BootsnAll Travel Community

Have you ever had a trip (long or short) just get off on the wrong foot, yet you toughed it out, and it was still shitty? In hindsight it was like a shitty stock - you should have just sold early and taken a loss. In this case - I should have just gone home early.

I just returned from a scuba diving trip to the Maldives. A little short of 2 weeks.
Just a sampling of some of the comedy of errors and disappointments:

1) No representative to meet me at airport as promised by dive school.

2) No reservation at hotel even though it was confirmed via email. No reservation nor an available room.

3) End up sharing a 2-bed room (At a reputable hotel) with a guy who decided I needed help at the airport. A very large Colombian guy. My instincts told me it was ok. I felt uncomfortable the whole time. It wasn't helpful when I realized he was probably gay (He had bought some DVDs in Malaysia of some series called Queer as Folk). Thoughts of him attacking me at night passed through my mind.

4) Lost/stolen - my favorite expensive polarized sunglasses of the past 4+ years

5) Coral cut (Albeit relatively minor) and some coral splinters on my 2nd dive - something which has never happened before. Plus minor seasickness.

6) Claustrophobic feeling in Male - the main city and capital

7) Day boat crashed into a pier causing minor damage to the dive boat

8) Disappointed by 4 dives in Male area. Also couldn't go to some of the sites I wanted to due to the way they operated.

At this point I think I should have gone home. But I pressed ahead and went on a 7 day boat trip. My reward:

9) Liveaboard boat, while modern, was way too congested.

10) Liveaboard scuba boat broke down on 3rd day - transferred to much nicer boat but resulted in missing what I believe would have been to be 2 of the best dive sites in the Maldives.

11) Only 10-15% of the 20 scuba dives met my expectations of why it was worth going to the Maldives.

One positive is I didn't spend too much for this pain. Around US$1500 for all food, air (From BKK), etc...which by Maldives standard is a bargain.

So...how do you know when to just go home and call it quits?

You know when it's time to go home and call it quits, when you want to, you feel like it, and you don't have the feeling that's it's worth to keep going to see what happens next. It's only up to you.

Just try not to get bummed. It may get better.

You can always quit the diving course, if it seems it's not what you wxpected / wanted and go do something else, explore around, to enjoy the flight ticket at least.

ps. I am not gay and I love Queer as Folk!

I'd have done what Lets suggested and left the school and gone out on my own. Probably would have enjoyed yourself a great deal more.

Also, I own Queer as Folk (original, British version) on DVD and adore it. I really don't understand why you thought the guy would attack you after buying it.

A lot of times you just need a nap and have to put a dent in the trip, take a day or two off.

But people don't have that to spare or want that. It's also hard if you are trying to accomplish a specific goal, like diving.

I remember deciding that I needed to go to Manila to buy my friend a pair of shoes.
It takes three hours to do anything in that city. I had to settle for a nearby mall. The shoes were no different than in the states. Maybe way cheaper, but I didn't want them that bad.

1/2 day wasted. There was also some star at the mall and we could hardly walk around, and people say Philippinos are short, but I couldn't see over them. I don't know who was there at the mall.

Traveling can be an amazing fulfilling experience, but that doesn't mean it always is....

Its ok to give up and go home.
I took a trip to Brussels while I was living in the Netherlands. All signs pointed to a good trip, but things kept going wrong and I just wan't enjoying myself. After 2 days, I evaluated how much time was left, how much money I would lose, and the fun things I could do at home instead of suffering through the rest of the trip. A pro and con list was all I needed to pack up and go home.

There is no shame in wanting to leave.

quote:

Originally posted by Libby:

Also, I own Queer as Folk (original, British version) on DVD and adore it. I really don't understand why you thought the guy would attack you after buying it.

I think she meant she thought he would NOT attack b/c he had the DVDs???

I guess I've been lucky so far, even trips that start our wrong seem to end up right *knock on wood* That sounds like a bummer of a trip circusoflife!! next time you'll know what to do

My worst beginning was when I broke my arm on day 3 of my 3-month Study Abroad/Euro backpacking adventure. First I didnt think it was broken and went five days or so w/o proper medical care. Couldnt go back, classes were paid for and I'd broken it in an embarrassing way I did NOT want to explain (falling from the top bunk of a hostel bed ). Instead, I got to see the inside of Czech and German hospitals which was cool in its own way. They also didnt charge me anything I should add, or just a nominal fee. (Socialized medicine rocks)

At the end of the trip I cut my own cast off with my pocketknife lol The only part that sucked was not being able to enjoy the Hungarian bath houses...

Hey, aren't the crap trips worth something, though, on their own? I'm not saying that anyone actually WANTS a crap trip, and definately one should know when enough is enough...I agree with Lets, that when you just know inside it's time to go, then it's probably time to go. But that shouldn't mean that the crap trip is a writeoff...chances are you learned a lot...not to mention the plethora of stories you'll be able to tell about the Columbian dude...

And I just realized that most people can actually spell their location correctly...I really should fix that...