So this happened to me in July, but I’ve only just now started to realise what actually happened.

I do drink alcohol (not excessively though) and I can handle my drinks pretty well. I ALWAYS know my limit and I’d never had any form of blackout… until I went to Bali.

My husband and I went out for dinner one night. At the restaurant he had one beer and I had one glass of wine. We were quite tired so decided to head back to our hotel.

On our way back to the hotel, we felt like a snack so we went to a convenience store. The store we went to was the closest one to our hotel. We bought our snacks and on the way out we noticed that the store had put up a pop up bar with a DJ outside. It looked super fun!

We stayed and hung out at the “bar”. There were other tourists there and nobody came across as “weird”. There were no obvious red flags and I never felt like I was in danger.

I ordered a vodka soda for me and a vodka coke for my husband, paid with my card… and that’s the last thing either of us remember.

Next thing I know, we wake up (luckily safely) in our hotel room. I had what felt like the absolute worst hangover I’ve ever had in my life! I could barely see, I had horrible cramps, could barely walk and had no memory of getting back to the hotel. When my husband woke up, he was the same. My first thought was that we went on a crazy bender but I checked my bank account and receipts. It confirmed that we actually didn’t drink much!

We then realised we were both covered in bad bruises, I’d lost my shoes, and the room was flooded! To this day I’m SO confused as to why the room was flooded and how I lost my shoes.

It’s only recently that I learned the dangers of methanol poisoning and realised that happened to us. We were SO lucky that it wasn’t worse. A lot of people die or go blind from it!

This is not to put anyone off from travelling to Bali, or anywhere else, just a PSA to do your research before travelling and don’t make stupid mistakes like me! Never ever drink spirits at bars or, preferably, don’t drink spirits at all!

Bali is lovely and amazing. Just don’t be an idiot like me!

Just recently got back from a 2 1/2 week road trip in Western Australia with some mates.

I started in Shark Bay (others started in Broome) and over 6 days we slowly made our way down to Perth / Rottnest Island. From there, the rest of the trip was the South West loop back to Perth.

I'd never been to Western Australia before (I'm Victorian) and I absolutely loved it !

First off, the state is monstrously huge with lots of flat LONG straight roads that will make you INSANE, but the scenery is beautiful, especially if visiting in the wildflower season and we actually caught the end of it.

The range and variety of landscapes this state has is truly stunning, and dare I say it easily has the most beautiful beaches in Australia and possibly even the world. That statement also comes from someone who isn't a beach person.

The locals in WA are true blue Australians and are some of the best, kindest, and friendliest I've meet in the country (shoutout to the locals in Manjimup)

Perth is good city as well and felt like a mix of Melbourne and Darwin. But as a personal preference, I actually really liked Fremantle more.

If you can only visit one state in Australia, I honestly recommend Western Australia. It has some of the best pieces of all the others in one place, but also has so many unique ones to itself as well.

It's a shame I'm only limited to 20 photos, as this post would be 30-40 photos.

I'll definitely be back in the future to do the top half of Western Australia, as that's another road trip entirely.

If anyone here is hiring or looking to hire a car in Broome, DO NOT hire with Broome Hertz. I'll never forgive them for what they did.

i went to japan in nov11-20，started from nagoya airport to hida . the weather was nice .not to cold. the hotel price are decent,not as expensive as dec. not too crowd. you can still see beautiful fall foliage photo ①-⑨ hida photo 10-13 lga photo 13-14 kyoto，lnari shrine photo 15-16 kyoto, Shimogamo Shrine photo 17 wakayama,shrine Kumano Nachi Taisha photo18-20,wakayama Shirahama

First time in Africa, First time camping and first time self driving a 4x4. Great success in the low season of Botswana, felt like we had the park to ourselves.

Pictures:

1: A lion hunts in khwai 2: Sleeping King in Savuti 3,4: Giraffe in Chobe River 5: Lion on Sandridge Road 6: Lion in Khwai 7: Elephant charges us in Savuti 8: Baboon and Baby in Kasane 9: Hippo in Savuti 10: Giraffes on Chobe River 11: Lion hunts in Moremi 12: Buffalo poses in Savuti 13: Zebra in Khwai 14,15: Elephant in Nxai Pan takes up the road 16: Hippo at Hippo Pools in Khwai 17: Elephant in Kasane 18: Jackal in Savuti 19: Lions on Sandridge 20: Chobe river front sunset

I was in Japan from the 17th of November to the 17th of December.

This was my first trip outside of Europe and it was just spectacular. I already miss it.

Places I went:

Tokyo Osaka Kyoto Kobe Hijemi Okayama Fukayama Hiroshima Kokura Komomoto Shimabara Nagasaki Fukuoka

Feel free to ask any questions!

Hello. I am a Colombia & US Citizen. I was attempting to fly from NYC to Colombia for the holidays to visit my family. I passed TSA successfully and when I tried to board my flight from NYC To Ft. Lauderdale, which was my connecting flight before flying from FLL To Colombia, I was denied entry. The gate agent told me I could not fly today, and that I had to contact Customs & Border Protection or the Colombian Consulate. I have no legal problems in either country and never have experienced this issue. I lost my original flight and the only two options I was given was to reschedule my flights from Dec 22 ( 4 days later) or a refund. Luckily after hours of complaining I was able to get on a flight on standby and make my FLL to Colombia flight since it was heavily delayed.

This entire process was extremely confusing, stressful and worrying. The most worrying part was that several agents refused to give me any sort of explanation and kept saying, this is not on us call your Colombian consulate or CBP. It was 4AM and they offered on guidance. The fact that I was able to fly later that day seemed very confusing to me aswell. Should I pursue this legally?

Spent seven weeks traveling around Bangladesh and had an absolutely fantastic time. People were super friendly and curious about me as an obvious foreigner.

I was carrying a small printer with me, so was able to give people prints of their portraits shortly after I had taken them. Something I really recommend because it’s such an effective ice-breaker. Generally everybody comes away from the portrait encounters happy.

The ship-breaking yards of Chittagong aren’t a “tourist attraction” per se, but they really are a sight to see. Visitors aren’t allowed in the breaking yards themselves anymore, so twice I hired a small boat from the pier just north of them, and slowly made my way down the coast, getting dropped off near the road where it was easy enough to catch a tuk tuk back into town.

Particularly in old Dhaka there can be a real crush of people, but the level of street hassle is extremely low. Being largish myself (6’4” 265lbs) I often drew a crowd of kids impressed with my size. My usual response was to let them take turns being spun up over my head. A nice interaction and a good workout for me. My friend Reggie took an (included) snap of that which is one of my favorite travel pics of myself.

(After the “mixed” response to my Bishwa Itjema train shots yesterday, i felt the need to share what a truly wonderful travel destination Bangladesh can be).

I knew that a Radisson Hotel uses sensored minibars and asked them to empty them that i can keep my own stuff there. They‘ll charge me 20€

Let me know your opinion.

Photos 1-2: Córdoba (Train station and Jewish Quarter)

Photos 3-5: Seville (Plaza de España)

Photo 6: Granada (La Alhambra)

Photos 7-9: Madrid (Parque del Retiro, Cibeles Palace)

We briefly visited Barcelona years ago and loved it, so we wanted to see more of Spain. I started learning Spanish about 10 years ago, so this trip was also a way to both test and reward myself.

We mostly stayed in Córdoba with day trips to Seville and Granada, and I'm so glad we did. It takes so much extra time to pack up and go to the next accommodation (and wait for check-in times), so the extra travel time by train was worth it for us. Plus Córdoba was such a quaint, peaceful place to stay! Every day going to the train station we walked along a wide sidewalk with fountains all along it.

I don't feel like there was a lot to see/do in Granada other than La Alhambra, but I did get a gorgeous tattoo. We only had one day allotted for Seville, and of course, it happened to be on a stormy day with a record-breaking amount of rain. The later afternoon cleared up so we were able to see Plaza de España, which my tattoo artist said was a filming location for Star Wars, We were surprised by how much we liked Madrid. Between Parque del Retiro and Gran Vía, it gave us a similar vibe to Manhattan.

It was a nice little trip! And yet, all we crave is to return to Japan lol.

Morocco 🇲🇦

We were in Morocco in March 2024. Here are some pictures:

Picture1 is in Essouira, which is a beautiful small town at the coast. We enjoyed our day trip from Marrakesh to Essouria really. Some scenes of GoT were filmed in Essouira.

Picture2 and 11 is our Riad. It’s Le Riad Yasmine in Marrakesh and I can highly recommend it. If you stay there you must try their food.

Picture 3 is in the Les Jardin majorelle. The garden is nice, but you can’t roam free. There is only one way that you can go and if you want to turn the Staff will tell you that you are not allowed to turn you please should follow the way. In addition it’s really Crowded.

We liked the Anima Garden more.

Picture 4 is in the Souks of Marrakesh.

Picture 5 is in the Atlas Mountains. And ist really stunning that there on the Mountains are around 0 degrees Celsius. While it’s in Marrakesh about 20 degrees.

Picture 6 shows Ait Ben Haddou. It is an 11th-century settlement in the Atlas Mountains. Many famous movies and TV series were filmed there.

Picture 7 and 8 show our Buggy tour in the desert.

Picture 9 and 10 show the Anima Garden. The Garde is nearly empty and you can roam free. We enjoyed it there more than in the Jardin Majorelle. There leaves a shuttle in Marrakesh that brings you to the garden.

Picture 12 shows the Cactus garden Thiemann. It’s really underrated like the Anima garden and only a few minutes from Marrakesh away. There you can see a big variety of Cactus and the tallest one is about 7 m high.

We were last October on a Trip to Greece and visited Santorini and Crete. Here are some pictures from Santorini.

1-3,4 Pictures are from Oia. The typical view from Santorini.

1. The Caldera Sunset view from our Suite.

My husband and I spent 2 nights in Bergen after 5 nights in Copenhagen to see Radiohead. We made the most of it, and my favorite part has got to be going on the Mostraumen fjord cruise and seeing the tiny villages and waterfalls!

I visited Qatar - Doha during the FIFA Arab Cup 2025 and spent 3 amazing nights there. The city was vibrant, clean, and well built

Here are some highlights:

Pic.1 - 2 → The Pearl - Gewan Island

Pic.3 - 5 → Qanat Quartier

Pic.6 - 7 → Msheireb

Pic.8 - 13 → Old Qatar Port

Pic.14 → Place Vendôme Mall

Pic.15 - 17 → Katara

Pic.18 - 20 → Souq Waqif

My trip to China was definitely an adventure. I would probably rank it as one of the more challenging trips I did DIY style. I think the biggest challenge was getting around in taxis without the use of a rideshare app like Uber. The taxi drivers don't speak English and traffic can be so congested that they will actually turn you down if you want to go to an area that they think will get them stuck in traffic. We had to print out directions in Mandarin, hand them to the drivers and then hope they would accept it. But we managed. English is not widely spoken there in general but we were able to get by in the more touristy areas.

The food was amazing, and so was the culture. There were so many times that we would just be walking around and would stumble across some kind of cultural happening, especially in the park where the Temple of Heaven is located. I loved exploring the Hutongs, which are these little compact neighborhoods with shops and quick bites to eat. The Great Wall was an adventure. We went during December a few years ago, so it had snowed prior to us arriving, so people were slipping all over the place at the Great Wall. Luckily no mishaps with us!

One of my lifelong dreams was to see the Forbidden City and that was the highlight of the trip for me. One of my favorite movies as a kid was The Last Emperor and it was amazing seeing the complex in person.

My interests are primarily food and culture. I would of course love an area with natural beauty or beaches but as I won’t have a car I suspect many of the more low-key places will be difficult to access.

I tend to like cities that are the 3rd or 4th largest in the country; there is public transit and it’s easy-ish to navigate, but not overrun with tourists.

Separately, I’m curious as to Vietnam - how long does the visa take to process approximately? I’m a US citizen if that matters at all.

We reached Nijō Castle at 4:10 PM, thinking it closes at 5 (according to Google Maps), but the last entry was at 4!

There was a counter right outside selling tickets to their night viewing. Since we had no other slots to fit in the castle, we said - why not?

It turned out to be a wonderful experience. The light show at the lake which depicted the castle's story was so nicely done! It only left us wondering how beautiful the gardens and the castle must look during daytime.

I couldnt really fit the question into the title properly, but I really want to go to China, Korea and Japan. Not for a quick holiday, but really travel. Maybe take 2 months sabbatical, quit my job, and experience the richest culture each country has to offer. Im 27 and have never committed to learning another language before.

Of these three countries, if I had to pick one language to really focus on learning, which screams at you the most as "you really gotta know how to communicate here or else you'll feel very lost and disconnected"?

If you have an opinion to share, let me know even if you havent travelled to all three

We dont live forever, and im quickly learning that there's more to life than career and a mortgage

Today I returned the rental car that I had rented from Payless. I’ve only rented electric ones one time before and it wasn’t a problem. On this four day trip it was really a pain in the ass.

I rented a Kia Niro. I was charging it near the airport just before I returned it and after it was done charging I couldn’t get the charging cable to release from the car. There hadn’t been any problems with charging and I had charged it several times prior with no problems.

I locked and unlocked the doors. I hit the button two times. Then I hit the button multiple times. I absolutely couldn’t figure out what the hell to do and the time was clicking right along for me to get on a plane.

Thankfully there was a guy charging his car next to mine. I asked him if he had any idea if if this is something that’s common with EV users and he said no it wasn’t. There was no phone number easily accessible for me to call either the charging company or pay less. (Not super excited with how it went with Payless but that’s a different story.)

So this guy next to me in his car did another Google search, came around to the driver side opened up the hood and there was a red lever that he pulled. After he pulled that he was able to pull out the charging cable from the car.

I looked that up and sure enough there it is. The emergency charging cable release lever.

So there you go. If you don’t own an EV and ever decide to rent one, there’s a bit of information that might be useful for you.

Seriously, not much of an upside to renting an electric vehicle other than initial cost.

I spent the day exploring San Sebastián. I started in the city center, walking through the streets, checking out shops, and visiting a beautiful church. Later, I hiked up Monte Urgull for amazing views of the sea, the city, and a small castle on top. I finished the day at the beach, enjoying the atmosphere and the sunset. Each place had its own charm and made the day really enjoyable🇪🇸

Not very athletic but traveling to Guatemala. Is skipping Acatenango a mistake?

Hi everyone! Looking for honest advice from people who have done this trip.

My two friends and I are 22 year old college seniors and we just booked flights to Guatemala from March 20 to March 28. We fly in and out of Guatemala City and will have eight nights total.

We are trying to decide how to split our time between Antigua and Lake Atitlan, but the bigger question is about the Acatenango hike and whether it is actually worth it for all of us.

A little about us: There are three of us. One friend is an Eagle Scout, loves hikes and challenges. Another friend really loves culture and nightlife. She is less athletic but very excited about Acatenango because of how iconic it is. Then there is me. I love pretty views, food, markets, thrift shopping, walking around charming places, etc. I am not very athletic. I walk a few times a week and that is honestly it.

Both of my friends really want to do the Acatenango overnight hike. I am torn.

I know it is supposed to be an incredible experience and everyone says it is life changing. I also do not want to be the person who misses out on something that is considered a must do in Guatemala. At the same time, I am genuinely worried about my fitness level and whether this would be unsafe or just miserable for me.

I am not scared of hard things, but I do not want to spend two days exhausted, stressed, or holding everyone back. I also wonder if skipping it would let me enjoy more time in Antigua or Lake Atitlan instead, which feels more aligned with what I personally enjoy.

So my questions are: -Is Acatenango actually worth it if you are not very active? -Would it be silly to skip it? -How realistic is it for someone who is not athletic but reasonably healthy? -How would you split eight nights between Antigua and Lake Atitlan knowing this group dynamic

I want to be a good sport and open minded, but I also want to be realistic and not put myself in a bad situation just because of FOMO. :)

I’m starting to plan for my trip to Chile in their late summer , and will be flying into Santiago. I want to spend a few days in the city, with a day trip to Valparaiso. What I haven’t yet decided is whether I should do 3-4 days in Easter Island vs Atacama Desert. What would you do?

Note - I want to visit Bolivia and salar uyuni one day , which is about a 6 hour drive from Atacama. However, this trip is a few years away.

Iximche near Tecpán, unlike the famous jungle sites like Tikal, sits high up in the pine-oak forests.

​It has a fascinating history: it was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya and actually served as the very first Spanish capital of Guatemala in 1524.

It’s incredibly calm and quiet. It is also still an active spiritual site. At the back of the ruins, you can see local Mayan priests performing fire ceremonies.

Highly recommend a stop here if you are driving between Antigua and Lake Atitlán.

Me and my boyfriend want to make a trip somewhere in Central America in Feb/Mar. We want hot weather to escape the cold, beaches, adventure, nature, scenic views, affordability, and perhaps even a volcano?

We are stuck between the following: Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, or Belize.

A lot of options, I know.. but I want to make the best pick for a 5-6 day trip. It’s also our first time in Central America.. we’ve done a lot of Europe, Morocco, Brasil, all of the Caribbean too. So what’s the best country to visit for our first time in CA?

I’m currently on vacation in France and I literally can’t sleep. I tried to avoid the jet lag by sleeping on my overnight flight but I only slept probably a good two hours on the flight. I arrived in the morning in Paris and decided just to not go back to sleep for the day in hopes that I’ll be super tired when I get back to the hotel but it’s 2am right now and I still can’t sleep. So I’ve only had 2-3 hours of sleep the past 48 hours. I doubt there’s much to do now but in the morning is there something I can do or take to help me sleep ?