My Most Embarrassing Travel Stories
We all have cringey moments in our lives that we try to our hardest to forget … but those are the moments that haunt us at 2am on a random Tuesday night when we are trying to sleep. If you’re lucky, you might have a couple of those moments in your life, but if you’re me, then you have a handful of them—so now you know why I always have dark circles under my eyes.
That was a big exaggeration! Some of these stories don’t make me cringe like they did when they first happened. Anyways, I hope you enjoy some of my most embarrassing travel stories, and if you have a story that you’re not too embarrassed to share, I’d love to read it in the comment section below!
iPhone 8
December 9, 2017 - December 11, 2017
Holding the shattered remains of my 3-day-old iPhone.
Exactly a year ago today, my MOST embarrassing travel nightmare happened. First, let me rewind to December 8, 2017. It was the night before my friend and I were leaving to go to Paris. Everything was perfect … until I went to the bathroom, forgot that my phone was in my back pocket, and dropped my phone into the toilet. Show of hands—how many of you can relate?
The following day, I had to work before our flight, so my friend had to go to the Apple store to get me an open iPhone that I could transfer my SIM card to. After work, I transferred my card to the new phone, we caught our flight, and we were off to Paris.
Everything was great and dandy, until December 11, 2017. My friend and I had just left Angelina and were heading toward the Champs-Élysées. We came across a ferris wheel situated at the end of Tuileries Garden. A ferris wheel is harmless, right? WRONG! We got on the ferris wheel and as we reached the top of the ride, I placed my new phone on my lap. The.phone.slid.off.of.my.lap and onto the floor of our car. It then proceeded to slide toward a crevice between the floor of the car and the door, and finally, it ski-shot out of the car.
Surprisingly, one of the vendors at the foot of the ferris wheel found my phone. Let me break down the emotions I felt in a span of 5 minutes. First, I was in disbelief that it happened—and it happened SO fast—then, I was terrified because what if it had hit somebody, and THEN I was mortified when the vendor handed me my shattered memories … I mean shattered phone.
So … it’s all uphill from here.
Catching Z’s on a stranger’s shoulder
This definitely isn’t as embarrassing because I was around ten at the time. I was heading to Hawaii with my family and decided to take a nap during our flight. As I woke up, I realized that my head was resting on somebody’s shoulder. It felt different from my mom’s shoulder, and my mom was sitting to my right anyway … I peered up from the shoulder to find a random man. I remember feeling so embarrassed at the time, but like everything is embarrassing to a ten year old. Now I look back at that and I feel sorry for the man who just let me sleep on his shoulder for a few hours. Shout out to you—it was a really good nap!
Speaking Portuguese … when I don’t know any Portuguese
My friend and I had been wandering around Sintra for hours and needed something to eat, so we stopped into a small restaurant. It was packed with people who were all enjoying their meals until a dumb American (me) interrupted them. I saw the hostess from across the restaurant and as he approached us I yelled to him, “DOS” (or “two” in Spanish). Almost everybody in the restaurant turned and stared at me while the hostess started laughing. “You’re American, eh? I think you meant to say ‘dois’” (or “two” in Portuguese). While this doesn’t seem like the biggest deal, let’s analyze (overanalyze) the situation. I was so ignorant for thinking that I could just barge into a restaurant, use Spanish, and expect the waiter to understand me. Spanish ≠ Portuguese! And, who the heck yells across a whole restaurant? Apparently I do, and this is what I will be remembered for when I die. Here lies Paige—she was a loyal daughter, sister, and she yells across restaurants.
Meeting my SO’s whole extended family
My ex was born in England and moved to America at a young age, but he still had a lot of family back in the UK. A couple years into dating, he invited me to spend Christmas in England with his whole extended family. I was 19 at the time, super quiet around people I didn’t know, and was intimidated to meet the whole family (literally everybody—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.).
A week into the trip, I started to open up to his family and show more of my personality, but then on Christmas Day that all changed! We were opening presents in his grandparent’s living room when I noticed something moving on my leg. I looked down and there was a GIANT wolf spider on my leg. Look up pictures of wolf spiders—I dare you! I shot up and started screaming and flailing around. My ex removed the spider from my pants and I looked around to find everybody dying laughing. I turned tomato red, naturally.
Well I’m officially sweating and cringing, so I hope you—at the very least—found those funny. Maybe, some of my stories are even relatable. Anyways, thanks for coming along for my walk down embarrassing memory lane.