What's the biggest travel fail that happened to you or someone you know?

I'm not quite sure why, but after about a month of dating a guy, we decided we should take a "family" trip together. So, the trip was scheduled to happen about 2.5 months into the relationship, and would include me and my troop (kids age 6, 9, 19, and 19) and him and his troop (kids age 7, 8, and 20). All nine of us were Disney-bound. He and I did a pretty good job of splitting up the duties and creating general plans. One of my jobs was to secure a massive rental van that we could all fit in for the drive. I booked the van about a month prior to the trip and thought nothing of it until the day came. I showed up at the rental place around 11am to get it, at which point they promptly told me that because I didn't have a credit card, only a debit card, they wouldn't release the vehicle to me. I was like... "Wait a minute. You let me reserve it with this card. You accepted and confirmed my booking a month ago. I have seven kids waiting for this van. I have hotels and tickets for the trip purchased, all contingent on us getting this van and leaving in the next couple hours." No dice. They wouldn't budge. I even called their 800 number and customer service said it was my fault for not reading the fine print on the reservation. I could have gotten any other vehicle type with my debit card- even a smaller minivan, but those only hold seven, at most, and wouldn't have worked. 

So, in all my awkwardness, I had to call the guy and tell him why I couldn't get the van. He was cool about it and told me not to worry- that he'd come down and get the van himself. He arrived there around 3... and also brought a debit card. He was also denied, of course. At that point, I'm starting to panic. There are thousands of dollars in prepaid expenses on the line and eager kids who expect a major trip. My own kids and I hadn't had a vacation in years. My youngest had never been on a vacation, so this was huge. I started frantically calling around to other rental places- all of which would have gladly rented to me with my debit card, but none had a big van. If I had used any other company and booked in advance, it wouldn't have been a problem, but because I chose that one, I was SOL. 

Ultimately, he opted to rent a smaller van to fit his troops and I had to drive my regular van for mine. Not only did that suck because I hadn't planned on driving and didn't sleep the night before, but it also set the tone for the whole trip. With us being in two separate vehicles, that's exactly what the trip was- separate- and not by my choosing. We saw each other in passing during the evenings. 

The other oddity... we rented a home from AirBnB. The place was massive. It had 5-6 bedrooms, a pool, a hot tub, a game room, an in-home theater, a baby grand piano, a spiral staircase- the works. The kids loved the place and it was literally hundreds of dollars less than a hotel would have been. Anyway, so I'm sitting out on the back patio the first morning, sipping my coffee, trying to recover from the late night, planning the day, checking the Mug. It's a private area with block walls, so I think nothing of going out there in my nightgown. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch some movement in the back of the lot. It's a woman. She's older- probably in her 60s and she's moving from plant to plant, pruning and watering. Initially, I assume she's some kind of gardener, particularly because she had no qualms about coming up on the patio with me and working on the plants there, and she also smiled at me and then said something not in English. I left it at that and then started my day, carefully locking the door behind me when I went in. However, while we were all vegging that night, she made an appearance again. And again. And again. We were able to ascertain that she was staying on the property somewhere because she'd appear at odd times of the day and if we left anything out, she'd tidy up after us, but there wasn't a guest house or guest room. My son, who had taken a couple years of Mandarin in school, was fairly certain that's what she was speaking to us, but he couldn't remember enough of the language to know what she was saying or communicate with her. I pondered for a while if maybe she was a neighbor who had been hired to care for the property, but even when we locked gates from the inside- to the yard and home, she'd still be found within locked areas that could only be opened from the inside, so we knew she was never leaving. Yet, she remained tidy and well-kept, so she was obviously bathing and changing her clothes somewhere on the property- sleeping there too. :o My best guess is that she was the mother of the property owner, but the property owner never responded to our inquiries about who she was and why she was there. She was friendly enough, always smiling, and seemed to belong, so we just kind of lived with her, not knowing where she'd pop up at any given moment or where she was staying. 

I know... I know... you guys are all probably shocked that we lived with her and that she didn't kill us all while we slept, but what choice did we really have? She didn't speak English and she seemed to mean well. 

There was more... so much more that went wrong on that trip. A lot of the things in the house were broken- like the hot tub. The game room was in a glass patio, but the doors were locked, so we couldn't get inside. I sat down on my kids' bed one night and it collapsed. It had apparently been held up with empty paint cans. My youngest son flooded the master bathroom because he didn't know what the bidet was, turned it on full blast, and then fled the room in fear as the water shot all over the ceiling and into the next room. I lost my cell phone. Rides broke repeatedly while we were on them or in line for them. The princesses were never where they were supposed to be when they were scheduled to be there, so we missed them. And, of course, my guy and I almost never saw each other, aside from when we were disagreeing about plans. By the end of it, none of us could walk. My six-year-old was toast and wanted to be carried out of Universal Studios on the last day, but none of us had the strength to do it. He sat down in the middle of the exit and would not move for anything. I couldn't blame him. That's exactly what I wanted to do, only I at least had the maturity to see that wouldn't help the situation. He would crawl a little now and then, but we weren't making any progress, so we started joking around with him like he was a dog, calling "here, boy" and rewarding him with bits of candy when he did. I ultimately stopped into a popcorn shop and picked up a couple bags, so I could continue the game on the way out. It got him up on his feet and moving- at a snail's pace- but at least he was moving- and laughing- and barking. We got a lot of odd looks from people, but I'm telling you- it was either that and laughter or we were all going to leave in tears. We chose laughter.  By the time we finally made it home, we were done for. Every last one of us stayed in bed for about 24 hours after.