Last updated on August 2, 2025 by Shannon
Countries are built to make their own citizens more comfortable—there’s a quote somewhere out there about that and it so clearly rings true over and over again whether I’m home or on the road.
One of the common refrains from foreign backpackers I meet is a critical eye toward the huge food portion size in the US. It’s a cultural thing, and it’s expected and accepted by the masses of Americans—we’re simply used to it. A big dinner also fits into how we structure our work days, where many eat a small lunch at their desk.
Abroad though, there are a host of situations that were just not built for me, an American with no experience yet in their neck of the woods.
Whether it’s issues because of my stature, pale skin, delicate stomach, or hygiene habits, there are some countries where the “oops” moments just pile up. Even more when an, “oh shit” is in order.
6 “Oh Shit” Travel Mistakes I Made My First Year of World Travel
Instincts serve you best in the environment where they were honed. Hit the road to travel the world and you’re in for some hilarity, with a touch of danger.
Looking the Wrong Way When Crossing the Street
There I am on my first week of my round the world trip. I’ve landed in Sydney, which was chosen in part because it would be easier to get my travel legs under me in a place that speaks my language.
Following instinct, I glance left first when stepping off of the curb and now there’s a wildly honking bus tunneling into my field of vision. A stranger yanks me back onto the safety of the sidewalk with a shake of his head—”dumb tourists,” I’m sure he’s thinking.
This is of those “oh, shit” travel moments because I could have seriously injured myself.
From the time you are a child in the U.S., you’re taught to look “left, right, left.” As you get older and incorporate instincts, auditory input, and arrogance, that is frequently shortened to just a glance to the left before stepping off the curb.
The problem is: When traveling, particularly if you’re hopping countries, the traffic direction could change several times. The best solution is to become a rubber-necker. I’m that loony-tunes traveler standing on the curb rubber-necking it half a dozen times in each direction.
I look a little silly, but there’s no more getting brushed by an oncoming motorcycle!
(Side note, way back in the beginning, during the Australia leg of my trip, my directional challenges also meant a sidewalk collision with a cute guy, so it can have benefits!)
Forgetting to Duck Under Short Doorways
Tall people, unite with me here. There’s that moment during your trip when you’re exploring some beautiful old palace, or a temple filled with ancient history. You’re caught up in the moment absorbing the beauty and history.
Then, a tenth of a second before your head ploughs into the five foot high door frame, a fleetingly fast realization pops into your head: you forgot to duck.
There was a four foot wide, five foot high arched doorway at the palace in Udaipur, India that nearly gave me a concussion because I stood up to soon. I jammed the top of my skull into the decorative “v” shapes pointing downward from the frame.
I cried. Hard. I’m still surprised that there wasn’t blood involved.
I’d like to say that this moment, which was in my first year of travel taught me to maintain better awareness, but it didn’t. I slammed my head into a low tunnel at ruins outside of Oaxaca, Mexico so hard that I saw stars, staggered to sit down while helped by friends, and I also cried again. That was less of an “oh, shit” and more of a “holy shit, that hurt!”
Misplacing the Roll of Toilet Paper
It’s the one realization you don’t want to have when you’re traveling in a developing country and you’re having a toilet emergency.
“Toilet paper? I know it’s here somewhere…”
Getting sick on the road is a reality, and carrying toilet paper is essential to a Westerner like me who is used to it. I realize that they have buckets, bidets, and other/better methods, but sometimes even those things are scarce when you’re traveling off the beaten path.
This is an “oh shit” travel moment you have to pray you don’t face on a bad day.
“Oh, Shit, I Just Drank the Water”
I’m looking at myself mirror, pondering the day while brushing my teeth and realize that the water noisily swishing around in my mouth is from the tap . . . in a country where tap water is a poor choice.
This whole blog post was born out of this moment. I spent the summer months back home in the U.S. That jolted me out of travel mode, so when I landed in Bali I spent the whole two weeks fighting the long-held instinctive habit of washing my mouth out with tap water after brushing my teeth (six times I did it!). I returned home a week later with a stomach bug. Was it the water? You know, probably.
Wait, How Much is 1 Million Dong Actually Worth?
It’s two days into a new country and you suddenly realize that the 10,000 currency notes and 100,000 notes look incredibly similar—and you’ve somehow already blown through that $100 you withdrew. Whoops!
The U.S. has some of the plainest looking money in the world—besides the few splashes of violet now on many of our bills, our money is green. Just green and cream. So it’s fun to have purple, green, blue, and pink money to differentiate the bills in other countries.
The problem?
When you have as many as seven or eight zeros following the numbers, and some bills are a similar color, well, it’s difficult to keep it all straight when you first land in a new country!
This “oh shit” travel moment first occurred while traveling in Laos, but it’s most famously an issue in Vietnam, where some vendors prey on new arrivals by giving the wrong change for the bill they were handed.
Forgetting to Update the Time Zone
Time zones=fun times.
There was that time I realized that my watch was on the wrong time-zone and my bus left an hour ago.
Or that first week in Nepal when I was consistently 15 minutes late to all of my language classes (as a part of my volunteer program) because Nepal is 15 minutes different than India! Another fun time, I booked a plane ticket for the wrong day because I was doing the date math in my head and the date on my watch was still in another time zone :(
There are so many joys to traveling the world. So many things I celebrate about my life. So many travel lessons learned over the years. But it’s not all roses. Some times shit happens when you step out of your comfort zone.
Have a great “Oh, shit” travel moment? Please, please, please share. Funny moment recounts are hugely encouraged :-)
My best ‘Oh crap’ travel moment ……. Sitting on the coach, half asleep at stupid o clock in the morning on my way to the airport, to fly off to Egypt with my favourite travel buddy in tow, who I’ve known forever and trust her completely after everything weve been through travelling together! She suddenly sits upright with a strange look on her face and says check your passport!….I reply Ive got it dont worry, I saw it in my bag at the last rest stop….to which she replies just check it ive got a funny feeling. So I open my bag, pull out my passport and flick through the pages only to find on the last page……. a photo of my boyfriend, Mike!!!!!! Oh Crap….wrong passport hehe ooops another blonde moment for the books : )
Whoa! That’s a huge “oh crap!” I take it that you were able to switch the
passports and make it one time?! I am so paranoid when I leave
internationally about quadruple checking my passport – now you gave me a
whole new type of passport fear to worry about! :-)
After traveling on a red-eye and during a layover in Las Vegas I tiredly walked into the bathroom stall and closed the door behind me when it hit me…I didn’t see any urinals in this bathroom. Afraid to look out through the stall cracks I quickly exited the bathroom. Funny, but not one woman noticed the man as he walked out of the woman’s bathroom!
Oh no! I would be horrified…but because there’s a whole lot more going on
out in the open in the men’s room. :) Hilarious that no one noticed you make
your exit…bet you thoroughly check the signs now!
My latest OH, Crap moment came on my trip to Norway 2 weeks ago. You can read about it at http://julesfredrick.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/yikes-i-hope-they-serve-beer-in-norwegian-prisons/
Thank goodness Willy and the Boys were allowed on the plane! :)
Oh yeah, I know that tap water thing from hard-earned experience. My most common “Oh crap” moment usually involves getting lost. I have a terrible sense of direction.
Yeah, getting lost, especially when you have your luggage too can be so
frustrating…our senses of direction are similarly poor :-/
The Look Right signs were done for the Sydney 2000 Olympics when the world converged to our shores.Not a bad idea for those unaccustomed to the 'other side of the road'!
That makes a lot of sense – I wondered what prompted the painted road ways
(and figured it was a squashed tourist so glad that it wasn’t that!) –
it definitely helped me enormously when I was there :)
I had several “Oh Crap” traffic direction moments while driving a moke in Barbados.
What were you doing driving is my question?! :-) I rented a car in Ireland
and twice found my self on the wrong side of the median on a road :(
Mine involves a pesky stalker in India. We were walking down the street in Calcutta and he just wouldn't leave us alone, despite our repeated efforts at yelling at him in Bengali. We finally ducked into a local shop to evade him and report him. The shopowner took matters into his own hands and went out to the street and beat him to a pulp. OH CRAP. He we annoying, but that was not our intent! We just wanted him to stop following us!
Oh yikes Claire! I mean, he totally shouldn’t have been stalking you and
freaking you out…but I would have had an “Oh crap” reaction too – though I
hear that is a fairly accepted and normal form of punishment in India for
those deviating from norms (they beat the cab driver who causes a car
accident too). Glad you made it out safely though :)
Hahaha… I have definitely been a victim of #3 and #5
Thanks Brendan..glad to see I’m not the only one sometimes baffled by new
currency and conversion rates!
I never have problems with your #3, but can certainly relate to the rest! One lingering “oh crap” moment: taking the metro out out of Kuala Lumpur to my bus station (called Putra PWTC), only to find out that Putra actually means terminus in Bahasa Malaysia and I had taken the metro to the end of the line. The bus station? Back in the middle of KL. Had to grab a cab back to Putra PWTC (aka PWTC Station), which was within walking distance from my hotel. Sigh.
That is def a ::sigh:: moment – I’ve taken the metro in the wrong direction
before and then had no choice but to hunker down for another hour in the
other direction. :( I thought for sure though you were going to weigh in
with your literal “oh crap” moments with all of the bird crapping you’ve
experienced! ;-)
One of my “oh crap” moments involves not checking out the menu before paying for an incredibly expensive New Year's eve meal at a restaurant in Prague. I loved the look of this small restaurant, with its fireplaces, unique furniture and cozy atmosphere and so I pre-paid for their NYE set meal when I saw it advertised. When I arrived with my friend two nights later for the the meal, I discovered that every course was some form of pork (that was their specialty), which I don't eat at all. Well, I did that night as there weren't any alternatives! But it was not a fun eating experience…
Yikes Earl, that really sucks…especially since you were probably pretty
psyched about such a neat place to spend the New Year. I have definitely had
some hungry meals too that I had to pay for anyway because they snuck in
beef or something like that :( Hopefully you made up for it the following
year?!
Oh yes, I've hit my head more times than I can count too.
I would add to the list drinking too many cups of coffee / soda / beer before boarding a long-distance bus, boat, hot air balloon, etc. without toilets.
Thanks for weighing in Erik – you are sooo right – can’t believe I forgot
that one. I’ve had tears in my eyes on some epic bus rides as I regretted
downing that litre of water!
Being so into a guy at a bar in Florence that I actually left my purse there without realizing it. Wasn't even drunk, just lovesick…and had a flight to London the next day at 8. The bar opened at 7. *FACEPALM*
Aww, Kate, please tell me this story has a happy ending tho and you still
talk to his hunk in Florence?!
When I was in high school, I took a trip with my mother to London. On that first day, not only did I look the wrong direction crossing the street, but I was actually hit by a car! It was just a bump, I was mortified and brushed it off – I think my mother had a mini heart attack though!
Dan has a lot of: “oops, forgot to duck and now I've got blood spurting from my head.” He could write a book on the trials and tribulations of what it's like traveling as a tall person!
I can’t believe you were actually hit – yikes, your poor mum…bet she kept
a close eye on your after that! I so feel Dan’s pain…sadly…though no
blood for me yet so I’m grateful I don’t have a couple extra inches on
me! Sorry for the week-later reply :)
Good list. My #1 one was arriving overland at the Ethiopian border (from Kenya) after hitchhiking on a truck through the desert (and getting hijacked on the way), only to find that you can't get a visa at the border. Although the US Embassy in Kenya told me I could. And they wanted me to hitch a ride back to Nairobi, about 2 1/2 days by truck, to get a visa to come in. Thank God I managed a way around that…. after 4 days at the border.
Thanks for sharing your “oh crap” moment Michael and sorry for replying so
late! I can’t imagine sitting on the border like that for 4 days wondering
if they were going to let you through! But I guess it makes a great story
later – did you manage to get to know any of them?
Only six? I figured you'd have more than that. I have so many, I have no idea where to start.
Haha great list there. I think my best moment was when I was on a beach in Vancouver, deciding to have a couple of nice cans of beers whilst watching the sunset. Then somebody told me that it was illegal to drink on public beaches (or any public place) in Canada, and almost at that moment a policeman came along. Luckily I had a plastic bag on me so I just dropped the can in that. He came and spoke to us to say the beach would be closed after sunset, then turned to me and said “Have you been drinking alcohol?”. I said no. He replied “well can I look in your bag then?” I gave it to him hoping that he wouldn't look past my socks, but he pointed out the cans in there. So I stuttered “well, I just found them littering the beach so I picked them up….” A smile went across his face and he said “That's what we like to see!” and left. I don't know whether he believed me or not, but I was glad to avoid a heavy fine.
Sorry for the late reply! Thanks for sharing your “oh crap” moment – I can’t
believe that the cop believed you- what an awesome excuse! I have so gotten
in trouble for drinking on the beach and was scared out of my mind when the
cop came over and made the group of us simply dump out our stash of
alcohol, whew, was relieved :)
Too funny. Were they cold ones?