I love jokes! I am a pretty hilarious person if I do say so myself and I believe that joking around all the time is the best way to live. I am a very sarcCASStic (ha – get it?) person and I enjoy turning everything that happens to me into a funny story. I see the beauty and healing that comes from being able to laugh at your self and I hope that everyone can get to a place where they are comfortable with laughing at there misfortune and mistakes.
In that spirit, I decided that I would share some of the worst experiences that I have had while exploring. At the time they might have been a little stressful but now I think they are funny, and I would encourage you to laugh along with me as you read my favourite misadventures. Grab a drink and let’s dive in.
Flying to Perth
While I was in Jarakta, Indonesia, I decided to take a four-hour plane ride to my favourite country, Australia. I flew into Perth, a city that I had never been before but one that I was so excited to explore. We were almost to Perth when the pilot came on and informed us of some troubling news. Perth was experiencing some fog and due to some of the airport policies, we had to wait for the fog clear up. This news upset every passenger on the flight.
We flew around the Perth airport for an hour, but the fog did not clear. The pilot came on the speaker again and informed us that the fog would not be clear and the plane would soon be out of fuel. So, he had to land the plane at a smaller airport that was in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport is a domestic airport and does not have any customs officers. Because we were flying in from Indonesia, we were an international flight, and needed to clear customs before entering the country. No passenger was allowed off the plane.
The pilot assured us that as soon as planes could fly out of Perth, they would send over customs officers and we could get out and get everyone back to Perth. I literally sat on the airplane for 11 hours without food or water, beside a smelly Aussie before customs officers from Perth arrived. (I found a news article that talks about it.)
Once they arrived, we went into the airport and they just smiled and gave us a Vegemite sandwich. I was dehydrated beyond belief, but I was in Australia, and I was still excited to be there. While I was waiting in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport, I discovered that their little snack shop sold my favourite ice cream treat, Golden Gaytime. I was overtired, dirty and had my contacts in for over 30 hours, but enjoy a Golden Gaytime made me feel so much better and honestly, I just laughed about it. We waited another 8 hours in the airport and then we finally caught a flight to Perth.
Oh, and once we got to Perth the airline lost my bag somehow and I had to live my life without changing my clothes for another 24 hours when they relocated it and sent it to the place I was staying. This was the longest “4-hour journey” I had ever been on but looking back on it all I can do is laugh.
Don’t forget to read my guide to Perth!
That one time I got a concussion in Rome
Rome is such a perfect city, it is filled with so much beauty, history and delicious food – what else do you need in life? When I was in Roma, I stayed at this really nice hostel/campground that had a restaurant and bar on it. So, one tonight when I was leaving the bar and heading back to my room, I looked up to the sky and saw that the stars were out and they looked beautiful. Being a star lover, I decided that I should take this opportunity to admire the stars and lay down on the ground. While I may have had a little bit to drink so when I went to lay back I had a lack of depth perception and I smacked my head on the lovely cobblestone streets. #yikes. I really didn’t think too much of it until the next day, when I started to feel sick, and I remembered what happened the night before.
Luckily, there was a hospital right across the street from the campground, so I popped on by and had a few tests done and found out that I had a very minor concussion. The gave me a pain killer and I was on my way.
Check out my guide to Rome!
One word – lice
I am going to start off this paragraph by telling you that I love my hair so much. I have great hair – it grows so fast, it is super healthy and it is always does whatever I want it to. I am blessed. While I was on a volunteer trip in Australia, I was going to different schools and skate parks giving talks about stopping bullying, I ended up getting head lice from one of the kids.
I had lice when I was a kid, so one I saw one of the eggs in my head, I knew exactly what it was, and I like instantly started crying. My team leader took me to the pharmacy to get some lice shampoo. I was so embarrassed. I remember asking the lady who worked there where the lice treatments were, and she asked me “how old is the child was?” My face went so red and I just looked at her and said “umm about 19.” And she just looked at me and was said “oh.” It was so awkward.
On this volunteer trip, my team was staying with a local older lady who was so sweet. So my team leader and I decided that it was best to put the treatment in my hair in the handicap bathroom at a mall instead of doing at the lady’s house. I literally sat on the floor in the washroom, half crying and half laughing, while my team leader brought me Subway cookies. (see the photo above.)
Luckily, the lice had not been there for too long, and my lovely friend from New Zealand, Casey, helped me out and picked the nats out of my head. That is true friendship right there.
Stye on my eye!
I developed a stye on my eye the second day I was in Australia, on that same volunteer trip. I wear contacts and I hate wearing my glasses. But due to the stye I had to wear my glasses for the first two weeks I was in Australia.
I had styes before so I went to the pharmacy and looked for the over the counter medication. However, at the time Australia didn’t sell stye medication over the counter and you had to make an appointment with the doctor to get it. I had to wait a few weeks to see the doctor so I decided to try and make the stye go down by using natural remedies, like placing a tea bag on your eye.
Frequently throughout the day, I would grab a tea bag and place it on my eye. The other volunteers and I soon started going this ritual “teabag time!” and it became an ongoing joke for throughout the 6 months I was volunteering.
I had a worm in Argentina
So, once upon a time, I was in Argentina on another volunteer trip, and I was staying in a small neighbourhood outside of Buenos Aries with some locals. I am not sure what I ate or drank, but one day, I went to the bathroom and let’s just say something came out that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was wild folks, I totally freaked out. But, luckily I went to the doctors and they gave me some pills and it fixed everything.
All of these stories that I shared with you, were not planned, and definitely not my ideal travel experiences. But all of them taught me valuable lessons and helped me to take safer precautions in the future. They also have made terrific party stories and have made me laugh every time I have thought about them over the years. Most importantly all of these events have taught me that, no matter what happens on your travels you just need to make sure you have a good attitude.
I hope none of these things happen to you ever in your life,
Xoxo
