Travel Nightmares: The Worst Travel Experience I've Ever Had

My biggest travel nightmare occurred over the past summer, when my boyfriend and I were on a road trip. Having stopped in Watkins Glen, NY, for a night and day, we were now on our way to Burlington VT. Neither of us had been to either place before, so we only had our GPS to get us there. The drive started out quite pleasant, actually. We were listening to music, enjoying the sunshine and the lack of traffic. But as it got later and darker, that began to change. Pretty soon, we were in the middle of nowhere. As we were driving down the highway (that was completely deserted except for us) we began seeing signs that said things like "No Cell Phone Signal for Next 60 Miles." "No Exits for Next 60 Miles." We began to joke that they should have just put a sign up that said "You Are Going to Die on This Highway."

As creepy as that was, things were still going okay. As we kept driving, we saw a sign for a ferry that would take us into Vermont. We had to take the ferry to Vermont because the bridge was not working that day. But our GPS was not taking us in the direction of the ferry, and assuming it knew a better way, we continued to follow it. Before we knew it, we were driving down small back roads that were completely surrounded by woods. There was no sign of human life around, and small, creepy creatures kept running across the road in front of our car. This was making us feel freaked out as it was, but then something horrible happened: our GPS stopped knowing where we were. It was trying to direct us somewhere, obviously, but even as we continued driving down the same road we had been driving down, it couldn't figure out where we were. As far as Tim (our name for our GPS) was concerned, we were not on any road. Because of this, Tim couldn't direct us on where to go, even though he was trying, bless his crazy heart. At this point we really started freaking out. Here we were in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York with nothing around and no clear idea of where exactly we were, with our only hope, Tim, possessed by demons. (Needless to say, Tim's name was officially changed from "Tim" to "Demon Tim" that night, and has never changed back.)

Nervous and beginning to argue, we were at a loss for what to do, and as we tried to figure it out, we started driving around a really creepy little area in circles. It was the kind of area you see in horror movies. I thought for sure there was a serial killer out there somewhere who would get us the second we ran out of gas. Then we remembered the sign for the ferry we had seen a while back, and miraculously my boyfriend managed to get us back to the highway (without the help of Demon Tim) and we found our way to the ferry. Which turned out to be closed. Yep, it had closed just a bit ago--if we had just followed the sign when we first saw it, we would've made it on the stupid ferry. But thanks to Demon Tim, we didn't make it in time. More anger was directed at Demon Tim, and we felt completely lost.

We had driven through a small town at some point which only had a tiny motel, and my boyfriend suggested we just stay there. I, on the other hand, had begun to see Burlington VT as our mecca--it had become a safe haven in my mind, and I thought that nothing would be okay until we got there. So I insisted that we push onward. After arguing a bit, we continued toward Burlington. I don't remember how we did it, but after a while of being lost and driving around, we eventually we found the 24 hour ferry and crossed Lake Champlain into Vermont. I had never been so happy to see other cars and traffic lights in my life.

At this point it was quite late, something like 1:30 am. We hadn't eaten since lunch, and all we'd had for lunch was a glass of wine and some cheese and chips. But we were too tired to stop for dinner so we started looking for hotels. Even though they were all up and down the street we were on, all the cheap looking ones had no vacancy. So we stopped at one that seemed reasonable and no one seemed to be there. There was even a phone to call for help but it didn't work. We drove to another hotel--again, it seemed to be closed for the night. At this point we were beyond frustrated--not to mention, starving and exhausted. But we pushed on, because what else could we do? The third hotel we stopped at was open but too expensive. We were on a budget, after all. We tried to talk them down, but instead they recommended another hotel close by. It turned out to cost about the same, but the guy there took pity on us and offered us a room for cheaper. God only knows how we must have looked and sounded at that point in time; no wonder he took pity on us. We must have been the definition of pitiful.

It turned out to be a smoking room and smelled disgusting. At first I was upset about that, but soon I ran out of energy became resigned. Having eaten next to nothing all day, my boyfriend and I sat on the bed and had a small dinner of dried fruit, nuts, and soy. We ate it straight out of a plastic container with our hands. It was not the best dinner either of us had ever had. I already resented Burlington for all it had put us through and went to bed thinking "Man, Burlington, you better be good to make up for all this."

Luckily, there's a happy ending, as we ended up getting a really nice hotel for really cheap the second night thanks to Priceline, and having a great time in Burlington. Now we laugh when we tell the story to friends. But I don't think either of us has ever gotten over what Demon Tim did, and we trust him a lot less these days.