What Can Go Wrong on Vacation? Our Vacation Nightmares for Your Enjoyment

As a family, we love to travel. Even if it is only a weekend getaway, we try to travel several times per year. It seems though travel with the Chance family brings some sort of interesting snafu that, after a while, we all look back and laugh at. We have also learned many lessons in the process as well. Learn some lessons from our "travel fun" A.K.A. nightmares and laugh a little as well. We do... now anyway.

Some examples of vacation situation we have encountered:
- Blowing a tire on the highway while in Canada.
- Sharing a cabin with a very large ungrateful family, with limited funds and an attitude.
- Unwelcome pets having to sleep in the garage.
- Having the GPS lead us astray going 1 hour out of the way.
- Lack of plans that cause frustration.
- Missing bedding or supplies
- leaking tent during a rain storm, with an infant
- Staying in questionable hotels... something about a sign stating "No refunds after the first 15 minutes" just isn't right.

All in all we usually make the best of whatever comes around and the kids never really know there is a problem. All of the instances we have had compete our worst nightmare but two bubble to the top and win the award.

#2 Worst Travel Nightmare: Running out of Money Mid-Vacay
Most Fourth of July weekends we generally head to our family cabin but this past summer we chose to do something special and visit Mackinaw Island and the sites of the area. We should have known when we got to the hotel and the reservation went awry, this was going to be a "special" weekend. Over all we really had a great weekend as the kids got to ride a catamaran, visit Mackinaw Island, go to a zoo, and visit a fish hatchery (which I think was their favorite thing).

I was aware I had booked an older chalet and was ok with that... until we saw literally a room with a bed and a bathroom whereas I was figuring on a bed with a couch. NOPE. On the busiest weekend of the season, we scrambled to figure something out. This hotel had rooms for 2 nights but not the 3rd so we could stay there and switch. No biggie it would be fun for the kids...

Lesson we learned: Debit cards hold funds much longer. The first hotel captured the funds for the full amount of the weekend even though eventually we would pay for the time we used. Key word: eventually. Keep in mind here we were on a fairly limited budget for the weekend. See where this is going? Yup after the second hotel charged the card for the 3rd night we were plum out of cash. We had a place to sleep but no lunch or dinner for the four of us. So what do you do when you're over 100 miles from home, with half a tank of gas and 2 hungry children? First I begged and pleaded to get the hold lifted, but to no avail. Then it came to who could wire us some cash. Dad to the rescue! Dinner was in our bellies and we headed home the next morning. It was just a little stressful for mom and dad.

#1 Worst Travel Nightmare: A Car Accident while on Vacay
Ok so we don't really laugh at this one all that much but it's not as horrible of a memory as when it happened. Over a memorial weekend, we did our usual of heading to the family cabin. At this time we had a huge Chevy conversion van which held everything and everyone, including out dog Max. We make short trips here and there seeing the sites of the area. Manistee, Michigan is a favored stop especially if we have shopping to do or are heading to eat. Saturday of our trip we chose to have lunch at the Turtle Creek Casino since they have a fabulous buffet there.

On the way back though our vacation would take a turn for the worst. A Suburban did not see us slowed for a turning car. Ever try to get a big ole V8 vehicle moving from almost stopped? It doesn't happen fast enough for a truck barreling down on you at 60mph. The Suburban sent us on the ride of our lives that we never want to repeat. Luckily there was nothing more than bruising on anyone. The kids (ages 3 and 1) were freaked out but the emergency response people did excellent at entertaining. The best thing for them... they got to ride in a police car.

Now we are 4 hours away from home, with no vehicle and no means to get a rental. So you may be thinking "how do you make the best of this situation?" After getting back to the cabin, we hung out there for the rest of the time (where else could we go?) As I made arrangements, daddy took over in entertainment. Out came the tractor and the boys enjoyed countless wagon rides and turns driving the tractor. Also, the back yard of the property is one huge sandbox and the boys had a blast just playing in that the rest of the time. Luckily for us, our neighbors were up as well and they were wiling to go grab us some groceries as we hadn't done that yet for the weekend. And the second luck shot was that my mom was vacationing a hour north of us and was in their large Chevy conversion van as well. All is well in the Chance world... with the exception of a bunch of soreness.

Moral of my stories: Make the best of what you got since even the best laid plans can go very awry in no time.