maps back to the castle building that looked very lovely. Now we see more cars there, and we think maybe this is the place.
When we parked our car outside the “City Hall” of the castle, our guess was confirmed, where we finally found Chris Taylor and her family.
We are very grateful that this is a small village. Otherwise, I don’t know how many bad French I have to stumble through before I find the luncheon!
-Theresa, from “Fueled by Wanderlust”.

Stephanie Craig is in Mostar.
16. Accidents on the mountain
One of my most interesting holiday stories happened a few years ago. My brother and I decided to drive from Oklahoma City to Mount Wichita Wildlife Reserve to see if we could take pictures of the bison living there.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find any bison, but we did find some very irascible longhorns! We drove to the tourist center, where we saw a lot of bison.
We drove to the tourist center to know where the bison is now, but we couldn’t leave the car. There is a small group of about four long-horned cattle around to see what. When we approached to see what was so exciting, we realized that two teenage bulls were fighting and their horns were locked! We want to watch the fight because it is a good phenomenon.
We want to watch this battle because it is so interesting — and not what we expected — but when one cow almost hit another cow into our car, we know it is a mistake.
We absolutely don’t want to be trapped outside without the protection of a 2000-pound off-road vehicle and have to be with them, so we drove away.
But I will never forget the feeling in my stomach when I realized that we might have a car accident and be hit by a longhorn, not the other way around.