| Hello dear members of Debbie’s Caribbean Resort Reviews Forum.Lets celebrate spring and warmer weather ahead of us with our sponsor STASHBELT!So we are having "The Best Sketchy Travel Story Contest” here at Debbie’s Forum sponsored by Stashbelt.com !!!Contest:"Tell us your scariest travel story! – Have you been robbed in Dominican Republic? Mugged in Mexico? Loose your luggage in Cuba? StashBelt helps you travel in safety and style, tell us your story about how your trip took a turn for the worse – and how Stashbelt would’ve helped! We’ll pick our favorite stories and Poll Debbies forum. Winner gets their very own StashBelt!
We’ll also publish your story on our blog at www.StashBelt.ca and on our Facebook fan page! Have fun, be creative and scare our pants off (try hard we wear belts) Can’t wait to get your hands on a StashBelt? visit www.Stashbelt.ca an enter promo code: debbie for 12% OFF and FREE SHIPPING! Contest Rules:- Start New Thread / NEW STORY- New Story/thread has to be NEW started between April 13th to 23rd 2015- On April 24th poll will be created so we all can vote for the winner- You can start and write as many new threads and new stories as you wish as long as you follow forum rules- Thread can be anywhere on the Debbie’s forumWho can play:- All members of Debbie’s forum and all moderators can play except Admin of the forum!- New members are allowed and encouraged to join forum and participate in the contest!Prize:-Stashbelt (Prize is valued at $59.99 + shipping expedited included)
Contest will be closed on April 26th 2015 at 11:59 pm.Winner will be announced on the April 27th 2015!Good luck making NEW interesting Stashbelt stories on the forum!Sponsored by : www.stashbelt.ca Please like Stashbelt FaceBook Page: www.facebook.com/StashBelt |
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Well I could share mine …… BUT if Terry chimes in with a few of his I would pay to hear some of his tales …. also Rainbow as ha few "good" stories.Out tale is one of a new traveller in Jamaica 24 years ago in 1991. We were staying at a high end resort near Montego Bay and took the cab from the resort into town to do some shopping. ….. For the seasoned traveller they now probably know the punchline to this story…….. but as Canadians we assumed that all these friendly people were there to be helpful. we learned a lesson that has stayed with us through all our travels, and lucky for us it only cost us a few dollars. So…..we arrived in town looking for a camera, George the driver dropped us near to the duty free camera shop and said he would wait for us. We toured a few shops then this young , casually dressed fellow came up to us said "Hi" as a friend would and then said "you remember me don’t you? I work around the pool at your resort "(he used the resort’s name)…."what’s ya’ dooin’ here?" To be kind and courteous back we told him we were looking for a camera….He said he could take us not far away to a place that had better prices. Soon after we started walking a fellow joined us and he introduced him as his buddy. Off we went one street off the very groomed Tourist presented area. For me my eye as a photographer was going wild seeing all the kids in the street, all the shadows & the misc …."not seen in Canada" areas. My partner on the other hand was getting more and more concerned. We emerged back in the prettier part of town, and we had not gone that far away…..we actually could still see the shopping area where the driver had dropped us. We went into the camera shop and indeed did find the camera at a slightly better price. The walk back to our driver was the newbie traveller’s lesson of the day. The initial fellow stood in front of us and asked for money for his services to take us to the camera shop and he would take the money for his friend who had run off. We gave him $40.00 for the pair and as we walked back the other fellow, the larger fellow came out from nowhere , blocked our way back and asked for his money. We kindly said we had given it to is friend…… his tone changed and now the experienced changed to a lesson. He said forcefully he wanted his money and that his friend would not give him anything. We did and walked briskly back to our driver. Lessons: * Drivers from one resort are easily identified as are the ‘marks’ for the con* Know your area well enough if you venture off as a new traveller to know how to safely get back* sometimes a deal is not really a ‘deal’ (in the end the camera cost us slightly more than the original)* do not be fooled by the "I know you …..you do remember me? do you not?" line as a traveller it is a con of putting you in a defensive position.* if uncertain take your travel bands off. They can be red flags. |
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Not really my scariest travel story, but the time frame and locale of Canucks’ story brought back the memory. |
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| Mine is not really a scary tale,and does not involve cash. We were traveling from the U.K. to the Maldives and had to change planes in Sri Lanka for the last leg of the journey. It was late in the evening and the airport was not busy and we had about an hour intransit wait. I said to the wife that I would go and change my cold weather long trousers for the warmer climate short trousers and made my way to the toilets. There was nobody in the toilets but I went into a cubicle to change. Whilst in the cubicle I heard someone enter the toilets. It was a quite light tread and I became aware that this person who had entered did not go to the urinal, did not go to the wash basins or to the cubicles. I don’t know what it is, it’s rather like a sixth sense but you know when something is not right. By now I had stopped changing clothes but was intently listening for sounds outside my cubicle.The next thing to happen was a hand coming under the cubicle door holding a toilet roll ! " For sir" was the words spoken, much to my relief. I made all the usual noises of flushing,exited the cubicle to wash my hands only to have more toilet paper unraveled for me to dry my hands by a very small toilet attendant in flip flops. Needless to say a tip was expected and freely given. Ray | |
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My scary story starts at Toronto Pearson Airport. My sister-in-law and I were leaving for Puerto Plata. We are sitting on the plane and hear "Fasten your seatbelts please". Ok, done!!. The plane goes down the runway almost ready to left the nose and comes to a SCREETCHING halt. My sister-in-law was FREAKING OUT as were many other people. No words, no announcements, NOTHING for a good 5 minutes until we circled around the airport again. Finally, the pilot made an announcement that a light had come on the the cockpit and it was now all checked out (in 5 minutes???) and we are going to take off again. He makes another announcement to "fasten your seatbelts please" …like anyone had taken them off. I could hear people whispering and saying prayers as we were preparing to take off again. My sister-in-law was saying "we are going to die"….just what I wanted to hear while taking off. I just kept telling myself that air travel is the safest way to travel and safety come first!!!! Needless to say I have never travelled with my sister-in-law again. |
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My first trip to Cuba was in 1980 (honeymoon) and we landed in Havana. While lining up at customs I watched the group in front of us get their luggage inspected. The agents were inspecting absolutely everything – toiletry bags were dumped out on a table etc. At this point I realized that I could be in serious trouble. I hadn’t used my toiletry travel bag for a few years and the last time had been a trip within Canada with some buddies and I thought that I may have left a tiny piece of hash wrapped in foil in the bag. |
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My story starts at the Toronto International airport as well. We were on our annual sisters reunion to Cuba. We were at the airport early as our flight was at 610 am one of our favorite time to leave. We walked around and shopped a bit once we entered the secured area and settled to wait at our gate. We actually napped a bit and woke to them calling to board our flight. Have your passports and boarding passes ready. I could not find my passport……….I could not find my passport……….I dumped out my carryon all over the floor I dumped my purse out and panic set it and I realized this is for real I do not have my passport. Thousand of scenarios came to mind. Would they let me on?? Would Cuba let me in? OMG what am I going to do? I approached the counter hyperventalating and they said you got into this area with it where did you go? Hmmm stores They told me to retrace my steps and at the same time they started calling. I went to the little store and they said no another store no……OMG did someone pick it up? I went to duty free and they said they did have one turned in but they sent it on to the gate where we were boarding. I get to the gate no passport. Everyone was on the plane except the three of us. The attendant called the duty free.they sent it to the wrong gate. We finally get my passport and on the plane. As I sat down everyone clapped………I could not tell you the relief I felt. Needless to say when the attendants announce bar service would commece now I yelled "Please over here I need a drink!" Again everyone clapped……. |
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I have 2 stories! Both from the DR. I was married at Dreams in Punta Cana, and over 40 friends and relatives joined us, including my mom and children. One night she heard a knock at her door and she got up to answer it, groggily thinking it was my daughter returning from a night at the disco with her brothers and cousins. She was so sleepy that she didn’t even ask "who is it"? It turns out it was 2 local men, trying to get into her room. She managed to slam the door and lock it, but who knows what would have happened had they managed to overpower her? Likely they were just looking for money, but what if they decided to hurt her (and my 12 yr old nephew who was also sharing her room)? We contacted security and management, who were no help at all. Lesson learned – don’t open your door if you are not expecting someone, and ask first!!! The second time was on our 1st anniversary trip. My husband and I decided to try Puerto Plata instead of PC. I, like other tourists, would often leave my beach bag on or next to my chair while I ran into the hotel to use the loo, or grab a drink. One time I made the mistake of forgetting my wallet in it. Well, I’m sure you can guess what happened next … I return 5 mins later to get my wallet … and it’s gone. Along with the $100 that was in it. Another lesson learned the hard way! Yikes, both incidents left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven’t returned to the DR since. |
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Mad: you earned this belt the hard way!! Since the day of mugging how many times have you gone back? You have nerves of steel and for sure the female equivalent of cojones. Congrats 1000 times; I hope you get to meet the stashbelt guys in person; I’m sure they would enjoy meeting you. I like to see Bluenosers win! |
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