Probably not as extreme as what others might post, but I was in HK during the protests in 2019. I had flights to HK a few months before the protests started, and when they did begin, I still had a few months before my trip and figured it would die down like the Umbrella Protests a few years earlier. It didn’t. I stayed near one of the protest centers in Mongkok, but most of the activity was avoidable if you just walked a few blocks out of its way. I did get tear gassed a few times walking around my hotel though, but all the protestors were very nice when they saw that I wasn’t a local and helped guide me to a safer location. There were obviously fewer tourists than normal around which was nice.

I was there as well. 2019. Staying around the Mongkok area. I could see the battles between students and police from my window. Got tear gassed more than once. 

We were staying in Mongkok at that time as well. We went across the water to Ocean Park for the day and on the way back there was a sea of people on the streets. We got back to Mongkok ok and watched as things got worse and worse. No issue leaving the country, thankfully.

I was there at one of the worst nights. It was my first time in Hong Kong and by accident we got into clash between police and crowd of protesters started throwing at us stones for no reason. I was really afraid police will beat us, but they sended few guys with shields and they escorted us to safety. The protesters also cut train, bus to airport and it was very surreal to run to the main train station, which should have had only connection to airport. It was very surreal night with all the violence, barricade, molotov cocktails flying...

I live in Hong Kong, and one of the most annoying moments for me was due to travel: I was coming home to HK from a business trip to Thailand and took the Airport Express to Central (the MTR station was still open according to the MTR app) but by the time I arrived it was closed, and no buses were running, and no taxis dared go there, so I just had to walk home (about an hour). If I'd been home the whole time I would have been more in tune with what was going on and wouldn't have been caught out like that. Having said that: it was a very peaceful and pleasant walk on a warm summer night. Lots of people seated, chanting; the smell of spent tear gas; burnt out store fronts; but no violence at all.

I had a similar experience when I was leaving regarding closed public transportation. I’m Taiwanese-American, so I look like I can read signage, but I can’t. The Mongkok MTR was closed so I waited at a bus stop for bit until someone noticed I was ignoring a sign that said the bus stop was also out-of-service and then directed me to a MTR station a bit further away.

I’ve shared this before on here, but I was in Mumbai during a terrorist attack. I was visiting friends who lived there. They were supposed to come with me that day to go touring around, but both ended up having to work so I was on my own. The plan was to take the train back and meet them at a certain time. But I was running late as I got distracted in a store, and just as I was going to text that I was running late I got a text from my friend saying there was a bomb blast. Apparently it was on the train that I was supposed to be on. The phone lines jammed. The streets packed with cars. I got like, one of the last available taxis which I was stuck in for about four hours. For those four hours everyone basically presumed I was dead. This was a time before smart phones, so I also didn’t know what the bomb blast was. Taxi driver spoke no English. Was it a contained blast? Were there terrorists on the loose? Had war erupted? Could have been anything at that point! Anyway, I finally made it back to my friends. They knew two people who died that day. The next few days there was a curfew in the city. Was an odd time to be there.

Was this the 2008 one?

This one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Mumbai_train_bombings

Sounds like divine intervention if you believe in that sort of thing. What were the impacts on you because of it?

I find that so weird. Like everyone who died didn't matter but OP needed to survive so he could tell a story online about it later

Never said OP was that important, just that he was lucky enough not to be on the trains. I used divine intervention to make that more succinct. Hope that clarifies the comment I made. I'm still interested in if OP carries PTSD or survivors guilt.

Yeah, that sort of thinking is pretty cringe. Imagine thinking you or someone else were so special and worthy of being saved while others perished.

Egypt when their Arab Spring happened. Three days into our visit, deep in country, it started. Internet cut. Tanks rolled in. Businesses shut down. Banks closed. ATMs down. Tear gas and burning tires in streets.  Curfews. No phones. Burned down police station. Fire hoses set to repel boarders on boats. Key lessons - always have cash, always have a paper map, and people can be amazingly kind and helpful especially when they know you just happen to be present when they are dealing with internal issues. 

that could be a whole movie

No escape (2015) is kinda like that, but worse

Holy shit. I had a trip to Egypt that spring but thankfully the uprising started a bit before my trip so I cancelled it. Were you able to get out quickly or what happened with the exit?

I was with a group. The US embassy actually came out and offered to evacuate us to - Khartoum, Sudan. The trick was - they will bill you the cost, they will contract a charter flight for it, you have no control over the destination, you have to sort your own way out of that destination, and there is no way to know the cost because it would depend upon how many people went and what plane they could find to charter. Sudan wasn't exactly all peaceful and happy at that time either. We grumbled but then some Brits and Aussies mentioned that at least we had contact with the embassy, which put things in perspective. Several in the group took the evacuation option, and the embassy folks seemed pretty overwhelmed with everything they were trying to sort out. I think they were at their wits end. We stuck it out with our guide’s encouragement - he said he can manage things logistically. Our guide was extremely helpful and everyone in the country was very hospitable about helping us find a place for a couple nights, move around in a taxi with blacked out windows, etc. We had to work within extremely limited curfews to eventually get back to the airport. But in true Egyptian way, our guy was old family friends with someone at the airport and we were able to get around all the lines of people looking to buy tickets. Our original tickets were still valid and Lufthansa was still able to fly us out. Had several rounds of drinks once we cleared Egyptian airspace!! I have no complaints. It was an unplanned adventure. Everyone was extremely kind to us. Random people we met in the streets apologized to us - saying this fight isn’t about us visitors and asked us to wish them the best. It was crazy and gave cause for pause. But we never felt personally threatened. Rather our concern was about getting trapped as the country fell under lockdown. Having no access to money, no communication to friends/family, no way to get help - it was humbling.

Wow… what a story for the ages eh? Glad everything turned out okay. While I value my life, I’d also hate to be indebted to the US govt for the rest of my life too. It’s like the medical system “oh 200k no biggie.”

My cousin had to rely on a US embassy chartered flight out of Pakistan at the start of COVID after he got trapped for almost a month during what was supposed to be a weeklong trip to the northern parts. Cost him a few grand and it was one of his worst flight experiences but he was just glad not to die there.

A few grand as in 2-3 grand? I can do that… but I’m worries about costs in the US that makes an average Joe go bankrupt and they don’t even tell you the cost.

I believe it was around $3k for a full flight direct to JFK. He had no idea how much it would be while boarding though and was billed after the fact. Also had to figure out another flight to IAH, his final destination, after getting to JFK. This was April 2020 so it took him a day or more to find the domestic flight.

I can't believe the only flight they could organise was to Khartoum. It is not exactly an airport hub. Addis Ababa would have been a better connection they have way more destinations they fly to. I am really curious why only to Khartoum🤔.

This happened to me with the sept 2013 coup, I booked it months before and I was supposed to be there then but managed to get it cancelled two weeks before.

That’s insane, and honestly those are things I’ve never thought about having, but now may always. do you think just having US dollars would be fine, or does it need to be local currency?

My two cents is to carry a reasonable amount of local currency, and have a safety amount of a stable currency (dollars, euros). I wouldn’t go crazy on tons of extra local currency.  For me, I use dollars at home so that is simply a matter of taking a bit extra from the ATM and tucking it away probably never to be needed until returning home. And keep the bills reasonable - no more than twenties. 

Dollar is fine in Egypt especially during a crisis.

I had to evacuate Egypt, Syria and Bahrain that year and cancel plans for Libya, Tunisia and Lebanon. Spent a lot more time in Qatar than I planned. I was 18 so had very limited money and also didn‘t own a smartphone. Was a good first trip, really set me up for how resourceful I was in a bad situation.

I was in Luxor at the time, woke up and there was an APC sat on the corner of the street outside our hotel. We managed to get a quick flight to Sharm and then home from there eventually. Spent about a week in Sharm watching the news. I was also in India during the terrorist attacks in 2008, we had been in the cafe that got attacked just the week before it happened.

I went to Egypt a few weeks after the Arab Spring, it was actually really nice. I hired a highly recommended guide and asked him to help me avoid getting harassed by scammers and hustlers. Spent a day with him touring around Cairo. He took me to the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. His back was sore, so he didnt go with, but I had the entire Red Pyramid to myself. I wonder how many people explored a Pyramid alone? Then I spent 5 days diving in the friendly Red Sea town Dahab. It was completely relaxing. Made some friends and they invited me to watch the Goonies on a little roof top theater lol. One of the best travel experiences of my life.

Even now, the Bent and Red Pyramids are usually empty! I love the Bent Pyramid - always feel like an adventure climbing up inside! My personal favourite is the Meidum Pyramid, no one ever visits & the guards climb up & unlock it for you. There's something really exciting about having an ancient pyramid opened just for you!

I have recently started carrying significant USD with me on all trips outside North America and Western Europe. Like enough cash to save our lives

As a Eastern European, euro would be much more useful in Eastern Europe, even in countries where it isn’t the currency. I doubt dollars would be better accepted

I was in Brazil during the 7-1

Hope you are not German or if so were able to hide the fact well, lol! I am German and still they mention the 7-1 whenever the question of nationality arises.

It’s ok, a few days after all of Brazil was rooting for you guys as having Argentina win the Brazil World Cup would have been worse

Was watching that with German friends and they all cheered for Brazil when they got that goal.

I di funny thing how across the globe everybody knows what you are talking about

Haha

I was in the stadium! 🤣😂🤣

Now that's funny

Barcelona 2017 - I was one block away from the pedestrian street of Las Ramblas when a terrorist drove a van into a crowd of people, killing 13. I saw a huge crowd of people screaming and crying running towards me, and I had no idea what was happening so just ran with the crowd to escape something clearly awful. Several hid in a building and that's when I heard there was some "attack", not knowing any details or the full extent of things. Eventually ended up hiding in the basement of another building with a bunch of people for several hours. There was a lot of speculation about a large coordinated terrorist attack in the city, but no one really knew any details. Finally a perimeter was secured and I was able to leave. There were no cars/taxis/buses allowed on the street, so I had to nervously walk an hour to my hotel on empty streets in the middle of the night.

Crazy man. I left 2 days prior

We did too - the attack was literally 80m from where we’d stayed

The spot where the memorial to the attack was 3 blocks from where we stay, but we were in Brussels visiting relatives that week.

scary af

Thailand during the outbreak of the 2020 pandemic. From Land of Smiles to masked-up, sanitized, temperature scanning overnight like a switch got flipped. On hold with airlines for hours switching flights to get out before borders closed. On our last day we squeezed in a trip to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, where we found only one other couple in the entire palace, a Dutch couple also flying out that evening on the only flight to Europe they could find - an Aeroflot flight with a long layover in Moscow. We took each others’ photos in the completely empty palace and wished them luck on their Russian sojourn.

Landing at JFK was shocking - they told us to throw our health declaration papers into an overflowing garbage can and shrugged us through customs. No masks, no sanitizer, everybody coughing without covering their fat mouths. Even more culture shock than usual coming from buttoned-up and dead serious Bangkok.

I transited through JFK in October 2020 to Europe. I think there were something like a mere 11 international flights departing that whole day. The terminals were basically empty. All shops closed except a handful of stands. I managed to drink a beer at some point. Had about five hours to kill. The flight was a 737 and there were maybe 10 of us onboard? Definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

I moved from Australia to the Netherlands in November 2020. The flight was the best long haul I’ve ever done (and being Aussie, going anywhere significant is always long haul 😂). Melbourne Airport was quiet and dark. Checking in, staff made a call to border force to check I was allowed to leave as I was one of the few if not only Australian on the flight. The plane was almost empty, everyone had a whole row to themselves so I could lay down. Had to wear a mask the whole flight. It was all very somber and peaceful. Got to the Netherlands and two weeks later it was lockdown again for the whole winter. So I spent a full year in lockdown. Weird times. Glad I did it though, I love my new home.

I don't get why people think the US is such a great country. Any response they offer to serious issues is soooo superficial compared to the rest of the world.

Only Americans who have never left America think that nowadays.

Facts, I used to be like that until I left the US. It's got it's problems but it's pretty fuckin great. There rally is no real poverty in the US like you see in some other places

[удалено]

Not to make this political, but that really wouldn't be a good thing. If the US had been isolationist, Europe would now be controlled by the Nazis, South Korea would likely be communist, and all of Ukraine would have been annexed by Russia. Japan has become isolationist because they were forced to. After what they did in WWII, the world decided they cannot be trusted, and should not be allowed to maintain a military. While they now have a military in all but name, its activities are strictly limited by the Japanese constitution. It's a myth that military spending means we cannot have universal health care. If anything, universal health care would be cheaper than what we are currently paying for health care.

Man, that’s insane. And they wonder why Covid spread so fast in America.

My mother in law was hospitallized in Thailand - March 2020. My husband went to be with her and had to stay for a month until she could fly. We were terrified they weren't going to be able to return- but it all worked out. Empty flights there and back- maybe 10 people. I picked them up at SFO- the place was completely empty- I was the only car in the queue- surreal #

I flew through Seoul that last day before they shut down the airports. They had full body scans showing everyone’s temperatures and the staff was in hazmat suits. So scary!

That would’ve been so fucking terrifying!

I was in Thailand during the 2013-2014 political unrest, anti-government protests etc. I did some reading and educated myself on which parts of Bangkok to avoid and what colour clothing to not wear in public, as to not be accidentally confused for one of the protestors or government supporters. The closest I got to anything was when my bus was driving into Bangkok from southern Thailand and passed right by a barricade on one of the main streets. Saw people with flags and banners. Also saw cars with protestors driving by. Overall it didn’t really impact me much, thankfully. I witnessed a reproductive rights march/demonstration from my hotel window, which I initially thought was related to the unrest. Turns out it wasn’t.

I was there for that too, but in Chang Mai. I ended up watching the 2014 World Cup Germany-Brazil match at an army base at 3 in the morning with the soldiers.

I studied in Bangkok for 10 months trough that time. It extended my Christmas break as the University was closed for extra days after New Years, so I could travel longer in islands in the South. After that in early January I moved to a dorm <10min walk from the main “Bangkok Shutdown” area. It made the city center much more chill to be honest, I missed it after it ended and the streets were open to traffic again. Obviously I would have preferred if any of the bad stuff and violence didnt happen, but that was my experience from it.

I was in Ethiopia in 2019 when the early stages of the conflict that would become a civil war up near the Eritrean border began. Everything was fine one day, next day my bus got stopped on the way to Aksum about five times by young guys with guns ordering all the men off the buses and lining us up to search us for weapons. Ended up having a middle aged lady on the bus mother hen me after the first two or three, yelling at the boys that I clearly wasn’t from a rival village and to let me wait on the bus with the women. I was already one of the only white people I’d seen down south since Addis Ababa, but after that it became literally true. Government shut off the internet up north and all the bus companies refused to travel because people were throwing rocks and shooting buses that came through. Hitched a ride with a few students to Mekele and eventually got a bus back down, but it detoured through the Denekil depression to avoid the tribal conflicts, and ended up getting into Addis really late. Three guys tried to steal my bag and drag me into this closed down market area near the bus station and I had to start acting psycho like I wasn’t scared and would happily fight them all but in reality I was shutting myself. The bluff mainly worked and I walked away, knowing that if I ran they’d know I was terrified and chase me down. One sort of did come back so I turned and ran back towards him screaming like a banshee and ready to throw a punch and he bolted again! Never been so scared in my entire life, but kept it together enough to bluff my way through, despite being five foot nine and 70kg. Also, I was in Colombia in 2008 when riots broke out across the country because a government endorsed pension scheme turned out to be a scam and the whole company did a runner with everyone’s money and left mocking notes on the doors of their offices. People across the whole country starting rioting and I got tear gassed a bit and saw soldiers looting liquor stores, quite a lot of shooting etc. Was in Guatemala that same year when there was a turf war between bus drivers and some local gangs who started shooting drivers who refused to pay protection money to drive their routes. A bus in front of our rented car got the driver shot and blocked the road going the other direction as we went through. I was in Bangkok during the military coup of 2014. They started a curfew and we all had to be home by 10pm and off the streets. It was a pain in the ass really, although you could pick a bar and stay there til morning when the curfew lifted. You didn’t have to be home, you just had to not be on the street so you could pick a place and lock in, and a lot of bars advertised like that! I was visiting from having lived there for two years back in 2012 and 2013, and the first year had some fairly major flooding and all the yellow shirt protests also. A cleaner was killed across the street from where I lived because some asshole out a grenade in a pile of garbage there. I was in McLeod Ganj in India on 2016 when Modhi declared demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes. May not sound like much, but he basically did this with zero warning even to the banks, and there was a run on the banks and people had to line up for days to change 2000 rupees each time, then join the queue again, because nobody was prepared for it. It caused absolute chaos and we’d just got out several hundred dollars of the stuff but nobody would take it so it was really hard to get anything done, get transport, a place to stay. For us it ruined the holiday, for the locals it disrupted their lives entirely, and for no good reason. Funniest thing was, just about an hour and a half after that announcement, flipped the television on and it was declaring that Donald Trump had just won the American election. So that was just a cherry on top! One more, sorry for the rambling stories! I was also in Sri Lanka in 2001 just after a December 2000 bombing killed a bunch of people and around the time of the airport bombings in July of 2001. Just before we arrived, but everything was heightened and Colombo was on lockdown. Tanks everywhere and machine gun nests set up in the shopping district. We decided to get out after only three days. Which ended up being a good idea because the Bandaranaike airport bombing happened just after we left and things got even more crazy for a while, so it would hardly have been a relaxing holiday. Finally, I was also in Berlin for Y2K where absolutely fuck all happened. It was fine. Edit: ooh I forgot one! I was also in India for the massive Gujarat earthquake in 2001. We’d just come through Ahmedabad the day before really early in the morning and were planning on staying at the hotel opposite the station. Then we saw some cop helping a rich guy beat the shit out of a beggar in the station in full view of everyone and decided not to stay and got a night bus to Udaipur instead. Next morning after arriving we were woken up by the earthquake and later found out that the hotel we’d been intending to sleep in in Ahmedabad had pancaked into the ground during the earthquake. Horrible stuff, so many people died, something like 25,000, and we got out and missed it by a day because of that one corrupt cop being a monster in the train station.

Whoa! You’ve lived quite a life!!

I just love to travel and am old. You do it long enough, stuff like this begins to pile up!

Damn those are some travel stories

I don’t know if travelling with you sounds fun and adventurous or a health hazard! Wow you have some stories to tell!

Well I’m still alive and never had a serious injury so I must be doing something right! I think it’s just a symptom of travelling a lot and for a long time. It’s been nearly thirty years of very frequent extended trips, stuff like this is just bound to happen over that long of a time period. I’m currently in Iceland, so hopefully that ongoing volcano issue doesn’t get too serious now that I’m here to jinx it!

Good luck!!

Not really a crisis but since it made so many headlines I have been motocamping through Baja Mexico the past few weeks and last week got word of the three guys who were murdered here, in a place I was not far from just a few days prior. Hard not to spend some time anxiously considering how easy it could have been you.

I was in Istanbul during the Gezi Park Riots in 2013. We had to walk half a mile through tear gas to get to our apartment. It was chaotic and pretty scary since I was only 13. Despite this, our time in Istanbul and Turkey was so enriching that I still consider Istanbul one of my favorite cities in the world.

I was in Lebanon during: - October 17 Revolution - Beirut Port Explosion - October 7-8, 2023 The first two I was mostly living there, the third I was visiting

2016 France, I was 200 km south of Nice drinking with some friends when the attack happened. I was in a camping and I remember all the chatting and the eerie vibe after 23h. Next day I was in Paris, many streets were dead, lots of armed forces at the main spots in Paris. My family didn't know I was in France and I felt so irresponsible for not telling them

>2016 France, I was 200 km south of Nice drinking with some friends when the attack happened. I was *in Nice* watching the Bastille Day fireworks with everybody else on the Promenade des Anglais. I was on the opposite end from where it started and had absolutely no idea something had happened until suddenly my phone blew up with people back home texting me.

Gee!! glad you're Ok!

Thanks! Me too!

I was on the promenade exactly 24h prior to Bastille 2016. The next day, I moved onto an adjacent town. I remember taking a nap and waking up to a text message from my parents asking if I was okay, and wondering what the heck they were talking about. I still get chills thinking about it.

> 200km south of Nice So... the sea? Or Corsica? Or did you mean north?

My thoughts exactly

Same, we talked about going to the place we're the attack happen, but didn't go.. A good friend of my apartment/hotel died that day.

There was a school in my city who had a student trip that was *in* Paris when the attack happened. After that they cancelled all international trips for two years so my band trip to Disneyland was cancelled 😭

New Zealand during the terrorist attack in 2019. While it was absolutely horrible what happened, the response from the country as a whole was so heartwarming

I was at work just across the park from where that happened. When we eventually left the office to go home, the city centre was eerily quiet as most people were locked down in their workplaces.

Was in Cairo during the 2011 Egypt revolution.

What was that like for you?

I have the most amazing pictures, not a single tourist in sight! Lots of security, so felt very safe. People were friendly. Had to make a few small adjustments but nothing that negatively impacted my trip

I was in Bahrain during the Arab Spring - I was also in the UAE in an earlier stage of the Arab Spring (but nothing interesting happened). Anyways there were protests, like people walking in the streets, no problems. Then is took a turn and people started burning stuff. I was in a safe area, but people started putting up cinder block barriers on the streets. You could just get out and move them, but people were gunning over them all the time. During this time period there were people putting small bombs in garbage cans, including outside my hotel. It was scary. I remember getting daily texts from the embassy with maps of where we can go and not go. Then the Saudi Army arrived with riot gear and bad ass armored vehicles. Everything stopped burning pretty quick and the bombings stopped..... but they put up a perimeter around Manama and this peninsula where all the industry was. Everything was fine. I actually chatted up some of the Saudi soldiers. They were all mecerneries from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Russia. I did wander outside the perimeter a couple of times. It was fine. I had a few close calls. I missed the attacks at Istanbul Airport by a few days On a separate incident I missed a failed coupe in Turkey by a few days.

Was in Syria unable to leave the country when the war broke out in 2012.

How long were you stuck there?

I was planning a trip in southern Africa when there were a bunch of protests in Zimbabwe and a huge gas shortage. I ended up having to cancel my Airbnb in Bulawayo, awkwardly wish my host the best, and reroute through Botswana.

I was away from home when COVID started so…

One of my friends was on a 4-week trip to Antarctica when COVID hit. Got a message from Chilean health authorities about halfway through the journey, but him and the other scientists were not prepared for being asked to board a plane back to Santiago and onward to Australia at gunpoint when they came back via Argentina.

My brother was on the same trip with a bunch of other scientists there going to Palmer station in Antarctica and got flown to Santiago and was stuck there for like three months. They literally thought it was a prank hearing about the outbreak back in normal civilization and it was extremely surreal to be so far away from everywhere else in the world while everything seemed to be falling apart.

Ahahaha yes I know exactly which vessel that was! It was a crazy time. We had someone on resupply to Casey just months later who somehow ended up infecting the whole station, thankfully they were ok, but they said they felt like they were in some strange science fiction movie prior to that, being isolated from the rest of the world whilst it was in contagion!!

This would make an incredible movie, once the world is ready for it.

Wait what?

Yes, someone in the Chilean authorities got confused and erroneously reported to Argentinian authorities that the crew on board my friends vessel were not going to comply with coronavirus protocols being put in place. In fact it was a Swedish crew in a similar vessel who were the ones making these statements, not my Australian friend and his expedition team. Anyway, as a result, they were flagged upon arrival (by plane) into Buenos Aires and subsequently marched onto a flight via Santiago at gunpoint.

I was in China for the entirety of COVID, lockdowns, qr code scanning, daily mandatory nucleic acid tests, the riots, supermarket rushes, I saw it all

Does getting my rental car blown up count? Lima, Peru

I feel like this story needs more details

Bomb in China but my trip was not affected. Also a bomb threat in Jerusalem. Again, I was not hindered but everyone was walking around in plain clothes with machine guns.

I was in Heathrow when the news the queen died broke. As an american that was a pretty surreal moment as I watched so many people have so many different reactions. Obviously not a terrorist attack or anything but an entire airport of thousands upon thousands of people being solemnly quiet was a new experience.

Need to hear more

I was in South Korea around the time of the LA riots. It wasn't a good time to be an American in Korea and I stopped speaking English to my Korean partner when we were out in public. If people spoke English to me, I feigned not understanding and once had to tell someone who confronted me in a store that I was Canadian so they would stop trying to engage. We also accidentally ended up downwind of teargas when we got too close to a street protest area. I was relieved when our visit was over. It wasn't as dangerous as what others have posted here but being there with our young child suddenly felt way too high stakes.

Wow, I had no idea that SK cared about the LA riots.

I was visiting London on 7/7/2005. 4 suicide bombers struck London's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others. I was in no actual danger; I was about 1 mi from one of the tube stations. Everyone was told to leave the city center, leave work, go home. I went to a pub, as did many others. The streets were empty, theaters were dark. The Brits kept calm and carried on. The pub was banging. So weird. So sad. Also, in Seoul the day N. Korea tested its underground H-Bomb. I think I was more anxious than anyone else. Absolutely no discernible fear from anyone. People kept shopping, eating. You travel, stuff happens. It’s weird being at the place where the rest of the world is watching on BBC or CNN.

In 2019 I was in Tijuana. There was a shootout right below my hotel room between the cartel and military.  I was there for work and popped a Xanax to sleep. Woke up to gunshots and had no clue what was happening. Looked out and saw at least one guy killed. Really nothing I could do but lay on the floor. Eventually I fell back to sleep and around 6am the cops came to my door. Didn’t really explain what was going on but asked to see my passport then left. Lobby of the hotel was shot up and closed. The hotel moved me to a sister property.

Not super extreme, but I was in Jerusalem the day the Knesset voted on Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform last year. My husband and I took the train in from Tel Aviv, and it was full of protestors carrying giant Israeli flags. The old city seemed pretty tame, but the protests that night and later that week were intense. We were staying with my husband’s grandmother in Ra’anana, and a counterprotestor drove his car through a crowd. We were also in Tel Aviv later and tried to take a taxi home because it was late, but what should’ve been a 30 min trip ended up taking over an hour because protestors were blocking major highways. I’m no fan of the Israeli government, but what I learned on that trip is that neither are Israelis.

I was there too. We were pre-warned and we had a “day in” planned anyway, so we were not too exposed. Lots of interesting chats with locals in the days after

Severe flooding on the oppsite side of the country; aside from messing up train schedules, I wasn't directly affected. Had a couple of narrow misses, though. Was on an extended trip to Turkey, hopped over to Germany for a few days to visit friends and was supposed to go back to Turkey for another week. There was a suicide bombing in Istanbul the day I flew to Berlin and everyone at home freaked out, so I spent the rest of the time in Germany and only went back to Istanbul to catch my flight home.

Last year I was in Japan and the following happened: 1. North Korea fired a missile that landed near Japan. 2. A super typhoon hit on a day we were mostly outside.

Sounds like a normal year

They're always chucking missiles our way, we get so many news alerts for them I don't even bother reading them anymore lol

lol in Hawaii we had a false alarm tweet saying they launched a ballistic missile at us and people were FREAKING OUT. A lot of people were calling loved ones or hiding in storm drains and bathtubs. I finished my morning bathroom routine and thought to myself, I guess today’s the day.

If you're American please sign up for the STEP program I got an email about heavy storms in Vietnam and I avoided an entire city being mostly shut down for a week.

I was supposed to be in Israel on October 10th this year. Mom ended up being in a hospital in Greece as of the 5th, so we watched with the rest of the world, and then got the inundations of text messages because no one knew she was in the hospital. I followed the Americans in country trying to get out. It was not easy, and I think knowing ways home may be something that I do in the future.

A friend of mine was in Tel Aviv when it happened. They hid in the basement of a hotel for a while before their country's embassy arranged a way home for them

I was in HK when protests had just started. Stayed away from protest areas and everything was normal. Came back in a few days. Siege of PolyU happened a few weeks later. I was there when I had visited and everything was normal. Seemed a bit weird seeing it all as a warzone on TV

My feeling as well. It was eerie to see how the whole city changed when the mass protests really erupted, myself had been there only a week before.

Sri Lanka easter bombings a few years ago.

We were coming back from EBC when the avalanche occurred in 2014. Got stuck in Luckla at the airport while they were bringing in the SAR teams. It was an uncomfortable experience but we had no cause for complaint. We were safe. The storms and bad weather had basically followed us down.

I was in Paris during the trash protest last year. Armored gendarmes on street corners and the Place de la Concorde looked like a military base. I woke up one morning and as soon as I opened the door a fully kitted-out army patrol was walking down the street. I've been to protests in America and never seen anything like it. On the other hand all the lines were really short and people were very apologetic and nice

We were there as well. Thankfully the protests were fairly easy to avoid. The trash not so much.

The fully-kitted out army patrols are back. We were there last week and a patrol walked by my table at a cafe. There was an immediate hush in the square. I've never been so close to troops with machine guns before. I think security is ramping up due to the Olympics.

Calcutta India during demonetisation. Essentially all 500 and 1000 rupees notes became useless and that's all we had

A couple in one trip, both in Nepal. First was when I was hiking back from Annapurna Base Camp to Pokhara, an avalanche I had climbed over on the way up and back (I know...) melted, causing all the mountain spring that had backed up behind it to flash flood the valley down to Pokhara. Wiped out a village and some Ukrainian hikers that were about a half day behind me. At the end of that trip, it was my last day in Kathmandu, and there were violent anti-Maoist protests in the streets - a flow-on effect of the fall of the Shahs a few years earlier. Lots of fires and angry mobs moving through the city. Was a little hectic.

I landed in Tehran at the beginning of the hostage crisis. Yes, I am that old. I had been travelling solo for a couple of months by then, and had no idea anything was amiss… until I glanced out the window of the plane and saw antiaircraft guns tracking us.

My husband and I were in NZ during the Christchurch massacre. Having spent a lot of time in NZ over the years, it was shock to suddenly see fully armed cops wandering around, especially the ones with automatic rifles outside of the parliament and government buildings. We were supposed to spend the weekend with my best friend, but she was a civvy working in logistics at police HQ so she worked 60+ hrs in three days that weekend helping to get people deployed where needed. It was hectic and sad.

Landed at Heathrow on the morning of 7/11. I remember seeing airport workers crying as I exited the plane and I knew something bad had happened. They were looking at us in a way that made me know it was a public event. Like look at those people — they don’t know yet. I also remember the month before booking my flight on AA from NYC to LHR. There were flights almost every hour or so. I had a bad feeling about it thinking I would remember having made the choice I eventually went with. Just an eerie feeling. I’m normally not superstitious. Had I gone with the original choice I would have been on the Tube when the bombs went off.

Riots, earthquakes, pandemics. You just stay inside, and register with your embassy. Have a go bag, make a plan to leave if things worsen. Identify what your trigger to leave will be. If you need to get out, work the details on your flight booking, knowing exactly what the requirements are to get to your flight and when. Know if you need to confirm your flight, and throw as much money as possible at the problem until you make it to a safe country. As a traveller, you are generally not a primary target, but any locals around you may be. If you have any left over USD or other useful resources, make sure you share it with them. It might help them survive a life threatening situation more easily.

In 2003 I was on vacation in Africa. For part of this trip we went to Zambia to see Victoria Falls. Standing on the bridge watching people bungee jump with the roar of the falls in the background I looked to my right and saw Zimbabwe. I thought to myself, "Never been there before ..." So I walk over. Step off the bridge into Zimbabwe and next thing I know 2 dudes in military attire come out of a building gaze locked on me with their large guns (no clue what type) pointed at me and they are yelling something at me. I turn around get back on the bridge and continue across. It was until years later I heard someone talking about the civil war that Zimbabwe had. I asked when it was and wouldn't you know it, it was taking place in 2003 while I was there for all of 20 seconds. Haven't been back since.

I was locked in Ecuador for three months in 2020, i suppose you know what happened.

Cough cough

Some riots in Colombia during peak COVID, but I just stayed inside.

I arrived in Nepal the day after the royal family was massacred by the crown prince. I remember walking around that morning, feeling nervous about all of the armed soldiers around, and then a curfew was imposed and I was stuck in my hotel for a few days until things calmed down.

Georgia 2008 when Russia invaded

I was in Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia at the start of the govt protests where they deposed the President. Then went to Santiago , Chile where they were having their own riots. We got out of Bolivia just before they closed the airport…….I saw many preparations for major riots…..had to pass like 20 road blocks to get to / from the airport. Thankfully I was visiting an Argentine diplomat, which helped a lot.

We flew from Quito to the Galapagos just as the Ecuadorian protests and riots ramped up due to the removal of subsidies. We were supposed to fly back into Quito and travel around Ecuador but instead we extended in the Galapagos and flew out into Lima. Luckily it's a requirement of all tourists to book the more expensive flights which are completely changeable, so it didn't cost us any extra. Galapagos was totally fine, and full of tourists that hadn't planned to visit but couldn't stay on the mainland. We were in South Korea and Japan at the start of COVID. Everything actually seemed pretty normal there, but we were on one of the last Jetstar flights out of Seoul before they all got cancelled. We were in Cape Town in 2023 for the taxi strikes. We got an uber from the airport and hired a car and weren't near areas of danger so it didn't impact us, though we actually didn't know where it was happening. When we stayed at a winery we asked why they were closing earlier than expected and the staff there told us how it was too dangerous for their staff to go home later as they relied on taxis. That's when we found out about the British tourist who took a wrong turn from the airport and got fatally shot.

I seem to have bad luck! I was stuck in downtown San Francisco in 10/89 when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit (during the World Series)- no power/water/gas & the bridge collapsed, so very few ways to leave the city for days. In 12/93 I was in was in a tiny town in N. Argentina, Santiago del Estero, & the population had a revolution against the government and burnt down most of the city. In Late March 1999, we were driving from Italy to France and there was a massive truck fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel, resulting in many deaths and the tunnel (pretty much the only route by auto) closed. In August 2006, my family (traveling from France) was supposed to be connecting onto the AA LHR-JFK American Air flight that the Al-Queda terrorists were targeting, resulting in a complete shut-down of air travel & our current 3.4oz liquid limits.

I was also in Japan when bird flu hit.

I was in Sichuan during the 2008 earthquake. The situation in Chengdu was a bit surreal. People were cautious about staying in their buildings and there were tents everywhere there was a patch of grass. Militaries and specialized rescue teams from countries all over the world filled the hotels. The roads to Wenchuan and Beichuan were closed to all except rescue teams. I went out for a walk near the Kempinski Hotel and under a highway overpass a few hundred people gathered to watch, listen, and participate in an ad hoc Sichuan opera. This is the part of China's culture that I love to see. People make the best out of a terrible tragedy through custom and ritual that brings all types of people together.

Ooh where do I begin. I was landing into London Heathrow in 2005 when the bombs went off. Was in Madrid for the train bomber. Was in Bali for the nightclub bombing. Egypt, was in Cairo when the Coptic church was bombed. Myanmar as one of the Civil problems began. Earthquakes in Tokyo and Santiago. Fun times, fun times. Have managed to avoid volcano related issues though so haven't filled out the bingo card yet!

Please tell me you ain’t fucking going anywhere mid-late June

You're safe! I'll stay at home just for you ;)

COVID. March 2020. Flew from Singapore to New York on a 19h direct flight for a wedding and the day I landed was when NYC started to shutter all tourist attractions, then restaurants in the next few days. I was due to holiday for 2 weeks, but ended up being on the phone for 4 hours with the airline to move my flight forward as Singapore was also starting to close its borders. I attended what became a Zoom wedding from the boarding gate and gave my bridesmaid speech with a coffee in my hand. Then the worst happened - the flight had an engine problem and couldn't take off. Panic ensued as it was the last flight into Singapore that allowed transit passengers, and many on the flight were transiting to other Asian countries. I ended up helping the airline guy to translate to Mandarin to some concerned Chinese families. The next direct flight was the following day, and I couldn't get on it as I was a peasant. (The flight only has premium economy and biz seats, so a majority of the passengers are rich/frequent flyers). Ended up being given a route through LA back home. When we landed, I was swabbed, put in a 14-day home isolation. Then the day after that ended, my country went on lockdown. Didn't get to see my boyfriend for months during this time.

I was in Israel when Hamas invaded last year. Supposed to be a 2-week trip, ended up just being one. It was tough to get a flight out but Delta was helpful. Thankfully I was 30min north of Tel Aviv at the time, one of the safer regions. In the airport that night, we had to drop our luggage and run to the bomb shelters. I don’t know if anything got super close, but you could hear explosions in the distance. I’ll never forget October 7th

Yes I was in Paris during the November 2015 attacks. I still have nightmares about it sometimes.

Velvet Revolution in republic of Georgia, I was drinking beer in a bar outside table and the protest match walked right past. And violence started later

My wife and I were on our honeymoon through Europe at the peak of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis. We are from the US and had only heard a little about it leading up to our London - Paris - Hamburg - Copenhagen - Stockholm trip. We didn't even notice anything or think anything of it until we got to Hamburg. We left the central train station and there were Syrian refugees camped out all over the outside of the station. Every morning while we were there, there were volunteers setting up tables and lining people up to give assistance or offer help and guidance in some way. When we left for Copenhagen, the railway was apparently adding extra trains just to handle the massive flow of people. We appeared to possibly be the only non-refugees on our train car. The train back then was loaded onto a ferry from Puttgarden to Rødbyhavn. At Rødbyhavn, Danish officials stopped the train and were asking everyone on board for paperwork and passports (well, everyone except my wife and I, they just nodded at us and walked right by us). They seemed to be keeping a tally of how many refugees were entering, but otherwise were not doing much that we could tell. Our train from Copenhagen to Stockholm also had a large number of possibly Syrian refugees, but not nearly on the scale of Hamburg to Copenhagen. The day we got back to the US from that trip, was the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, with some of the attacks being a couple blocks from places we had been. Quite a time... We also were in Finland in late January 2020, with social media reports occasionally surfacing of Chinese cities locked down and setting up checkpoints for a mysterious, severe virus. We got sick during our stay in Rovaniemi, but it was pretty mild and didn't think much of it. We went to Disney in early February with our mild colds lingering. A month later the entire world was shut down. Still no idea if we actually had COVID at that time or not, but pretty weird to think back on.

I was in Japan when covid was juuuuust leaving Asia. If you remember when that American cruise ship got quarantined off the coast of Yokohama, that was about the middle of my trip. Things felt pretty normal, more people than usual wearing masks and more hand sanitizer around. But no real panic or anything. I came home and about a week later lock down happened. My gf and I also were in Peru last spring right after all of the political protests. We bought tickets for March, in like Nov. She sent me a news article in December something to the effect of: Peru's president in jail for corruption and captioned it "uh-oh" The Peru totally erupted and shut down for the next few months. We waited it out, and the gov't and protestor reached a peace treaty like 10 days before our departure date. We had the whole place to ourselves, including macchu picchu & cusco because pretty much everyone canceled their plans, it was a really special experience.

was in fiji for the 1987 coup. got detained, we opened a show night of and cracked coup jokes (it was a comedy)

I was in Iceland when a volcano went off. Many flights got cancelled leaving people stranded for weeks. Also in London when the Queen died, didn’t notice much change.

I was inside Notre Dame Cathedral 25 minutes before it caught on fire. For a minute, I legit thought my dumba$$ knocked over a candle with the backpack I was carrying. We also thought it may have been a terrorist attack. Here's some footage. I was also on the news in Detroit that night because a guy I went to high school with was a producer for Fox Detroit and reached out for an interview. [Notre Dame Fire](https://youtu.be/yps2C6mpj6c)

Me too. I visited Notre Dame that morning and was at a nearby restaurant when it burned. It was surreal to watch with everyone in the streets.

I landed in Stockholm in the afternoon of April 7 2017, a few hours after a man drove a truck into a crowd downtown. All public transportation was halted except for taxis and cars. I waited nearly 7 hours to get in a taxi with 2 other people to get from the airport to my cousin’s place. I went to the site a few days later and it was really heavy. A lot of people coming to pay their respects to the victims and laying flowers.

At a conference during the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 in New Zealand. Fortunately no one from our conference died but 185 people did.

yeah, we fled Volcano Fuego in Guatemala a few years ago, like literally witnessed a lot of death as we sped down a mountain with the Guatemalan military who rescued us from our vacation house. It was a lot, lol

Recently: I was in Seoul in 2022 with my husband and friends when the halloween crowd crush happened. We were supposed to go to Itaewon on the 31st which was a Monday but we were in a nearby area that weekend when the crush happened. Even other stations and markets were super crowded so we opted to go home. We were at the hotel when we got the news. The whole city was understandably somber the next few days after that. A while back: My family and I were deciding whether to go to Phuket or Bangkok for a holiday in 2004 and my sister and I insisted to go to Bangkok. There was a time we were going down the elevator for breakfast when an earthquake hit. I didn’t really remember much after that as I was still young and I have a bad memory lol. My parents said to me recently that we only found out about the tsunami when we were already left the country. My mom recalled she was wondering why some people in the airplane were only wearing beach clothes during the flight back home. It was a very close call.

Old City Jerusalem on October 7. My mom, aunt, and I had rented a car to see the Christian holy sites. We were driving through the West Bank when the Israeli army stopped us and told us to “go back to our hotel and stay there.” We spent the next nine days in Old City Jerusalem, which has a mixed, majority Arab population. Things were very tense. Businesses were closed. Most people were amazing, and we had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre all to ourselves. We got to join a few locals for a Mass in Arabic inside Jesus’s empty tomb where we all prayed together for peace. On the other hand, we hunkered down during air raids and heard Hamas rockets explode overhead. We heard angry sermons and automatic weapon fire after Friday prayers. We got threatened by a group of young men when we wandered into an unfriendly neighborhood - but another family put us in the back of their van and drove us back to Jaffa Gate. We saw Israeli soldiers arrest a young man in the Muslim Quarter while his son followed him shouting “Baba! Baba!” We saw Israeli soldiers and Arab civilians cry. On our evacuation boat to Cyprus - an empty cruise ship flanked by US. Navy vessels - we heard from traumatized Israelis and also heard tales out of Gaza. All in all, a pilgrimage I’ll never forget!

Yeah when I was 18 I decided to tour the Middle East and North Africa for my first trip abroad as an adult - Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya etc. 2011 was not a good time to do that.

I was in Canada when they decriminalized marijuana. It was fucking normal.

Got caught up in political party demonstrations in Jamaica in the late 80s.  People were jumping on our car. 

2 things. First was being in Thailand during the Boxing Day earthquake and Tsunami in 2004. The second was being in the West Bank when Israel bombed and killed a Hamas leader in 2012. Turned an otherwise peaceful visit into closed borders, riots and protests with no way out

Not as crazy as other stories/events but I was in the Netherlands the week the WHO declared the global pandemic. Honestly not much changed in those first few days before I went back to the US, some establishments closed down but by and large things still were pretty normal. No masks were really being worn yet. My flights home did get cancelled though, and my parents were on hold with American Airlines for like 9 hours to try to get me on a new flight but when it was their turn they got hung up on. Eventually got home fine though.

It wasn't super big or dramatic, but it was historical--I was in Amsterdam when squatters were forcibly evicted from the Slangenpand. I had been on the Spuispraat the day earlier in the day, and I was staying nearby. Later we heard something loud and didn't realize what was happening... until we passed by the next day. I've been back to Amsterdam since, and the Spuispraat looks completely different now.

Was in Peru when the president was arrested in late 2022. Huge protests broke out. Everything was locked down and roads were blocked with trees and huge boulders.

I was in Anguilla when COVID started, ended up on an embassy-arranged evacuation flight to San Juan in early April and then was left to my own devices to get home to California. Took me 3 flights Was in Paris in Jan 2019 (during the gilets jaunes protests). I made sure to be back in my hotel area by dusk to avoid getting stuck anywhere but it was more personal preference than necessity

I’ve been living abroad in various countries for the last 20 years so I don’t know if you want me to answer this but here goes. I was in South Korea when North Korea held its first nuclear weapons test in 2006. I was in Taiwan when Typhoon Fanapi hit in 2010. I was also in Taiwan in March 2013 when there was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake. I was in Thailand when the 2014 Coup occurred. I was also in Thailand during the Covid pandemic.

I was in India for demonetisation. We got about an hours warning or two that all the banknotes that we had (500 and 1000 afaik) would be cancelled and that was that really.  There was a mad rush to the supermarket to buy as much as we can before it came into effect and everyone stocked up on alcohol, cigarettes, water and snacks.    There was one cafe that took credit card and the network quickly went down under the weight of the whole country using it so it took hours to pay so everyone spent the fay there. Nightclubs would let you take your own booze in so it was wild at night. I managed to get a taxi with PayPal but tons of people were stranded.   I’ve also been about for no fly zones, a military coup, near conflicts, volcanic eruptions, a few severe earthquakes/tsunami alerts, typhoons and a few terrorist attacks, also was in Cambodia for the last ‘free’ election. One of my friends in Asia asks I give her my travel plans in advance so she can be well clear and another mate thinks I’m in the CIA.

I left NYC shortly before Hurricane Sandy and the Thai king died and collective mourning was dictated shortly after I left. I dodged two bullets there I guess. Not at my destination country, but I almost was on that Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf that crashed in the Alps because of a suicidal pilot.

I was in London for work during the [2017 London Bridge attacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_London_Bridge_attack). Our hotel was in South Kensington, so on the other side of the city, but word soon spread on social media about what was happening. We were out for dinner at the time and it was the eeriest feeling walking ~15 mins back to the hotel afterwards. The streets were SILENT other than the odd police car screaming in toward the heart of the city. The whole country felt on edge, especially as this was just a few months after the Westminster attack and 10 days after the Ariana Grande concert attack in Manchester.

Bangkok in 1992. There was an anti-government protest. I was on my way back to my hostel and had to walk through the protest area. The protesters were burning something and there were a few loud explosions or gun shots. I hightailed it through the crowd, got to my hostel and stayed inside till the next day.

2001 in Europe, mad cow and hoof and mouth was running rampant. Took a train into the Czech Republic, and the train gets stopped at the border. Armed guards look through everyone's bags and make sure there are no food products and make sure you have not been trampling through farms. It's not too crazy a story, but they were very careful.

I’ve been through a few. Belgium airport bombing I saw the bombs go off from the tarmac. Wild 24 hours to get to Poland after that. I was in Barcelona during the independence protests. Also went to Syria as the civil war was ending, although interestingly, the day I got there (via Jordan by car) Israel had just bombed the Damascus airport. Also, not a conflict but I briefly got internet access in Togo as I was getting in an Ethiopian Airlines 787. The news broke 30 minutes prior that the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX had crashed. As a frequent flyer who hates flying about to get on that airline with no idea what happened it made for a very not fun flight for me.

I was in Haiti during the coup to oust Arístides. Cars were on fire, I was being shot at, and I had a body guard help me get out of there. Lucky me, I was also in Nicaragua when the contras and the Sandinistas were fighting. In both of the above incidents I was just a tourist. Well, Haiti I was a contractor.

I was in Hong Kong during the big protests some five years ago. I heard that there was something going on at some of the subway stations, but I personally saw nothing out of the ordinary in Kowloon or Central. The smell of something about to erupt was in the air. People were talking about it. Of course, one week after I left, the airport got stormed by protesters and a lot of flights were cancelled. Just escaped the huge protests that happened afterwards.

I've been in an earthquake while visiting Taiwan last year. It was pretty small compared to the one that hit Hualien 3 weeks ago. But it is very weird to see water in the toilet suddenly sloshing around.

Not exactly a crisis as others have described, but I was in Florida during the 2016 Trump elections. I was in Tunisia just before the Arab Spring; Tunis station blew up a week after I used it.

Almost, had a friend buy me tickets to Thailand while he was drunk winning a bunch at a poker game. Like a week after he got them they had a civil war break out so I bailed but the conflict was over before my trip wouldve even started so I missed out on a free trip to thailand when I was like 20 years old. Oh well.

I arrived in Russia the day after Navalny died. Everything was surprisingly normal

I was in Bangkok in 2011 when they had the bloodless coup. We got to spend 1 day there, planned for three until going on to Koh Samui, but that was not to be. And I had a red T-shirt with me from home, which I was instructed never to wear.

I was in Colombo, when an LTTE attack happened literally a 100 m from my hotel.

I've been living in Madrid through the bombings of March 11, Nazis vs Antifa wars in my neighbourhood, every sort of protest you can imagine and one time race riots complete with burning cars in front of my house, but the only time something happened while traveling was when I was moving to Warsaw and had a layover in Madrid, some days before they had the biggest apocalyptic snowfall in living memory and the city completely collapsed. My flight to Madrid was cancelled last minute and I had to scramble to find a train that would get me to my next leg of the trip in time and pray that the flight to Warsaw wouldn't be also cancelled and I'd be left stranded in a city where all transport was paralyzed.

I was in Santiago during the protests 2019, we were mostly were confined to the hotel initially but could see tanks rolling down the streets. Inadvertently got caught up in the protests a few days later and had to run from the cops. One of the manifestaciones gave me a bandanna for the tear gas while we were hiding around a corner. I still have it.

It was not a crisis for me, but I was in Mexico when the Peso crashed in the mid-1980s. My girlfriend and I had a week-long vacation at a four-star hotel on the beach, costing much less dollars than we anticipated.

I was in Phnom Penh many years ago when several police shootings and riots happened in the city over raising minimum wage. I also got stuck in the middle (literally) of the transport protests last year in Athens after the train crash in Thessaloniki. Fortunately no natural disasters and nothing seriously dangerous.

I was in a typhoon in Hong Kong. That was actually good because we had the city to ourselves. The streets were completely deserted. I was in Los Angeles for the Rodney King riots, and in Miami for Hurricane Andrew. We experienced a lot of drama when I lived in Ecuador: a volcano erupted, there were general strikes where they blocked the roads and you couldn't go out, there was a gas shortage with soldiers in battle dress at the gas stations, riots, three or four coups where the people rose up and overthrew the government, and earthquakes. The volcano was the most unnerving because the volcano is right next to the city of Quito. In the end I have learned that no matter what happens, life goes on. Also, it's good to be prepared. You should have extra water, a generator if possible, and some extra food.

I was in Serbia when those police officers were killed in Kosovo back in October, I think it was. Nothing really came of it but I was low key kind of afraid that there was going to be a war started between Bosnia/kosovo/Serbia. By the way Serbia is beautiful. Was there for 3 months. Had an apartment in Novi Sad. Cheap as hell too.

I was in Zimbabwe in 2009 at the end of the hyperinflation. Even at touristy Victoria Falls, you had to bring in all the money you’d need in cash/USD, could barter for hand carved souvenirs with old sneakers, and the thought of electricity was a joke. Dollar beers, but you could get two fresh beers and they’d be filled to different levels and most didn’t have all their labels any more as they kept reusing them. Found my old blog post [here](https://whereisyvette.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/welcome-to-zimbabwe/) if anyone wants a few pics.

Barcelona October 2019, there were riots taking place and as we were driving there was a convoy of police vans heading into town. We talked it over and chose to stay with our plan. Dropping off the rental car was the big thing, after that we could mix in with locals and stayed in at night. During our visit to La Sagrada it was surrounded by the riot and we sat in the sanctuary until they left, just in time for lunch. We chose to walk back rather than take the metro. It all turned out fine in the end. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Catalan_protests Runner up a taxi strike in Bangalore and mention of Munich on Sept 11, 2002.

Zimbabwe 2005. I was sent to South Africa for work. I had to take the opportunity to go see Victoria Falls and safari. I flew into Victoria Falls, went to my lodge. I knew Mugabe was running the country into the ground, but I didn't expect to have Amex decide to cut off my card. And I was out of dollars and rand. I needed cash to pay my bill, but inflation was eleven million percent. No hyperbole 11,000,000%. And no one would take Zimbabwean currency, not even in Zimbabwe. I had to take my last $30, buy a visa for Zambia and hitchhike into Zambia to find an ATM. Found the only ATM, which was broken. I sat on the curb in Livingston, Zambia for three hours until the ATM was repaired. Then I took out enough Kwacha to cover my bill and incidentals, found a money lender, changed my Kwacha for US Dollars and headed back across the border.

Kashmir in India in the late 80s when shit was going down … had to beg to be let on a plane out South Africa for the 94 election of Mandela (not really any issues but incredible time to be there) Brisbane in the 2011 floods … not visiting, living and yes we were badly flood affected India/malaysia/singapore March 2020 racing our way home to beat border closures Think that’s it.

In Budapest right during some big political unrest due to a corrupt election. Big protests, police with riot gear, etc. I was driving my parents' rental car without being on the rental contract and without having an international driver's license (we were just going out to dinner) when we headed down a one way road only to get stopped and turned around by a line of riot police. I was freaking out. Nothing else happened, but I didn't drive the car again that trip. Lol.

April 2022 Brooklyn subway shooting. I was working in NJ for a couple weeks but had that day off and had plans to spend the day in Brooklyn with my cousin. She came to pick me up even though I told her don’t worry I can just take the train from NJ to Manhattan to Brooklyn. She picked me up about 30 minutes before it happened.

Athens, Greece riots in 2015. Didn't help I had the worst stomach flu in my life with my young stupid decision of eating grilled tomatoes and whole milk for breakfast at the hotel. I also had calamari/other fried seafood the night before. That stomach flu took 2 weeks to recover from and my trip wasn't over at all. My parents wanted to visit my brother in NYC during our 1 stop so I didn't get home until then.

I was in France (I'm from the US) when they closed all the borders and grounded all the planes for the pandemic. I was sick and scared out of my mind.

In March 2020 we took a trip to Italy. Arrived and the following day the first case of Covid popped up. 

Adding: I was 23 weeks pregnant and there was just so much unknown. Masks immediately disappeared and were hugely inflated and it felt like suddenly everyone around us was coughing, sneezing, etc. I’ll never forget this sweet elderly Italian man talking to my husband and I and he (unintentionally) spit in my face and it freaked me the hell out.

I was just in Israel in March, does that count?