Why does this stuff always happen to me? A selection of bizarre incidents and strange happenings that I never planned for appears below. From being caught in a major earthquake to winning a jackpot in Japan, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. But don’t worry, none of this will happen to you on your travels… hopefully.
It’s almost the perfect fantasy. “Quit your job and travel the world!” But what if I told you that you shouldn’t? About ten years ago in Norway, I got an email from my boss back home with some bad news.
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I love Americans and I love visiting the US. The people are friendly, talkative and (mostly) clever, and they love Australians, so why shouldn’t I love them back?! There’s just one problem- and that’s that American airline companies and airport security don’t love me. At all. A case in point is the day US Customs found nitroglycerine on my cell phone.
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With airports supposedly a model of organisation, checking in, passing through security, reaching your gate and being cleared to board the correct plane is a walk in the park, right? Um, well actually…
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I first entered Morocco as an escape from my expiring Schengen zone visa (basically the European Union), but soon decided to stay for 6 months to teach surfing just outside the city of Agadir, in a small fishing turned surfing village named Taghazout, in Morocco’s South. The place was just too good, too crazy for an “escape”. Home to the Western Sahara desert, Atlas Mountains, delicious spice infused meals, world class surf breaks, various deadly animals and amazing people, I got more than I bargained for when I set foot in this North African country.
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I had been in bed not longer than an hour when I crept out of the room to visit the bathroom. Though I had arrived only an hour ago at Scott and Sam’s home in London, I figured they would probably already be sleeping. The house was silent and the chill London air was still outside. I was quiet as a mouse as I quietly opened the creaky bedroom door, careful not to wake my hosts. What happened next is perhaps the most terrifying tale of woe and whimsy in the history of travel-writing.
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Dad and I watched our TV horrified as the SUV was chased mercilessly through packed streets by police, swiping other cars and narrowly missing pedestrians. Finally, it had its tyres shot out, and it came to rest surrounded by 6 cops with guns drawn. As the guy surrendered and put his hands up out the open driver’s-side window, he was grabbed buy the police and dragged head-first out the window, face-planting the highway. “This crim thought he could get away with it,” the voiceover man said in his most badass tone. “He didn’t count on the dedication of the City’s police force.”
“Bloody hell,” exclaimed my Dad, as the “Bad Boys Bad Boys” music started. “When you go to the US, do not mess with the police. These guys are not messing around.”
But as is often the case with the USA, my expectations were opposed by my experiences. As it turned out, the police were pretty bloody nice!
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And now ladies and gentlemen it’s time for Part 2 of My Close Encounters with Australian Wildlife, where I tell the world about the elation and terror of my encounters with Australian animals and how it sometimes ended in tears. Last time, we discussed Spiders and Snakes. This time around, we discuss dingoes, killer jellyfish, kangaroos, koalas and drop bears, among other wondrous creatures of Australia.
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote 18 Strange Observations of America (from an Australian Living in the USA). I commented that America has some of the world’s most dangerous animals, including bears, bison, coyotes, bobcats, cougars, and panthers, and that I was far more afraid hiking in the US than I had ever been in Australia. The article has so far been read over 40,000 times, and this point seemed to be somewhat controversial. To be honest, none of the wildlife in Oz has really ever bothered me that much and I don’t think it bothers most Aussies. But it got me to thinking that actually, I have had many encounters with Australian animals and it sometimes ended in tears. I haven’t written much about Australia yet, and I thought these tales might amuse my readers in the USA and elsewhere.
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There was 45 minutes remaining til takeoff as I rushed up into the terminal. As I ran my gaze caught a plasma screen showing the BBC News. The label across the bottom of the screen shocked me- “THE ENTIRE TUBE SYSTEM HAS NOW BEEN SHUT DOWN”. How could this be?, I thought. I had just been on the tube! The anchorwoman was talking about a “major incident” on the London Underground. But I couldn’t stay to sate my curiosity as they were about to close the gate. I jumped on the plane and we took off for Japan. Later that day, shoeless, a crowd of onlookers whooped and cheered as I inexplicably won a major jackpot in a strange Japanese Pachinko parlour. If there’s anything to be expected when travelling, it’s the unexpected, as I found out during a most bizarre 24 hour period spanning two continents.
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We arrived at the farm early one morning to find hundreds of dogs in kennels going quite beserk at the prospect of going sledding with strangers. Wow, what an exhilirating way to travel the white tundra! The dogs would race like crazy along the flat or downhill, and you had to work hard to keep the sled under control. Respite would come as the dogs headed uphill, huffing and puffing and not stopping until they had reached the top. Alex rode the sled in front of ours and our dogs followed his- usually.
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