Friday the 13th is upon us once again. As we take pains to cross our fingers today (a less than ideal condition for blogging), we’re reminded of the bad luck that befalls even the best of travelers, always when we least expect it.
An unsuspecting captain oddsocks knows what we mean. Robbed at knifepoint on a South African train, he was left “walletless, passportless, and bagless.” He held on to his optimism (and sarcasm), though, and yesterday’s scare is today’s story: “Sure, I had a bad day that day, but the nightmares stopped after a few months and I still have all the happy memories and experiences, 10 years later.”
Jose Kevo survived a truly horrific encounter in Venezuela during which he was drugged and robbed. Several years later, he maintains the positive outlook that “what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger,” and he continues to trust new people and explore new places, for which we are thankful.
Less-than-fortunate travel episodes often involve spotty transportation, and there’s no shortage of such tales on IgoUgo. One of the most curious occurrences is Limburger’s recent phantom plane to Iceland, when he was booked on a flight that didn’t even exist.
Sometimes kinks in our plans end up being lucky twists of fate, so we’ll continue to plan trips and wear our worst travel mishaps like badges of courage. In the meantime, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for lucky travels and try to forget about our case of paraskevidekatriaphobia—at least until Friday, July 13.