The worst things I've seen when travelling (cumulatively)

Since you're here, you must love to travel and learn about other cultures, just like me. I'm always excited to explore a new place and talk to locals to hear their stories, but sometimes the things I've experienced are so shocking and upsetting that I had to make an account just to write this and warn fellow travellers about it. 1. When people ask if my suitcase is "loot" just because it's not full of clothes. I was waiting at the airport to take my flight home and I saw an older lady watching me and eventually she mustered the courage to ask me "Is that a loot?" and pointed to my suitcase which had some empty space on it. I replied "Yeah, I could've put more stuff in it." She replied with a big smile on her face "You should've sold it then." 2. When a child died on a bus ride, everyone just left. I was on a bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara. I noticed an older woman crying and a few other people trying to calm her down, and then I realised that a toddler had just died on the bus ride. He was sitting on his mother's lap, and she had fallen asleep. After a while the child's breathing had slowed down, and he had turned pale, so she woke up to find her child dead. She started crying and screaming, and some of the other passengers tried to console her, but the driver didn't even slow down the bus. The mother was wailing and begging him to stop, but he just kept driving, as if he hadn't heard her at all. Everyone else was silent and didn't say anything. I felt really disgusted by how the driver treated the whole situation and didn't say anything because I was afraid of what would happen if he heard me. The mother cried all the way to Pokhara, and eventually the driver dropped them off at their destination. The rest of us continued our journey to Pokhara in silence. It was really upsetting to see how a child's life was so cheap in that country, and that people didn't care that a toddler died on the bus ride. 3. When I got mugged and my muggers were afraid to hurt me because they saw I was a woman. I was walking around Rome one evening when two men grabbed me from behind and demanded that I give them my purse. I was really scared and tried to shake them off, but they wouldn't leave me alone. I tried to resist and scream for help, but the streets were really crowded and no one came to my aid. They were holding me really tight and I couldn't even move. They kept demanding that I give them my purse, but I refused and kept struggling. They were really frustrated with me and were about to get violent when one of them saw that I was a woman and told the other one to "let her go." They released me and ran away quickly, but not before the taller of the two muggers punched me in the face and gave me a black eye. I was really upset by how they treated me and was really scared that they would've killed me if I wasn't a woman. It's really upsetting that women are often more vulnerable to violence than men, and it's unfortunate that we can't go anywhere without being scared of what might happen to us. 4. When my flight attendant said that we weren't allowed to use the toilet mid-flight because we were flying over a "no fly zone". I was on a flight from London to New York, and we were about halfway there when the flight attendant came over the intercom and announced that we weren't allowed to use the toilet until further notice. I thought it was strange because I really needed to pee, so I raised my hand and asked her why. She replied "We can't use the toilet right now because we are flying over a no fly zone." I replied "So what? We're not flying a plane." She replied "I don't know, but we just can't." I was really frustrated because I had already drunk two glasses of water, and I really needed to pee, so I asked if she could give me a spare bottle of water. She said "Sorry, I don't have any." I asked "Why can't I use the toilet?" She replied "I don't know." I replied "Well, why can't we use the toilet? We're not flying a plane!" She replied "I don't know, I'm not the pilot." I was really angry because I was already feeling uncomfortable and needed to pee really badly, so I asked if I could speak to the pilot, but she refused to call him for me and told me to go back to my seat and calm down. 5. When I accidentally insulted an entire family because I didn't speak their language. I was in Egypt on a tour and we were walking through a really crowded marketplace when one of my fellow tourists pointed to a family who were sitting on a mat on the ground eating some food, and asked "Do you think they'd mind if I sat down and ate with them?" I replied "Why not? They seem nice." He sat down and introduced himself to them in Arabic. The father smiled and nodded at him and said something in Arabic. My fellow tourist replied in Arabic too, and then the rest of the family started staring at us, whispering to each other, and giggling. I asked my fellow tourist what he said to them, and he replied "I asked if the bread was still warm and if they could pass it to me." I asked "But what did they say back?" He replied "I don't know. They were all speaking really quickly in Arabic and I didn't understand what they said." I asked "Well, what did you do?" He replied "I asked if they could pass the bread to me anyway." I asked "And what did they do?" He replied "They just kept staring at me and laughing and didn't pass me the bread. Instead, they started passing the bread to each other and I couldn't get any." I asked "What did I just miss?" He replied "I asked if you wanted some bread too and they all started staring at you and giggling and didn't pass you any bread either." Fast forward an hour, and the three of us were really hungry and decided to look for a place to eat. We walked around the market looking for a stall that sold sandwiches, but none of them did. Eventually we came across a really nice-looking restaurant that served Egyptian food, and my hunger got the better of me. The three of us walked in, sat down at a table, and looked at the menu. I asked the waiter "Do you have any chicken sandwiches?" He replied in a really thick Egyptian accent "Sorry, sir. But we don't serve sandwiches here. Would you like to try our chicken parmesan instead?" I replied "Yes please." The waiter asked "With fries or rice?" I replied "With fries please." He asked "Would you like ketchup or mayonnaise with that?" I replied "Ketchup please." The waiter asked "Would you like a drink with that? We have Pepsi, Diet Coke, or orange juice." I replied "Pepsi please." The waiter asked "Would you like mayonnaise or ketchup with that?" I replied "Ketchup please." The waiter wrote down all of our orders and took it to the kitchen to give it to the chef. Eventually our food came out, and everything smelled really good. I lifted the lid off my plate and took a sniff. It smelled really good, so I lifted my fork and took a big bite. As soon as the food touched my tongue, I knew something was wrong. It tasted really spicy and soapy. I started choking and coughing, and my eyes started watering. I tried to catch my breath and coughed up some of the food, and it landed on the table. The waiter asked "Sir, is everything all right?" I coughed and struggled to speak and eventually managed to say "I don't speak Arabic." He asked "What's wrong?" I coughed again and pointed to the food on my plate. He asked again "What's wrong, sir?" I coughed again and pointed again. He looked really confused and asked again "What's wrong, sir?" This time I managed to say "I don't like it. It tastes bad." The waiter looked even more confused and asked again "What's wrong, sir?" This time I managed to say "I don't speak Arabic." The waiter looked at me like I was an idiot and said "You don't speak Arabic? But you ordered in Arabic!" I asked "What?" He replied "You came in here and ordered in Arabic. You said 'Give me chicken parmesan with fries and a glass of Pepsi and ketchup.' And then you said 'I don't like it. It tastes bad.'" I asked "What?" He replied "Yes. You did. You came in here and insulted my restaurant, my chef, and my food. You said 'I don't like it. It tastes bad.'" I asked "What? No, I didn't!" He replied "Yes you did! You just insulted my restaurant, my chef, and my food in front of all these people!" I asked again "What? No, I didn't!" He replied "Yes you did! You just insulted my restaurant, my chef, and my food in front of all these people!" The waiter kept arguing with me in Arabic, but I kept rep

The worst things I've seen when travelling (cumulatively)

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