Eleven unforgettable trips, fifty-something other stories, and a few lessons learned the hard way.
A collection of true travel disasters, near-disasters, and decisions no reasonable person would defend.
Here are three to give you the idea. The rest are in the book, where they belong.
In 2002 my employer named me trip leader and sent me to narrate three Asian countries I'd mostly never seen, to forty engineers, from the front of a moving bus. I had a clipboard, a Texas accent, and gaps I filled with confidence. Somewhere in there I think I invented a fact about rubber trees. And here's the part that should worry you: this is one of the trips that went well.
Fall of 1980, behind a fraternity house, a guy named Tom couldn't see how full his trash can of Everclear was. So he asked for a flashlight. My friend Rex said he didn't have one, but he had matches. A reasonable person would stop the story here. No reasonable person was present.
1993, Merriweather Post Pavilion, several beers deep. It occurred to me that ramming my friend's Port-a-Potty at a dead run would be tremendous fun. I backed up, lowered my shoulder, and charged. Then the door opened. It was not my friend. What emerged was, by my conservative estimate, a seven-foot linebacker.
The full Trips From Hell site is coming, with more stories, including the ones readers send in. Sign up and I'll tell you when it's live.