Expired passports and poison ivy and grandmother brought the cat on the road trip...oh my! This summer, we asked you to—in 59 words or fewer—tell the story of the worst vacation EVER.
Here we present the winner and finalists.
WINNER
After two millennia, they finally approved Death's vacation leave. He walked at the edge of the pool, grinning as he sipped his margarita. Death was about to sit down when a little girl waded into the deep portion of the pool, a drunk man slipped near the wooden tables, and a boy dived into the shallow end. "Damn it!"
Mary Jane Lingad
FINALISTS
The winding Langkawi road blurred in a streak of hostile tropical green as I chased the handbag thieves on a scooter. My wife's terrified grip tightened. A surprise collision devolved into a chaotic footchase. If not for the machete-wielding local fisherman, we'd have lost the passports. A terrifying turn for the trip, but an amusing recollection for eternity.
Tyagarajan Sundaresan
Mommom, swearing by some strange idea she read on an email chain. Me, legs cramping in the backseat. Poppop, lecturing about the birds and the bees and Blake Shelton. Dinner, raw under the hood, smoked by the engine’s heat. The smell of exhaust and unroasted beef, helping the curves in the road convince my stomach to give up everything.
Natalie Jisi
