Funny Travel Vietnam

  • Payment Method
  • Terms & Conditions

Icon Flag

  • VIETNAM PACKAGE TOUR
  • Cycling Tours
  • Honeymoon Tours
  • Motorbike Tours
  • ha long Bay Tour
  • Beach Break
  • Tours and Sightseeing
  • Luxury Cruises
  • Deluxe Cruises
  • Hanoi Tours
  • Vegetarian Tours
  • Customizer Tour

Icon Flag

Funny Travel has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia since 2010, catering to the traveler who is seeking an authentic journey through the region. We share our experience and passion for the region by designing, creating and operating life-changing vacation experiences. Each of our experiences is carefully handcrafted by our passionate teams, to give travelers the opportunity to escape the tourist traps and explore the essence of history, culture, natural beauty and most importantly the local people. Funny Travel offers tailor-made vacations, Small Group Journeys and River cruises and operates in Vietnam and Cambodia, Our travelers are at the heart of everything we do. They come from all walks of life, but also have plenty invite to travel and want more than just a package vacation. They want to experience the real Vietnam and Cambodia .

Come to enjoy hthe Fun with Funny Travel and have a best holiday ever

We are fully licensed by the Hanoi Authority for Planning and Investment and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism:

Tour Operator License No : 0106181349

National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam  No : 250950​

Our Service

Customized Private Tours :  Giving to you the best recommendations and making the best plan for your holiday in Style/budget .Just let us know how is your way of travelling to create a bespoke client’s ultimate travel wish-list.

Small Group Tours :  To make sure the comfortable and high standard service Funny Travel offers Group from 16-25 peoples with experiences Local Tour guides with Speaking English/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Chinise/Thai/Korean/Japanese…

Acommodations : This is the way to get the best prices and the best hotels in each places with pleasant stay

Transport :  Our tourist comfotable Car/Van/Buses with experiences and enthusiastic drivers always being in time to see you in meeting point .Beside that ,we do offer flight/train/buses with best price guarantee

Offices :  Our Head Office in the heart of Famous Hanoi Old Quarter – 1 Minute by walking from Hoan Kiem Lake which could help you easy to come to see us at 35 Gia Ngu str– Hoan Kiem Lake – Hanoi city – Vietnam . Do not worry about when you are in different cities in case you like to meet then our local staffs will come to see you in your requested place.

CEO : Mr Joe and Ms Vicky – After long time experience in tourism and hospitality we decided to bring our special care to tourist with Funny Travel – Come to enjoy the Fun .

Our team – We offer local guides, staffs in each destinations to ensure that you are on the right hand of best people who live there everyday , that is the way to have real taste and also to save more your money .

They are persons who are hand picked for their professionalism, personality and intimate knowledge of the region to give you an in-depth view into the life and history of Vietnam. Their entertaining and informative explanations of the culture will make your travel experience both enjoyable and enlightening.

With the warmest heart from our staffs who have a careful training course in tourism, we are proud to make sure 100% Happy and Pleasant Holiday to you

W hy “Funny Travel “ ?

We’ve received many questions about this and if you are curious please come to see us .Another reason that We love Fun and like to bring it to you to be a happiness tourists 

Information

  • Why book with us

Company Name

Funny Travel Vietnam Tour Company

  • Address: Head Office Only At: 35 Gia Ngu Street, Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi city, Viet Nam
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Hotline: +84919481386
  • VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL TRADING SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED
  • Address: 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, HCMC, VietNam
  • Hotline : +84 345 770 868  - Tax No : 0317 641 309
  • Email: [email protected]   - Website: www.funnytravel.vn

The most incredible experience in travel is going to places that the locals do, learning about the history, experiencing life, and having the best memory of every site you visit. As an experienced travel partner, Vietnam Funny Travel is growing up by day to become the traveler’s first best choice once they travel to Vietnam. The foundation of Vietnam Funny Travel success is within the knowledge of each destination, spirit, and zest of every single employee to deliver exceeding expectations and service standards. We are passionate about providing the best travel services and are solely responsible for our travelers’ experience.

Logo belong to Vietnam Funny Travel !

  • VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL  has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Vietnam since 2023, catering to the traveler who is seeking an authentic journey through the region. We share our experience and passion for the region by designing, creating and operating life-changing vacation experiences. Each of our experiences is carefully handcrafted by our passionate teams, to give travelers the opportunity to escape the tourist traps and explore the essence of history, culture, natural beauty and most importantly the local people. Funny Travel offers tailor-made vacations, Small Group Journeys and River cruises and operates in Vietnam, Our travelers are at the heart of everything we do. They come from all walks of life, but also have plenty invite to travel and want more than just a package vacation. They want to experience the real Vietnam.
  • Come to enjoy the Fun with Vietnam Funny Travel and have a best holiday ever !

Our Service

  • Customized Private Tours : - Giving to you the best recommendations and making the best plan for your holiday in Style/budget. Just let us know how is your way of travelling to create a bespoke client’s ultimate travel wish-list.

Small Group Tours

  • To make sure the comfortable and high standard service Funny Travel offers group from 16-25 peoples with experiences English, Vietnamese, French, Spanish, Chinese.., Speaking Tourguides.

Accommodations  

  • This is the way to get the best prices and the best hotels in each places with pleasant stay.

Transportation

  • Our tourist comfortable Car/Van/Buses with experiences and enthusiastic drivers always being in time to see you in meeting point .Beside that ,we do offer flight/train/buses with best price guarantee.

Offices  

  • Our Head Office in the heart of Famous Ho Chi Minh City – 1 Minute by walking from Ben Thanh Market which could help you easy to come to see us at 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan street, Ben Thanh ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Do not worry about when you are in different cities in case you like to meet then our local staffs will come to see you in your requested place.
  • CEO : Mr  Mickey Tour-guide   – After long time experience in tourism and hospitality we decided to bring our special care to tourist with Vietnam Funny Travel - Come to enjoy the Fun with us !
  • We offer local guides, staffs in each destinations to ensure that you are on the right hand of best people who live there everyday , that is the way to have real taste and also to save more your money .
  • They are persons who are hand picked for their professionalism, personality and intimate knowledge of the region to give you an in-depth view into the life and history of Vietnam. Their entertaining and informative explanations of the culture will make your travel experience both enjoyable and enlightening.
  • With the warmest heart from our staffs who have a careful training course in tourism, we are proud to make sure 100% Happy and Pleasant Holiday to you !
  • Why “Vietnam Funny Travel “ ?
  • We’ve received many questions about this and if you are curious please come to see us. Another reason that We love VIETNAM with Fun, Joy.., and like to bring it to you to be a happiness tourists.

VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL

More Than A Trip !

Logo belong to VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL

24/26 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Hochiminh City, Vietnam

Phone: +84345 770 868

Email: [email protected]

© 2024 Vietnam Funny Travel. All rights reserved.

VietnamFunnyTravel

funny travel vietnam

  • See all photos

funny travel vietnam

Small Group-Less Crowed-Tunnels Half Day

funny travel vietnam

Charming Ben Tre Mekong Delta Tours

funny travel vietnam

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Steel P

VIETNAMFUNNYTRAVEL: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Công ty du lịch Funny Travel

funny travel vietnam

  • Xem tất cả ảnh

funny travel vietnam

Công ty du lịch Funny Travel (Hà Nội, Việt Nam) - Đánh giá - Tripadvisor

Life Of Doing

24 Fun Things To Do In Vietnam for a Great Trip

Ride bicycles in Tam Coc, Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the best countries in Southeast Asia to experience a variety of adventures! We’ve been living in Vietnam for over 3 years and always look for new places to visit.

Since we haven’t explored everywhere in this country, we asked our favorite travel bloggers to share their top recommendations on 24 adventurous and fun things to do in Vietnam . Whether it is eating water snails to cycling through the rice terrace or canyoning off a cliff, there is an activity for everyone to experience.

We hope you’re inspired to do these activities for a great trip and add them when visiting Vietnam!

Click on the links below to learn more about the activities in the specific city.  

  • General Vietnam
  • North Vietnam – Ha Giang , Hanoi , Sapa , Halong Bay , and  Tam Coc
  • Central Vietnam – Cam Kim Island , Danang , , Hoi An , and  Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park 
  • South Vietnam – Dalat ,  Ho Chi Minh City , Mekong Delta , Nha Trang , and  Phu Quoc Island

Related: Tips To Spend 6 Days in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

General fun things to do in vietnam, 1. travel across vietnam on a motorbike.

Recommended by Campbell from Stingy Nomads

Riding a motorbike across Vietnam is the craziest, fun way of experiencing this amazing country. Vietnam is a long, narrow country so when driving north to south you won’t miss any of the best sites. This famous motorcycle ‘pilgrimage’ is on the Ho Chi Minh City way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City in either direction.

Millions of motorbikes on the road make finding a cheap motorcycle on the second-hand market easy and not a problem to sell again after your trip. The average price for a Chinese copy of a Honda motorcycle is between $200 and $300. The journey takes anything from 2 to 6 weeks, depending on how much time is spent driving.

What an incredible adventure, driving the whole day surrounded by thousands of motorbikes is exciting; stopping on the way for some great scuba diving, hiking, and beautiful sites throughout Vietnam. It’s not the safest road trip to go on, crossing mountain passes, driving in a swarm of motorbikes, sometimes in rainstorms for hours.

Interesting people and scenes like motorbikes loaded with cages of chickens or even pigs, spectacular scenery, and beautiful culture create the ultimate South East Asia adventure.

Travel through Vietnam on a motorbike

Consider riding from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (or vice versa) on a motorbike. Photo credit: Stingy Nomads

Related: Different transportation ways to travel around Vietnam

2. try water snails as a snack.

Recommended by Winnie from Million Dollar Winnie

Snails might not be common on most menus, but in Vietnam, they’re considered a great social snack you have along with a pint. Vietnamese people only eat water snails that live in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers, so they won’t look anything like the French variety.

Water snails are found at specialized vendors that open in the evening until late at night. You choose your snail variety, the cooking method, and the flavor you want. Then the chef cooks them fresh on the spot! You’ll receive a toothpick depending on which snail you choose, but my personal advice is to simply suck the chewy flesh out from the shell.

Don’t worry about getting your hands dirty while eating. This whole experience is about having fun and socializing with your friends, plus the tasty snails are a great bonus!

3. Eat a Bánh Mì

Recommended by James from This Travel Guide

Baguettes might not be something that you’d expect to find in South East Asia, but the bánh mì is actually one of Vietnam’s most famous traditional dishes. It combines colonial French culinary influences with traditional Vietnamese flavors to create one of the most unusual and delicious sandwiches that you’ll try on your travels.

The most obvious French influence is the baguette, but you’ll also find it includes other French ingredients like Laughing Cow cheese, pâté, and mayonnaise. Other ingredients inspired by Vietnamese influences include chả lụa (a type of pork sausage), coriander, cucumber, carrots, and daikon.

You’ll find bánh mì stalls throughout Vietnam. One of the best which rose to fame when it was recommended by the late Anthony Bourdain, is Bánh Mì Phượng in Hoi An. If you’re in the area, consider getting clothes made .

Bánh mì, Vietnamese sandwich

Bánh mì are delicious and easily available throughout Vietnam. Photo credit: This Travel Guide

Related: Take Cooking Classes in Vietnam

Fun things to do in north vietnam, 4. ride through ha giang on a motorbike.

Recommended by Bilyana from Owl Over The World

The Ha Giang Extreme Motorbike Loop was the absolute highlight of my trip to Vietnam. This is one of the best things to do in Vietnam, especially for those who seek a little bit more adventure off the beaten path .

Ha Giang is Vietnam’s northernmost province lining the Chinese border. The loop itself is pretty popular among Vietnamese people and its popularity among travelers is rising as well. The scenery on the way is incredible, which is why Ha Giang is often called the most beautiful place in the north of Vietnam. Ha Giang Motorbike Loop was one of my best travel experiences in general. I recommend everyone visiting Vietnam to do the loop; it’s so much fun!

Ha Giang, Vietnam

Explore Ha Giang on a motorbike. Photo credit: Owl Over The World

5. Experience Street Food in Hanoi

Recommended by Gemma and Craig from Two Scots Abroad

Our first meal in Hanoi was one to remember – Craig sent the food back because we hadn’t ordered yet. Little did he know that each street restaurant only sells one type of meal (a slight variation may be offered on the menu) so you take what you’re given. This means if you fancy chicken, you need to know where the chicken corner is! We only worked this out when our expat friend explained the rules of dining out on street food.

Meals are made fast and in the open, so you can see where your fresh meal is coming from. Another unusual part of the dining experience is sitting on the tiny plastic chairs in the streets! All around cool experience to try in Vietnam.

Street food in Hanoi, Vietnam

Sit on the plastic stools and enjoy street food in Hanoi. Photo credit: Two Scots Abroad

6. Watch Street Performers in Hanoi

Recommended by Josh and Sarah from Veggie Vagabonds

Some capital cities are the kind you leave almost as soon as your plane wheels hit the ground. Hanoi is definitely not one of those capital cities. Hanoi is jam-packed full of culture and excitement you’re never short of incredible things to do.

After spending a year living in the captivating city, one of our favorite things to do was watch the free performances in and around some of the parks and lakes. These areas are rich with local culture and customs and taking a stroll along the likes of Hoan Kiem lake or the Lenin Memorial is sure to give you some impressive viewing.

From huge street dance performances, local groups of student bands, and street magicians we saw a crazy variety of acts and displays. The weekend is the best time to go, particularly around Hoan Kiem lake, and you can casually stroll around until you see something that takes your fancy. What is great is that it’s completely free and a great way to meet other locals or travelers who are also watching!

Street performers in Hanoi, Vietnam

Check out the street performers in Hanoi. Photo credit: Veggie Vagabonds

7. Explore the Morning Markets in Hanoi

Recommended by Emily from Wander-Lush

If you’re looking for a local, authentic experience in Vietnam, one of the coolest things you can do is wake up before dawn for Hanoi’s morning markets .

Quang Ba Flower Market ( Chợ Hoa Quảng Bá ) is Hanoi’s biggest wholesale fresh-cut flower market. From 2am, dozens of stalls sell lotuses, sunflowers, roses, and other blooms, trucked in from rural Vietnam. (When you see the ladies on bicycles stacked with flowers around the Old Quarter, this is where they buy their stock.)

The nearby Long Bien Market ( Chợ Long Biên ) is Northern Vietnam’s biggest hub for fresh produce. Thousands of restaurateurs, street food vendors, and retailers converge on Long Bien before sunrise to buy their fruit and vegetables.

Both markets are grungy, gritty, and run at a frantic pace. It’s a wonderful window into everyday life in Hanoi. If you’re into street photography, you’ll be in heaven. Quang Ba and Long Bien are located north of the Old Quarter and are reached by taxi or Grab rideshare app.

Quang Ba Flower Market in Hanoi, Vietnam

Flowers are beautiful at the Quang Ba Flower Market in Hanoi. Photo credit: Wander-Lush

8. Relax at Happy Hour with Bia Hoi in Hanoi

Recommended by Natalie from Love and Road

If you find yourself in Hanoi and don’t go back to your hotel before 6pm, then you’ll miss the famous happy hour with Bia Hoi, which is one of the best things to do in  Hanoi .

At the end of the day, the streets start to change, little tables and stools take over the sidewalks, and in minutes you have an open-air bar selling the best beers in the city. Bia Hoi is a fresh brewed local beer produced in Vietnam but seems that the happy hour with Bia Hoi is taken more seriously in Hanoi.

From 6pm, an ocean of people marches to the small streets of the old town to relax and enjoy a good beer. Our favorite bars are on the corner of Ta Hien Street with Luong Ngoc Quyen Street which is super busy but awesome.

If you don’t need to drive back to your hotel, spend the night there trying all the beers and local snacks. Vendors will come to serve you with traditional marinated chicken feet, sticky rice pancakes, and peanuts, which go well with a delicious Bia Hoi.

Happy Hour with Bia Hanoi in Hanoi, Vietnam

Take some time for Happy Hour with Bia Hanoi. Photo credit: Love and Road

9. Watch Trains Pass by on Hanoi Train Street

Recommended by Thomas from TripGourmets

Hanoi Train Street is one of the most unique attractions in Hanoi. It’s a narrow street within the Old Town of Vietnam’s capital. What differentiates it from any other normal street are the rails that run down the middle of this path. And a few times during the day, the rails are used by trains that go from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

It’s a fantastic experience to visit Hanoi Train Street when a train is going by. You have to press yourself close to the buildings so you’re not run over by the train. Don’t worry. There are a lot of spaces where it’s not so dangerous to stand because of the larger distance between tracks and buildings. Once the train passes by, life goes back to normal as if nothing happened.

Hanoi Train Street, Vietnam

Add Hanoi Train Street on your list of fun things to see in Vietnam! Photo credit: TripGourmets

10. Spend a Few Days at a Homestay in Sapa

Recommended by Andra from Our World to Wander

One of the best experiences you can try in Vietnam is doing a homestay in the Sapa district in the northern part of the city. It’s easy to get to Sapa from Hanoi . Sapa is a famous trekking base from where you can start various trails, such as Fansipan Mountain , combining lush mountains with rice terraces.

The minorities in Sapa are very friendly, so you should try and get to know their culture better by doing a homestay. You’ll be welcomed by a local family, perhaps help them prepare dinner, share stories, exchange cultural differences, and discover their way of living. After dinner, you’ll most likely be asked to share a glass of rice wine, which will relax everybody and that is when all the fun stories will start flowing.

It’s the best way to get to know the locals, understand them, and go beyond the texts in the guidebooks.  

House in Sapa, Vietnam

Sapa is a lovely place for a homestay. Photo credit: Our World to Wander

Related: Ultimate Sapa Trekking Guide

11. relax on a junk boat on halong bay.

Recommended by Maire from Temples and Treehouses

Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site , is one of Vietnam’s most beautiful natural sights and a must-see on every Vietnam itinerary. It’s a huge ocean bay, a few hours drive from Hanoi, with bright turquoise water and thousands of karst rock formations towering out of the sea.

You can sail on a junk boat between the peaks, kayak into ocean lagoons, and visit Cat Ba island (one of the best islands in Vietnam ) – which has an incredible national park for hiking and bicycling. In this region, you’ll also pass by sea gypsy villages. The locals here live on the water, and if you kayak past their clusters of floating homes you’ll see shops and even pubs bobbing on the water.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay is a stunning place to visit. Photo credit: Temples and Treehouses

12. Travel through Tam Coc on a Bicycle

Recommended by Ryan and Jen from Passions and Places

Towering limestone cliffs dot the landscape around Ninh Binh and Tam Coc , earning this region of northern Vietnam the nickname, “Halong Bay on Land.” While many visitors see its beauty from the row boats that ply the area’s rivers, there is nothing quite like having your own set of wheels for independent exploration.

Plus, there is no better way to escape the chaos in Vietnam than by renting a bicycle and peddling solo down uncongested dirt paths and through lush rice fields. Imposing mountain pagodas, venerable Chinese cemeteries, and manicured nature preserves are all within easy cycling distance of Tam Coc too. There is not much touristic experience here, just the chance to see farmers and fishermen going about their daily life.

Tam Coc is outside the city of Ninh Binh, only a two-hour train ride from Hanoi or a comfortable overnight journey from Da Nang, and you can rent bikes at many places around town.

Ride bicycles in Tam Coc, Vietnam

Riding a bicycle is a great way to see Tam Coc area. Photo credit: Passions and Places

Fun Things To Do in Central Vietnam

13. visit cam kim island on a bicycle.

Recommended by Claudia from My Adventures Across The World

Vietnam can get crowded at times, and it’s hard to escape the crowd of tourists. One of the most fun things to do in Vietnam , near Hoi An, is renting bikes to visit Cam Kim . This is a small island where the local community lives – minutes from the city (one of the main tourist destinations in Vietnam) yet a thousand miles away in terms of atmosphere, for it is incredibly quiet, peaceful, and beautiful.

Cam Kim is connected to the city via a bridge and it’s lovely and rural. Picture rice fields with people working there, children at the door waving at passersby, locals smiling, and buffaloes everywhere.

It’s easy and safe to bike in the area, as contrary to the rest of the area there isn’t much traffic there. Make sure to go early in the morning, or even better in the late afternoon, to experience sunset on the rice fields and to escape the heat of the day.

Cam Kim Island in Vietnam

Cam Kim Island is lovely to explore on a bicycle. Photo credit: My Adventures Across The World

14. Wander through Marble Mountains in Danang

Recommended by Jon from Jon Is Travelling

The Marble Mountains , located a short distance from both Hoi An and Danang, makes for a great day trip from either city. The small five limestone hills (mountains is a bit of an exaggeration) contain numerous caves , shrines, temples, statues, and viewpoints, and are named after the five elements. You can only really visit one of them but there are heaps to see and you can spend a few hours there. There is a bit of uphill hiking involved but it isn’t too difficult.

The Marble Mountains are easy to reach – catch a local bus from Danang or Hoi An, ride there on a scooter, or visit as part of a tour.

Marble Mountains in Danang, Vietnam

Lovely views of Marble Mountains in Danang. Photo credit: Jon Is Travelling

Related: 3 Days Itinerary in Danang

15.  engage the family with a farming and fishing tour in hoi an.

Recommended by Cerise from Enchanted Vagabond

One of the best things to do with kids when visiting Vietnam is to book a farming and fishing tour in Hoi An . This charming town in central Vietnam is very family-friendly with walkable streets and easy access to local culture and farmlands.

Our favorite activity in Hoi An was the day we booked a rice-planting, farming, and fishing tour with Jack Tran Eco-Tours. The kids loved the hands-on experience of using common farming tools and learning about sustainable and organic farming techniques. I liked the fishing part of the trip where we tried cast-net fishing just as a huge rainbow appeared. All of us loved riding in a traditional Vietnamese basket fishing boat with guides that had us laughing the entire time.

This tour is part education and part entertainment and is a perfect excursion for families with kids of all ages. Hoi An offers so much for families to explore the countryside of Vietnam and learn from local people how sustainable farming practices have developed in Vietnam.

Farming and fishing tour in Hoi An

Experience a farming and fishing tour in Hoi An. It’s great for the family. Photo credit: Enchanted Vagabond

16. Explore the Caves in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

Recommended by Josh from The Lost Passport

The caves in Vietnam’s Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park are not only some of the best but the largest in the world. The most accessible cave here is Paradise Cave, only discovered in 2005! The cave is 31km (19.3 miles) long, but most people only explore the first 4km (2.5 miles) as it has a low entry fee of 250,000 VND ($11 USD). You can also opt to explore up to 7km (4.3 miles) into the cave at a higher fee.

The true adventurer can go further and explore the world’s largest cave Hang Son Doong. This cave is over 200 meters (656 feet) tall and 5km (3.2 miles) long. To get there you need to hike a full day from Phong Nha then spend a night camping at the entrance of the cave. 

Editor’s Tip: Another opportunity is to visit Hang En Cave, which is the third-largest cave in the world.  Learn more about what to expect with a  Hang En Cave trip here. 

I made a 3 night stop at Phong Nha Ke Bang as part of my Vietnam Motorbike Route , which took me across the entire country for 3 months from Phu Quoc to Ha Giang.

Paradise Cave in Phong Nha Ke National Park, Vietnam

A must do in Phong Nha Ke National Park is visit Paradise Cave. Photo credit: The Lost Passport

17. Embrace “Farm To Table” for Dinner in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

Recommended by Eoin from DollysQuest

Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park is slowly growing as a major tourist destination in Vietnam. This is due to it being home to some of the largest caves in the world . The activity which I found the most unique in the area was the opportunity to kill your own chicken in a local restaurant. It isn’t for the faint-hearted and not something I would openly recommend, but to be able to kill and prepare your own meal is something quite unique.

The owners of the aptly named, “Pub with Cold Beer,” allow you to choose the chicken and then give you the option of killing the chicken yourself or they’ll do it for you. Following this is accompanied by peanut sauce, fried rice, and a large selection of salads. Everything is grown and prepared on the grounds of the bar/farm.

The pub is located on Bong Lai Valley and is reachable by walking (although, a very long walk), cycling, or by moped from the local town. The road can be quite bumpy. If you get lost, ask a local as he/she will know the location.

"The Pub with Cold Beer" in Phong Nha Ke National Park, Vietnam

Check out “The Pub with Cold Beer” as a dining option in Phong Nha Ke National Park. Photo credit: DollysQuest

Fun Things to Do in South Vietnam

18. navigate through the “crazy house” in dalat.

Recommended by Suzy from Suzy Stories

My favorite place to explore in the quirky city of Dalat is the Hang Nga Guest House and Art Gallery, otherwise known as the “Crazy House.” The unusual building is a short bike ride away from the center of town.

Non-guests are free to roam the labyrinth and tunnels winding their way to rooftop terraces, misdirected rooms, ladders, and so much more in this complex hotel. Feeling like a big kid exploring a secret world, you can even peek inside the various and unique guest rooms, each with its own bizarre themes such as giant kangaroos and bears!

As well as being fun to get lost and discover hidden rooms and passageways, when you eventually find the rooftop the views over Dalat are beautiful. You must see it for yourself to appreciate its eccentricity!

Crazy House in Da Lat, Vietnam

Get lost in the “Crazy House” in Da Lat. Photo credit: Suzy Stories

Related: 3 Days Dalat Itinerary

19. spend the day canyoning in dalat.

Recommended by Lauren from Wanderluluu

Do you like hiking? How about cliff jumping, climbing, or rappelling? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then I found the adventure activity for you: canyoning (the sport of exploring a canyon by way of rappelling, and waterfall jumping)!

In the mountains of Dalat , you can join Dalat Canyoning Tours for a day full of adventure which includes rappelling down two waterfalls and cliff jumping with a 14-meter (46 feet) drop! If this sounds a little unnerving to you, don’t worry as the English-speaking guides do a great job teaching participants how to rappel safely down the waterfall by explaining and practicing on dry land first. But don’t get too comfortable because the guides will do their best to push you out of your comfort zone and get extreme during the tour!

The canyoning tour runs for about 6 hours and includes all safety equipment, water, a Vietnamese lunch of bánh mì and fruit, and round trip transportation from your hotel.

Canyoning in Dalat, Vietnam

Canyoning experience in Dalat. Photo credit: Wanderluluu

20. Dine on Local Foods on a “Foodie” Motorbike Tour in Ho Chi Minh City

Recommended by Sarah and Nathan from Exploring Kiwis

Ho Chi Minh City is awash with energy; its motorbikes and foodie culture playing a significant role in the buzz that guests experience when visiting Vietnam’s most populous city. It makes sense that the best way to see it is on a foodie motorbike tour (and bonus points that it’s the first-ever all-women motorbike company)!

With one fabulous driver each, we raced through the varied neighborhoods of old Saigon sampling the incredible food that Vietnam is so well known for. We’ve been on many food tours in the past but we adored the personal touch of having our own driver and relished the chance to get to know each of them over the course of the evening. If you’re in Ho Chi Minh City, we’d consider an XO Tour to be an absolute must-do!

Foodie motorbike tour in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Experience local restaurants through a foodie motorbike tour in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo credit: Exploring Kiwis

Related:  Visit Artinus 3D Art Museum in Ho Chi Minh City

21. learn about the cu chi tunnels in ho chi minh city.

Recommended by Shobha from Years of Therapy Ahead

The Cu Chi tunnels are a fascinating and fun way to learn about an important part of Vietnam’s history. You can take a tour from the city center of Ho Chi Minh City.

These tunnels are a vast underground network where the Viet Cong used to hide and conduct guerrilla warfare on the American troops during the Vietnam War which occurred during the mid-20th century. The Cu Chi tunnels were not just transport links but also provided other necessities for the Viet Cong like hospitals, ammunition depots, and living quarters. The Americans knew the tunnels existed but could never root them out. They were a prime reason that the Americans eventually gave up and left Vietnam to the Viet Cong.

Be forewarned that the tunnels are narrow so may not be suitable for everyone to enter.

Cu Chi Tunnels in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Would you be able to survive in the Cu Chi Tunnels for months? Photo credit: Years Of Therapy Ahead

Related:  Check out the Views from Saigon Skydeck

22. tour the cai rang floating market on a boat in the mekong delta.

Recommended by Marcus from The Roaming Fork

The Mekong Delta is made up of hundreds of waterways crisscrossing their way across the southern Vietnamese countryside, and experiencing one of the floating markets that still exist here is an essential way of understanding the history and culture of this fertile region.

Floating markets were originally formed to cater to the trading needs of the local population. With no developed road network, the most efficient way for traders and customers to trade was to establish floating markets at major city centers.

The floating market at Cai Rang is an excellent example, with larger boats selling in-season fruits and vegetables direct from their farms to customers. On the day we visited there were pineapples, watermelons, and lots of dragonfruits for sale. There are also as many smaller boats selling coffee, breakfast dishes such as phở, bánh mì, cơm tấm, and hủ tiếu, and other snacks to everyone, including hungry tourists.

It’s an exciting experience to sit in a small boat that is being maneuvered among the throng of activity, and watching the skilled traders and customers transferring goods from boat-to-boat in the choppy waters. Although the floating market is open all day, the best way to make the most of the experience is to arrive early and avoid the hot Vietnamese sun.

Getting there: Bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho City. The market is 6km (3.7 miles) from the center of Can Tho. Tours can be organized through hotels and homestays.

Cai Rang Floating Market in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Explore Cai Rang Floating Market on a boat in the Mekong Delta. Photo credit: The Roaming Fork

Read More: Explore nature at Tan Lap Floating Village

23. enjoy family-friendly thrills at vinpearl island resort in nha trang.

Recommended by Sandra from The Smarter Writer

Vinpearl Island Resort (also referred to as VinWonders Nha Trang ) is an amusement park with all the usual rides, massive water slides, a kids pool, a wave pool, an aquarium, an indoor play center, and a 4D movie our son loved. To get to Vinpearl, you have to take the stunning 3km (1.9 miles) cable car ride across the sea to the island.

We also enjoyed hanging out at the beach at Vinpearl Island, which was calmer and cleaner, and most of the time we had the whole beach to ourselves.

We stayed in Nha Trang for almost three months, so it made better economic sense for us to buy an annual pass. We visited the island at least once or twice each week. Rather than paying by age, you pay by height. Our little guy was allowed in for free because he was under 100cm (39 inches).

The cable car ride alone is worth the trip to Vinpearl, let alone all those fabulous rides and slides – great fun for all ages!

Vinpearl Island Resort in Nha Trang, Vietnam

Family fun and smiles at the Vinpearl Island Resort in Nha Trang. Photo credit: The Smarter Writer

Related: Relax at Hon Tam Island in Nha Trang

24. spend quality beach time on phu quoc island.

Recommended by Melissa from Thrifty Family Travels

Located a short flight from Ho Chi Minh City, Phu Quoc is stunning . You can spend your days lying around for hours on stunning beaches, followed by a swim in the warm ocean, massages, and cocktails as well as watching spectacular sunsets and enjoy delicious dinners at restaurants on the beach.

The beaches have soft fine white sand and are fringed by coconut trees – yes, right out of a postcard. Some beaches have warm, crystal clear, and calm waters, while others have soft waves. Some beaches are so isolated that there is no one else there but you!

My favorite beaches by far are Long Beach and Ong Lang Beach. Both are very similar in that the ocean is calm here, resembling a warm swimming pool which is my kind of beach. The most famous beach on Phu Quoc Island is Bai Sao where the ocean has soft waves and various swings for your Instagram photos.

Other great activities include exploring local villages, visit the Dinh Cau night markets, take a boat trip to explore nearby islands, visit Dinh Cau Rock and Suoi Tranh Waterfall.

Long Beach in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Relax on Long Beach in Phu Quoc Island. Photo credit: Thrifty Family Travels

Related: 2 Days Phu Quoc Itinerary

Wow! What a collection of fun things to do in Vietnam. We hope you add these activities to your travel bucket list on your future visit to Vietnam.

Need other ideas on how to plan your Vietnam trip? Check out our other posts:

  • Why Visit Vietnam
  • South Vietnam Itinerary
  • Top Vietnam Travel Apps

Have you been to Vietnam? What were your favorite things to do in Vietnam? What activities would you want to do?

Pin and save the post for later!

funny travel vietnam

I'm Jackie - world explorer, hiker, and wanderer. I love planning things whether it is a trip or an upcoming event, exploring nature, hiking up mountains, and seeing new places. I'm notorious for getting lost, so you may see me circling a place a few times.

Top 8 Things To Do in Jeonju, South Korea

Complete guide to visit sekumpul waterfall in bali, you may also like, the ultimate guide to 24 non-spicy korean food..., how to travel from ipoh to penang georgetown..., 18 must try places to eat in penang’s..., a step by step guide on taking the..., exploring melaka, malaysia in one day – a..., hiking moongate station 5 in penang, malaysia, indonesia’s top 5 scuba diving spots to not..., 11 must have apps for traveling in malaysia, where to go in bali: the best 8..., 16 things to know before visiting ipoh, malaysia.

funny travel vietnam

I can’t believe I missed Train Street in Hanoi!! Try visiting HCMC during Tet – there were flowers everywhere, and that year they somehow constructed a rice field complete with bridge over a ‘stream’ right in the middle of an asphalt road!

Teja – We haven’t been to Hanoi in over 6 years and didn’t know about the train back then. We can’t wait to visit Hanoi again and experience the fun activities there!

funny travel vietnam

I have traveled to Vietnam many times and I still found new activities here. Thanks for a great post!

Thank you Cerise! We’re thrilled that you found this post informative. There are so many things to do in Vietnam!

funny travel vietnam

Thanks for including our contribution on Tam Coc! There’s so much we didn’t have time to do or see when we were in Vietnam, I can’t wait to go back and explore some of these other places. (I’ll pass on the snails though!)

funny travel vietnam

Visiting Vietnam is very high on our bucket list. We were thinking of hiring scooters and travelling across the country for 6 weeks. Pinned this post so we can use it for a few ideas 🙂

Lisa, you’ll have an amazing time in Vietnam. Motorbiking through Vietnam is the best way to visit the various areas. Be careful with the crazy drivers when you’re in Ho Chi Minh City.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

By submitting a comment, you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. Refer to the Privacy Policy and Disclaimer for more information. *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Please accept or opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Funny Travel

funny travel vietnam

  • See all photos

funny travel vietnam

Mix Bat Trang Ceramic Village And Real Hanoi Scooter Tour

funny travel vietnam

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Carlos E

Funny Travel - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Worldwide Walkers

10 Funny (and Unlucky) Short Stories from One Year of Travel

Funny travels stories blog post header

I’m so excited to share this one with you! I’ve gathered our top 10 most funny (and unlucky) travel stories from our round-the-world-trip, and put them into short stories in this blog post.

I want to show you that traveling isn’t always as glamorous as it’s set out to be. I’m sorry to break it to you, but that classic Instagram picture where you see someone sit in a bubble bath in the middle of the mountains with a glass of champagne is just not something that the majority of us will ever get to experience.

Traveling can be rough! In fact, two of these travel stories that I’m going to share are about poop, one has a sex worker in it, and another one is about bed bugs.

That’s as glamorous as it gets here on Worldwide Walkers travel blog – Sorry!

But all the mishaps that happened to us during our trip are what created these funny travel stories. And I honestly wouldn’t exchange any of them for a glass of champagne and a bubble bath in the mountains. Although, alcohol might have made some of these short travel stories a bit more endurable…

Anyways, this is our top 10 most funny travel short stories from our one-year trip around the world!

1. Getting bed bugs in Thailand

All right, so let’s start from the very beginning.

Glenn and I took a whole year out of our regular calendars and devoted this time to travel around the world. We left on July 10 2019, and we bumped into our first challenge only one week later in Thailand. I experienced every backpacker’s worst nightmare: Bed Bugs! UGH!

We had spent the first week getting over our jet lag in Bangkok followed by a celebration of Glenn’s birthday in Kanchanaburi. I finally started to adapt to my new lifestyle, and I was excited to go and explore some of the beautiful Thai islands.

So, we jumped on the night bus from Bangkok and made our way towards Chumphon where we got dropped off at 3 AM and had to wait for the 6 AM boat… That’s what happens when you always go for the cheapest option.

A few hours (and a couple of mosquito bites) later, it was finally time to board the boat! Little did I know that this boat would be the source of the next 2 weeks of hell for me. Because I apparently got bed bugs from this boat.

Later that same day, I remember waking up from a nap in our hotel in Koh Tao. My back was completely red and itchy. It looked like a rash, and I naturally started to panic (I’m an anxious type).

But Glenn calmed me down and convinced me to go to the beach and try to relax. And since I was convinced that it was just a rash (or some kind of allergic reaction), I said to myself, “what the heck, let’s go to the beach! The rash will be gone by tomorrow.”

Surprise, surprise – the rash wasn’t gone by the next day. In fact, it had gotten much, much worse! It was so red and fiery that I thought about calling my travel insurance – can someone please get me a doctor?!

I told myself to take a deep breath and just go and talk to the pharmacist around the corner, maybe they could help me. So, I walked into the pharmacy, lifted up my shirt and showed my back covered in the red burning spots. The lady in the pharmacy just said, “Oooh bed bugs.”

Excuse me? Did you say FREAKING BED BUGS?!

NO NO NO, I’d rather just have bad allergies acting up.

Come on, just tell me it’s a rash…

I actually (dumb tourist as I am) tried to convince her that it was a rash, but she just looked at me and repeated, “Bed bugs!”

So, I spent the next 2 days anxiously cleaning all of our stuff and looking for bed bugs, their eggs, and their excrements. It was pure hell! The following days, the swelling continued to get worse and itchier. I actually learned that the reason why my body reacted so badly is because I’m allergic to these small bloodsuckers.

Glenn on the other hand, he didn’t get a single bite…

It took more than 2 weeks for the bites to finally start to disappear. It was such an itchy nightmare!

But today it’s one of my “funny” travel stories. Who’s that dumb that they’d try to convince a pharmacist that they have a rash rather than just admit they have bed bugs? – ME!

If you want to read more about my story and learn what to do if you get these small bloodsuckers on a trip, then go read my blog post about it: Bed bugs in Thailand .

Bed bugs bites thailand

2. Fresh poop-laundry in Cambodia

This is quite the disgusting story… But it’s also one of my top 10 funny travel short stories! Although, it wasn’t much fun for Glenn – but we’ll get into that.

When you’re traveling full-time, you can’t do your own laundry. So, we often hand in our laundry to some locals in exchange for a bit of money.

And at this point of our trip, we were staying in a hostel in Cambodia where they recommended us to go and give in our laundry to the family living across the street. We gave the family $5 and they did all of our laundry – nice deal!

The next morning, Glenn went to pick it up. We were packing our backpacks because we were heading onto a new destination in Cambodia. So, we had to catch the bus and were therefore in a bit of a hurry.

We started packing our “fresh” clothes when suddenly Glenn saw a big brown stain on his toiletry bag. He looked confused – What could this be?

I told him to smell it.

(All right, I know it’s really mean to tell someone to smell a brown stain, but it might as well have been mud?! There was only one way to find out…)

So Glenn smelled it. And then he gagged.

It was poop. Fresh sh*t. From a human.

We looked around to detect the poop source and saw that the plastic, which Glenn had gotten the laundry back in, had a big piece of poop on it. He had put the fresh pack of laundry on the bed – on top of his toiletry bag, which explains how the poop ended up there. So, somehow the family across the street had put our clean bag of laundry onto a poop.

We quickly learned that there were small poop stains on several pieces of Glenn’s clothes.

It was really disgusting… but somehow I couldn’t stop laughing when I learned that it was only on his stuff and not on mine (I know, I can be quite the mean girlfriend). Glenn on the other hand, he did not think it was funny at all – he was so pissed off!

We didn’t go back to the little family to complain because they were living in a small shed, and you could see that $5 meant a lot to their economy. Their small children were running around naked, so we assumed that it was their poop.

We just let go of the incident and instead decided to embrace it for what it was – a funny (and disgusting) travel story to add to the collection.

Poop cake from Unsplash - to show one of my top funny travel short stories

3. Getting spiked in Cambodia

Sooo… out of all the short travel stories, this is probably one of the least funny ones – at least for Glenn.

Glenn and I don’t go out and party hard that often. We are the kind of couple who instead enjoy the bar culture where you can have some great laughs with friends, do a bit of dancing, and play a round of pool.

However, if you ever make it to Siem Reap in Cambodia, then it’s mandatory to go on a pub crawl with your hostel. It’s a pretty rowdy experience where everyone drinks a ton of shots and gets absolutely smashed before waking up the next day with a raging hangover.

Sounds lovely, right?

Anyways, we joined the pub crawl one evening – which was actually more of a club crawl.

When we made it to the last club, we were all moderately wasted, but not completely smashed. So, Glenn and I started playing beer pong with another couple from the hostel. The couple suddenly left, so I saw the opportunity to also leave the table and go play table football with some of the guys from the hostel.

Consequently, Glenn was left alone at the beer pong table. BIG MISTAKE!

A few moments later, I saw that he was suddenly playing with a very tall slim Cambodian woman who was wearing 3 layers of make-up, insane amounts of glitter, and the smallest mini-skirt I’ve ever seen. She also had very broad shoulders, a big jar, and an obvious Adam’s apple… You get the picture now?

I honestly thought it was a pretty hilarious scene. It was obvious that she was some kind of sex worker in the way she was dressed and in the way that she approached Glenn. But what she didn’t know was that he had come with someone else – me!

Glenn and the tall woman was playing against two Cambodian guys who obviously knew the woman. It honestly looked a bit shady from afar. It was obvious that they wanted something out of poor drunk Glenn.

But Glenn isn’t stupid, he knew what was going on. But the reason why he didn’t want to leave the table was because we had paid for the beer, and he wanted to drink it all. So he just kept playing until there was no more beer left… My boyfriend is Belgian and he just can’t let any beer go to waste.

What he didn’t know (until he chugged down a full glass) was that they had swapped out the beer with something else – he said it just tasted like water.

Strange. Where had the beer gone? He didn’t even see them switch around the drinks.

After some time, the whole situation only got stranger, so I decided to interfere – it was time to just leave and go home.

However, the minute we left the club, Glenn suddenly lost the ability to walk. He was all drowsy and he felt like he had to puke. I supported him the best I could and we started to walk home. Keep in mind that we drank the same amount all night, which meant that I was also drunk – but in no way was I in his condition… and Glenn can normally drink way more than me.

So I knew that something was completely wrong with him.

Long story short, Glenn slept by the toilet all night and had a complete blackout. It was obvious that something had been put in his drink – he couldn’t remember anything the next day.

The only time he had been drinking something unknown and different from what I was drinking was when he was playing beer pong with the Cambodian prostitute and her two male friends. They were obviously running a scheme and must have put some kind of tranquilizer in his drink.

If a situation seems strange, then remove yourself from it! Don’t be like Glenn and insist on drinking the last drop of beer – only to find yourself in a strange blackout within the next hour.

What a night. I honestly had a great time! Glenn… not so much. This night definitely deserved a spot in our hall of fame of funny travel stories!

Just a little side note to this story: Cambodians are some of the friendliest people on this earth! I don’t want to scare people off from going here with this story because getting spiked can happen anywhere in the world. To show how nice Cambodians are, I’ve added a picture of Glenn chatting and laughing with 5 friendly monks!

laughing with monks on the beach on Kep Cambodia

4. Learning about domestic violence in Vietnam

This is one of my favorite funny travel short stories!

This story both shows how incredibly friendly Vietnamese people can be towards foreigners, and how we humans can still manage to find a way to communicate without knowing each other’s languages – and in spite of big cultural differences.

This funny travel story takes place in Tam Coc, which is one of the most beautiful places in all of Vietnam! Read my blog post about things to do in Tam Coc , and you’ll see.

We stayed in a guesthouse and one night the owners invited us to join them for dinner. We gladly accepted! They had cooked an impressive feast, and we were excited to try some new Vietnamese food.

The only problem was that we didn’t speak Vietnamese, and they didn’t speak English. So after a while, we ran out of body language, and it became quiet around the table. I mean… you can’t rub your tummy and say, “mhmmm” all night. We had to find something to talk about.

So we pulled out Google Translate – every traveler’s best friend.

And it turned out to be so much fun!

The owner wanted to introduce his wife, so he said something in Vietnamese, which came out in a monotone robotic Google Translate voice like this, “My wife’s name is Bitch”.

We all fell into a coma of laughter!

His wife’s name is “Bich”, but Google translated it into “Bitch”. It was hilarious!

We had so much fun and ate so much fantastic food (which they insisted we shouldn’t pay for). However, the more rice wine we drank, the weirder the night became.

The man started telling us stories about how his wife was being violent to him all the while his wife was sitting right next to him and laughing about it. Then the wife tried to teach me how I should punish Glenn. According to her, I should take his money, so he doesn’t go sleep with other women, and then I should start slapping him – Give him the “100 hands” as she called it on Google Translate.

We don’t condone domestic violence in any way! But we also didn’t want to be rude to our hosts, who were both laughing about this matter. So, we kind of just laughed along…

Even though the whole night took a weird turn, we still had a really fun night! These people were so generous to us. And despite our cultural differences, language barriers, and different views on domestic violence – we still had one of the best nights of our entire trip.

It was definitely one of our best local and cultural experiences, and today it’s one of my favorite funny short stories from our one year of travel.

Boats in beautiful Tam Coc

5. A dog pooped on my seat in Bolivia

Okay, so here goes my second poop story… Apparently one wasn’t enough.

This short story definitely deserves a spot in our top 10 funny travel stories – I still can’t believe the bad luck we had on this day.

This travel story takes place in one of the most incredible places in the world – Salar de Uyuni! Salar de Uyuni is the name of the famous salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia. It’s an area that doesn’t look like it belongs on earth. It’s honestly one of the most incredible places you can visit in this world! And I’m not exaggerating.

However, we made the mistake of choosing the cheapest salt flat tour that we could find. It’s a habit to look for the cheapest tours when you’re a budget traveler… But word of advice – don’t be a cheapskate when choosing a Salar de Uyuni tour.

Long story short, we ended up sitting with our knees in our faces in the back of a jeep for more than 8 hours with a really rude Bolivian family, a guide who didn’t speak English, and an ugly little dog.

The whole tour was one big mistake from our side. We should just have paid for something better from the beginning!

It was such a bizarre day because we were visiting one of the world’s most amazing places, yet we weren’t really enjoying it because of the weird tour we had gotten ourselves into.

And after several hours of disappointment in our fellow explorers, just before the tour was over and we were about to head home, then the rude Bolivian family’s little dog took a sh*t on my seat.

I was SO mad that I refused to get back into the car. I wasn’t mad at the little dog, but at the irresponsible family who had been feeding the dog candy and other kinds of crap all day.

The Bolivian family started to panic a bit when they saw how mad I became, but their solution was just to hand Glenn a tissue.

So, they wanted Glenn to clean their dogs poop? I honestly couldn’t believe how rude they were, and both Glenn and I refused to clean up after their dog.

The poor tour guide had also had enough of the family, so he just took the tissue and started cleaning the seat.

I was just thinking to myself, what kind of person doesn’t clean their own dogs poop?! They were such bad dog owners. After the seat had been cleaned with a tissue, they even wanted me to go back into the jeep and sit on it… They didn’t offer to change seats.

Glenn and I eventually reached a point where we just started to laugh because of how unfortunate the whole day had been. That’s why today this story made it into one of my top funny and unlucky travel short stories.

If you want to read more about this unfortunate day, then go read my blog post: How (not) to visit Salar de Uyuni

How to not visit salar de uyuni bolivia salt flats worldwide walkers

6. Getting stuck on a mountain in Bali

This funny travel story is one of those classic Southeast Asia backpacker stories that involves a scary scooter fall and a breakdown in the middle of nowhere.

We had rented a scooter from our guesthouse in Bali. It was in a very poor condition, yet we thought it was a great idea to drive to the top of the steep 600 meter high Mount Lempuyang, and visit the famous temple on the top.

But of course it turned out to be a very bad idea…

The hill was too steep for the scooter. I was driving with Glenn on the back, and I turned the gas as much as I could, but we were basically standing still on the hill. So Glenn had to jump off and start walking up.

We decided to take turns in driving and walking up the steep mountain.

It went fine, until it didn’t…

At some point during Glenn’s turn of driving, I heard him scream, “F******CK!”, and then there was silence.

SH*T! Did he drive off the mountain?

In a complete panic, I tried running up the steep hill. I made it around the corner and saw Glenn in the middle of the road. He had fallen with the scooter. But he was okay, and there luckily weren’t any scratches on him or on the scooter.

I was so grateful that nothing had happened to him!

Apparently, my scooter helmet, which was laying between his legs, had rolled off during a sharp turn. So he tried to reach out for it but consequently lost his balance on the scooter. He said that the only way out of the situation was to just let himself fall slowly onto the side.

The only problem now was that the scooter wouldn’t start. The battery was completely dead.

We tried several times, but after 20 minutes we had to admit to defeat. We were stranded on top of a mountain in Bali… At least we had an incredible view over the island and the ocean!

I remember how funny it was when Glenn tried to ask for help when cars were driving by. Glenn waived with his arms signaling them to stop and help us, but they didn’t get the message because the people in cars just smiled and waived back.

After about half an hour, Glenn randomly tried to start the scooter again – and it magically worked!

We were contemplating whether we should continue up the road to the temple (we were only 900 meters away), or if we should just ride back down.

We took the fall and the broken scooter as a bad omen and decided to just head back down the mountain.

So basically, we never got to see the temple… But riding up that hill in the first place wasn’t a complete waste because now we have yet another travel tale to add to our collection of funny stories.

I know so many travelers who have scary scooter stories, and now we have one too! Although, today we find it quite funny and mostly just laugh about it. But please be careful on the scooters in Southeast Asia… A lot of accidents happens.

You can check out some my blog posts about Bali here:

  • Is Bali still worth visiting?
  • 22 interesting facts about Bali
  • Best things to do in Sidemen

sidemen riding a scooter bali

7. Drunk on rice wine with locals in Vietnam

While writing these funny short travel stories, I find it a reoccurring theme that it’s often Glenn who is the subject of the stupid things that happen… Coincidence???

Glenn is also the main character in this story, which he later that day came to regret.

Long story short, Glenn and I was out exploring Hanoi when we started to feel hungry. We walked around in an area that didn’t have many food options, so when we saw a little local street vendor we decided to just go for it.

It was the kind of place where you sit on small plastic chairs, and you throw your leftover food onto the ground. Not very hygienic, but a great cultural experience.

The local people sitting at the little street food restaurant were excited about two foreigners joining them. One of the men told Glenn to come and sit next to him by slapping the little red plastic chair besides him. Glenn sat down, and he was quickly offered beer, cigarettes, and rice wine.

The man constantly filled up Glenn’s glass and yelled “trăm phần trăm!”

trăm phần trăm apparently means 100% – or bottoms up!

The Vietnamese man made it his mission to drink Glenn under the table. Glenn looked at his watch and saw that it was just past 12 PM, which is the appropriate hour to start drinking in his world according to Belgians, so he accepted the challenge.

The only problem was that Glenn had never had Vietnamese rice wine before, and it’s not unusual that rice wine has an alcohol percentage of 40%. So, I knew that Glenn would get completely smashed from this little game he was playing.

A lot of Vietnamese people started to join in on the scene, and all of a sudden Glenn was chugging rice wine with half of Hanoi’s citizens (yes that’s a complete overstatement! My point is that a lot of people joined).

When the bottles were empty, I decided that it was time to end the show and move on with the day.

Glenn was so drunk that he started hugging the old Vietnamese grandmother who was part of the street vendor family. To my surprise, the grandmother responded by touching and grabbing his biceps. It was such a hilarious scene from my sober point of view!

The street vendors didn’t want us to pay a dime because they were just so happy that we had stopped by to join them for lunch and a drinking game. It’s incredible how generous people around the world can be!

I saw that Glenn’s condition worsened by the minute, so I got a taxi to take us back to our hostel. 20 minutes later, Glenn had his head in the toilet and then passed out on the bed for hours.

Just a little advice; if you’ve never had Vietnamese rice wine before, then take it easy – it’s really strong!

You can watch this funny travel story in our travel vlog beneath:

8. Dehydrating on Roy’s Peak Track in New Zealand

Out of all our funny travel stories, this short story is probably the dumbest one. We absolutely have no one to blame but ourselves for this…

This is the story of when we dehydrated on Roy’s Peak Track in New Zealand.

It’s really dangerous to go hiking without enough liquids, so I don’t know how funny this travel story actually is – but at least we learned from it, nothing happened, and we can just look back and laugh about our stupidity today.

So basically, we thought it was a good idea to hike one of New Zealand’s toughest trails at noon on a hot sunny January day. Furthermore, we thought it was a good idea to do it without enough water.

We completely underestimated how tough this hiking trail was and therefore miscalculated how much water we would need… The hike ends at the incredible 1578 meter high viewpoint, and it was at this point that we officially ran out of water.

The remaining 8 kilometers turned out to be a nightmare.

We were walking back down for more than 2 hours in the blazing hot afternoon sun without any water. We both started to feel really bad – obviously dehydrating and feeling dizzy and powerless.

This just shows how IMPORTANT water or any type of liquid is while hiking. It’s super dangerous to go on a hike and not have enough water… ALWAYS bring more water than you think you can drink. More often than not you’ll end up opening that extra bottle.

We miraculously made it back to our van in the parking lot in one piece and drank everything we could find in the van. The only cold thing we had was milk, so Glenn started chugging all the milk. I didn’t care about cold or hot I just needed something liquid – and a lot of it! So, I took the gallon of water we had in our car and started drinking from it. Although, it was actually more like tasteless tea because it had been standing in the sun all day long.

It was honestly such a pathetic sight! I can’t imagine how stupid we must have looked in the parking lot of Roy’s Peak trail, panic-drinking everything we had…

Today it’s just one of our funny travel stories – “Remember that time we almost dehydrated and died on Roy’s Peak?” – and then we have a laugh. But lesson learned: NEVER underestimate a trail, it can be so dangerous if you start dehydrating because you didn’t bring enough water.

If you want to read the full story, then check our my blog post: How (not) to hike Roy’s Peak

Hike Roys Peak track blog post header

9. Almost missing our plane to Chile

Come to think of it, this short story isn’t actually that funny compared to some of the other travel stories.

But it still deserves to be told because it was one of those, “What the F*CK!”-moments. It’s also one of those dreadful travel stories that many full-time travelers have experienced, and it feels so unfair and unnecessary.

That’s why we just have to laugh at it.

So basically we had paid A LOT of money for a direct flight ticket from Auckland in New Zealand to Santiago in Chile. The tickets were non-refundable, so we couldn’t afford to miss the flight.

Luckily, everything went smooth. Until it didn’t.

As always, I had done my research and checked all the necessary information we needed to know in order to enter Chile. I also researched whether you needed proof of an onward ticket or not, which you should ALWAYS check before going anywhere. After a small hour of research, I concluded that it was okay to fly to Chile on a one-way ticket, so I didn’t think more about it.

That is, until we were standing at the check-in desk in Auckland Airport and a lady from the airline staff asked me, “May I see your return ticket?”

I told her that we wouldn’t return to New Zealand, but instead move into Bolivia afterwards. We just hadn’t planned that far.

…She said we needed an onward ticket to get on the plane, and thus refused to let us check in.

I started panicking.

We had spent so much money on this flight ticket, and it was going to be my first time in South America. And now I maybe didn’t get to go?!

The thing is, you get nowhere in life if you just sit down and cry. So, I picked myself up and we started looking at our options. We looked into buying a plane ticket out of Chile, but we couldn’t decide for how long we wanted to stay in Chile. We also didn’t know which city we should fly out from… There was just too much pressure on us to start planning our whole South America trip in just 1 hour.

So, we found another solution.

There is a website that offers “fake” onward tickets for $12 per ticket… The tickets are actually real, but they automatically get cancelled 24 hours after you buy them. It honestly sounds super shady, but at this point we didn’t care. We just needed a quick solution to our problem.

So, we bought two random onward tickets online and hoped they would arrive in our mailbox before the check in closed. About 20 minutes later, we received our two “fake” tickets out of Chile to somewhere random in the US.

I was a bit nervous to return back to the queue for check-in, but at least now I had the proof they were looking for.

When we made it to the check-in counter, we didn’t get the same woman as before. We were now being checked in by the woman who was standing right next to the woman who rejected us.

We handed in our passports and ticket numbers, but when I asked her if she wanted to see our onward tickets she said, “No thanks”.

So that one lady sent me into a complete panic coma for nothing? Apparently it’s up to the individual to ask you about your onward tickets…

I felt so annoyed that she had to put us through the stress, yet I was super relieved that we were allowed to check in!

It’s just one of those typical travel stories that you only think is funny afterwards… I know that a lot of people have experienced this around the world. And it’s super annoying that it’s up to the airline to ask, and not just a permanent requirement for the country. Because then you can never be sure about what’s right or wrong.

When we arrived in Chile, nobody asked us to see anything. The immigration officer took a quick look at me and my passport and gave me the approval stamp in less than 2 seconds.

Airplane in Chile

10. An uncomfortable hospital visit in Bolivia

Okay, this short story might be a little bit uncomfortable – but it actually turned out to be one of the most funny travel stories from our trip.

It’s not funny because I got sick. But the hospital visit turned out to be rather hilarious!

We started our trip in Bolivia at a 3500 meters altitude, which led to me getting altitude sickness. I was feeling awful, so I decided to call my travel insurance who advised me to go to a lower-altitude city and visit a hospital. They booked me in at a hospital in Sucre for the following day.

When Glenn and I showed up at the hospital the next day, we were the only ones there. So, it didn’t take long before a doctor was ready to see me.

The doctor was nice, but he didn’t really speak English, and we didn’t really speak Spanish… So it was limited how much I really understood of what was going on.

He took my temperature and listened to my lungs. Everything was luckily in order!

Then he guided me into a small room where I didn’t really know what I was waiting for. A few moments later, a woman came to take a blood sample from me. She took out a comically large syringe and just started tapping my arm. I remember thinking, why does she need so much of my blood to do a few tests?

But I just complied.

Then I was sent into another room where I (again) didn’t know what I was waiting for.

Another lady came in with another syringe, and she signaled me to drop my pants. She then give me a jab in the butt and injected something in me… And to this day, I still have no clue what was injected into me.

Then that same lady handed me two cups and a little wooden stick. The items looked like take away dressing cups, and the stick that’s left after eating an ice cream.

Basically, they needed a urine and stool sample from me. And I did what I had to do… Although, it wasn’t easy to do it in a dressing cup.

All there was left for me to do was wait for the test results, which arrived a few hours later.

The doctor told me that I did indeed suffer from a light altitude sickness, but that I also had salmonella. So here I was, battling 2 illnesses at once!

The doctor prescribed me 4 different types of medicine… which I also wasn’t 100% clear about what was.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a confusing hospital visit where my whole arm was tapped of blood, I got injected with something mysterious in the butt, and I had to poop in a dressing cup.

But the hospital did help me out a lot, and I was eventually cured for any illness I had – and for that, I’m grateful!

If you want to read the full story about me getting altitude sickness and going to the hospital in Bolivia, then you can find it here: Getting altitude sickness in Uyuni . Or check out my blog post from Sucre, which is the beautiful city where I went to the hospital: Things to do in Sucre

Me on a hospital in Sucre

I hope you enjoyed my compilation of these 10 funny (and unfortunate) short stories from one year of travel. As you can see, we ended up in some bad situations on our trip, but we always tried to get the best out of it. The world isn’t as dangerous as you would think, and situations often gets better if we can find something positive in the negative. Laughter truly is the best medicine!

If you have any funny travel stories that you want to share, then feel free to leave a comment. I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading and happy travels!

' src=

Hi, I'm Cecilie! And I'm the writer behind our travel blog. I only write about places that we've personally been to and want to recommend to you. I'm passionate about creating truthful travel guides, which can help you plan your own trip. When I'm not traveling or writing, you'll find me on a hiking trail, in a coffee shop, or in a shoe store around Copenhagen.

Similar Posts

The Lifestyle of Full-time Travel: An Honest Review

The Lifestyle of Full-time Travel: An Honest Review

It’s been 7 months since my dream came true, and I stepped on a plane from Copenhagen to Bangkok with a lump in my throat and excitement in my belly….

Pre-travel Costs: Preparing for Long-Term Travel

Pre-travel Costs: Preparing for Long-Term Travel

How much money did we spent on travel before we even left for our one year trip? A lot! It turns out that preparing for long-term travel really isn’t cheap,…

My First Months Living in Belgium

My First Months Living in Belgium

*2024 Edit: I no longer live in Belgium. This blog post is my point of view of living in Belgium from 2020-2021. Today, both Glenn and I have moved to…

Happy Travelversary! One Year of Full-time Travel

Happy Travelversary! One Year of Full-time Travel

Happy Travelversary to us! On July 10 2019, Glenn and I got on a plane to Bangkok and started our one year of full-time travel around the world. In this…

Year 2023 Review: Apartment vs Travel

Year 2023 Review: Apartment vs Travel

I always wanted to write an end-of-year post, but for some reason I just never got around to do it. Maybe because it can be quite personal and real, and…

Where Is Home for International Couples during Covid-19

Where Is Home for International Couples during Covid-19

In this blog post I want to share my story on behalf of all international couples during Covid-19. My Covid-19 story begins in Bolivia and ends in Denmark with me…

Nice Post ! I have read your other posts which are really informative for any traveler.

Thank you! Glad you found them informative 🙂

Losing and Finding My Way in Japan

by Norm Williams

For much of my career, I traveled the world as a salesman.  Our company hired people in each country we sold in to help with various duties. One year I went to Japan, and the sales agent chose the Kokusai Hotel in Kyoto for my stay due to the efficiency of its proximity to his office.  I left early on a calm, bright morning to find my way through a beautiful historic part of the city built in traditional Japanese style.   The cute, smiley hotel receptionist had written directions on a map, circled the area of my destination, and wrote out the address in Japanese in case I needed help.  Shyly, she said in broken Japanese-English and with her hand covering her mouth, “It’s in this area.  If you get lost, here’s the address.”  With an early start and a clear sense of direction, I felt comfortable about arriving on time – a business culture imperative in Japan. I thought I found the circled area on the map with ease.  I then compared the hand-written address to the kanji characters on the buildings to discern a match.  With no Japanese reading ability, I struggled as if trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs without the Rosetta stone.  I soon realized, “I’m lost, and not just in the usual way when I’m at home in the U.S.  I’m lost without local reading or speaking ability, not knowing anyone in the city to go to for help, and a cell phone without reception in this country to call my sales agent.”  Bewildered and disappointed that I could not find the way on my own, I began to wander.  I looked for help among the passers-by. 

I used my ignorant foreigner look, which I had patented around the world — the clueless, helpless, American businessman who is hopelessly lost, out of his element, and pleading for some host country compassion. I tentatively approached a businessman, presumably walking to work.  Being deep in thought, I surprised him as a foreigner.  But, kindly, he took pity on me. He looked at the address and, after a long pause, said, while shaking his head side-to-side, “Aaannnooo.”  To me, this sounded like, “I don’t know.”  Later I learned that “anno” is the Japanese form of “mmmm.”   We parted with a mutual look of apology.  I continued to beg for help as I disrupted Kyoto’s quiet, morning street routine.  A coffee shop appeared to be a prospect for a captive audience of potential helpers.  A lone, older man, enjoying his coffee and newspaper, sat in the corner, isolated.  I cornered him.  He had no choice but to help.   He took a long, discerning look at the address, then the map, then the address, then the map again.  He pointed to a spot on the map with an air of precision and confidence.  But beneath his veneer of clarity and calm, I thought I saw a man pinning a tail on a donkey piñata while blindfolded.  Time to move on, I thought. I learned later-on that addresses in Japan are codes to unravel.  They indicate a ward, a district within the ward, a subsection of the district called a chome, a block number within the chome, and, finally, a building number.  In Japan, they number buildings in the order of their construction. They are not in numerical order as in the U.S.  The address I looked for could be located anywhere on the block, not somewhere in sequence. In place of a conventional numbered street address, an address in Japan could read like this in the U.S.:  “Go down this alleyway, take

a right at the nightclub, continue past the graveyard, and it’s the red door on the right after the old oak tree.”    Next, I found a lady pulling boxes on a cart.  I guessed that a delivery person would know the area well.  After quickly reviewing the address, she waved me hurriedly in another direction as if she knew exactly where to go.  We eventually reached her old van in front of a gas station.  She took out a map. As she looked at it for a long time, a deep crease began to form in her forehead. Her air of confidence became a look of “I don’t know.”  Fortunately, her fellow worker, who sensed the problem, stepped in, analyzed the address and map, and then pointed with the certainty of a commanding general to an area of buildings across the street.  My translation of her gesture, however, was:  “It’s somewhere over there!”  Another pin-the-tail moment. By now, I trusted no one walking the street.  So, I waved down an expert – a taxi driver.  His response to reading the address was an elongated samurai grunt and finger-pointing fit in Japanese-English, “Why are you taking a taxi?  It is around here.  We don’t need to drive anywhere!”  But I could detect uncertainty in his expressions as he desperately tried to help me.  I responded to him in my best, polite international English that I had learned works around the world – simple words pronounced slowly and loudly with a local accent as if the person cannot hear me well enough. In English with a Japanese accent, I said,  “Pleeease driiiive meee tooo theee ahdresssss ah.  I wiiill paaay youuuu eeeeven if it iiis aaacross the streeeeet.”  Then it dawned on me that he did not understand any of my Japanese accented English.  So, I resorted to the universal sign language of desperation conveyed with an American G I Joe gusto that said through body gestures, “I don’t want to walk there.  I am very late!  Please drive me even if it costs $50 to go 10 feet!”

He interpreted my gestures differently from what I meant because he zoomed off with me towards the center of town.  He tossed me what looked like a Japanese language guide-book to the city with pictures of landmarks and pages of street maps.  It was like he was giving me a tour of the town as he pointed to various places.  Perceiving the misadventure ahead, I emphasized my unwavering interest in going to the phantom address by vigorously and repeatedly pointing at the address written on the paper.  He responded with more grunts mixed with smiles as if saying, “You can point all you want.  You are my prisoner.” After many miles, we arrived back where we began the city tour and parked outside the gas station.  A determined and, apparently, a compassionate man, the driver did not want to let me down now.  He went to the gas station’s workers and pulled them together for a conference.  For what seemed like an eternity, they diligently researched maps, considered directories, animatedly discussed possible locations, and pointed in various directions. Then the gas station workers appeared to bow to each other in a humble celebration. Grandly, one of them stepped forward from the group and pointed to a building directly across the street. In the same direction that the cart puller’s fellow worker had gestured to, and the taxi driver told me about, I wondered, in despair, “Could it be that the building was, all this time, just over there, and I hadn’t listened to them?” The elated cab driver, who dearly wanted to finish the job, eagerly waved me into the taxi.  Ecstatic, I jumped in.  With a simple U-turn, he would deliver me to the door of the building across the street.  But, of course, that would be too simple. We drove in Japan, and the strict traffic laws overrode any sense of simplicity. My cab driver pulled out, zoomed off, took a dozen or so turns down one-way streets, and we finally pulled up to the building that was across

the street. I could have walked back and forth between the building and gas station twenty times while in the cab.  Gratefully, I paid the taxi driver a ransom for my release plus a tip for the city tour.  As I walked into my sales agent’s office sixty minutes late, his lady assistant graciously approached me, saying, “He is waiting for you at the Kokusai hotel to bring you here.”  “Oh My God! What message did I miss that told me to wait there?” I thought in anguish. “I spoke with a half dozen Japanese, disrupted their morning routine, struggled endlessly to understand them, walked many city blocks, traveled unnecessary miles, felt the helplessness and hopelessness of being lost, arrived an hour late, and I only had to wait for the sales agent to quickly and efficiently take me to his office! Feeling quite humble, I entered the meeting room and sat down at the conference table. My sales agent began to speak, and I listened carefully to his direction.

Have just reread this post. Hope you’ll pass through this corner of the world again soon ❤️

I will as soon as I can ❤️

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Worldwide Walkers

  • Privacy Overview
  • Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Jessie on a Journey | Solo Female Travel Blog

16 Short Funny Travel Stories That’ll Make You Laugh Out Loud

These short funny travel stories are sure to make you laugh!

From crazy travel stories involving bathroom mishaps to funny stories about language barriers to wild travel stories that take you on safari, this list is sure to make you chuckle.

I’ve even included a video sharing about my strangest Couchsurfing experience!

Before scrolling, I recommend grabbing your favorite beverage and getting comfortable, as we’ve got 16 fun travel stories below to help put a smile on your face.

After reading these funny true stories, feel free to share your own best travel stories in the comments below!

short travel stories funny

Table of Contents

Short Funny Travel Stories — That Are Also True!

1. file under embarrassing travel stories.

One of my most embarrassing funny stories happened while I was backpacking South America — specifically during a 4×4 tour from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia.

The trip takes you through the desert for three days to see otherworldly sites like hot pink lagoons where flamingos search for food, an abandoned train graveyard, and, the highlight, the world-famous Uyuni Salt Flats.

During the trip, you share a car with four or five other people.

At one point, I was sitting in the front seat and it was getting really hot in the car. Our driver didn’t speak English, but I spoke decent Spanish — or at least I thought I did.

“Estoy caliente!” I said, looking right at the driver. To my confusion, instead of rolling down a window, he looked horrified…or maybe confused?

I decided it was probably my New York accent confusing him. “Estoy caliente!” I said again, this time in what I thought was a more local-sounding accent. He looked even more horrified-slashed-confused.

Suddenly, the one native Spanish speaker in the car spoke up from the back:

“Umm, I’m assuming you’re not meaning to tell the driver you’re horny, right?”

Apparently, the way I was saying “I’m hot” literally translated to, well, another meaning of the phrase. As I turned bright red, I decided I didn’t really need the window open and would just sit in silence and try to disappear by melting in the car seat.

But hey, when it comes to learning a language while traveling, embarrassing mistakes can certainly be a great teacher. Plus, I can add this to my list of hilarious vacation stories to share at parties.

-Jessie Festa, Jessie on a Journey

2. My Craziest Couchsurfing Story

Here is one of my most interesting travel experience stories .

For this anecdote, which is part funny travel story and part horror travel story , you’ll have to watch the video below:

One of my favorite funny travel videos

By the way, if you like crazy and funny travel story videos like this one, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon so you get notified when future videos publish.

I’ve already got a few more short travel stories recorded and scheduled to come out over the next few weeks!

crazy travel stories

3. An Unpleasant Night With Bob Marley

My funny travel experience happened during a trip to Morocco in 2015, when my husband and I spent a couple of days in the Sahara Desert as part of a tour group.

I was super excited to ride a camel for the first time and spend a night in a Bedouin tent in the desert. Little did I know that I was about to experience the longest and most unpleasant night of my life.

Our camel ride started with me hanging upside down from the saddle with one foot in the air. My camel, Bob Marley, had decided to stand up before I could settle into the saddle.

I held onto the saddle for dear life as our Bedouin guide pushed me up onto the camel’s back. Bob Marley let out a grunt of disapproval, and we rode off. I thought I was in for a bumpy ride; but save for the fact that the camel in front of me, named after Jimi Hendrix, was having a bad case of gas, it turned out to be a very pleasant journey.

After dinner and some impromptu drumming around a bonfire, my husband and I retreated to our tent for a good night’s sleep. Our bed was just a mattress on the carpeted ground.

Despite cocooning myself in a couple of thick blankets, I was shaking from head to toe. My husband fell asleep straight away, and so did the other people in our group — judging by the cacophony of snores that filled the air.

Two hours later, I was still wide awake — and freezing cold.

Thankfully, the snoring started to subside and I gradually drifted into dreamland, only to be jolted out of my sleep by a very loud and unusual noise. It sounded like a bellow and was followed by a very awful smell.

I tried to go back to sleep, but someone or something started to chew loudly. And then another groan, another unpleasant smell, and more loud chewing. This went on for at least another two hours.

After what felt like a never-ending night, I checked the time. To my delight, it was time to get up to watch the sunrise. I stumbled out of our tent, grabbed a glass of freshly-brewed mint tea, and dragged my sleepy body out of the Bedouin camp.

There, stationed just outside the tent where my husband and I had spent the night, was Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and the entire caravan. Bob Marley made direct eye contact with me, and I could swear I spotted a smug grin on his face.”

– Daniela from Grumpy Camel

funny travel vietnam

4. Trying To Pee On A Bumpy Bus Ride

If you enjoy travel love stories , this trip tale from our honeymoon has a humorous twist.

While visiting Sapa, Vietnam on our honeymoon, we had to fly into the large city of Hanoi.

From Hanoi, we could have either taken a bus, a train, or a rental car up to Sapa. Because we are cheap, we decided to take the bus. Even further, we booked an overnight bus trip, so that we could save one night of accommodation booking.

We showed up at the bus station at 11:30 pm for our midnight departure, and everything was going well. We boarded the bus and got to our beds, which was a row of five plastic cots wide with no cushions. We did get a blanket, though, and settled in for the night on our uncomfortable beds.

At about 3:00 am, I woke up and had to pee. We were on the freeway, and the driver only spoke Vietnamese, so I couldn’t communicate the fact that I needed to pee.

In the commotion, the driver also noticed there was a payment issue with our booking, which my now-awake husband was trying to figure out.

I still had to go, and it was becoming an emergency. The bus was still rocking and rolling down the Vietnamese highway. It was 3:15 am, my bladder was bursting, and my new husband was trying to have a Google Translate conversation with the driver to figure out our booking.

I tried to get my pee emergency into the Google Translate conversation, with no luck. All I got was my husband giving me a bottle.

A soda bottle?! What was I supposed to do with that?! The mouth of that thing was the size of a thumb. I am not the Jason Bourne of pee-aiming.

Realizing my choices were non-existent, I tried to use the bottle. After some awkward maneuvering, I opened the floodgates and, as you might have guessed, peed all over my bed…and my husband’s.

Thankfully, the sound of the pee spraying on the plastic beds did not come to the attention of any of our neighbors or the bus driver. Or maybe he purposely ignored it.

After figuring out the booking issue, my husband scooched back into his bed only to realize that Lake Urine had formed in the middle of it.

After some shock and stifled laughter, we cleaned it up with one of our blankets, had an extremely uncomfortable three more hours of travel, and finally pulled into Sapa. We couldn’t get off that bus fast enough.

On the bright side, it’s one of our favorite funny stories about traveling to share.

– Zach and Julie from Ruhl of the Road

funny incidents while travelling

5. The Time I Had My Boobs Massaged In Morocco

Our favorite short funny story to share is all about massages and spa experiences in Morocco.

They are supposed to be tranquil, soothing, and calming. But what happens when you try to have a relaxing spa experience in another country without doing your research?

You could find yourself swimming in your underwear and having your boobs massaged, that’s what!

When my husband and I were in Morocco, we decided to go for a traditional Moroccan Hammam massage at our hotel…and all kinds of hilarity ensued!

First, we were asked to get undressed by the staff who only spoke French, so there were a lot of frantic hand gestures going on.

Then we were taken to a room where straightaway we could see a woman being rubbed down while completely naked.

No robes, no doors… just all kinds of naked. We were shocked and immediately started thinking: “Wait…is this what a hammam massage is like?”

Thankfully, not in our case, but it doesn’t get much better.

We’d worn our underwear because we actually thought we were just getting a pleasant back massage like in the UK.

We were wrong.

We were taken to a steam room where we were rubbed with mud in front of strangers and then asked to shower it off. Next, we found ourselves swimming in a saltwater pool. All of this while in our everyday underwear!

And then finally we got to the massage part where we were separated and I was asked to strip completely naked.

This was fine while lying on my front but then came the fateful word:

Yep, this was when I found myself having my boobs massaged by a total stranger!

Moral of the story:

Do your research. And don’t wear underwear to a Moroccan hammam massage. Go for swimming gear just to be on the safe side.

– Justine from Wanderers of the World

funny stories about travel

6. When Nature Calls, Literally

I have many funny short stories about travel, though one of my favorites to tell happened in the Serengeti.

Now, there are a lot of really awesome things about camping in the Serengeti:

It’s a relatively affordable way to go on safari. You meet other adventurous people. You’re camping in the freaking Serengeti! Like, hello, how cool?!

However, there may be one or two less-than-stellar things about this type of safari…like not knowing what’s outside your tent during the night.

Personally, I didn’t really want to come face-to-face with the hyenas — or anything else — that I knew could be out there. My method of avoidance came down to not drinking too much water during the day. Other than the bathroom, nothing could draw me out of my tent at night.

Well, one day I was thirsty and had more to drink than I should have.

The result?

You guessed it — I needed to pee pretty bad by about 3 am.

Let me take you back a few hours though, to the afternoon. We were making camp that night at a spot that was to be shared with some of the park rangers. Earlier in the day, the rangers had brought a goat to camp. I thought they were taking this goat further on their journey and I didn’t think about it past that.

Well, guess what the rangers had for dinner?

That night, from the safety of the tent, we could hear the hyenas munching away on the leftovers. It was gruesome.

It also meant that I absolutely knew the hyenas were in the camp, right between me and the bathroom. Well, by 3 am, I was desperate and cared less about the hyenas than about my bladder.

However, we’d been strongly warned not to go out by ourselves. So, I asked my friend if she wanted to go on an adventure. She said no and advised I go back to sleep.

I tried; I really did. An hour later, I asked her again, “Isa, want to go on an adventure?”

Her answer hadn’t changed.

Just behind our tent were the dining cabin and a small hill. I was desperate. Really, my bladder was going to explode. I went just behind the tent, right up to that hill, and did my thing.

After, I went back into the tent and didn’t stray anywhere close to where the campfire had been, and the hyenas currently were. I was safe! I didn’t get eaten or attacked by anything. Basically, I was Superwoman!

The next morning we were packing up our stuff to go on that day’s safari when our guide casually asked if we had heard the lions the night before.

Nope, we hadn’t heard them. Apparently, they’d been close.

Their lair?

Just on the other side of the small hill behind the camp.

This one definitely goes on my list of crazy yet funny adventure stories!

funny adventure stories

Lindsey in Moscow. Photo courtesy of Lindsey Puls.

7. Naked & Confused In Moscow

Naked and confused in Moscow? Yes, you read right. This is one of those funny vacation stories that you won’t forget…

I thought I knew all that there was to know about Russian banyas — until I found myself in Moscow, lying naked and sweating to death on a table in front of 12 other naked women of varying ages, who were all strangers to me, getting flogged with a couple of birch branches by a kind but very strong woman named Olga.

And I had actually paid for this beating. It’s all part of the experience!

In short, a banya is similar to a sauna. The biggest difference, though, is that a “banya” has high levels of humidity in it, while a sauna will have dry air. They’ve been a part of Russian life for over a thousand years.

Another interesting aspect of the Russian Banya is flogging using birch twigs ( venik ). This is supposed to benefit your health and improve your immune system, and honestly, if you have someone who knows what they are doing, it does feel really good.

I knew when I signed up for this that I would likely have to be naked for this flogging — I had done it before in a private bathhouse; however, this was my first time in a public banya, and I didn’t expect to be on display for the rest of the banya goers while it was happening! I was envisioning this to be a little more, ah, private?

But there I was, naked as the day I was born in front of everyone, getting smacked around by Olga as she shouted commands in Russian…which I imagine was something like, “Now, flip over! Raise your legs! Cover your boobs! Scoot your butt down further!”

Actually, though, I had no idea what she was saying. So, she gave up and just started pulling me and moving my naked body parts to where they needed to be — much to the amusement of everyone in the banya, who were not shy about their giggles!

Olga hit/massaged almost every square inch of my body with the branches. Then, once she was done, she led me by the hand to a shower area, sat me down, and threw a cold bucket of water over my head. And then a warm one, followed by another cold bucket. My body was thoroughly shocked after that!

Needless to say, this banya experience was a little less relaxing than my previous experiences with it; however, I still felt like a million bucks after it was done, and I will absolutely do it again.

– Lindsey from Have Clothes, Will Travel

short funny travel stories

8. A Short Story About Traveling That’s Out Of This World (Literally)

When the weather starts to warm up we love heading to the beach for a few days. Any beach really, though Miami holds a special place in our family’s hearts. We even have a favorite hotel by the beach that we always stay at.

During one such trip, after a few days of being lazy on the beach and spending way too much time walking the boardwalk, we decided to go for a drive.

We rented a car for the day and drove to Key West. Our plan was to enjoy a scenic drive on Highway 1 and maybe try some key lime pie and head back, but the day turned out to be more memorable than that.

It was a breathtaking drive and we kept our eyes glued to the window. The scenery was gorgeous and felt like we were driving over water.

Driving from Miami to Key West takes about three hours on the scenic coastal Overseas Highway. When we were closer to Key West, suddenly Mr. Suburbia — aka my husband — stopped the car, grabbed his camera, and ran out looking up at the sky — leaving me looking at him bewildered.

After a few minutes of looking and pointing at a shiny object in the sky, he was pretty thrilled to announce he’d spotted a UFO. I should mention here that hubby loves his Sci-Fi movies and UFO shows — the likes of Project Blue Book — and strongly believes we are not alone.

We eventually got back in the car, stopped at a nearby store, and asked someone in the parking lot:

“Do you see that shiny thing in the sky?”

The man looked up and casually responded, “Do you mean that weather blimp?”

We came to find out later that what we saw in the sky was “Fat Albert” or a version of the radar aerostat blimp that the US Drug Enforcement Administration uses to keep an eye on shipping hereabouts.

The shiny object in the sky was not an unidentified flying object or alien craft but a weather blimp. It is one of the short funny travel stories that always come up when we talk about our trips.

It starts with one of the kids saying “Remember the time when dad thought he saw a UFO…?” and always makes us laugh.

– Priya from Outside Suburbia

funny crazy stories about travel

9. An Unpleasant Travel Experience With A Ghost Shrimp In Spain

When it comes to funny short travel stories, there is one I always love to tell.

A few years ago I had a wonderful trip to Andalucia, Spain, together with my family.

We spent hours road tripping to the best places in this region and enjoying Spanish culinary delights like fresh seafood and delicious produce. Grocery shopping at local markets was definitely a highlight of the trip.

To get around, we rented a car from a recommended company. We were lucky enough to receive a car of a better standard than what we ordered. It was a nicely-equipped van, with key-free unlocking, automatic doors, and a lot of space inside. Quite luxurious, I must say.

At one point during this one-week trip, we opened the door of our car and were met with a horrendous stench.  We almost passed out. Our first thought was that something must have died inside.

We noticed that the stench was coming from the trunk. It turned out that a little bit of liquid had escaped from the bag with fresh shrimps the evening before.

We tried to clean the trunk with cleaning supplies found in our rented apartment. Then we found out some homemade methods to remove the smell. Desperate, we even tried out a special freshener for domestic animal scents.

But, alas, the ghost of the dead shrimp was still there. For the rest of the trip, we drove with all of the windows open.

Before the last day, we headed to the gas station. I popped into the shop to look for car fresheners. My mom was more resolute and tried to have a conversation with the staff — note here that we’re Polish, and she can genuinely only say a few words in Spanish.

She pinched her nose, made a telling gesture, and said “car fish caput.” The service guy started to laugh but he luckily understood her. And after a short while, he came to our car with a huge specialist atomizer and sprayed all the interior. We were so grateful because the problem seemed to disappear.

But the awful smell came back the next day; the day of our departure.

Early in the morning, we left the apartment and headed to the car rental agency. We were stressed about what the agency’s employee would say about the smell and we were wondering if insurance would cover such an incident.

Luckily for us, the moment we locked the car on the agency parking while waiting for the service was the last time the car key-pilot worked. At that moment, the battery died. The car agency representative wasn’t able to open the car.

And because it was so early in the morning, the main office with the spare keys was still closed, and this guy was taking care of the parking only. He noticed we had purchased full car insurance and only asked if we refilled the gas tank.

When we returned home we found an email from the car rental agency with an appreciation note for using their services. So we assumed the weird smell was covered by the insurance. While back then we were embarrassed about that incident, we now look back at it with a smile.

Always purchase full insurance. You never know when a shrimp decides to escape.

– Dominika from Sunday in Wonderland

short funny travel stories

10. A Massage In An Unexpected Place

This is one of those stories that will make you laugh!

I worked in Beijing for many years. I used to go to a place called Dragonfly for massages, which I really liked. One time I was in an area of Beijing that I was not familiar with and wanted a massage.

The local Dragonfly was just too complicated and far away to get to, so I decided to go elsewhere and try something different.

I remembered I had seen what appeared to be a massage parlor a few blocks from where I was staying, and I walked over. The location didn’t look exactly like the type of spa place I was familiar with.

I guess that should have been my first warning.

It had pictures of smiling women in the window that I supposed were the various massage therapists. Flashing neon lights in blues and reds decorated the outside.

To be honest, I felt a tad apprehensive but thought that was just because I had never been there before. I know from experience that many times things might feel strange in unfamiliar cultures, but once you dive in, chances are you’ll discover a wonderful new experience or location, or a delightful food you never tasted before.

With this in mind, I went in.

Inside I tried to communicate that I wanted a massage to the woman attendant. I rubbed my shoulders with kneading fingers pantomiming a massage. She disappeared into a dark room and quickly returned with another woman who asked me something in Chinese.

I repeated my pantomime and the two women engaged in a long and animated conversation behind a beaded curtain. I couldn’t understand what the confusion was.

Finally, they led me to a small, dimly lit room with what I took to be a massage table in the middle. I disrobed and lay face down on the table as I normally would.

A woman came in and started to give me a massage. It wasn’t a great massage but certainly adequate. After an hour the woman indicated the massage was over and gave me a cup of green tea. I paid, gave the lady a tip, and went back to my hotel.

The next day was Monday. Everyone came into the office discussing their weekend. I told my colleagues about my massage.

“Oh! Don’t tell me you went all the way to Dragonfly?!” a colleague asked surprised. I explained my massage experience at the spa a couple of blocks away.

After identifying the exact location, they told me that was a high-end brothel. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense. I suppose they’re still laughing.

-Talek from Travels With Talek  

funny true stories

11. Hammock Hanging Newbie

One of my favorite funny short stories traveling happened when I spent a semester studying abroad in Cuba in 2009, which was actually my first international trip.

There are many beautiful things about Cuba, perhaps the best one being the peoples’ resilience and creativity in solving problems and getting by without having access to the things we take for granted.

I, in fact, had to learn some of that craftiness myself.

Not long after we arrived, I bought a hammock at an artisan market in Havana. I couldn’t wait to hang it up, and there was a perfect pair of trees on the grounds of the apartment-hotel where we were staying.

There was just one problem. I couldn’t find rope anywhere. I must have gone to five hardware stores. No rope to be found!

I ended up picking up some pieces of cloth and old electrical wires in a vacant lot. Now I thought I was good to go.

Back at the hotel, one of the security guards helped me out — thank goodness for the kindness of strangers — and I settled in with a Cuba Libre and my book to enjoy relaxing in the hammock for the first time. Until…

The cloth broke about 10 seconds later and I ended up on the ground covered in rum and Coke!

Along with my newfound security guard friend, we tried several more times to get it to stay hung, me falling on my butt several more times as well.

Two of my classmates apparently had quite the laugh watching from the window and had even taken a video of these failed attempts. Fortunately, that video got lost or erased somehow before it was shared with the whole group.

Undeterred, I ventured back out and found some thicker cables. With those, I finally succeeded in getting that hammock hung. I even carried it around much of the island and hung it on my porch back home in the US for years afterward with those same cables.

Lessons learned were that perseverance matters, always check your hammock is stable before trying to enjoy a drink in it, and if you’re unsure, make sure no one’s watching from the window!

– Adam from Cartagena Explorer

short funny travel stories

12. A Road Trip With A Resilient Mouse

Here is an adventurous trip story that takes place in Death Valley National Park, which my friends and I thought got its name because nothing lives there.

While cooking dinner in the campground, one of us had an idea to open all the car doors in the evening to release the stale air inside.

This didn’t turn out to be a very good idea.

The next morning, we packed everything up and got ready to discover other parts of Death Valley, when suddenly a mouse jumped on my legs!

“Boys, we have a mouse in the car!” I screamed.

My brother turned to me disbelievingly. “What are you talking about?!”

I got a similar gaze from Jakub, who nervously asked, “Are you sure?”

The mouse quickly disappeared, and I was left trying to get the rest of the group to believe me.

The truth came out the next morning, though. Jakub grabbed a pack of pasta and it started to spill all over the car trunk. The mouse must have bitten a hole in it.

Now they believed me, and we set off on a mission to rid the mouse from the car.

Our first plan was to download a number of mobile apps producing squeaky anti-mouse sounds. In the evening, we opened everything possible and turned on our phones to maximum volume. After a while, we were going crazy due to this terrible sound. The mouse, on the other hand, didn’t mind at all and, I can only imagine, quietly laughed at us.

In the morning, we found more mouse damage — a leaking barrel of water had soaked half of our things, and the mouse had eaten through my headphones. Plus, we were starting to worry about the car’s electricity.

We decided our next step was to go to Walmart for traps. Before heading to bed we carefully filled the traps with cheese and spread them evenly throughout the car, eager to see if we captured the mouse by morning.

Unfortunately, when we woke up they were empty — and we found more holes in our packed food. There was pasta everywhere!

It was clear that if there was enough food in the car, the traps wouldn’t be interesting for her.

On the other hand, we understood the mouse. She probably hadn’t seen that much food in her entire life in Death Valley and suddenly there was this huge banquet! What mouse wouldn’t want to explore such a rodent paradise?

She traveled with us over 600 miles before we got to Yosemite National Park. This journey brought new hope to our struggle.

Bears rob 130 cars a year in Yosemite, so there are bear boxes in every campground. Therefore, we completely unloaded our car. Every crumb was removed.

It was our last hope. If it didn’t work, nothing would.

We set up the traps and went to sleep, and in the morning there she was, one of the fattest mice we’d ever seen. We agreed that’d she’d probably just had the most amazing “all-inclusive trip” of her life.

– Matěj from Czech the World

short travel stories funny

13. An Unexpected Fall Into Crocodile-Infested Waters

If you’re looking for funny adventure stories that are also a bit scary — or even travel disaster stories — this one is for you.

Safari tourism hadn’t really taken off when we visited Malawi in 2010 during an overland trip through Africa.

Health and safety weren’t major considerations, and it was certainly a far cry from the safaris we did in South Africa , Tanzania, and Botswana.

Arriving at Liwonde National Park in the south of Malawi we were excited as we knew it was a great place to spot elephants.

We relied on our campsite to book a canoe safari for us. Luckily, as soon as we set off we spotted loads of elephants — and even hippos — along the shoreline.

The trip leader in the canoe behind us suddenly shouted to our guide. Then there was an unexpected bump and we were thrown out of the canoe.

Our canoe had been flipped by a hippo!

The moments that followed were a blur. Thankfully local fishermen had seen the commotion and came over to help. We knew that there were crocodiles in the water as well as hippos and wanted to get out as soon as possible. We managed to haul ourselves into the fishermen’s canoes and were paddled back to the shore.

Amazingly nobody had been hurt and we were very thankful to the local fishermen. While we were drying out, we were pretty shocked to be asked to pay for the trip. They finally settled for a 50% reduction and we paid with the wet notes from our wallet.

We weren’t traveling with smartphones in those days so finding a reputable tour company was a bit hit and miss.

Often, there are lessons to be learned through these stories of travel. These days we would recommend Googling reputable tour operators, although as with all wildlife adventures, always expect the unexpected!”

– Jacquie from Flashpacking Family

travel disaster stories

14. Remembered By The TSA

One of my favorite short funny stories to tell is this one.

I traveled out of the Kansas City airport about every other week for the past three years.

Before I leave my house, I clean out the fridge and put any fruit that would go bad into a stasher bag.

I have TSA Precheck but have learned it’s just easier to pull it out of my purse into a bin and it won’t ever get questioned.

Last summer I was going through and the X-Ray guy says, “Hey! It’s strawberry girl!”

Then three others perked up and waved to me.

Except for that day, it was sliced peaches, and I felt like I let them down.

-Katie Boutwell, Katie B Traveling

best travel stories

15. Confusion In Small-Town France

I feel like this is one of those relatable funny stories because who hasn’t ended up in the wrong location?

In 2019, my husband and I took a trip to France to attend the wedding of my former exchange student, Christelle.

The day after the wedding, we set off from our hotel to the small village of Montcourt-Fromonville to attend a luncheon for close friends and family.

Shortly after arriving in the small village, we happened to pass Christelle’s family gathered in a small parking lot. We wondered if we should stop, but they didn’t look settled, and Google Maps was continuing to direct us.

We drove further, and eventually, Google Maps did the thing where it says you have arrived, but you look around and don’t know where you’ve arrived to.

My husband and I were very confused. Per the invite, the destination was called Chateau de la Mairie de Montcourt-Fromonville, but there was no address associated with it. When I typed it into Google, it came up as being a city hall.

Looking around the vicinity, we did see a castle-looking building in the distance, but it seemed way too fancy for a luncheon. Plus, would Christelle really be having her luncheon at a city hall?

We turned around and decided to go back to the parking lot where we had originally seen Christelle and her family. Of course, when we got there, no one was outside anymore. We approached a residential building nearby, thinking perhaps the luncheon was at someone’s personal residence there and snooped around a little bit.

Unfortunately, there were no signs of any gatherings in this quiet building. As we walked away, I heard a voice behind us say, “Bonjour.”

Turning around, I spotted a woman I had never seen in my life and wondered how I would explain our apparent snooping in French.

“Nous cherchons une fete.” (We are looking for a party)

The woman continued to stare at me.

“Pas ici?” (Not here?)

The woman shook her head “no” with a confused look on her face. Feeling her eyes upon us, we immediately left before further damage could be done with my limited French.

Frustrated, we followed Google Maps back to the lovely castle-looking building. Now we saw more cars there, and we thought maybe that was the location after all.

Our suspicions were confirmed upon parking outside of the chateau “city hall” where we were relieved to finally find Christelle and her family.

We were very grateful this was such a small village. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much bad French I would have had to stumble through before finding the luncheon!

– Theresa from Fueled by Wanderlust

funny travel vietnam

16. An Unexpected Mountain Encounter

One of my most interesting vacation stories happened a few years ago. My younger brother and I decided to take a drive from Oklahoma City to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge to see if we could get any photos of the bison herds that live there.

We couldn’t find any, unfortunately, but we did find some very ornery longhorn cows!

We drove up to the visitor’s center to get directions to where the bison were at the moment, but we couldn’t get out of the car. There was a small group of about four longhorns gathered around watching something. When we got close enough to see what was so exciting, we realized that there were two teenage-looking steers fighting with their horns locked!

We wanted to watch the fighting because it was so entertaining — and not what we were expecting — but we learned that it was a mistake when one almost knocked the other into our car.

We absolutely did not want to be stuck getting out and having to be around them without the protection of a two-thousand-pound SUV separating us, so we drove off.

But I’ll never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized we could have been in a car accident where the longhorn hit us and not the other way around!

It’s one of the best funny road trip stories we often share with friends!

– Stephanie from Oklahoma Wonders

hilarious vacation stories

Bonus Short Travel Stories

Looking for more interesting travel stories and funny travel anecdotes? Don’t miss:

25 Crazy Travel Stories You Need To Read To Believe

23 Inspiring Travel Stories Sharing The Kindness Of Strangers

38 Inspiring Travel Love Stories From The Road

Sexual Assault Stories From The Road (& What I’ve Learned)

8 Crazy NYC Subway Stories That Will Make You Hail A Cab

17 True Short Adventure Travel Stories To Inspire Your Next Trip

A Host’s Perspective: My Worst Airbnb Horror Stories

11 Epic Travel Fail Stories From The Road

18 Scary Travel Stories From Haunted Hotels To Creepy Cabins

Do you have any short funny travel stories to add to this list?

Enjoyed this list of hilarious travel stories? Pin these funny anecdotes for later!

Related posts:

Jessie Festa standing in front of grafitti wall

Hi, I’m Jessie on a journey!

I'm a conscious solo traveler on a mission to take you beyond the guidebook to inspire you to live your best life through travel. Come join me!

Want to live your best life through travel?

Subscribe for FREE access to my library of fun blogging worksheets and learn how to get paid to travel more!

funny travel vietnam

Turn Your Travel Blog Into A Profitable Business

Subscribe to my email list to snag instant access to my library of workbooks, checklists, tutorials and other resources to help you earn more money -- and have more fun -- blogging. Oh, and it's totally FREE! :) //  Privacy Policy . 

Check your inbox for your welcome email + resource library password!

.

29 Comments

Thank you so much for sharing your stories. Hope to see you in Morocco for an excellent adventure trip. Enjoy and keep doing excellent trips!

@Moha: Thank you!

OMG!!! I can only imagine what you must have gone through. Really funny stories. I would surely be careful next time before booking a massage 🙂 Thanks for the super hilarious blog.

That’s a lot of spa stories. I too had boob massage in Indonesia and Thailand. Whoops!

really very nice artical

Morocco is one of the unique countries in the world and a country of dizzying diversity. You may wander through spice markets, explore sweeping deserts and enjoy warm hospitality. Morocco is roughly the size of California, this is why day tours are so popular! Perhaps this is one of the most exciting Morocco Desert Tours.

very nice Thank you so much for sharing your stories. Hope to see you in Morocco for an excellent adventure trip.

Your Site is very nice, and it’s very helping us this post is unique and interesting, thank you for sharing this awesome information.

really very nice article. thanks for share with us.

Nice information

nice information sir

Nice blog with great post, Thanks for sharing!

Nice article

I love travelling and have craze too…….. Very interesting stories

thanks for sharing this informative piece

Good one. I liked it. Keep going. you are a best writer your site is very useful and informative thanks for sharing!

Losing and Finding My Way in Japan

by Norm Williams

For much of my career, I traveled the world as a salesman.  Our company hired people in each country we sold in to help with various duties. One year I went to Japan, and the sales agent chose the Kokusai Hotel in Kyoto for my stay due to the efficiency of its proximity to his office.  I left early on a calm, bright morning to find my way through a beautiful historic part of the city built in traditional Japanese style.   The cute, smiley hotel receptionist had written directions on a map, circled the area of my destination, and wrote out the address in Japanese in case I needed help.  Shyly, she said in broken Japanese-English and with her hand covering her mouth, “It’s in this area.  If you get lost, here’s the address.”  With an early start and a clear sense of direction, I felt comfortable about arriving on time – a business culture imperative in Japan. I thought I found the circled area on the map with ease.  I then compared the hand-written address to the kanji characters on the buildings to discern a match.  With no Japanese reading ability, I struggled as if trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs without the Rosetta stone.  I soon realized, “I’m lost, and not just in the usual way when I’m at home in the U.S.  I’m lost without local reading or speaking ability, not knowing anyone in the city to go to for help, and a cell phone without reception in this country to call my sales agent.”  Bewildered and disappointed that I could not find the way on my own, I began to wander.  I looked for help among the passers-by. 

I used my ignorant foreigner look, which I had patented around the world — the clueless, helpless, American businessman who is hopelessly lost, out of his element, and pleading for some host country compassion. I tentatively approached a businessman, presumably walking to work.  Being deep in thought, I surprised him as a foreigner.  But, kindly, he took pity on me. He looked at the address and, after a long pause, said, while shaking his head side-to-side, “Aaannnooo.”  To me, this sounded like, “I don’t know.”  Later I learned that “anno” is the Japanese form of “mmmm.”   We parted with a mutual look of apology.  I continued to beg for help as I disrupted Kyoto’s quiet, morning street routine.  A coffee shop appeared to be a prospect for a captive audience of potential helpers.  A lone, older man, enjoying his coffee and newspaper, sat in the corner, isolated.  I cornered him.  He had no choice but to help.   He took a long, discerning look at the address, then the map, then the address, then the map again.  He pointed to a spot on the map with an air of precision and confidence.  But beneath his veneer of clarity and calm, I thought I saw a man pinning a tail on a donkey piñata while blindfolded.  Time to move on, I thought. I learned later-on that addresses in Japan are codes to unravel.  They indicate a ward, a district within the ward, a subsection of the district called a chome, a block number within the chome, and, finally, a building number.  In Japan, they number buildings in the order of their construction. They are not in numerical order as in the U.S.  The address I looked for could be located anywhere on the block, not somewhere in sequence. In place of a conventional numbered street address, an address in Japan could read like this in the U.S.:  “Go down this alleyway, take

a right at the nightclub, continue past the graveyard, and it’s the red door on the right after the old oak tree.”    Next, I found a lady pulling boxes on a cart.  I guessed that a delivery person would know the area well.  After quickly reviewing the address, she waved me hurriedly in another direction as if she knew exactly where to go.  We eventually reached her old van in front of a gas station.  She took out a map. As she looked at it for a long time, a deep crease began to form in her forehead. Her air of confidence became a look of “I don’t know.”  Fortunately, her fellow worker, who sensed the problem, stepped in, analyzed the address and map, and then pointed with the certainty of a commanding general to an area of buildings across the street.  My translation of her gesture, however, was:  “It’s somewhere over there!”  Another pin-the-tail moment. By now, I trusted no one walking the street.  So, I waved down an expert – a taxi driver.  His response to reading the address was an elongated samurai grunt and finger-pointing fit in Japanese-English, “Why are you taking a taxi?  It is around here.  We don’t need to drive anywhere!”  But I could detect uncertainty in his expressions as he desperately tried to help me.  I responded to him in my best, polite international English that I had learned works around the world – simple words pronounced slowly and loudly with a local accent as if the person cannot hear me well enough. In English with a Japanese accent, I said,  “Pleeease driiiive meee tooo theee ahdresssss ah.  I wiiill paaay youuuu eeeeven if it iiis aaacross the streeeeet.”  Then it dawned on me that he did not understand any of my Japanese accented English.  So, I resorted to the universal sign language of desperation conveyed with an American G I Joe gusto that said through body gestures, “I don’t want to walk there.  I am very late!  Please drive me even if it costs $50 to go 10 feet!”

He interpreted my gestures differently from what I meant because he zoomed off with me towards the center of town.  He tossed me what looked like a Japanese language guide-book to the city with pictures of landmarks and pages of street maps.  It was like he was giving me a tour of the town as he pointed to various places.  Perceiving the misadventure ahead, I emphasized my unwavering interest in going to the phantom address by vigorously and repeatedly pointing at the address written on the paper.  He responded with more grunts mixed with smiles as if saying, “You can point all you want.  You are my prisoner.” After many miles, we arrived back where we began the city tour and parked outside the gas station.  A determined and, apparently, a compassionate man, the driver did not want to let me down now.  He went to the gas station’s workers and pulled them together for a conference.  For what seemed like an eternity, they diligently researched maps, considered directories, animatedly discussed possible locations, and pointed in various directions. Then the gas station workers appeared to bow to each other in a humble celebration. Grandly, one of them stepped forward from the group and pointed to a building directly across the street. In the same direction that the cart puller’s fellow worker had gestured to, and the taxi driver told me about, I wondered, in despair, “Could it be that the building was, all this time, just over there, and I hadn’t listened to them?” The elated cab driver, who dearly wanted to finish the job, eagerly waved me into the taxi.  Ecstatic, I jumped in.  With a simple U-turn, he would deliver me to the door of the building across the street.  But, of course, that would be too simple. We drove in Japan, and the strict traffic laws overrode any sense of simplicity. My cab driver pulled out, zoomed off, took a dozen or so turns down one-way streets, and we finally pulled up to the building that was across

the street. I could have walked back and forth between the building and gas station twenty times while in the cab.  Gratefully, I paid the taxi driver a ransom for my release plus a tip for the city tour.  As I walked into my sales agent’s office sixty minutes late, his lady assistant graciously approached me, saying, “He is waiting for you at the Kokusai hotel to bring you here.”  “Oh My God! What message did I miss that told me to wait there?” I thought in anguish. “I spoke with a half dozen Japanese, disrupted their morning routine, struggled endlessly to understand them, walked many city blocks, traveled unnecessary miles, felt the helplessness and hopelessness of being lost, arrived an hour late, and I only had to wait for the sales agent to quickly and efficiently take me to his office! Feeling quite humble, I entered the meeting room and sat down at the conference table. My sales agent began to speak, and I listened carefully to his direction.

I like your travel stories thanks for sharing!

I really like your post I appreciate your work , I will suggest your page with my friends

thank you so much for sharing this experience

Wish to see you in Morocco for a hot air balloon ride experience

Want more such kinds of posts, keep posting!

I love travelling and have craze too…….. Very interesting stories

Awesome Read. Thanks.

Capisoft Indicator in kenya

Thanks for sharing best information

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

IMAGES

  1. Funny Travel (Hanoi)

    funny travel vietnam

  2. FUNNY TRAVEL (Hanoi)

    funny travel vietnam

  3. 10 Days Off Beaten Track With Gorgeous Northern Vietnam Tour

    funny travel vietnam

  4. Funny Travel Vietnam

    funny travel vietnam

  5. 10 Days Off Beaten Track With Gorgeous Northern Vietnam Tour

    funny travel vietnam

  6. Funny Travel Vietnam

    funny travel vietnam

VIDEO

  1. The BEST Experience in Vietnam!

  2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY

  3. Hanoi countryside cycling tour

  4. Halong Private Charter Luxury Junk

  5. #travel #funny #funnyvideo #vietnam #dalat #смешно #смешноевидео

  6. Hanoi Biking Tour (Co Loa Ancient Day Trip )

COMMENTS

  1. Funny Travel Vietnam

    About Funny Travel Vietnam. Funny Travel has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia since 2010, catering to the traveler who is seeking an authentic journey through the region. We share our experience and passion for the region by designing, creating and operating life-changing vacation experiences.

  2. Vietnam Funny Travel

    VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL. 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Hochiminh City, Vietnam. Phone: +84 387 930 953. Email: [email protected]

  3. Funny Travel

    1,012 reviews. #76 of 1,084 Outdoor Activities in Hanoi. Multi-day ToursBike ToursEco ToursSightseeing ToursPrivate Tours. Closed now. 8:30 AM - 8:30 PM. Write a review. See all photos. About. Funny Travel has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Asia and special in Vietnam since 2010, catering to the traveler who is seeking ...

  4. Vietnam Funny Travel

    VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL. 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Hochiminh City, Vietnam. Phone: +84345 770 868. Email: [email protected]

  5. About Us

    Funny Travel has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia since 2010, catering to the traveler who is seeking an authentic journey through the region. We share our experience and passion for the region by designing, creating and operating life-changing vacation experiences. Each of our experiences is carefully ...

  6. About us

    VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL . More Than A Trip ! Contact.., VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL TRADING SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED; Address: 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, HCMC, VietNam; Hotline: +84 387 930 953; Tax No: 0317 641 309; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.funnytravel.vn;

  7. All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

    As an experienced travel partner, Vietnam Funny Travel is growing up by day to become the traveler's first best choice once they travel to Vietnam. The foundation of Vietnam Funny Travel success is within the knowledge of each destination, spirit, and zest of every single employee to deliver exceeding expectations and service standards. We ...

  8. About us

    Welcome to VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL ! Introduce, VIETNAM FUNNY TRAVEL TRADING SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED; Address: 24/26 Thu Khoa Huan Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, HCMC, VietNam Hotline: +84 345 770 868 - Tax No: 0317 641 309; Email: [email protected] - Website: www.funnytravel.vn The most incredible experience in travel is going to places that the locals do, learning about the history ...

  9. Funny Travel made our trip amazing!

    Funny Travel made our trip amazing! WOW, where to start. We had the most amazing experience in Vietnam with Vicky and the Funny Travel staff and there is no way we would have had such an incredible experience without their expertise. From the moment we booked Vicky communicated with us about what we hoped for in our 8 day trip in North Vietnam ...

  10. VIETNAMFUNNYTRAVEL: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go ...

    The most incredible experience in travel is going to places that the locals do, learning about the history, experiencing life, and having the best memory of every site you visit. As an experienced travel partner, Vietnam Funny Travel is growing up by day to become the traveler's first best choice once they travel to Vietnam.

  11. Công ty du lịch Funny Travel (Hà Nội, Việt Nam)

    Hiển thị kết quả 1 - 10 trong số 57. Công ty du lịch Funny Travel, Hà Nội: Xem đánh giá, bài viết và ảnh về Công ty du lịch Funny Travel, được xếp hạng Số trên Tripadvisor trong số điểm du lịch tại (Công ty du lịch Funny Travel, Hà Nội).

  12. COMBO

    COMBO | travelstyles | Funny Travel Vietnam. COMBO | travelstyles | Funny Travel Vietnam. Phương thức thanh toán; ... 01006188349 National Office of Intelectual Property of Vietnam No: 250095. 35 Gia Ngư, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Việt Nam +84919481386. [email protected].

  13. 72 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Vietnam

    Found: Tiny 'Elfish Eyebrow Toad'. It is very small. by Sarah Laskow. May 22, 2017. Learn More. Discover 72 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Vietnam from Hang Son ...

  14. 24 Fun Things To Do In Vietnam for a Great Trip

    Related: Tips To Spend 6 Days in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam General Fun Things To Do in Vietnam 1. Travel Across Vietnam on a Motorbike. Recommended by Campbell from Stingy Nomads. Riding a motorbike across Vietnam is the craziest, fun way of experiencing this amazing country. Vietnam is a long, narrow country so when driving north to south you won't miss any of the best sites.

  15. FUNNY TRAVEL

    Funny Travel has been the leader in creating real travel experiences in Asia and special in Vietnam since 2010, catering to the traveler who is seeking an authentic journey through the region. As the genuine South east of Asia ( Vietnam Special) we share our experience and passion for the region by designing, creating and operating life ...

  16. 10 Funny (and Unlucky) Short Stories from One Year of Travel

    4. Learning about domestic violence in Vietnam. This is one of my favorite funny travel short stories! This story both shows how incredibly friendly Vietnamese people can be towards foreigners, and how we humans can still manage to find a way to communicate without knowing each other's languages - and in spite of big cultural differences.

  17. Funny Travel

    Funny Travel, Hanoi, Vietnam. 1,698 likes · 1 was here. Tour Organizer- Tour Operator- DMC in Vietnam. Do not hesitate to contact us Ms. Vicky +84919481386 -

  18. Vietnam adventure

    2 Week Vietnam Programme. This 2 week Vietnam itinerary takes in the country's highlights from north to south. We'll fly into Hanoi and out of HCMC. Stops include Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City. There's time factored in to kick back on the beach at Hoi An - it is a holiday after all.

  19. Funny Travel (@funnytravelvietnam) • Instagram photos and videos

    169 Followers, 106 Following, 43 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Funny Travel (@funnytravelvietnam)

  20. 16 Short Funny Travel Stories That'll Make You Laugh Out Loud

    4. Trying To Pee On A Bumpy Bus Ride. If you enjoy travel love stories, this trip tale from our honeymoon has a humorous twist. While visiting Sapa, Vietnam on our honeymoon, we had to fly into the large city of Hanoi. From Hanoi, we could have either taken a bus, a train, or a rental car up to Sapa.