Do any of you have that one friend that you would NEVER travel with? Not because they’re not a wonderful person but because they cannot go on a simple trip without the craziest things happening to them? I have a friend just like that. She loves to travel, has been to the most AMAZING places and yet there is always some calamity or disaster (usually of the hilarious variety) which overshadows the rest of her trip. We don’t want to know about the weather or the food or the sights when she returns…we just want to know what went wrong this time.
Below is her latest story, a souvenir to all her friends, from her recent pre-Christmas trip to Lapland with her granddaughter. It is told – almost – as she sent it me in her own inimitable style. In order to protect identities, no names will be revealed. Except Rudolph. And Santa.
Hi Emmalene, Wishing u, hubby, mum & dad a v Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Thought u might like to know my latest story about our reindeer drama in Lapland – will make u laf…
Went for a reindeer ride but the reindeer were misbehaving & the people were struggling to control them. Apparently a child squealed & they all got spooked & shot off pulling us along at speed in the sleighs trying to overtake each other. Crashing into trees & bumping into one another. I got nudged in the neck twice by a reindeer fortunately not one with antlers otherwise it could have been quite painful. My friend & her daughter’s reindeer crashed into a tree & their sleigh overturned & they got thrown out. Their reindeer then went into the sleigh in front & was trampling on the family. Kids were crying, sledges were in pieces & one of the reindeer people got kicked in the head twice. My granddaughter was crying saying “nasty reindeer nanny I want to get out” but no one got seriously hurt & we’ve lived to tell the tale & whilst a bit scary at the time sounds funny looking back – it could only happen to me hey. Fortunately the girls seem to be over their trauma & now refer to it as the crazy reindeer ride. Needless to say we got a full refund & the kids got a present from Santa with a letter of apology saying he’d sent Rudolph to reprimand them.
PS…because [husband] was the only adult in a sleigh on his own they left him for an hour whilst they sorted out the chaos & he was frozen.. had icicles hanging from his eyebrows…
See what I mean? Thousands of people have wonderful, exciting reindeer experiences every year, but this trip of a lifetime will be remembered for very different reasons!
Thank you to my friend for letting me share her tale…we will get together over a glass of wine (or Tia Maria 😉) soon and I am going to make her tell me ALL her travel tales once more…I have a feeling there will be enough for an ongoing series…
Do you have any calamitous travel tales to tell? Do you want to hear more from my anonymous friend? And is a reindeer ride still on your bucket list after hearing this tale? Let me know in the comments!
Love it, and what a fantasic idea to blog about friends holiday experiences!! By the way, no reindeer rides in the near future 🙂
Seriously, we could fill a book with my friend’s experiences alone! I always thought reindeer were quite docile creatures 😆🦌
I’m not sure how long a reindeer would be docile if we sat on them 🙂 I think a weekly – “tell me a travel story” might go down a treat!
I think your friend needs a weekly guest spot on your blog!
Nah I think I’ll skip a reindeer ride thanks. Haha oh dear. It did sound quite traumatic, but hilarious at the same time!
Wow! That is quite a story. Glad she lived to tell the tale!!
Oh wow!! I’m actually quite surprised this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often!
Yeah, you only ever hear the wonderful, magical stories…I bet this is a pretty common occurence but no-one likes to admit it!
lol I think you *should* travel with your friend! It’s the crazy things that make the best stories! I’m glad no-one was hurt though!
Things like this happen to me when I’m on my own, but far less when I’m with my hubby. I think he calms the world around me!!
Funny
In Finland.
Reindeer race.
I think my friend’s reindeer might have been training for this!
I don’t have a friend like that but it seems so fun to travel with such friend, Em! This story was an excellent read!
Thank you so much… I think a holiday with said friend would require another holiday just to get over the experience!
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