Everyone does their vacations differently, some focus on meticulously planned days with strict itineraries, others like to lounge around at an all-inclusive. But no matter how you prefer to spend your time off work, basically everyone can agree that broken phones, bones, missed flights and closed attractions are not part of the fun.
So in an attempt to create a sort of reverse FOMO, we’ve gathered pictures from folks whose vacations didn’t go their way at all. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments section down below.
#1 Epic Picture
Image credits: Cbert1980
#2 Our Dog Chewed My Wife’s Passport 12 Hours Before Our International Flight
We were packing for our family trip to Jamaica, and I heard my wife scream upstairs. She just tells me, “I’m not going to Jamaica,” and shows me her passport. Only the main page shown is torn. Nothing else. (The image depicted is after she tried taping it back together.) She dropped it on the bed for a second, and the dog got to it. And she is normally not destructive like that, but despite how annoyed we were, we couldn’t blame her.
After reality had sunk in, I hopped on a call with a passport department inquiring about an emergency passport. They apparently only give them out if there is a death in the family, etc. They searched for appointments nearby, and the only one on the East Coast was in Buffalo, NY, at 8 am the following day. So we changed my wife’s flight, and sent her tour to Buffalo, and got her a 10:45 am flight out from Buffalo to Orlando, then to Jamaica, hoping that it would work. They don’t guarantee that you will get it the same day, but the reviews for the location were surprisingly positive, so we were hopeful. She shows up an hour early, is first in line, and they tell her they can get it the same day, but won’t start printing passports till 10 am. The manager came out and told my wife she should probably change her flight because he can’t guarantee that she will get it in time for the 10:45 flight.
She comes back around 10, sits right, and the woman at the front desk gives a friendly wink to my wife. At 10:15, the manager tells my wife’s passport is printing. Around 10:20-10:25, they hand it to her and she hits the find driver button on the Uber app. She gets picked up and takes the 15-minute ride to the airport. The Uber driver told her he’s driven MANY people who flew from out of state to Buffalo for a same-day passport, and he believed she could make it. Well, she did. Boarding got delayed, but she made it with like 10 minutes to spare and arrived in Jamaica only 3 hours after we did.
It was beyond exhausting!
TLDR: dog chews wife’s passport 12 before flight. Wife flies to Buffalo for the only available appointment, gets her passport the same day, and barely makes her flight to eventually meet us in Jamaica, only a few hours after our arrival.
Image credits: IDontFeel24YearsOld
#3 Buddy Came Back From Vacation And Realized He Was Missing A Headphone So He Checked It’s Location
Image credits: lordfukwad
People love stories about vacation fails because they combine misfortune with relatability in a way that is both harmless and hilarious. Vacations are supposed to be the highlight of the year, a time when everything goes smoothly, the weather is perfect, and memories are made. The reality is often very different.
Flights are delayed, hotel rooms are nothing like they were in pictures, foreign cuisine makes people grab for pills, and family squabbling breaks out with the tension of traveling. When these events are shared, they are comedic gold.
#4 100-Year-Old Family Cabin Burned To The Ground First Day Of Vacation
Image credits: Bumper216
#5 Came Home From Vacation To Find Our Fish Tank Leaked Into My Floor While We Were Gone
Image credits: Metroid413
#6 We Were On Our Way To Arizona For A Family Trip And Then
Image credits: BearWar
Comedy often occurs from the incongruity between what is anticipated and actual experience. Everybody imagines themselves beach-bumming with a drink or posing in front of glorious landmarks. When the outcome is a torrent of rain, an unfilled reservation, or a rental car that breaks down in the middle of nowhere, the disappointment is extreme. That sudden transition from fantasy to disaster is funny because disappointment is so common. People laugh because they know they can just as easily be in the same situation.
#7 TSA Definitely Went Through Our Bag, And Did Not Put The Cap Back On My Bottle Of Allergy Pills
Image credits: blankblinkblank
#8 A Tire Came Flying Out Of Nowhere While Driving To Our Vacation Destination
Everyone is fine, but day one of vacation is not going as planned. Tire came out of absolutely nowhere and completely shattered my windshield. Picking pieces of glass out of my eyebrows, even. Everyone is okay, luckily (one of the kids even slept through it), but it sucks having to spend hundreds on a new windshield and a hotel room for the night. Luckily, someone can replace it tomorrow.
Image credits: give_me_two_beers
#9 A Nice Gentleman Asked If He Could Take Our Picture For Us, We Got This
Image credits: ryan_dad_of_3
Vacation failures are also funny because they are brief. Whereas truly tragic events result in significant suffering, these are mere accidents that are frustrating in the moment but typically become great stories afterward. Sunburn heals, luggage arrives sooner or later, and even horrible hotels can be tolerated for a night or two. Knowing that the cost is generally small makes one able to laugh at the misfortune. Viewers and readers are able to laugh along at the chaos because they are aware that the teller made it through.
#10 This Letter I Get From My Neighbors On The First Day Of Summer Vacation
In Cyprus, there is a new law where all non-private beaches are government-owned, and dogs are allowed to walk there.
The beach in front of our summer house is one of those beaches, but unfortunately, our elderly neighbors don’t seem to bother to look at the law when it’s not convenient for them.
I bring them at 6 am, and I always clean after them, so they are bothering absolutely nobody. Just a bunch of old people with nothing better to do in their lives, so they control others.
Needless to say, I’ll continue taking them to the beach, and if they actually follow through with their threats, I’d love to see them fined for wasting police resources.
Image credits: Dark_Wolf04
#11 Our Peaceful Beach Vacation
Beach reclamation in progress. Heavy equipment is running right outside our windows 24 hours a day.
Image credits: stoned_brad
#12 Road Trip Misadventure
Image credits: livelove_elbow
There's also something universal for all of us with traveling disasters. Regardless of culture, age, or background, just about everyone has ever had a vacation that didn't go according to plan. The commonality of things not going right makes everyone identify by laughing. Someone who has been battling mosquitoes for a week in a cabin will sympathize with someone who inadvertently ended up passing the night in an airport. They both share irritations, which make people feel less alone and more willing to laugh at themselves.
#13 Day Before Our 1st Vacation
In 17 years, we never took a family vacation except to visit family. Mid-divorce, and I am taking the kids by myself for our first overnight at a waterslide resort (a surprise for the kids - booked for tomorrow). My ex called me this afternoon - my teen daughter dislocated her elbow on a hike. Cast from fingers to armpit. No waterslide resort for us.
Image credits: Wendlynnn
#14 Found This Camera In My Vacation Rental
Image credits: 400cc
#15 I Broke Both My Ankles And A Wrist On Day 1 Of The Family Vacation. I Was Supposed To Go On A Trip With Friends In Less Than A Month
I stepped backwards and tripped. That was honestly it. Pretzeled in the worst way possible.
Image credits: ManiacallyReddit
Fails on vacation also offer the potential for schadenfreude, the enjoyment of other people's mistakes. It is not nasty; rather, it is an innocuous sort of fun. Watching someone else struggle to corral a melted ice cream, a dropped suitcase, or a photobombing stranger snapping a photo is funny because it is sloppy but harmless. The mess intrudes into the perfection that people tend to try to construct on social media, and so the story becomes more authentic.
#16 On A Family Trip And This Is The Cabin We Are Sharing With 11 People
It can’t be more than 500 sqft.
Image credits: jellocore
#17 Tried To Open A Pack Of Gum On The Airplane…
And my front tooth broke. I’m headed to Las Vegas, and thankfully, my sister knows a cosmetic dentist who can fit me in tomorrow. I’m sitting in the Houston airport, drinking a beer, waiting for the last leg of my flight.
Image credits: BruciePup
#18 All My Family Trip Photos And Videos Gone
Image credits: James--Trickington
A part of the magic is also the absurdity of small things. A bunch of people standing ostentatiously in front of a stunning sight, only to realize afterwards that their camera lens was smudged the entire time, is something that's both irony and absurdity. The audience cherishes the silly twists of fate that make the tale indelible. The prospective intruder who came across a honeymoon photo or the restaurant that has something completely out-of-place provides the kind of humor that can only be written.
#19 Booked An Airbnb For Vacation. This Is The View From The Shower. There Is No Way To Cover It Up
Image credits: Ingtar2
#20 When You Plan An Entire Family Trip Around Seeing The Fabled Copper Complaint, And It’s Not There
Image credits: AngloSaxonP
#21 Husband Lost His iPhone On Vacation. We Used Find My From My Phone And Tracked It To Its Last Location. Found It Run Over
He had it on him when we were out and about, but didn’t notice it was missing until late at night. We were playing switch with the family back at the rental, so he wasn’t thinking much about it. Decided to track its location and saw it was at the boardwalk we were at. Went back and looked for about 20 minutes in the parking lot. Found it smashed to bits! Had to go to the Verizon store the next day. At least we know what happened to it.
Image credits: ChickenLuna
Vacation fails humor is funny at its heart because it makes real what is otherwise idealized. Instagram overflows with perfectly posed, tactfully edited travel pictures, designed to suggest perfection. Stories of disaster and misadventure remind us all that travel is messy, mad, and outside our control. The joke is in the acceptance of that imperfection, flipping annoyance into entertainment.
#22 What Was Supposed To Be A Nice Vacation Turned Into Me Developing A Chlorine Rash After Swimming
I’m home now, but this is day 3, and it just keeps spreading. Awesome.
Image credits: survivorsavedmylife
#23 Three Days Into My First Trip To Argentina To Spend Time With My Step-Daughter And Husband's Family And I've Come Down With The Flu And Can't Leave The Hotel
Image credits: kittykat47
#24 Leaving For Vacation Today And Put The Oven To Self-Clean. The Middle Panel Decided It Didn’t Want To Live Anymore
Image credits: scubahana
In the end, everyone discovers vacation fails to be funny because they mix expectation and relatability with absurdity and harmless chaos together in a single package. They lower the polished fantasy of travel to reality, and they remind everyone that sometimes the most enjoyable moments do not come from perfection, but from the disasters we can laugh at in the end.
#25 Single Cab Truck + Stomach Ache = Disaster
Image credits: fairchildthings
#26 I Feel So Stupid. Forgot To Have Wifey Put Sunscreen On My Back
Image credits: ruined_s2k
#27 Somebody's Vacation Is Ruined
Image credits: Sea_Squirrel1987
#28 I Tried Whataburger For The First Time In 20 Years, While In Vacation. Are They Punishing Me?
Image credits: Additional_Goose_763
#29 Two Hours Into My Road Trip In The Middle Of Nowhere I Opened My Case To This
Image credits: EggCakes27
#30 “Lost” Luggage Has Been In This Location For The Past Week…. And There’s Nothing We Can Do About It
On a trip with my family, our bags have been at the Madrid airport for the past week. We’ve called the airline twice a day, and all they say is that there’s nothing more that they can do.
Image credits: DarwinF1nch
#31 Came Back To This After Vacation
We knew our neighborhood had some bad storms while we were away. As we turn onto our street, we see this.
Think it can't get worse? They had just listed the home for sale about a week earlier.
Image credits: dnr4wlvs
#32 Adventure Vacations
On vacation with my little kids. Long travel across Europe and at night stopped for a night in a hotel in Lille near the train station. Before I went to bed, I considered myself lucky to have found free parking. In the morning, a broken passenger window in our car, and the resulting shenanigans with insurance and police. First time in France in 15 years, and I expected to practice my rusty French on different subjects.
Nothing was stolen, as nothing was inside that was worth it. Just have to deal with the aftermath of the damage.
Image credits: falkenfink
#33 Trip Ended Before The Border
Image credits: jackie_j_666
#34 The View From My Bedroom In My Caribbean Vacation Rental, Where I've Been Stuck Literally All Week With The Flu
Image credits: Agent-Foxtrot
#35 First Day Of Vacation And This Happens…
I’m in a small town and can’t get them repaired u til I go home in a week… Super glue and tape it is then.
Image credits: MCGamer1234
#36 Airline Canceled Our Trip Unwarned Because We Had A Cat
We were returning from a 2-month vacation and everything was planned to go fine, we had a connecting flight, it was gonna be a long trip, but when we arrive the airline says that they cannot permit the cat to enter since the plane is rented and doesn't allow pets, they also refuse to issue a refund despite it being thier fault and we weren't warned, we had come here with the same airline, and they didn't give us an issue about it, now we are stuck here for a while with high airline costs and the cat can't go back for a while since his entry and exit permit ends today.
Image credits: cooljhon2009
#37 When You're On Vacation And Learn Your Flatmate Isn’t Reliable To Take Care Of Your Cat
Image credits: 420jakeinfinance69
#38 Come To Visit My Friends From Abroad To Find A Broken Red Wine In The Baggage
I came to visit my friends for a couple of weeks. It was a long journey, a train and two flights, but when I checked into a hotel, went up to my room, and opened my luggage, I found one of my three bottles of wine broken. It was in a bubble wrap, which didn't help... And the wine had completely soaked my clothes that I got for the trip. At least (I hope so) I didn't ruin anyone else's luggage. Hell of a start for a vacation.
Image credits: erizoy
#39 I Was Supposed To Go On A Family Vacation Tomorrow. I Even Had My Suitcase Packed
Image credits: Daenys_TheDreamer
#40 Was A Little Tired On A Family Trip So My Father Took Over. This Is My Car Not Even An Hour Later
Image credits: Kannahayabusa12
#41 This Just Happened To Our Caravan 500m From Our Destination For The Day
We are on our way home from a nice vacation in Greece, and right when we wanted to stop for the night at the border to Germany, bam...
Image credits: Individualofnouse
#42 The Day Before My Vacation, And I Cut Through My Client's Internett Cable
I'm an HVAC technician and was installing a split. He wanted it very close to the corner, and I was prepared to hit a little bit of the stud, but then I would angle it away from the stud to go to the outside unit. I was thinking that it could be electric cables behind it, and I should have brought my cable scanner. The client told me that he was very sure it's nothing behind right there, except for the stud.
Lesson learned - do not trust clients and double-check.
Image credits: BulldogKongen
#43 Vacation Screwed
Image credits: branthewarg
#44 Day One: Two Broken Ankles
Image credits: eelwood48
#45 The Reality Of The Parks: It’s Not About The Perfect Photos
A 45-minute line to meet Moana (she’s a huge fan), breastfeeding my baby while sweating, my husband fanning me so the baby would fall asleep - all for the big moment… And then our toddler didn’t even want the photo. The real magic of Disney - hahaha, just drama! But we had an amazing trip!
Image credits: Karla Vargas
#46 Just Went To Thailand For The Holiday, Just Found This In My Hotel Room Above The Bed. Bring A Black Light Next Time
Image credits: XMenPerseus56
#47 Came Home From Vacation To A Full Blown Car Accident In My Driveway
We were given zero information regarding what happened. Everyone was okay. One chain link fence down, otherwise no damage, thankfully.
Image credits: Objective-Middle-676
#48 Checked Into The Hotel, Forgot The Luggage
Image credits: borndabronx
#49 While My Family And I Were On A Beach Trip (Back During Early November), Our Back Deck Collapsed
The wood was rotting, evidently, and became too weak and fell out of the frame.
Image credits: Dr-Ludwig07
#50 Meeting Family After A Long Trip And Asking Someone To Take Your Photo, Only To Not Include The Giant Monument You’re Standing In Front Of
Image credits: yourstrulyjarjar
