Travel Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Travel can be seen as this awesome vacation where all your worries disappear. Well it’s not always glamorous! I have had some pretty interesting travel experiences when things didn’t go as planned. From missed flights, trains, stuck in airports, and getting sick. You name it there have been some not so instagram-able moments along the way! My most recent travel mishap was in Cambodia.

The Bus Ride From Hell 

When deciding how to get from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh Cambodia there are a few different options. You can take a bus, plane, or river boat. The bus and river boat will take a lot longer than the flight of course. I was traveling with a friend who wanted to take the bus and scenic route. The hotel we bought our tickets from said that it was a really nice, new bus with wifi and a restroom and the ticket was only $10. 

We get to the bus and it looks like it’s stuck in a time warp from the 70’s, the television is taped to the wall, and there is obviously no wifi or way to charge your device. So unless you brought a book with you get ready for the longest bus ride!

Also there was NO scenery to enjoy! It was just a highway and flat grass land for miles.

Where Did You Come From?

We started with about 8 people including myself on the bus. Once we started to get going we would make random stops in the middle of nowhere to pick up more people. I’m not sure how they knew where to meet because there were no signs, mile markers, or even post to indicate it was a bus stop!

This made it 10x longer because we kept stopping to pick up everyone and their mom on the way to the city. And I really do mean EVERYONE and their mom. Half way there and we had a full bus!

Are We There Yet?

Four to five hours into the bus ride we stop at a “restaurant” on the side of the road. Nope it was just a shack. There was a buffet outside that was COVERED in flies, chickens running around, and no food that was packaged I could eat. I’m gluten free which this shack only had the full gluten everything. So all I brought with me was a half a bag of chips that I had already eaten because the guy at the hotel said it was only a 4 hour bus ride.

No no, it turned out to be an EIGHT HOUR bus ride! No food, no service, no wifi, no book, just the musty bus from the 70’s. By the time that we got there my back was killing me, I was exhausted, and hungry! haha and to add to that when we got to our hostel it was so late that the kitchens had already closed.

So naturally, I ended up drinking my dinner! Rum and Pineapple which is sort of like having fruit right?!

Lessoned Learned

Do your research! Learn as much as you can about the type of travel and trip you are going on. Now this doesn’t mean that things still can’t go wrong but by doing your research you would be able to save yourself from experiences like this one. I could have taken a flight for $15 extra and arrived in 45 minutes instead of 8 hours of unnecessary travel. So sometimes just go aheas and spend the extra money to avoid the mistakes and experiences like the one I had.

Travel isn’t always glamorous as you can see but it’s still worth it! Travel is like a lesson on life you can plan but also be flexible for when things go wrong. 

If you’re curious about travel to either city I have blog posts about Siem Reap,  5 Secrets To Visiting Cambodia,and a Food Guide to Phnom Penh

For more budget travel, health, and destination recommendations follow my blog via email! This way you won’t miss a thing and be the first to know when a new post goes out. Hope you learned something from my travel mishap. Cheers!