Weirdness while travelling *share your tales*

[doodlemor]

We had several  goofy experiences going to Canada with our Model A club years ago.  For background, Model A Fords were made after the Model T's, from late 1927 - 1932.  I think that the official model years were 1928 - 1931. 

When we didn't have our A Model "on the road" some friends invited us to ride in their vehicle with them to a club party across the border in Ontario.   They owned a roadster with a rumble seat in the back.  That means that there is seating for two inside the car, and a trunk - like lid lifts in the back to provide seating for 2 more passengers. 

On the way back home to the US the other wife and I decided that we would like to share the rumble seat, since it was a hot day.  We enjoyed the cool breeze, and when it began to rain we were happy to note that the rain didn't fall very much on us because of the way that the wind went over the top of the car as we sped down the highway.  We had read of this trait of rumble seats, but hadn't experienced it before. 

We stayed reasonably dry as the rain came down harder.........until we got to customs at the bridge to re-enter the US and had to stop.  It was a busy evening there, and we had to wait quite a while in stop and start traffic.  The other wife and I got thoroughly drenched.  That wasn't so bad on a hot day, but there were many people around us who were obviously laughing and sometimes pointing at the drenched people in the rumble seat.

The next year my husband and I drove our own Model A to the party in Canada.  We had barely gotten the thing restored and on the road, and were eager to show off our handiwork to our friends.  All seemed well until we got close to the border.  The car started making some sort of weird loud noises, but we thought that we would just keep going and get the engine adjusted when we got to the party.  As we went across the bridge into Canada the car took a serious turn for the worse, making terrible noises and intermittently losing power.  It took us awhile to get across the bridge, with the other traffic all passing us.

As we got off the bridge in Ontario in a residential district a man came running towards us across the traffic lanes, waving something in his hands and shouting at us.  When he got close enough we realized that he was shouting "I know what is wrong with your car, and I have the part to fix it."  The part is what he was waving in his hand. 

By golly, that kind man was correct in his diagnosis.  Apparently he was sitting on his porch enjoying the river when he heard our noisy, slow progress across the bridge.  He helped my DH put the part on the Model A, and it was fixed.  I think that we tried to pay him, but he refused the offer. 

[doodlemor]

Thought of another one.

When my children were young we took them to Niagara Falls one day to see the sights.  Niagara Falls is generally full of foreign tourists.  There was a large group of people near us who were speaking in another language.  When I was separated a bit from my family a man from the group came over to me and said, "Would you like to take your clothes off?"  I just looked at him and said "NO," and went to stand close by my husband.

A few minutes later when I was again separated from my family the same man came up to me again and blushingly said, "I'm sorry."  I said "That's OK," and went back beside my DH.

It wasn't until later that I realized that the people the man was with were probably pranking him, and told him what to say to me.  They probably told him that the English words meant something else entirely.  For him to apologize showed good character.

[Outdoor Girl]

I'm posting this story, mainly so I can get the updates. 

My roommate in university was from a small, northern town.  Her Dad was down to our neck of the woods for work and took her to dinner and a hockey game in the big city about an hour away.  They were waiting around outside the arena for the game to start so the scalper ticket prices would drop.  She saw all sorts of weird and wonderful people, including the guy who went by on a skateboard with a white rat perched on his shoulder.

She got back to the dorm that night and told me, 'Outdoor Girl, I saw two normal people the entire time we were waiting.  And I knew both of them!'  One of them was in her classes and the other came from her hometown.

I thought I was a hick but she was even more of a hick than me.

[AmethystAnne]

In 1998, our family was travelling from our home in southcentral KY to my parents' home in NJ. DH was going to go with us, and was going to meet us at a truck stop in Mount Sterling, KY. He was taking vacation time from his job as a long-distance truck driver, and would be driving alone in his little red truck. I was driving our Plymouth Voyager van, with OldestDD, DGrandson, MiddleDD, DSon, and YoungestDD in the van with me.

We had met up with DH, and continued on our way. After awhile, YDD said "Brother, quit that!" "Mom! He's tickling me" I told him to leave her alone. He told me he didn't do anything. A little while passed, and another sister spoke up, "He's tickling me" I told him to stop, and he said that he hadn't done anything.

Another little while passed, and somebody said, "there's a snake in the car!" "There it goes!" <assorted screaming sounds>

I pulled over to the shoulder, and everyone piled quickly out of the vehicle, away from the traffic. They told me that it was a little green snake, and it went into the luggage section of the van. I popped open the lift gate and started to unload the suitcases, checking each one, and checked all around the interior of the vehicle.

No snake was seen. My personal theory was it jumped out for self-preservation.

[bansidhe]

I don't get out much, so my stories aren't very exotic. Actually, two of them aren't even mine. (I really don't get out much!)

One
When I was 11 or 12, my father decided to take his poor deprived desert-dwelling offspring to see some snow. We set off for Flagstaff in northern Arizona - roughly a three-hour drive. When we arrived there the main touristy spots were really crowded, so we piled back into the car to try to find a more solitary spot.

After much driving on back roads, we found what looked like the perfect place. We located a pulloff, parked the car, got out, and walked a few yards around the bend - where we ran smack into our neighbors who had found the exact same out-of-the-way spot on the same day.

Two
In 1990, shortly after I graduated from the University of Arizona, I took a trip to England, a bit of Wales, and Scotland - the first and so far only time I've been out of the US. The trip there was long and tiring: first the drive from Tucson to Phoenix, then a flight from Phoenix to Houston, then another flight from Houston to London. By the time I arrived in London I hadn't slept for over 24 hours but I was so excited to be someplace so new and foreign and far from home!

I collected my baggage at the airport and made my way to the train. Glancing across the tracks, the first thing I noticed was some guy wearing a University of Arizona T-shirt. 

Three
A friend of mine who lived in Tucson went on a business trip to Philadelphia. She'd never been there before, nor did she know anyone who lived there. During a little free time she took a stroll around the city to do some sightseeing. Rounding a corner, she came face to face with her ex-husband, who had moved there on a whim a couple of years prior following their not-terribly-amicable divorce. She had no clue he'd relocated there.

Four
Some friends of a friend were on a road trip from Phoenix to Tucson and were driving at night. As they drove through Casa Grande, they hit a large piece of debris on the road (part of a car engine, if I remember correctly) that did serious damage to their vehicle. It was fortunate they weren't injured or killed and their car came just short of being totaled.

Several years later they were making the same trip, again at night. As they approached Casa Grande, the wife said to the husband, "Hey, remember what happened last time we were here?" And then *WHAM*. They hit a large piece of road debris that did serious damage to their vehicle.

[guihong]

The officials at the Chinese school where I and eleven other teachers were teaching for a summer really tried to come up with entertainment and interesting outings in an otherwise fairly drab city.  The historical outings were most interesting to me (the city was the Manchu capitol and then the Japanese capitol of Manchukuo), but the most memorable evening had to be the TV tower nightclub.  We stood outside on a huge balcony that encircled the tower, taking in the sights of the city at night, including the huge KFC sign  .  Then we went into the club, where a horrifically out of tune band played a set.  Then a woman decked out in a Princess Diana-type wedding dress (it was huge on her thin frame) came out and sang while couples got up to dance.  The band and the singing lady alternated for two hours or so.  Unfortunately, we couldn't understand the songs, as they were in Chinese.

A little while into this, about a dozen men in shorts and undershirts came in, wound their way around our tables, and took up a booth.  Shorts and undershirts?

At the time, it was a long evening on a school night, but now it's one of my favorite memories.

[mbbored]

The officials at the Chinese school where I and eleven other teachers were teaching for a summer really tried to come up with entertainment and interesting outings in an otherwise fairly drab city.  The historical outings were most interesting to me (the city was the Manchu capitol and then the Japanese capitol of Manchukuo), but the most memorable evening had to be the TV tower nightclub.  We stood outside on a huge balcony that encircled the tower, taking in the sights of the city at night, including the huge KFC sign  .  Then we went into the club, where a horrifically out of tune band played a set.  Then a woman decked out in a Princess Diana-type wedding dress (it was huge on her thin frame) came out and sang while couples got up to dance.  The band and the singing lady alternated for two hours or so.  Unfortunately, we couldn't understand the songs, as they were in Chinese.

A little while into this, about a dozen men in shorts and undershirts came in, wound their way around our tables, and took up a booth.  Shorts and undershirts?

At the time, it was a long evening on a school night, but now it's one of my favorite memories.

My first night in Shanghai, straight off a 15 hour flight, I was taken to this restaurant by my ex-pat friends that offered "great" entertainment. There was a woman in a belly dancing outfit with a 7 foot snake and a man with a little electronic keyboard playing Sinatra. After the keyboardist found out we were Americans he asked the whole restaurant to join him in singing a special song for us. It was Jingle Bells. (For the record, I was there in June, not December.)

[nutraxfornerves]

After the keyboardist found out we were Americans he asked the whole restaurant to join him in singing a special song for us. It was Jingle Bells. (For the record, I was there in June, not December.)

I traveled in China in the early 1980s, when individual travel was not allowed and Americans (or westerners in general) were a rarity outside of big cities. Many Chinese were familiar with two, and only two, English songs. The songs, not the meaning of the English. So, we would frequently be asked to sing either Jingle Bells or Do, A Deer.

One of my most vivid memories of my first trip involves teaching the Hokey Pokey to commune members in Chinese Mongolia.

[Thipu1]

This is just crazy coincidence but it gave us a good laugh.

On a cruise, we received a cost-free upgrade to a nicer cabin. 

On sea-days, it's customary to offer sit-down lunches in the dining room on an open seating basis. One lunch, we shared a table with a lovely couple.  They mentioned that they had received an upgrade.  How nice.  so had we.

It turned out that our lunch companions had been upgraded to the cabin from which we had been upgraded.   

[Tashigi]

Possibly can be cross-referenced with the Ghost Stories thread:
I was staying for part of the summer in a tiny New Zealand farm/boarding house. There was a rather... rustic central dining area, including a wood burning stove that provided most of the heat. So one night, a few friends and I were sitting around that tiny wood burning stove and swapping creepy stories from previous travels. Just as I finish mine, the radio, which had never been turned on and had formerly shown no indications of life, suddenly crackles to life. We look at each other, laugh nervously at the coincidence and look back to the fire.

Then, as one, we ran like heck out of there!


Also, does it count when YOU were in fact the weirdness on someone else's travels? Because I've been there.
I was at a major anime convention that is next to a sports arena. A game had just ended when a friend and I were walking back to our hotel. Some...somewhat tipsy sports fans stopped us, mostly in part because the two of us were dressed in early 18th century military costume. And of course, this ended up with pictures being taken.

Funnily enough, this is one of the only times I've been asked for pictures by tourists when at conventions.

[shadowfox79]

It wasn't until later that I realized that the people the man was with were probably pranking him, and told him what to say to me.  They probably told him that the English words meant something else entirely.  For him to apologize showed good character.

My dad used to travel a lot for work, and was the victim of this once in a bar in Germany.

He was sent up to the bar to ask for six pints of bitter. Not speaking any German himself, his workmates had told him to say "Willst du mit mir schlaffen, bitte?" (Will you sleep with me, please?) Since it had the word "bitte" in it, Dad didn't suspect a thing.

Fortunately, the barmaid had heard it all before - she looked over at his table, counted the number of people and served him six pints of bitter. His colleagues were rather disappointed.

[Thipu1]

We also have a misunderstood German story. 

While in College, Mr. Thipu and his parents went skiing in a German-speaking part of Switzerland.  At a bar, Dad ordered a 'dry martini'. 

This was in the early 1970s when American cocktails weren't common.  He received three vermouths. 

[doodlemor]

It wasn't until later that I realized that the people the man was with were probably pranking him, and told him what to say to me.  They probably told him that the English words meant something else entirely.  For him to apologize showed good character.

My dad used to travel a lot for work, and was the victim of this once in a bar in Germany.

He was sent up to the bar to ask for six pints of bitter. Not speaking any German himself, his workmates had told him to say "Willst du mit mir schlaffen, bitte?" (Will you sleep with me, please?) Since it had the word "bitte" in it, Dad didn't suspect a thing.

Fortunately, the barmaid had heard it all before - she looked over at his table, counted the number of people and served him six pints of bitter. His colleagues were rather disappointed.

Your story made me chuckle, shadowfox.  I bet that the barmaid had heard worse things than that, too.  I once spoke to an American living in Germany who said that this kind of thing happens a lot.

The pranksters in my case were probably a bit disappointed, also, in that I just said "no" and walked away.  No doubt their English skills were all a bit deficient, since suggesting that I take my clothes off was all that they could think of to tell the victim to say to me.

[BeagleMommy]

Another language barrier story.

A friend of mine was doing a language immersion program in Russia.  He and the group from the school were walking around Moscow looking for a restaurant.  Friend decides to ask the Russian police officer at the corner for directions.  As part of the program, they must speak Russian.  So, friend says "I do not speak Russian, but I am learning.  Do you know where Restaurant is?".  Policeman burst out into a fit of laughter.

Confused, friend asks what he said.  The policeman, who spoke English, said "What you really said was, 'I am not a Russian woman, but I am learning'."

[Marisol]

In coal country we drove up to an active coal mine and found a bunch of weathered dog houses with lazy dogs laying nearby and a very grimy looking old grisly barefoot man sitting with them.  I was told by the locals that he was the guard to the mine.  It was an odd juxtaposition to the steal gate and nice shiny buildings with the mine logo on them.