Bombs to Breakups: 4 Things That Have Happened to Me While Traveling

In December of 2008, protests erupted across Greece after policemen shot and killed a 15-year-old boy. The protests were centrally focused on Athens and involved thousands marching along the streets -- which in turn lead to the burning of Christmas trees and scuffles between university students and police.


It was that December, when I was just 18 years old, that I joined a small group of university students and professors on a short study-abroad trip to Athens -- my first international adventure. A week before we were meant to leave, we received an e-mail from our professors notifying us of the protests, but simultaneously reassuring that all would be well and the trip would continue.


Most of the trip did go well -- except for one evening when we tried to go out for dinner and found a large crowd taking over the streets. We turned and headed back to the hotel for the evening, our professors not wanting us to be swept away with the crowd. Once back, we went to our respective rooms and fell asleep…until about midnight when we were awakened by the sound of bombs.


I wasn’t sure what had woken me, until I heard the next boom that shook me from the inside out. The sound was too close. I trembled as I walked to the window, which should have been pitch black -- but was colored with smoke and lights. Men covered in head-to-toe black, wearing ski masks, threw bombs into the crowds and then retreated. A few seconds later, police decked out in SWAT-like gear moved forward with shields.


Not sure what to do, I threw on a sweatshirt and shoes and ran to the door so I could find another student rooming nearby. Once I reached the hallway, I was hit with an odd smell; soon my eyes began to water and burn, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Two words entered my mind: tear gas.


Faster than I probably realized at the time. I made it across the hallway, waited out the night in her room, and survived to see a new day dawn. Our hotel happened to be across the street from the main university, and we learned the next day that some of the students had created homemade bombs to engage (and likely enrage) police. Though the students had warned the hotel manager of their planned encounter before it happened -- so he could seal the front doors and lower-level areas -- the tear gas thrown by the police to stop the students still made its way into the building.

This one is nothing new, or unique to my travel experiences. But when asked "why do you sometimes loathe travel," it's just another unwanted "adventure" to add to the list.


In 2015, I went to Ireland. It was my first time traveling solo and it couldn’t have gone any better. I somehow survived driving through the countryside (on the wrong side of the road no less), stayed in a castle one night, and hung out with a bachelor party in Galway -- but that’s a story for another time.


My last day in Ireland was my 25th birthday. A friend from college had connected me with one of her friends who lived in Dublin at the time, and she took me out for the evening. We started at an Australian restaurant then headed out to a few different bars, one of which had a gutted school bus that served pizza and beer.


The following day I was scheduled to wake up early to head to the airport for my return flight to Los Angeles. I successfully woke up to my alarm -- but something didn’t feel right; I didn’t feel right. Fifteen minutes later I was in the bathroom. I’ll spare you the details, but Ireland (likely the bus serving pizza) gave me food poisoning. Imagine a 15-hour plane ride and two layovers with food poisoning: Wedged between crying babies on one leg of the flight, I got no sleep and found myself running to the bathroom too often. Not quite the birthday present -- or "adventure" -- I was hoping for.

I should have known when I dropped and broke my camera my second day in Peru that it was an omen of something bad to come. But who actually takes notice of omens? 


In 2010, I went to Peru for a two-week study abroad Spanish trip with a group of students from my university. Hiking for five hours to Machu Picchu was one of the most amazing experiences that I’ve ever had, but you don’t want to hear about that – you want to know what “bad thing” happened.


At the time, I was dating my ex, and while I was in Peru, he was stuck in our college town for summer school. Though I was out of the country, we had planned to stay in contact via Facebook message when I had Wi-Fi access. After arriving in Peru, I noticed that he didn’t seem interested in messaging me or making sure I hadn’t fallen off a mountain. His messages became shorter, and sometimes, he wouldn’t respond at all. I became concerned that something was bothering him.


One evening, almost halfway through the trip, I asked him what was going on. His response? He blew up and his message was filled with angry tones, claiming that I was paranoid, “all up in his business,” and that nothing was wrong. I didn’t buy that answer.


After a bit of prodding, I convinced him to tell me what was wrong and the answer struck me in the heart.


During one of my Spanish language classes, he texted me that he had gone on a date with another girl. I was heartbroken, especially since we’d been together for years. As you can imagine, I had to run out of the class before I started crying in front of everyone. My professor followed me out and offered me comfort and wise advice.


Though it was heart wrenching to experience such a thing while traveling, looking back, it was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me on that trip. I developed an “I don’t care” attitude and fully immersed myself in the rest of the trip, making it one of the best experiences I’d ever had.

If you ever want to know if people in a country are going to strike, you might just want to ask me where my next international trip will be.


As mentioned above, when I went to Greece there were protests… as well as strikes. The tragic death of that 15-year-old boy was the last straw for a country that was already on the brink of economic turmoil.


When I went to Peru, there was a taxi driver strike. And lastly, my most recent trip to Spain – a threat of an Easter holiday protest by the RENFE train workers. I was a frantic mess mere days before I left because the strike was scheduled on the day I was supposed to be traveling from Seville to Barcelona. Thankfully, the RENFE workers and the government made a deal right after I arrived in Spain. And to think, I was this close to buying a plane or bus ticket as a “back up,” both of which would have probably been non-refundable.


Related Links:

• 5 Ways That Travel in 2016 Is Going to Be Rough
• 9 Popular Tourist Destinations With Surprisingly High Murder Rates
• 10 Vital Travel Safety Tips from a Former CIA Officer
• 8 Things That Make Travelers Question Their Morals
  
  
  Pinterest background image courtesy of Paul Hudson, Flickr.