My classmate and I on a Dutch scholarship decide to backpack through Germany. On our first day we spent all our money on clothes and gifts and ended up surviving on sharing a burger a day for a week. It was the most beautiful awful trip we ever took. Rezaa Kasu

Visited Venice got lost one evening decided to look for small local restaurant. Found one best experience of visit. We were only one of two groups of foreigners. Owner walked from table to table to meet his customers. We felt so welcome as if visiting him in his own home. Ria Blatherwick

When walking around Connemara Ireland. I asked a local how to get to the nearest town (Letterfrack) and was told to jump over a national park fence. When asking if it wasn't illegal I was told: "Och it's a deer fence not a people fence!" Melanie Pieterkosky

Sitting on top of the red dunes in Sossusvlei, Namibia; one foot hanging over each side and watching the sun rise. Unbelievable. Jared Micheal Hersch

Lost in Munich without speaking German I ended up drinking too much beer in a very local pub. Not sure how to get home I was getting ready to try explain the taxi driver where I think I live — luckily the taxi driver was Australian! Eric Vos

Museums and the Queen? Pah! Try Brixton after dark for authentic London. Buying a cooldrink and my girlfriend looks nervous. “What’s up babe?” “That strange guy following us…” I confront him. He looks sheepish “Sorry okes I haven’t heard Afrikaans in ages and hearing you made me incredibly homesick…” Nic Louw

Easter weekend in Croatia we stayed in a small room in a little town called Sibenik whilst walking up side streets to their local market we watched as neighbours walked from house to house with baskets of hand-painted eggs. The Croates hospitality and generosity is heart-warming. Tiana Stanton

We were lost in Dublin and wandered into a pub cliché when someone produced a guitar the barlady started singing others got instruments and turned the pub into a concert for bewildered Saffers. Many drinks later we left still bewildered, but happy & pointed in the right direction. Timothy Barnes

Travelling through villages of India. Men idle squatted smoking while children tend goats and women work the fields. Smells of human and animal waste overwhelming; the whiff of curry comforting. At the end of a laborious journey the mirage of the Taj Mahal on the horizon. Breathtaking. Seema Dala

Having flown to London on British Airways with the idea of sightseeing in Britain we hired a car and set off for Wales. We stopped off at the end of each day at B&B's in places like St Davids and Swansea. We fell in love with Wales and stayed there for our whole 12 days. Eric Dalton

The heat of Slovenia’s coast drove us into an ice cream shop. Handing over a large bill to pay the owner smiled saying he didn’t have change but not to worry we could repay him later — in this life or the next! So began my holiday in the friendliest country. Sherilee Ebsworth

On visiting the quaint town of L’Estartit nestled between the mountain and the sea along Spain’s Costa Brava; its pristine marine reserve made for wonderful diving. One wouldn’t think so in the Med; but we saw a devil fire fish and large groupers plus a plethora of other sea critters. Elise Kirsten

Arriving in Washington first time in States and taking what I thought was a taxi was a Nigerian who had just arrived and together we explored Washington me directing him where to go with my maps and seeing the city together through "african" eyes Rita Effune

A ride on an old 1920's bicycle through rural Italy Fruielli region near Aiello seeing the countryside through the eyes of a local. All the local folklore and tales of years gone by. So many friendly faces then stopping at a quaint tavern for the best Italian ice-cream. WHAT A MEMORY!!!! Glenda Sivertsen

I was lost in Florence while my stingy boyfriend searched for cheap lodgings and I was left with the car in a no-parking zone! Chased away by police and helped by a dashing man who drove me back only to meet my irate boyfriend who punched him for “hijacking me”. Nicci Richardson

My mom and I toured the UK for 2 weeks in 1997. The idea was: Hire a car and travel in an anti-clockwise direction around the UK. We had made no reservations bookings detailed plans; we just enjoyed ourselves. It was the craziest and best holiday ever. Bruce Billson