Inspired by Renates Reiser‘s article about weird and funny travel experiences we decided to make a list of our own of all the weird stuff we have done or seen over the years while travelling.

Stuck in Varadero

While visiting Cuba we decided to take a day trip to Varadero. In the evening we were going to return to Havana, but faced an issue: All the bus tickets were sold out. We also figured out that all hotels were either fully booked or very expensive. We were stuck in Varadero… In the end we found an old man who offered to drive us to Havana. That is at least what we through he said, because his English was non-existing and our Spanish barely any better. Eventually we felt confident in having understood one another (at least confident enough to believe this car would be a better place than a night outdoor in Cuba) and managed to agree on a price of 50 USD. We stepped into an old Lada (and anyone having been to Cuba knows that this is pure luxury compared to other cars there) and started driving. Because we had forgotten out phones in the hotel in Havana we couldn’t check whether we were actually going in the right direction and after a while the sun disappeared and turned the sky dark. It was us, a Cuban, an old Lada and a whole lot of darkness in the middle of somewhere. After a while the man stopped to pick up a girl. Luckily she spoke a bit English and confirmed that we had understood one another. What a relief! 2 hours later we arrived in Havana and found our hotel. Things work out in Cuba!

“Running” for our flight in Hungary

On a day trip to Sopron in Hungary we managed to miss our train back to Austria. While standing on the train platform the phone buzzed and showed us the flight tickets. Based on the departure time it assumed that we would surely be at the airport by now. But we were not. We were not in the right city, nor the right country. And guess what? No-one spoke English here either… Luckily the next train arrived surprisingly fast. We managed to find our way to the airport and actually make it to the flight back home.

It’s also worth mentioning that on this trip we flew from Norway, had a connection in Germany, landed in the Czech Republic took a bus to Slovakia, continued onwards to Austria, took a train to Hungary and back to Austria, flew onwards to a connection in Germany again and eventually landed in Norway – in 4 days. The fact that we didn’t miss any flights (and actually had time to see something) is a miracle!

Friendly guard in Zambia with an automatic rifle

While visiting Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls we decided to take a day trip to Zambia to enjoy the view from the other side (there is something about day trips and surprising experiences!). When we were down by the Zambezi river we heard a strange noise and saw baboons running away and all of a sudden a man in a uniform with a taser and an automatic rifle appeared. We started wondering if we had really entered the wrong place, but it turned out that all he wanted was to see if we were fine and make sure that the baboons did not bother us. What a relief!

Scanned Tora’s boarding card at the airport

Digital boarding cards on the phone is super practical, but also easy to mix up. And that’s exactly what happened when I scanned Tora’s boarding card at the airport. No-one noticed and we both managed to enter the airplane with the same boarding card. As we found our seats the flight attendants started running around looking stressed. That’s when I realised that I had scanned the wrong boarding card. The flight attendants were quite relieved when I informed them about this and they managed to fix it. We continued the trip and made it to the destination without any issues.

The man who closed his store to drive us to the tourist information

The Federated States of Micronesia is definitively not your average country. In a store selling snorkelling gear we asked for directions to the tourist information. The man provided directions, but also proposed to drive us there. That was nice and we assumed that someone would look after his store when he was gone. But no, he closed the whole thing to give us a lift, if anyone wanted to do some shopping they could come back later, opening hours and that kind of stuff wasn’t all that important.

and was drinking beer while driving

The same man got thirsty and decided to have a beer while driving. Luckily he seemed fairly sober, but we did appreciate the ride not being too long.

Spiders everywhere in Dalat

Dalat is an inland city in Vietnam up in the mountains. While visiting a temple area we stumbled upon trees filled with spiderwebs- – and spiders. Luckily the spiders were not huge, but we have never seen this many spiderwebs in one place.

60k bar tap in Ha Long Bay

Well, 60 000 dong that is. Which is around 3 USD. It also felt a bit strange withdrawing 3 millions from the ATM.

Gate at the airport used by Erdogan

Returning from Turkey we were informed at the airport that the gate had changed. Shortly after a large motorcade with flashing blue lights showed up on the airstrip. Turns out the Turkish president was going on a trip and decided to use our gate.

Palace closed off for Duerte

Speaking of closing things off because of a powerful person; In Phnom Penh the police had cordoned off the whole area around The Royal Palace. We asked why and were told that Rodrigo Duerte was visiting. Aka. the president of the Philippines, aka. the man who compared himself to Hitler and perceived it as a good thing. Maybe it was for the best that there was a bit of distance between him and us…

Box jellyfish in South Africa

Whoah! This is supposedly one of the most dangerous jellyfish in the world. Luckily not all kinds are venomous and we hope that this was one of the “nicer” ones; nonetheless, we do think the decision to stay on land was a good one.

When we were the tourist attraction by the eels in Pohnpei

Pohnpei is one of the weirdest places we have ever visited, partially because of the lack of tourists. And it turned out that the locals also thought this experience was a bit special, probably for the same reason. We were going to see some sacred eels in a pond and were followed by a dozen locals. We just assumed they wanted to see the eels too, but soon realised that we were the real tourist attraction for them.

Confused by the money in Cuba

On the first night in a new place we usually find somewhere cheap and simple to eat, like McDonalds or Subway, just until we have gotten a bit more familiar with the place and know what a fair price should be for food. We knew that Cuba doesn’t have such capitalist things as chain restaurant, but every country has at least a supermarket where you can buy a packet of biscuits and a water bottle, right? Nope, not in Cuba. The only options we found were a couple of pizza places with ridiculously high prices. Just for a simple Margherita they wanted $12! But after going hungry for a couple og hours we finally decided to surrender and pay the ridiculous price. We gave the lady 50 and got 49.50 back. This didn’t really add up. Suddenly it dawned on us; the price was 12 Cuban pesos (CUP), not 12 Cuban convertible pesos (CUC). The CUC is equivalent to one US dollar while the CUP is 1/24 of that. In other words we paid 50 cents for the pizza, not 12 dollars.

Found a bar in Izmir called Stavanger

After travelling 12 hours from my hometown of Stavanger to Izmir in Turkey, I finally arrived at the hotel and got out of the taxi. Took a quick look to the right and what do I see but a bar with the exact name of my home town on the other side of the world. I travelled all this way just to end up where I started (sort of).

Elephant in the Okavango Delta

In Botswana we went on a hike in the Okavango Delta to find elephants. We were unarmed, but had gotten the instructions before we left: “If I say don’t move, you don’t move! But if I say run, you RUN”. After a while we came across a male elephant and the guide told us “dont move”. We were really hoping he wouldn’t follow up with “run” and this time we were lucky; The elephant looked at us standing there completely still and decided we weren’t really that interesting and walked away.

and when we were actually cased by an elephant

When a young male elephant decided our safari vehicle was too ugly to be on his territory, we found out just how fast a Land Rover can drive across a savanna. Luckily it is slightly faster than a hormonal elephant would bother to run.

Telling the lady behind the check-in counter where we were going on our way to Vietnam

“What’s your final destination” is a common question on immigration forms, and not surprisingly we were asked the same question by the lady behind the check-in counter on our way to Vietnam. Imagine the surprise when we produced three A4 pages of flight itineraries and proceeded to spend the next 4 minutes telling her in detail where we were going and which layovers we had on our trip around the world. We got no more questions after this.

Sunburn in Pohnpei

Never snorkel without a t-shirt! We had slathered on SPF 50 in hopes that it would be enough to protect our skin when we went snorkelling in Pohnpei. It wasn’t. Who would have thought that staying in the water with our backs against the sun for 7 hours in a country that is basically on the equator would require more that a couple of layers of SPF50? The next day we literally couldn’t move outside of our hotel room (not figuratively, literally!). And even now, 9 months later, I still have the reverse freckles on my back.

Ordering plane tickets to Pohnpei

Signs that you are going to an almost tourist free area? When the travel agent has never even heard of the capital of the country… We wanted to go to Pohnpei and the travel agent asked us if we meant Pompeii, Italy. We kindly had to tell her about this tiny island in the middle of the pacific that sees fewer tourists in a year than North Korea. And she managed to get us tickets!

Rainy season in Hue

Our plan was to be in Vietnam after the rainy season had come to an end, but this year it was delayed so we got to experience it. Lucky us… The rain pouring downwards was one thing, another one when the drainage system couldn’t move the water fast enough and each manhole became a small fountain spewing water out, that was a new experience.

Missed Chinese New Year in London

One night in London there was loads of noise outside the hotell. Eventually I fell asleep, slightly annoyed by all the noise. The next morning I found out that all this noise was apparently the celebration of Chinese New Year – and I just missed the biggest celebration in the world outside of China…

Fashion show in Izmir

On a guided tour to Ephesus we stopped by a shop that tried to sell us all kinds of leather clothing. We entered the store and arrived at a large room with some kind of stage in the middle. We sat down and all of a sudden light came on and loud music started playing. Turned out that we just entered a tiny fashion show in the middle of nowhere in Turkey. Not really sure if this was fun, awkward or just weird. Probably a combination of all three.

Eating Guinea pig in Peru

Omnomnom, what can I say? When someone offers you grilled guinea pig in Peru you have to try it, right? If you wonder what the cute little rodents tastes like, it’s a bit like the dark meat on a chicken and despite how fluffy they look when alive they don’t really contain that much meat. I have to say a beef burger is a preferred choice over this…

Sandstorm in Namibia

Okay, it might have been the world’s smallest sandstorm, but still. We were driving through Namibia and saw a big dark wall of sand in front of us and the guide told us to close all the windows. It may sound a bit scary, but when we actually drove into it we realised it wasn’t really that special at all. However, it should be mentioned that the sand still got in everywhere. Even our passports had fine layers of sand on them, and they were securely hidden in a safe under a wooden board in a box that someone was sitting on.

Taxi with a cigar and a figurine of Jesus

A local taxi is something you have to experience in Cuba. We drove 180 km in an old Chevrolet that was reconstructed to a 7-seater and it went fast! We don’t really know how fast, because the speedometer was replaced by a half smoked cigar and a figurine of Jesus.

Everything is not perfect when you are travelling, but the memories we cherish the most are actually those that didn’t go exactly according to plan. Have you ever experienced something weird or unexpected when travelling?