Travel Stories (seeing that we can’t)

[N4TE]

I’m trying to think of travel stories I can share here! I’ve seen some pretty bad shit that would put a dampener on a fun thread.

One of the coolest things that’s happened to me was when I got talking to a group of guys who were all college football stars for the Longhorns in Texas. One of them was getting married and they were about to start a bucks week. One of their mates was sick and they had a spot they had to fill. What an amazing week I’ll never forget

Now I want to hear those other ones..

 

[DinkumDog]

No way! I did Anzac Day in Gallipoli the year after in 2006 when there was no alcohol. It was hosted by Andrew Denton and was absolutely incredible. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

Hahaha it’s so funny how many times that drinks scam happens. I’ve traveled a lot but Turkey was probably the dodgiest country I’ve been to.

We helped a guy out when we were there. A very slow farmer from Townsville.
He thought he had met a glamour who wanted him until the champagne bill came. We got him out of it. He wanted to hang out with us after that but I got the sense the bloke was a walking talking shit magnet so told him to piss off.

The very next night we were walking past another bar and heard a commotion. Yep, you guessed it, same bloke, same scam. The last I saw of him he was running towards the blue mosque being chased by a gang of tough little guys and an angry hooker haha. Speaking of the mosque, the call to prayer after an hours sleep was not a welcome alarm clock each day

Small world. Yeah Gallipoli for Anzac is awesome.
Given you arrive at pitch black it’s not until dawn that you appreciate what our boys walked into and how easily they were picked off to begin with but how much we should admire them for how they fought back and gained the ascendancy. Hopefully similar at Belmore!

Yeah the drinks scam is as old as the hills. I felt pretty dopey afterwards but they’ve got it down to a fine art and it’s not hard to get sucked into although old mate from Townsville has no excuse - twice!! .

It all ended well though, our work hosts took us out on their yacht and I got to sail it down the Bosphorus which was awesome. Just dug out pics: memories .

 

[DinkumDog]

Don’t fuck with Aussies

 

[DinkumDog]

Mate, I wasn't laughing at the time. I was shit scared.

Alone in a city I didn't know, and wondering how far these guys might go to keep their activities secret. It can't have been legal; and nobody knew I was in Frankfurt. They could have done anything to me. A young foreigner, long hair, tanned and toned - all their dreams come true.

I can laugh now; but back then I was terrified.

The weird thing was that I had a few guys try to pick me up on my travels; and girls too. Don't know what made guys think I was interested.

Nice story. I saw a stunning girl in the Tourist Office in Ulm. I tried to think of a way I could ask her out, so I used the lame "Hello, I hear that Ulm has the best Apfel Strudel in Germany, can you suggest a good place to try some?" My next line was going to be "and would you like to join me?"

To my surprise, her reply was "Sure. My place. I get off at 5.00"

The only bummer was her fiance arrived back a day early, and found us sitting up in bed eating strudel. She went ballistic and chased him out.

Next day I hitchhiked to Salzburg, and wondered what became of their relationship

Chris you were quite the muckraker - love it! .

 

[N4TE]

So can I call this one a travel into Sydney’s elite shady goings on story.

So not a travel story because I was on a boat party on Sydney Harbour that something princess that’s all tinted glass. So music is pumping and everyone is smashed. I get talking to this guy who looks worse for ware ask if he’s all good and he has just had a “big day” the boat docks and he’s like to my mate and I.. Party is kicking on a my Dads place he has a joint on the Harbour.

(I won’t say where but there is a big clown faced amusement park there)

So we think fuck yeah this guy will have all the glamours of Sydney here we might be in for a chance or at least a mad kick on. We get there and the place is a mega mega mansion on Syd ect Harbour my mate has also had a very large day and doesn’t notice but I’m like bro there are no girls here hey..

Not wanting to be rude to the guy that invited us but I’m starting to get the vibe he introduces us to his dad who is in his 60’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt but also doing coke and has a massive painting/portrait of him in his high court judge robes.

I probably should not say a lot to much more apart from the fact that there were a lot of boys having fun down the back in the spa bath and once invited I politely said yeah yeah I’m just going to get changed in your bathroom and dragged my mate in and our hostgave us the little wink wink and we proceeded to climb out the bathroom window and sprint down the street.

(heaps more bizarre and incriminating shit that I saw that won’tbe mentioned)

Fuck knows why we didn’t just walk out the front door but we definitely had fun escaping and got to see the goings on of the other elite half live and get up to.. We were also both buckled and pissed ourselves the whole way back walking over the bridge saying did that actually just happen..

 

[Natboy]

Small world. Yeah Gallipoli for Anzac is awesome.
Given you arrive at pitch black it’s not until dawn that you appreciate what our boys walked into and how easily they were picked off to begin with but how much we should admire them for how they fought back and gained the ascendancy. Hopefully similar at Belmore!
View attachment 20577
Yeah the drinks scam is as old as the hills. I felt pretty dopey afterwards but they’ve got it down to a fine art and it’s not hard to get sucked into although old mate from Townsville has no excuse - twice!! .

It all ended well though, our work hosts took us out on their yacht and I got to sail it down the Bosphorus which was awesome. Just dug out pics: memories .

Nice mate. Yep we had no chance. I was shocked how steep it was. Near impossible to climb and that’s without some prick shooting at you

 

[Chris Harding]

Haha I bet! What a spin out.
How was the strudel?

The strudel was good; but the strudel at Felsenegg, near Zurich is still my favourite.
The lady was delightful.

 

[Natboy]

The strudel was good; but the strudel at Felsenegg, near Zurich is still my favourite.
The lady was delightful.

Love it mate!

 

[N4TE]

So not my story but a great mates. I was chatting in the NFL thread about what you usually do (if you even give a rats arse) on Superbowl day made me think about it.

So mate and his friend go to Hawaii and get talking to an American bloke and get along well get invited back have drinks and more drinks and it turns out it’s Terry Bradshaws son (for those that don’t know and I’m not the biggest expert but he is like an immortal in Rugby League and now the Ray Warren of commentary in the NFL) They hit it off so well that he invited them out a few other times to see the town meets his family ect ect.

When it’s time to leave mates, mate who has the gift of the gab says hey we will come back next year and stay with your family if your dad gets us Super Bowl tickets. He says Fucking I’ll hold you to it fellas if you will really come you will be my guests.

They keep in touch and low and behold he is good for his word and says Dad got you boys tickets for this years SuperBowl in Las Vegas.

Opportunity not to miss so the boys pull strings with work beg missus lie cheat and steal to book flights out to Vegas.

They get there and his son (can’t remember his name, could probably just google) meets them takes them out on the town (one of them is single so fuck those stories arenot for publishing) and they get to watch the Super Bowl in Vegas on Terry Bradshaws press tickets which are worth a mint (thousands apparently) Apparently they got to briefly meet Terry Bradshaw had the times of their lives and they lost all their money pissing it up and playing the tables.

there are 1001 more epic stories from this adventure but because they are not mine I’ll leave it there.

They have both reported they would have had even greater memories from the trip if they could remember any of them

 

[bulldogsfan_88]

So not mine story but a great mates. I was chatting in the NFL thread about what you usually do (if you even give a rats arse) on Superbowl day made me think about it.

So mate and his friend go to Hawaii and get talking to an American bloke and get along well get invited back have drinks and more drinks and it turns out it’s Terry Bradshaws son (for those that don’t know and I’m not the biggest expert but he is like an immortal in Rugby League and now the Ray Warren of commentary in the NFL) They hit it off so well that he invited them out a few other times to see the town meets his family ect ect.

When it’s time to leave mates, mate who has the gift of the gab says hey well come back next year and stay with your family if your dad gets us Super Bowl tickets. He says Fucking I’ll hold you to it fellas if you will really come you will be my guests.

They keep in touch and low and behold he is good for his word and says Dad got you boys tickets for this years SuperBowl in Las Vegas.

Opportunity not to miss so the boys pull strings with work beg missus lie cheat and steal to book flights out to Vegas.

They get there and his son (can’t remember his name, could probably just google) meets them takes them out on the town (one of them is single so fuck those stories arenot for publishing) and they get to watch the Super Bowl in Vegas on Terry Bradshaws press tickets which are worth a mint (thousands apparently) Apparently they got to briefly meet Terry Bradshaw had the times of their lives and they lost all their money pissing it up and playing the tables.

there are 1001 more epic stories from this adventure but because they are not mine I’ll leave it there.

They have both reported they would have had even greater memories from the trip if they could remember any of them

Bradshaw is an absolute legend of the mighty Steelers... up there with the greatest QBs of all time. That is an pretty epic story mate!! Very jealous

 

[N4TE]

Bradshaw is an absolute legend of the mighty Steelers... up there with the greatest QBs of all time. That is an pretty epic story mate!! Very jealous

Yeah they said it was amazing if not a very long and drunk experience going to the Super Bowl. I was so jealous hearing some of the tales. One of my mates not the closer one but they guy that just gets along with everybody’s the room with the gift of the gab has kept in touch with his son and his family has actually stayed at his place with them since that Super Bowl. Think they were trying to sort out going to another one but Covid happened and it’s not that easy or cheap but they are apparently still pretty good mates with Bradshaws son.

 

[DinkumDog]

Signed a new customer in Kazakhstan.
LA office of my then company screwed up the first delivery, sending it to Sydney not Almaty. This in the days before digital so delivery contains video tapes.

I scramble and jump on a flight to Bangkok then on to Almaty. Two suitcases, 1.5 with the delivery contents, the rest some clothes. Arrive in Almaty shattered but the delivery would get there. Customer agreed to meet me in the arrival hall as she didn’t want to have to answer to her boss either, so I collect the two suitcases from the belt and I’m heading out when I get stopped by Customs who wanted to check my bags. They find video tapes, wanted to know the contents - I say ‘movies’ - pretty sure they thought porn. Two Russian only speaking military types turn up and are speaking to Customs. I’m picturing a bleak future in the Almaty Hilton (prison) and the blood is draining from my face given I knew the video tapes were scrambled for special players and if the tapes were played on a regular VCR’s I couldn’t prove otherwise. I’d also discovered my then mobile carrier had no roaming agreement in Kazakhstan so no phone signal.

I’m escorted to an office. They want to verify my claims. Their English is as bad as my Russian and it’s 11pm so who’s going to pick up their phones. Luckily the office door is open and suddenly a young woman walks in speaking Russian. She had an airside pass for her work and came looking for me, seeing me sitting in the office trying to explain it’s all legit. She turned to me and asked my name in English and I confirmed it was me. She shows some paperwork along with her ID and gives the Customs guys a gobful in Russian before saying ‘Let’s go’. We grab the suitcases and leave, she’d arranged a car to drop the delivery at the 24/7 warehouse then head to my hotel. I sleep for 4 hours, then leave and fly back to Sydney via Seoul. All up I was gone under 48 hours and for a short time thought I was Gulag bound, never be heard from again.

There’s a PS to the story but that’s for another time. Maybe .

 

[Natboy]

Signed a new customer in Kazakhstan.
LA office of my then company screwed up the first delivery, sending it to Sydney not Almaty. This in the days before digital so delivery contains video tapes.

I scramble and jump on a flight to Bangkok then on to Almaty. Two suitcases, 1.5 with the delivery contents, the rest some clothes. Arrive in Almaty shattered but the delivery would get there. Customer agreed to meet me in the arrival hall as she didn’t want to have to answer to her boss either, so I collect the two suitcases from the belt and I’m heading out when I get stopped by Customs who wanted to check my bags. They find video tapes, wanted to know the contents - I say ‘movies’ - pretty sure they thought porn. Two Russian only speaking military types turn up and are speaking to Customs. I’m picturing a bleak future in the Almaty Hilton (prison) and the blood is draining from my face given I knew the video tapes were scrambled for special players and if the tapes were played on a regular VCR’s I couldn’t prove otherwise. I’d also discovered my then mobile carrier had no roaming agreement in Kazakhstan so no phone signal.

I’m escorted to an office. They want to verify my claims. Their English is as bad as my Russian and it’s 11pm so who’s going to pick up their phones. Luckily the office door is open and suddenly a young woman walks in speaking Russian. She had an airside pass for her work and came looking for me, seeing me sitting in the office trying to explain it’s all legit. She turned to me and asked my name in English and I confirmed it was me. She shows some paperwork along with her ID and gives the Customs guys a gobful in Russian before saying ‘Let’s go’. We grab the suitcases and leave, she’d arranged a car to drop the delivery at the 24/7 warehouse then head to my hotel. I sleep for 4 hours, then leave and fly back to Sydney via Seoul. All up I was gone under 48 hours and for a short time thought I was Gulag bound, never be heard from again.

There’s a PS to the story but that’s for another time. Maybe .

Haha I can imagine. I’m looking forward to the p.s. when I see you mate

 

[Roll the Bones]

Maybe a mildly interesting story. In 2007, me and the misses went from Brisbane to LA, then straight on to New York. We arrived in NY about 11pm and were totally knackered and we crashed. In the morning, we opened the curtain of the hotel room and realised we overlooked the Twin Towers site.