Worst travel mishaps of 2024

Since we are here to talk about what it means to travel in real life... enjoy!

I know we are well into 2025, but I thought it could be fun (read: these moments weren’t fun) to dive back into some of my worst travel moments and mistakes in 2024. Truthfully, it was probably my least favorite year of travel. I had SO many mishaps and it was way too busy with little trips, weddings, that took me away from the travel that I love most.

I’m ranking these from the least bad to the worst:

1. Wore the wrong shoes on my first day in Banff and had blisters the rest of the trip: This is just a silly little mistake that ended up costing me my feet for a few days. At Peyto Lake in Banff National Park there is a hike beyond the main viewing platform for the lake that I was completely unprepared for. It was super snowy with a decent amount of elevation and I was wearing my Blundstones. Needless to say I got bad blisters on the back of my heels from my feet rubbing against the back on the uphill. Not the worst thing ever, but on a trip where I was hiking every day I was definitely bummed to have to deal with this the rest of the trip. 🙃

2. Booked an Airbnb in Mexico City without air conditioning: I mean, people told me that it would be fine because Mexico City is in the mountains. And honestly had it not been for a historic heat wave, we probably would have been fine. But of course there was a historic heat wave, so much so that the power went out one night because the power grid was so overwhelmed with people using fans and air conditioning units. At this point it is kind of funny, but man trying to sleep in the heat like that is just awful. I’ll never forget sitting out on the balcony (it was the coolest place in the apartment) with my friend, Maria, and just watching the city in the dark. There was an apartment building across from us that randomly had their lights working on the roof where people were playing tennis!

   

   

   Pics from all Mexico mishaps: Mexico City parks before the heat hits, view from balcony, classic food poisoning healers, new hotel pool, sunsets in Puerto Escondido, view from bed

3. Delayed flight to Phoenix meant that my flight turned into a non consensual red eye: Note to self, never fly Frontier again unless absolutely necessary. I was meeting my family in Arizona for a few days and my original flight time was already leaving late.. maybe around 8 pm but when I got to the gate the agents were like oh didn’t you know the flight isn’t leaving until 12:30 am? I was pissed. If I would have known that, I would have stayed home for a few more hours instead of wandering around a dead airport trying to kill time. My poor dad picked me up at 4 in the morning in Arizona and I slept for about 3 hours that night. Frontier did the least of any airline that has ever existed to make up for this. They offered something like a $30 meal voucher that had to be used in 48 hours… at least I only paid like $150 for the flight but my god.
   

4. Switched lodging after one night at an Airbnb in Mexico because I didn’t feel safe: I travel alone a lot and I rarely feel this uncomfortable. There was nothing wrong with the space itself and it was exactly as described, I guess I just didn’t realize how I would feel with the door to the bedroom leading directly outside. It was also a longer walk from town past several construction sites and I just didn’t like the feeling of folks knowing I was alone and knowing exactly where I was going. I am probably biased because the last time I went to Mexico my Airbnb was broken into, so I definitely had my guard up.
   
   Thankfully, Airbnb has a one time refund policy for situations like this so I got refunded for the rest of my 4 night stay and moved over to a boutique hotel that was just lovely. I felt much better having staff on hand and there was also a kitchen on site, which made meals while working remotely much easier.
   

5. Got food poisoning in Mexico: This didn’t last too long, more like 12 hours but when you’re alone and only have a few days on a trip this seems like forever. I was able to pull out of this quickly and really enjoyed the rest of the trip because I felt like the worst had already happened! Sunrise and sunset every day, pool dips, surf lessons, and I even released a baby turtle. Amazing what can happen when you let go a little bit. ✨
   

6. Got food poisoning in Nigeria: I was in Nigeria for a work trip, which was definitely interesting but also definitely not a super fun trip. I learned a lot about the work my company was doing there and got to meet several of my Nigerian colleagues. The food pathogens tend to find me quickly — I think this hit after about 24 hours in the country. I didn’t leave my hotel room for 36 hours, but thankfully it was a comfortable hotel and my colleagues checked in on me often to make sure it didn’t get bad enough to need an IV. When planning this trip, several people told me to just expect to get sick.. lovely :) Another colleague told me, “Nigeria is welcoming you.” So I guess I got the standard Nigerian welcome 😂

   

   View from hotel, view from bed, fun Nigerian clothing made by colleagues

7. Cut my trip to Denmark and Sweden short by a week because of back pain and lost hundreds of dollars: This was my biggest disappointment of the year. I went snowboarding a week before leaving on this trip and fell pretty hard and hurt my tailbone and lower back. I wasn’t sure if I should continue on the trip but I felt like I would be okay and went anyway. In hindsight, I wish I would have either cancelled fully or just kept with my original plan and dealt with the pain.. but alas hindsight is 20/20. It didn’t help that the place I booked in Copenhagen was freezing cold—I’m not sure if they had heat but I tried to save some money and booked a cheap Airbnb outside of the city, which I fully regret. I was uncomfortable in so many ways, AND trying to work remotely that first week before taking the second week off in Sweden. I truly couldn’t find any relief from the pain in my lower back.

   
   I was also supposed to meet a friend in Sweden, who so graciously understood the situation, but I felt awful for letting her down and also I was just really bummed not to see Sweden with her! Several lessons learned here: don’t go snowboarding right before a trip, spend time with friends/travel buddies on the front end of the trip before solo time, and if working remotely— do this the second half to give more time to get used to the time zone and get into a rhythm. AND if it’s a cold weather destination, make sure it has heat!!

   

   Copenhagen and Malmo: Beautiful cities that absolutely deserve a re-do so I can properly enjoy them