The Titanic Awards

Name Paul Brady
Who? Former Editor of the travel site Jaunted.com. Named by Chris Elliott as one of the seven most influential travel bloggers of 2007. Freelance writer. More at paulbrady.tumblr.com/
Age 26
Countries Visited 24

Titanic Nominations
1. Worst Island Easter Island. I thought it was pretty miserable — expensive, uninteresting food, my hotel was a dump  and it was hard to engage with the local community, unlike the rest of Chile, where it’s easy to strike up conversation. The statues were cool, but the island just didn’t have a warm and welcoming feel.  I wasn’t sad to get on the flight back.
2. Worst Toilet A hostel in Dublin, which perhaps isn’t what you’d expect. And if I could remember the name, I’d love to see it printed — it seems I’ve repressed the memory. I was there during the Six Nations Rugby Championship and it was impossible to find a place to stay. The toilet was in the basement. There was a sliver of light coming in the cellar window and every surface was wet with something.  Usually something nasty. It was so bad, I never showered, and I went into the nearby pub to use their toilet after I made the mistake of using the hostel toilet once.
3. Worst Bus Ride In Nicaragua. I heard about a town called El Sauce and a guy leaning out of a bus was calling out the name of the town so I jumped on thinking it would be an hour-long day trip. But it took 7 hours on really bad roads. It stopped everywhere and I don’t know if we ever went faster than 10mph. I kept asking the driver when we’d be there and he kept indicating it was just up ahead. When we got there I was exhausted. And the next bus wasn’t leaving until 5am the next day. I had nothing with me but some change in my pocket — I hadn’t expected to be gone for more than a few hours.
4. Most Disappointing Attraction I wasn’t so impressed with Machu Picchu. It took so much effort and cost so much money to get there.  Then what you see is a bunch of guys with cargo shorts wearing bandanas sitting on every ruin you look at.  All these dirty hikers who just walked the Inca Trail are milling around and it feels like a bum convention. And so crowded.
5.Worst Scam It was the only one that got me. And just for $1. But it still bothers me. It was on the Corn islands of Nicaragua. You fly to the big island and take a boat to the little island.  I got to the boat dock on the big island and a guy sells me a luggage ticket. Then the boat captain comes over and tells me I need a luggage ticket. I hold mine up for inspection. He looks at it and says that it’s not a real ticket. And the guy who sold it to me has disappeared.

Famous Travelers easter island, jaunted, machu picchu, paul brady