5 Dream Vacations That Ended With a Trip to Jail

It takes months of planning to pull off the perfect vacation. And while you can predict flight delays or slow Wi-Fi at your hotel, it never crosses your mind that one wrong move could land you in jail.

There are few things worse than ending up in jail in another country. The language is different, the customs are foreign, and the laws are often a far cry from the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” that applies in the United States.

If the following stories teach anything, it’s to always get your passport stamped, never buy an antique, and always ask the guy sharing your cab if he’s carrying drugs.

Arrested for drugs in East Timor

Stacey in Antarctica (Photo: Stacey Addison)

Stacey Addison left her home in Portland, Ore., to embark on a dream trip around the world. After selling all her belongings, the 41-year old veterinarian left home in January 2013 and started her journey in Antarctica.

Cut to September 2013, when Addison crossed the border from Indonesia to East Timor in a shared taxi. According to her Facebook page, one of the men in the cab asked to stop at the DHL office to pick up a package that contained drugs. Indonesian authorities had been tipped off, and after the man picked up the package, the vehicle was stopped and everyone inside was arrested. After an initial search, Addison was released. But a few days later, authorities came to her hotel and arrested her. This time they took her passport away and held her in a woman’s prison for two months.

After receiving media attention, Addison was finally released from prison on Christmas Day 2014. She couldn’t leave the country until her passport was returned, and she arrived back in Oregon on March 5, 2015.

Related: Next Time, Take the Bus — The Worst Rental Car Nightmares

Caught with no stamp in her passport

After spending 6 days in a Mexican prison, Kylie Bretag was allowed to return home. (Photo: Jay Cronan/Sydney Morning Herald)

Many people go all out for their 30th birthday, but sometimes, the celebration can turn into a disaster.

Last October, Kylie Bretag journeyed all the way from Australia to celebrate her birthday in Mexico. As a way to save money, Bretag entered Mexico on foot by crossing the border from California. This was totally legal, but apparently Mexican officials never stamped her passport.

Bretag was traveling solo around Mexico, but was on her way to meet a friend in Cancún when an immigration official boarded her bus at the Tenosique checkpoint and checked her stampless passport. She was immediately detained and spent six days at a Mexican detention center.

Bretag was kept in a crowded cell with women and children. She was only permitted outside once in six days, and wasn’t allowed to shower.

“It was a dream trip, and it’s all gone horribly wrong,” Bretag told the Sydney Morning Herald.

After six days in jail, Bretag was moved to another detention center in Mexico City before she was eventually released. She landed back in Sydney on Nov. 3, 2014, with quite the story to tell… and still missing the Mexican stamp in her passport.

Accused of stealing an antique

The sword in question. (Photo: Maureen O’Connor)

It’s Vacation 101 — you go, you see, you buy a souvenir. The key is to make sure that the souvenir isn’t a precious antique.

Martin O'Connor and his wife were nearing the end of their trip to Turkey when they decided to stop by the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. There, the Chicago businessman purchased an Arab sword that he haggled down to a price of $500.

Two days later, O’Connor was stopped by Turkish authorities while going through the airport on his departure. They believed the sword was a valuable antiquity, and O’Connor stayed behind to work things out while his wife boarded the plane to Chicago. Before he knew it, O’Connor was thrown in jail for eight days and charged with attempting to smuggle an artifact — an offense punishable by 12 years behind bars!

“I went through a nightmare,” O’Connor told the Chicago Tribune. “And my wife went through a nightmare, not knowing what was happening with me in prison.”

In the end, O’Connor was released and able to return home. However, he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and travel expenses.

Landed a hot air balloon in prison

Maybe next the tourists will view the camels from the ground. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Two female tourists were visiting India when they decided to take a hot air balloon over the Pushkar Camel Fair in the state of Rajasthan. This sounds almost idyllic, and it was… until the hot air balloon was forced to land, due to strong winds. Unbeknownst to the balloon operator, the craft had landed in the football field of the nearby Ajmer Central Jail. In other words, this mishap literally landed the tourists in jail. Thinking that the women were attempting a jailbreak, authorities detained and questioned them for two hours before releasing them. 

The next day, the women opted for a much safer activity — riding elephants.

Related: WATCH: Plane Truths — In-Flight Nightmares at 30,000 Feet

Imprisoned for a bullet in a suitcase

Horace Norrell spent three days in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. (Photo: Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

When you reach the age of 80, you might assume that you’ve seen it all. But when a relaxing vacation turned into a nightmare, one man was reminded that life never stops throwing you curveballs.

Horace Norrell had just spent eight relaxing days in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, celebrating his 80th birthday with his wife, Beth. At the end of the trip, the couple headed to the airport, went through security and were stopped for a bag search. That’s when the American Airlines agent found a 9mm round.

Norrell insisted that it wasn’t his but was charged with carrying the rounds without a valid firearms license, questioned for two hours, and thrown in jail for three days. The justice presiding at the islands’ Supreme Court finally allowed him to post $4,000 bail and return to the United States. 

In an odd turn of events, another person at Providenciales International Airport was arrested the day before Norrell for the same offense. Eventually, Turks and Caicos prosecutors dropped all charges against the two American tourists.

Let Yahoo Travel inspire you every day. Hang out with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Check out our original adventure travel series, “A Broad Abroad.”