Cringe-Worthy Travel Stories

At this point, my default is to laugh at myself because cringe-worthy moments follow me around like a lost puppy does a stranger. Keep reading for some laughable, hide-your-face moments from my travels.

Involuntary Nudity

In retrospect, when I packed my bathing suits for my stay in the Dominican Republic, I didn’t think it through. It’s always a good idea to pack a sturdy one-piece for activities that do not involve lounging on the beach – a lesson I will not have to be taught twice.

On our tour of cities in the D.R, we stopped somewhere [the name eludes me] to swim in a cave – which was dark and creepy- and jump off cliffs. On one of the cliffs, there was a zip line. This one worked differently; you’d grab onto the pulley, zip forward and then let go of the pulley to drop into the lake. It seemed easy and moderately thrilling, so I was on board.

When it came to my turn, I nervously grabbed the pulley, felt the guide push me and before I knew it, it was time to jump. I let go freely, mostly because landing in water was safer than hitting the small hill at the end of the line. Once my body hit the water, I started swimming for shore. That’s when I noticed my chest was bare and my friends were pointing to show how far my bathing suit top had floated away. “Great”, I thought.

Luckily, they didn’t just sit and laugh. Someone dove in and grabbed it for me because I was too shy [and lazy] to swim all the way. So I waited with hands over my chest, half submerged in the water, till she retrieved my tiny piece of clothing. The top had ripped into two at the back so she had to tie both pieces together and I had to hope it stayed on for the rest of the day. Safe to say, there was no more jumping for me that afternoon.

Underwear for Show

We landed in Miami after the 2hr flight from the D.R, sad because we were going to miss the people we’d spent the last 5 weeks living with and getting to know. So obviously, the universe thought we needed a laugh and decided that I was going to be the clown.

At baggage claim, everyone waited to spot their bags. Mine was bright red so I saw it as soon as it came out on the belt. What I also saw was all my underwear, splayed on the conveyor belt like some kind of dinner spread. Not only was I mortified, I didn’t know how there was a big enough tear to let so much spill out or how to start picking each one up. I had to be fast because I was not about to let them go another round for the entire airport. So in the middle of baggage claim, I started grabbing as much underwear as possible, as quickly as possible while a friend helped with my bag. When I looked over to my travel companions, one of them was taking a photo, while the rest of them who saw, were laughing. I started laughing too because at this point half my face was hidden by underwear.

A Less Than Graceful Landing

Welp! looks like D.R saw me at my worst. The 27 Waterfalls in Damajagua are a collection of cliffs and slides that are a popular tourist attraction in the D.R. It’s essentially a natural waterpark. On the final cliff jump, I got nervous because it seemed higher than the previous ones. Despite my nerves, I had to jump. I had turned down my opportunity to take the walkable path, so I was either going to jump or be pushed. Not wanting to be pushed, I gathered my nerves and took the ~20ft leap. My butt hit the water first, loud, then the pain followed. If the looks on my friend’s faces were a word, it would be “yikes”. It felt like I had been whacked hard with a wooden board. Hands on my sore bum, I walked out of the water to the exit path, grateful that we were done.

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I wrote these as they came to my head so after these three I’m stuck. If I dig up my journal and find some stories in there, I’ll probably write another part, but this is it for now. What are some cringe-worthy stories from your travels/ life in general? If you’d like to, leave me a comment to share.

As always,

thank you for reading!

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Same Footprints, Different Sands