Solo Travel Europe: 15 Disasters From My First Year of Solo Travel

I found this post buried on one of my old travel blogs, originally written in January 2016 after my first year of solo travel, and there was absolutely no way I was leaving it there.

2015 was the year I discovered how much I loved traveling, but it was also the year travel decided to repeatedly kick me in the ass. I was still figuring everything out as I went, and every missed bus, broken bank card, terrible hostel and transport disaster felt like a full-blown crisis.

Looking back now, some of these situations are hilarious. At the time, absolutely not.

So here are 15 of the worst moments from my first year of solo travel Europe: getting sick twice, thinking I was going to die in Naples, being scammed, almost sleeping outside in Slovenia, getting bedbugs twice, losing my travel journal after three months of writing in it, getting my ID stolen and somehow surviving several transport situations that should probably never have happened.

1. Getting Really Sick in Rome and Seville

When you get on a flight to start a trip, you imagine that the second you land you are going to be out exploring, eating everything, seeing everything and living your best travel life.

You do not imagine getting so sick within 24 hours that you can barely get out of bed.

This happened to me twice in 2015, first in Rome and later in Seville. And I can confirm that getting sick while traveling is absolute shit.

You try to convince yourself that you are already there, so you should just push through it. You tell yourself you can still go sightseeing even though your entire body hurts, you have a fever and all you actually want is to stay in bed.

Then reality wins.

In Rome, I had no stomach for all the pizza and pasta I had been excited about eating, barely slept and spent way too much time in the hostel feeling sorry for myself. Months later in Seville, I somehow managed to repeat the experience and spent an entire day vomiting before eventually finding enough strength to leave the hostel.

Not exactly the glamorous version of travel people put on Instagram.

2. Thinking I Was Going to Die in Naples

Naples happened during the first week of my first big solo trip, which was possibly the worst possible timing for everyone around me to start telling me how dangerous Naples was.

Someone from Naples told me going alone was not a good idea. Then came the reassuring explanation that the biggest problem was apparently mafia shootings, but not to worry because “they don’t shoot tourists, they just shoot themselves.”

Very comforting.

Then the conversation ended with something along the lines of, “Don’t worry, you’ll be okay. Your bags probably won’t come back with you, though.”

Fantastic.

By the time I arrived, my brain had turned Naples into a literal war zone. I stepped off the train terrified, got lost, cried a lot and spent a good amount of time questioning why the hell I had still gone there after so many people had told me to go somewhere else.

I was scared to even take my camera out of my bag because this was the first week of a trip that was supposed to last months. In my head, if somebody stole my camera or my things now, the entire trip would be over and I would have to go home.

There was rain, crying, almost no photos, lost train tickets, getting stuck inside the metro when it broke down and one particularly horrible hour when I had to leave the hostel at night to get out of Naples.

I also somehow managed to visit Naples without trying the pizza I had been so excited about.

Overall, a fantastic success.

3. Getting Scammed in Croatia

I went to Zagreb mainly because I wanted to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park, which had been one of those places I had wanted to see for ages.

I went to buy my bus ticket and was told at the ticket office that there was only one bus coming back from Plitvice and that buying the return ticket there would be cheaper, so that is exactly what I did.

Then I arrived at Plitvice and found out the park closed at 4pm.

My return ticket was for 6pm.

I asked whether there were any earlier buses back to Zagreb and was casually told there was basically one every half an hour.

Excellent.

I decided I was not standing around in the dark and cold for two hours just because somebody had sold me the wrong return ticket, so I bought another one directly on an earlier bus.

Then, while counting the change the driver gave me, I realized he had given me much less money than he should have.

So in one day I managed to pay for two return bus tickets and get the wrong change on the second one.

I had not been traveling for very long at this point, and this was one of those early lessons where you realize that being new to all of this sometimes means learning things by losing money.

4. Almost Sleeping on the Streets in Ljubljana

Going to Ljubljana was a completely last-minute decision.

I had originally been supposed to fly to Poland, but then I decided I needed to stop being scared of everything and changed my plans to go to Slovenia instead.

Which immediately became funny considering what happened when I arrived.

Getting to a new country at night already scared me, so I had done everything possible to prepare. I researched the route, memorized the directions from the station to my hostel and managed to get there in about ten minutes.

I rang the bell.

Nothing.

I rang again.

Still nothing.

Then I noticed a sign on the door saying reception closed at 8pm.

There was nobody there to check me in.

My panic started immediately.

I kept ringing the bell like a crazy person, then grabbed my phone to call the number on the notice.

My phone did not work.

Of course it didn’t.

So now it was late, my phone was dead, I was standing outside a hostel in a country I had never been to, I did not speak the language, I had no internet to look for somewhere else to stay and there was nobody I could even contact to tell them what was happening.

I started crying and completely panicking because in my head there was only one possible ending to this situation: I was sleeping outside.

After more than an hour, a woman finally came toward the door. I immediately ran to her crying and asking for help.

She looked at me and told me she was the receptionist.

She had come to check me in.

I don’t think I have ever felt relief that strong in my life.

And yes, my parents only found out about this after I came home. There was absolutely no chance I was calling my mother to say, “Hi Mum, my phone doesn’t work, nobody is at my hostel and I might be sleeping on the street tonight. Love you!”

5. When My Bank Cancelled the Card With All My Money

I was in Budapest trying to buy pizza when the person working there told me my card had been cancelled.

I told them to try again because obviously that was impossible.

Same answer.

I went to an ATM.

Same problem.

I immediately called my mother and sent her to the bank to figure out what the hell was happening. She called me back and told me the bank had cancelled my card because somebody had apparently tried to access the account and steal my money.

The slight problem with this security measure was that nobody had bothered to tell me.

All my money was in that account, I had basically nothing in my wallet and I was supposed to leave the next day for Bratislava.

So I was standing in Budapest with no money to eat and no way to pay for the next part of my trip.

I had a credit card with me, but there was no money available on that either.

I cried. A lot.

I also did not eat for the rest of the day.

Luckily, I had brought another card from a different bank and managed to transfer my money onto it the following day, which meant I could continue traveling.

That second card probably saved the entire trip.

6. Getting Bedbugs in Prague AND Madrid

Getting bedbugs once in your life feels unfair enough.

I got them twice in the same year.

The first time was after staying in a hostel in Prague that, looking back, probably should have raised some questions considering it cost me around €4 a night.

I stayed there for an entire week.

By the time I reached my next destination, I had started feeling itchy and noticed a few bites. I am usually a magnet for mosquitoes and react badly to them, so I convinced myself that was all it was and ignored it.

Then it got worse.

And worse.

By the time I returned to Bratislava, my entire body was covered in bites and the itching was becoming unbearable.

Right before checkout, I went to the receptionist, showed him my arm and asked whether he knew what was happening to me.

The expression on his face was not reassuring.

“Oh my God.”

Excellent start.

Then he said the word: bedbugs.

He told me they would have to close the room because of it and, just to make the whole situation even better, warned me that the bites were probably going to get worse before they got better.

I grabbed my backpacks in complete panic.

Eventually the bites disappeared, but it took around a week for the itching to calm down properly.

You would think that would be enough bedbugs for one lifetime.

Eight months later, I was in Madrid.

After my first night, I noticed bites again.

Absolutely not.

I immediately decided they were mosquito bites because the window had been open during the night and there was no way the universe was doing this to me again.

The bites spread.

I went to reception.

“I think we have a problem.”

The receptionist looked at my arm.

“Oh yes. Bedbugs.”

Of course.

He gave me cream for the itching, moved me into a room by myself and eventually the bites even spread onto my face until I looked completely ridiculous.

Twice in one year.

What are the chances?

7. Getting Refused Entry to the Roman Forum Because of My Backpack

During my backpacking trip, my family came to spend three days in Rome and I decided to meet them there.

On their final day, I had all my luggage with me because I was taking a train back to Florence while they were flying home. That meant I was carrying both my smaller backpack and my giant 60-liter backpack.

We bought tickets for the Roman Forum and joined the line.

Then security stopped me.

I immediately started explaining that I had a ticket and showed it to them, completely missing the actual problem.

They told me my backpack was too big and I could not enter for security reasons.

“But it’s clothes! It’s ALL clothes!”

Apparently my extremely dangerous backpack full of dirty travel clothes was still not allowed inside.

I had to return my ticket and sit outside for an hour while my family visited the Forum.

8. The Zagreb to Budapest Trip From Hell

I had bought what was supposed to be a direct train from Zagreb to Budapest.

Instead, I spent the entire day switching between two buses and three trains and wondering whether I was ever actually going to reach Hungary.

The confusion started before we even left Zagreb because nobody seemed able to tell us which train was going to Budapest. Some people said we needed a bus. Others said we needed to sit in a specific part of the train because it would split later.

Luckily I made some friends while everyone was collectively trying to figure out what was happening, which made the disaster slightly more entertaining.

At one point I was asleep on the train when a man suddenly appeared yelling:

“Budapest! Get out! Get out of the train! Go to the bus!”

Nothing like waking up peacefully while somebody screams at you to get off a train.

Somewhere in that chaos, I also broke my glasses.

We got onto a bus, traveled for about ten minutes and were immediately told to get off again and change to another train.

The train was apparently in the middle of nowhere, which meant everyone ended up walking along the railway tracks carrying all their luggage.

At this point I remember thinking that we looked like we were illegally sneaking into Hungary and wondering whether there was any chance we were all being kidnapped.

Then a ticket inspector came through and joked that we were going to have to change transport again.

Everyone’s faces dropped.

“Just kidding.”

Very funny, sir.

Except about an hour later he came back and told us that actually, yes, we did have to change again.

Another bus.

Then another train.

Backpacks on. Backpacks off. Bus. Five minutes. Everybody off again. Walk through what looked like an abandoned station. Get onto transport number five.

By that point I was sitting there thinking that if one more person came and told me to change vehicles, I was going to lose my mind.

Eventually, somehow, we reached Budapest.

Except not at the station we were originally supposed to arrive at.

Everyone had directions to their accommodation from the other station, so the day ended with another couple of hours trying to work out where the hell we were and how to get to our hostels.

I bought a direct train ticket.

I got two buses, three trains and one of the longest travel days of that entire trip.

9. Offering to Travel in the Luggage Compartment Because the Bus Was Full

My attempt to get from Český Krumlov to Prague started going wrong because I could not find my camera charger and missed the first bus.

Then I reached the bus station carrying all my luggage and discovered I could not pay for the ticket by card.

Cash only.

The nearest ATM was back in the city center.

So off I went again with both backpacks, withdrew money, walked all the way back and managed to miss another bus in the process.

When I returned, completely red-faced and exhausted, the woman at the ticket office barely spoke English and told me I needed to buy the ticket directly from the driver.

I ran toward the bus as it was getting ready to leave.

The driver asked whether I had a reservation.

“No.”

“Then you can’t go. Bus is full.”

WHAT?

I started following this poor man around the station explaining that I had already missed two buses, I needed to get to Prague and if I waited any longer I was going to arrive at night and get lost trying to find my hostel.

He asked how many people.

“Just me!”

Then, in complete desperation, I actually said:

“I can even go in the luggage compartment. I don’t care. I really need to get on this bus.”

Apparently my willingness to spend the journey underneath everybody’s suitcases finally convinced him to check properly because he looked at the system and somehow found exactly one seat left.

I bought it, got on that bus and spent the journey smiling like an idiot because at that moment having a normal seat on a bus felt like winning the lottery.

10. Spending an Entire Day Without Eating Because I Had the Wrong Currency

At one point I was trying to get from Vienna to Poland without paying more than €80 for the direct transport options I had been quoted.

So instead of paying that, I created my own cheaper route.

Bus from Vienna to Bratislava, then another bus all the way to Warsaw.

Total cost: around €37.

This was a great budget decision right up until food became involved.

The bus stopped every couple of hours so everyone could get out, use the bathroom and buy something to eat.

I went inside during the first stop and discovered they only accepted Polish złoty.

I had exactly zero Polish złoty.

So I went back to the bus.

Then we stopped again.

Everyone bought food.

I still had no Polish money.

Back onto the bus.

This continued for the entire journey while I watched everyone else eat and my stomach slowly lost the will to live.

I did not eat anything from the time I woke up that morning until I finally reached Warsaw at around 9pm.

That was the day I properly learned how annoying currencies could be.

11. Nearly Missing My Night Bus to Berlin

Berlin was the final destination of my trip, and if this bus had actually left on time, I would have been completely screwed.

I had started the day with a five-hour bus from Gdańsk back to Warsaw. Then I went to my friends’ place, packed everything, had one last dinner with them and eventually left to catch my night bus to Berlin.

Slight problem: I left too late.

I had been told where the bus stop was, but once I reached the underground tunnels in Warsaw I got completely lost.

I walked backwards and forwards and could not find the exit I needed.

I asked a police officer.

He had no idea.

Then I looked at the time and realized my bus was supposed to be leaving right then.

I started crying.

At this point, missing the bus meant losing my hostel booking in Berlin, finding money for another ticket the next day and potentially causing problems with the flight I had to catch from Berlin to Portugal two days later.

Two girls noticed me completely freaking out and came over to help.

They started explaining the directions, took one look at my face and apparently realized there was absolutely no chance I was going to make it there alone.

So they came with me.

We ran through those damn tunnels together trying to find the bus stop.

Then even they struggled to find it.

I was convinced it was over.

Eventually we reached the right place, around twenty minutes after my scheduled departure time, and I noticed there were still loads of people standing there.

I asked someone whether the bus had left.

“The bus is late.”

I don’t remember whether I actually did a happy dance, but emotionally there was definitely a happy dance.

12. Forgetting to Print My Bus Ticket and Refusing to Get Off the Bus

Trying to travel cheaply from Vienna to Warsaw led me to a company called PolskiBus.

I booked the ticket last minute, had never used the company before and clearly had no idea how their ticketing system worked.

The next morning, after taking a bus from Vienna to Bratislava, I found the PolskiBus and was immediately asked for my reservation number.

I had written down loads of information from the booking.

Naturally, none of it was the reservation number they wanted.

I explained the situation to one of the staff members, showed him my passport and all the information I had. He put my backpack underneath the bus and told me to get on.

Problem solved.

Except then I met the driver.

He asked for the reservation number again.

I tried to explain.

He did not care.

“Reservation number! No number, no bus!”

I did not move.

He started trying to send me off the bus and I started arguing back.

“I bought the ticket! I paid €30, so I’m going on this bus. I’m not leaving.”

It was the only bus to Warsaw that day and I was absolutely not getting off because I had failed to write down some number even though I had paid for the damn ticket.

The drivers started talking to each other, somebody made a phone call, they eventually confirmed that yes, Rita had in fact paid for her seat, and the angry driver finally let me stay.

I sat down feeling like I had just won another completely unnecessary travel battle.

I paid, so I was going on that bus.

13. Running in Front of a €0.50 Bus

One night in Warsaw, my friends and I discovered PolskiBus was having a sale.

The return bus from Kraków to Warsaw cost us €0.50.

Fifty cents.

The next morning we went to Kraków, a city I had wanted to visit for ages. On the day we were returning, one of my friends and I went to Auschwitz while the other went to the salt mines.

As departure time approached, we made our way to the bus station.

There was no sign of our friend.

We called her and she told us she was in a taxi trying to get there as quickly as possible.

We kept talking to the bus driver, explaining that our friend was coming and she had the tickets.

Departure time arrived.

Still no friend.

The driver apologized, closed the door in our faces and started driving away.

I could not believe we had just missed a €0.50 five-hour bus and were now probably going to have to pay around €15 for a train instead.

Then, out of nowhere, our friend appeared running across the station.

So obviously we started running after the moving bus.

We ended up getting ourselves in front of it, waving our arms and yelling at the driver to stop while potentially creating an entirely new travel disaster by almost getting run over by the bus we were trying not to miss.

He stopped.

Two minutes later we were sitting inside.

And yes, we really did travel for five hours across Poland for fifty cents.

14. Leaving My Travel Journal on a Bus

This one was not funny then and still hurts a little now.

During a five-hour bus journey from Warsaw to Gdańsk, I took out my travel journal because I wanted to catch up on my writing.

At some point I started feeling nauseous, stopped writing and fell asleep.

When I woke up, we had arrived.

I got off the bus in a rush, grabbed my things and left.

Later, after reaching my hostel, I went to get the journal so I could keep writing.

It was gone.

Then I remembered.

I had left it on the seat of the bus.

There was nothing I could do.

This happened less than a week before I returned home, which meant that journal contained around three months of travel memories. Things I had written while they were happening, little details, thoughts and moments I would never remember in exactly the same way again.

When I got home, I tried to rewrite everything I could remember.

But it was not the same.

I had spent months documenting that trip and suddenly it was all gone because I had walked off a bus without looking at the seat behind me.

Out of everything on this list, losing that journal was probably one of the things that upset me the most.

15. Getting My ID and Credit Card Stolen in a Party Hostel

Our final stop in the Baltics was Tallinn, Estonia.

I had joined my friends’ trip rather than planning the accommodation myself, so half the time I did not even know where we were staying until we arrived.

For Tallinn, one of the girls had booked us into a party hostel because she thought it would be fun for our last stop.

The hostel had good reviews.

Then we arrived.

It was on a street full of bars, directly beside a sex shop, and the reception was basically inside the bar.

There was already a drunk, lost girl wandering around the corridors.

Great start.

The rooms were nowhere near as nice as the photos, things did not look particularly clean and yes, by this point in my life I had already been traumatized enough that we immediately checked the beds for bedbugs.

During the night, I woke up and there was a drunk naked guy standing there staring at me.

I decided to pretend this was a nightmare and hid under the sheets.

On our final night, I had to change rooms and ended up separated from the girls.

At some point I went into my smaller bag to get my wallet and realized my credit card was missing.

Then I noticed my ID card was gone too.

I emptied everything.

My pockets. My backpacks. My bags.

Gone.

Both had been stolen.

Luckily, there was no money left on that credit card because I was basically at the end of the trip anyway, and I had brought both my passport and my national ID card with me.

If I had only brought the ID, the situation could have been much worse because I would have had no identification to fly home and very little money left to deal with embassy appointments, replacement documents or a new flight.

Not exactly the ending I had imagined for the trip.

Looking Back at My First Year of Solo Travel

Reading all of this more than ten years later is hilarious because at the time every single situation felt enormous.

I cried over missed buses. I cried outside hostels. I cried when my bank card stopped working. I offered to travel inside a luggage compartment because apparently getting to Prague was worth potentially becoming somebody’s suitcase.

And somehow none of it made me stop traveling.

If anything, 2015 was the year I realized that even when everything went wrong, I still wanted to keep going. I learned how to solve problems alone, how to keep moving when plans fell apart and how quickly something that feels like the end of the world turns into a story you laugh about years later.

Well, most of them.

I am still not laughing about the bedbugs.

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