A woman recently shared her unsettling experience during a trip and why she has decided never to return to that particular city. Although travel came to a standstill during the pandemic, many are now eager to resume their adventures, like the man who has managed to visit 190 countries.
For those seeking inspiration for their travel plans, there is one place that this woman has vowed to avoid due to the stress it caused her. Geraldine Joaquim, who has traveled to over 60 countries and takes around four vacations annually, believes in experiencing both the positive and negative aspects of a destination. However, an overnight stay in a particular city left such a negative impression that she decided not to return.
Joaquim was on a work-related trip to Isla Margarita, located in the Caribbean Sea as part of Venezuela. She flew from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Her flight landed late at night, and she had arranged for a car to take her from the airport to a hotel in the city center, where she would stay overnight before continuing to her final destination.
She recounted, “It felt pretty normal until I started waiting for the transfer, and waited and waited. I was there for hours and as the small airport emptied I realized I was alone.”
Joaquim explained that her phone wasn’t working and there was nobody else around. When a man appeared and communicated in broken English that he was there to take her to the hotel, she felt relieved.
However, upon entering the vehicle and noticing another man in the front seat, her anxiety soared. “I would never normally get in a car with two strange men but I had no other options, so I got a tiny pen knife from my hand luggage and spent the 30-minute journey on high alert with it clutched in my hand,” she recalled.
Fortunately, Joaquim reached the hotel safely, but she experienced restless sleep and the alarming incidents didn’t stop there.
The following day, when she returned to the airport, her bags appeared to be stolen while she was paying the driver. Joaquim confronted the man, who claimed to be offering an informal ‘check-in service’ and demanded she pay a fee.
With reluctance, she handed over some money and then proceeded to catch her flight back to the UK.