"We came across the Friendship Bridge into Canada but got sent back because my wife had pepper spray."
Recently, I asked my fellow American tourists of the BuzzFeed Community about the worst mistakes they made the first time they traveled abroad.
Here are 13 of their top responses:
1. "I accidentally booked a 12-hour stopover for an already 8-hour flight, thinking that a stopover (for whatever reason) was over the ocean."
"Needless to say, I passed out immediately when I got to my hotel."
2. "We came across the Friendship Bridge into Canada but got sent back because my wife had pepper spray."
"American customs disposed of the offending spray. We went to our Canadian hotel and discovered my wife's handgun in the luggage!"
3. "Not getting travel insurance. I never thought about it before, but it can become a necessity. While I was on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise. I was on an excursion when a woman on the same cruise fell and broke her ankle. She had to be airlifted to the closest hospital. Some of her relatives, who remained on the cruise, said that, after the airlift and first three days in the hospital, it was already $10,000 US dollars."
"Who knows how much it wound up being in the end? Travel insurance is now a must for me."
4. "When I was 15, my paternal grandfather found out his first wife was alive in our home country of Yugoslavia. A few months later, I was 16, and my father took me overseas to meet my grandmother and see relatives I only met a few times. After a few weeks in Europe, I started smoking."
"When it came time for the return trip, I flew back alone to Chicago, where my older sister met me at the airport. She asked me if I was smoking, and I lied to her.
Later, when I got on the plane to go home, I found a note indicating our grandmother had passed when I was in the air. She also said that she knew about my smoking because she found my cigarettes in my carry-on. She promised not to tell our dad — which she didn't — but I eventually got busted by the neighbors, who told my dad."
6. "My group procrastinated on planning and then decided to forego the only thing we had all agreed on — Day 1 Decompression Spa Day. We just abandoned our only plan pre-flight and planned our itinerary once we arrived. BAD IDEA."
"I got no sleep on my 16-hour flight to Korea. Got a quick sleep at the hotel, and then the friends and I chose our 'random but busy day' to be Day 1 instead of our planned relaxation Korean spa day.
Running yourself ragged is bad, especially when you're neurodivergent and dealing with a time difference, new external stimuli, and a lack of access to your coping mechanisms (i.e., edibles are a no-go in most Asian countries). By the second day, I had a mini emotional breakdown over losing my travel pass loaded with basically $5 in Korean won. And then, by Day 4, my sleep-deprived friend raised her voice at me in a public area, and the overstimulation of it all led to a full-blown panic attack.
If you're traveling abroad with a major time difference, make a plan, try to stick with it, and take time to slow down at the beginning — not the end — because it takes a toll on you or someone in your group.
It was a great trip, but I have regrets. I regret that we ran out of time to do our Korean spa day. Once we decided to push it back, it fucked everything up, and we took out the one day we set aside to actually breathe and enjoy things, which would've made the other days probably more enjoyable if we had been refreshed instead of running on fumes."
7. "When I was in the Marines, I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan. We were not allowed to leave the base for the first three days after arrival. On the fourth day, we were taken on a trip around Iwakuni and Hiroshima. I have no idea what possessed me to wear brand-new leather slides. By the time we arrived back at base, my feet were raw, and blood was seeping through the designs on the leather."
"I want to say that I've never again made the mistake of wearing brand-new shoes out and about, but I would be lying. It took me far too long to learn that lesson."
8. "Flew to Paris and didn't read the hotel directions clearly, so we got lost."
"People say that Parisians are not friendly, but between the train engineer who showed my friend where a bathroom was (after we had reached the end of the line) and got us set up in the right train going back with bottles of water, no less, to those folks who voluntarily took our bags up and down stairs, to the gentleman who let us use his cellphone to call the hotel for directions — that was proven wrong!
We also forgot our current adapter, but the young lady in charge of the hotel's breakfast area lent us one."
9. "We were stationed in Germany in the '70s. We had been there about two weeks when we went to a department store. I spoke very little German (please, thank you, and 'Do you speak English?' was about it) and hadn't yet started German lessons. I asked the clerk if she spoke English, to which she replied with a curt, 'Nein.' There was no way she could have known that I had just arrived, and it was a great lesson."
"I took German language and culture classes and always had my German/English dictionary to refer to if my German wasn't understandable. It was a great four years, and I always appreciated that early lesson!"
10. "Please stop telling people the state you're from instead of the country when people ask where you are from in a foreign country."
11. "We traveled to Paris. I didn't put my faith (or tips) in the hands of the concierge soon enough. He knew all the out-of-the-way places for dinner that were amazing!"
"Some of the places he sent us to were in what looked like people's houses, with the living and dining rooms set with tables. Amazing dining experiences on which we would have completely missed out. Make friends with your concierge!!!"
12. "In Europe, getting a reservation ON the train does not guarantee a seat!!!"
13. And finally: "This past spring break, I went on a trip for school with teachers and admin. At one point, our group (about eight) had to take a city bus a short distance to our next touring spot. Mind you, this tiny bus maybe could fit 20 people. Not me, but someone in our group was just talking and talking about life when a local rider, seeming friendly, asked, 'Excuse me, where are you from?' and the woman in our group said, 'Texas.' The local said, 'Well, they say everything's bigger in Texas — that means your voice too? Why are you so loud? Nobody wants to listen to your entire conversation!' Talk about embarrassing."
"As I learned quickly, people on public transport like quiet rides. They're NOT on vacation."