Travelers Reveal Their Creepiest Experiences Abroad
The safety and comfort-zone hierarchy while traveling starts with a staycation, then progressively moves up to in-country, and then overseas. The farther away from home, the fewer words you can speak or read; the more foreign the customs, government, and people; and the greater chance you have of encountering something weird, creepy, unsettling, unfamiliar, or downright unsafe.
People who shared their creepy travel experiences via Reddit - whether they ventured to the most beautiful cities abroad or ones that might be considered a little less desirable as safe travel destinations - have strange stories to tell. Blockades, shaky transportation options, curious critters, foul weather, natural disasters, and more led to their harrowing tales.
Perhaps their stories should serve as a warning about overseas travel, but most vacations abroad offer fun and recreation rather than fear. You could worry about parasites and pickpockets, or be extra careful while still enjoying the adventure.
They Were Stopped In Ukraine By Russian Militants
From Redditor /u/cancercuressmoking:
I went to visit Ukraine with my parents because they wanted to see the small villages where their parents were born. We have no family in the area so we hired a guide to take us around since the country can be a bit corrupt.
As we were driving around on a highway we suddenly were stopped in traffic (literally [in the] middle of nowhere). The guide gets out of the car and takes a look, then quickly jumps back into the car, does a U-turn and drives off telling my mom we can't go to her mom's village.
We ask why and he says that was some kind of Russian militant roadblock. This was during the whole Crimea thing.
They Met Someone In Germany Who Previously Lived In Their US Home
From Redditor /u/BarryAllen85:
Met a guy in Munich on the street who had lived in the same house as I did... in Cincinnati... 40 years ago.
'Gandalf' Protected Them On The Streets Of Algeria
From Redditor /u/Sir_Francis_Burton:
I was walking around in a town in Algeria. I wandered in to a neighborhood and noticed there were hardly any people out. A little farther, and there were literally no people out. I started to feel a little uneasy.
And then I see an extremely tall man walking... straight towards me, obviously with intent. He gets closer, and I see an older gentleman with a long gray beard and wearing a gray tunic. I stop.
He comes right up to me and says, in pretty good English, “You’re not safe here; we need to get you off the street.” I say “OK,” and he says, “Follow me.”
We walk a few blocks and come to a door. He says, “Wait here a minute,” and goes inside. He opens the door again and invites me in. When I get inside, there are maybe a dozen men. They are all dressed in black, and they are staring absolute daggers at me.
Gray-beard lays in to them - starts shaking his fists at them, gets really worked up. Then one of the younger guys goes in to the kitchen and brings out some tea and cookies, and offers them to me.
So I’m drinking tea, and trying to smile, and one of the young guys asks where I’m from and I say, “the States,” and he starts talking about the CIA and stuff...
And then I say, “You think the CIA is bad here? Let me tell you about Central America.” And then pretty soon everybody is warming up to me and we’re laughing and talking...
After a bit of that the older man invites me back to his apartment. He has a huge library. I [give] him a book that I had finished. And then he tells me what just happened.
His little brother, one of the younger men, was the leader of a radical group - all the other men I had met. He had overheard them getting ready to [take off with] me. But he had shamed them for not being good hosts, and for disrespecting him because it was his house. He said I would be safe from then on.
TLDR: Gandalf saves my life and got a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for his trouble.
They Woke Up In A Detached Train Car In Slovenia
From Redditor /u/ThoriumJeep:
[I] fell asleep on a train from Croatia to Italy. I woke up to find myself locked in the train car, which had been detached from the engine and parked in a yard.
I had missed my connection and no one must have checked the train before parking it. [I] found out I was in Slovenia after finding a way out of the train.
A Taxi Driver Tried To Trap Them In Nicaragua
From Redditor /u/michiganmaestra:
I was traveling in Nicaragua several years ago when I got lost and ended up having to take a taxi at 9:30 pm back to my hostel. When the taxi pulled up to the curb, the taxi driver locked the taxi doors and told me I had misunderstood the fare.
He claimed I owed him $100 USD, which was several times more than we had agreed upon. I tried to pry the doors open from the inside but was completely trapped. Thankfully, he let me out of the taxi after taking all the money I had on me.
The hostel workers told me I was incredibly lucky. A few days earlier, a taxi driver had [taken] another young female...
They Escaped A Train Bombing In Brussels
From Redditor /u/XtremeSeb:
In 2016 I went to Brussels on a school trip. We [visited] the train station and left to Germany, I believe. Several hours later all of our moms just start calling and texting us asking where we were and stuff.
Turns out there was [an explosion] in the train station. It’s crazy to believe that the [devices] were probably already planted when we were there.