From a narrow escape from an IRA bomb to shark encounters and a false missile alert, readers share their most terrifying vacation stories.
'We Survived Because We Were Catholic Redheads'
In early 1969, Marcus Graham's parents booked a holiday in Belfast and a B&B in Dublin. Upon arriving at the Elsinore Hotel in Belfast, the 12-year-old noticed the empty parking lot and the elderly couple running the nearly deserted hotel. The owners treated the Catholic family warmly, with photos of JFK and the pope adorning the walls.
Days after returning home, Graham and his father watched the news: a bomb had destroyed the Elsinore Hotel, which was a reported IRA meeting point. "My dad spilled his dinner on the floor and shouted 'Good God!'", Graham recalls. Their English number plate in an IRA-heavy lot was a miracle they survived. "We were a family of Catholic redheads even though we were English," he says.
'Our Honeymoon Was a Silent Comedy'
Fiona Irwin's 2008 honeymoon turned into a Laurel and Hardy sketch. After a drunken wedding, the couple wasn't speaking. Their car broke down en route to the airport, forcing a rental. At the resort, they learned their accommodation was two miles out of town with no transport due to a religious feast day.
"We walked uphill in baking sun, a wheel fell off my suitcase, and my husband walked barefoot because of blisters," Irwin says. The site restaurant was closed, so they ate frozen pizza. "He said we could have eaten the box and it would have tasted better." Despite it all, they're still married 18 years later.
'The Water Turned Red from My Blood'
Tim Halliday, who can't swim, visited Fiji 20 years ago. While kayaking with a friend, he lost control and flipped. Panicked, he kicked and hit coral, cutting his foot badly. "The water was red from my blood. That's when the shark fins appeared," he says.
A local surfer rescued him just as sharks circled. "My friend said something about the sharks, and he laughed and said 'they won't kill you, they might take a nibble'," Halliday recalls. After bandaging his foot, they went for beers.
'I Saw the Missile Approaching in My Mind'
On a Hawaiian vacation, Benjamin Malay and his partner Alison received an alert: "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. This is not a drill." Panic set in. Alison fainted, and people rushed around in fear.
"I carried her to a chair, and a woman offered to call 911. I wondered how emergency services would be prioritized," Malay says. They decided to wait on the beach. "I pictured the missile approaching, a nightmare image of nuclear detonation."
Minutes later, a second alert declared a false alarm. "Thirty-eight minutes of my vacation were stolen, but my souvenir was a glimpse of eternity," he reflects.