We’re feeling a bit nostalgic over here at the Lost Travel office. 2018 was a good one. A lot of adventure went down, including our first.

By now, the major publications have started announcing their 2019 picks for the best cruise lines, hotels, and fancy countries to visit. For all we know, the 2020 recommendations are just around the corner. While there are occasions for fine dining and highly coordinated agendas, we think the best aspects of travel are the those that don’t go quite according to plan. Let’s not let bygones be bygones.

We asked our Board Members and friends to indulge in our nostalgia. They’ve recounted the unexpected, messy, and down right shitty aspects of travel from the year gone by. Which is a good thing, because some of the best moments of a trip are the ones that start out as the worst.

These are their 2018 best worst travel experiences.

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1) WORST DINING EXPERIENCE

On my second full day in Fez, Morocco I was exploring the old Medina with a group of friends and looking for a bite to eat before we left for a long bus ride to Merzouga to start a cross-country mini-bike excursion. At an unidentified restaurant I ordered some tajine (of course). As I started chowing down I noticed the couscous was bit… hard. At first I thought the couscous was maybe undercooked or some sand was on my fork… but upon further examination I realized I was actually chewing on shards of glass. There was glass… in the couscous. Not wanting to go hungry on our 8 hour bus ride, I picked out as much glass as I could and finished the meal. The tajine was divine though. – Walker

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2) WORST ATTEMPTED MURDERED IN A HOSTEL

It was 5:00am when I felt someone start to crawl on top of me at Kabul Hostel in Barcelona. In my stupor I thought it was Sarah, one of the girls we were out partying with. I was wrong… It was actually a large man and he was strangling me to death. Survival mode took over, I catapulted my attacker and I off the side of the bed and a scuffle ensued. The next thing I knew I was standing over my attacker with my foot pressing down across his throat. The cameras later showed that the attacker had been stalking a group of women staying at the hostel, he just happened to pick the wrong bed.  – Keegan

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3) WORST ATTEMPTED MURDERED IN A HOSTEL

It was 5:00am when I felt someone start to crawl on top of me at Kabul Hostel in Barcelona. In my stupor I thought it was Sarah, one of the girls we were out partying with. I was wrong… It was actually a large man and he was strangling me to death. Survival mode took over, I catapulted my attacker and I off the side of the bed and a scuffle ensued. The next thing I knew I was standing over my attacker with my foot pressing down across his throat. The cameras later showed that the attacker had been stalking a group of women staying at the hostel, he just happened to pick the wrong bed.  – Keegan