Take a vacation, they said, it will be fun, they said. Except if it’s not. Because the truth is, no matter what the pitch-perfect shots on social media show, what the travel blogs tell you, what the summer getaway packages promise you, no one is safe from their holiday going from ripe to sour in no time.
The same goes with holiday pictures. It’s no secret that part of the motive to travel is driven by a wish to have great photos. Something to put on your Facebook page, something to share on Instagram, something to show off to your friends and colleagues, because humans are vain and it doesn’t take a whole lot to feel good.
This post is a safe place to talk about hard things. So if you’ve ever seen your dream holiday pictures crashing down like a sand castle, know that you’re far from the only one. We have all looked like lost potatoheads and sunburnt crabs, been photobombed or betrayed by weather at some point of our vacation.
So Bored Panda has compiled this list of travel photo fails to soothe our holiday-hungry souls and remind us that we can always take our fedora and go on yet another trip to collect not just good, but the very best pics. Psst! More vacation photo fails can be found in our previous feature right here.
Read More: 50 Times People Shared Their Travel Photos Because They Turned Out Terrible (New Pics)
#1 Tried To Take A Panoramic Picture Of The Eiffel Tower Today, It Went Surprisingly Well
Image credits: Lifelapse
#2 Thanks Tour Guide For Taking Such A Great Photo Of Everyone
Image credits: finnicko
#3 Going To Cristo And Taking A 3D Photo Is Priceless
Image credits: Pedromendonca15
#4 It’s All About The Journey Though Right?
Image credits: xoShaaan
#5 My Sister Rented A Flat Here In North Of Iceland For Christmas, This Is Her View
Image credits: maggipedia
#6 Visited The Grand Canyon. Pictures Don’t Do It Justice
Image credits: bostontom
#7 Me, Outside The Duomo In Milan, Getting Photobombed. By A Pigeon
Image credits: wilko2205
#8 Trying To Explain To The 70-Year-Old Swiss Man Who Offered To Take Our Pic That His Finger Was Covering The Lens
Image credits: Inesmu
#9 Not Mount Rushmore, But I Woke Up At 3AM And Hiked Up Machu Picchu To Be There At Sunrise
Image credits: ranzprinzessin
#10 Went To Go See The Golden Gate Bridge
Image credits: thebeardedteach
#11 We Hiked 3 Hours To Get A Good Picture Of Our Hometown. Our City Is On The Left
Image credits: 97Hshk
#12 This Guy Having A Selfie With Mona Lisa
Image credits: tarandfeathers
#13 The “Waterfall” My Family Drove Two Hours To See
Image credits: Single_Savage
#14 Expectation vs. Reality. London Edition
Image credits: anticlimaticveg
#15 Go To The Taj Mahal At Sunrise, They Said. It’ll Be Beautiful, They Said
Image credits: the_breadlord
#16 Bought These Binoculars Specifically To Go To The Grand Canyon Today
Image credits: Ericalva91
#17 I’ve Noticed This Guy Just Now, A Few Days After I Took The Photo And This Photo Will Be In My Tourist Association Book
Image credits: Monaj1
#18 Climbed North Europa’s Tallest Mountain At 8100 Feet, And Got This Picture
Image credits: White_Plastic_Cup
#19 My Wife At The Top Of The Sears/Willis Tower On A Foggy Day
Image credits: heming_sway
#20 A Nice Asian Family Asked My Son To Take A Picture Of Them. He Didn’t Understand
Image credits: truth_seerum81
#21 Waited Forever For The Crowd To Dissipate To Take A Picture, Then This Happened
Image credits: Shaneblaster
#22 Guy Took Week Off Of Work To Climb Mountain Kilimanjaro And Raise Money For Charity. This Is The Picture His Guide Took At The Summit Before The Phone Died
Image credits: crash288
#23 I (Left) Was Excited To See The Tip Of Africa From Gibraltar But – Fog. Still The Closest I’ve Ever Been
Image credits: WhatAJSaid
#24 The Only Photo I Have Of Myself On My Camera From My Only Overseas Trip
Image credits: Neon_state
#25 Tried To Grab A Quick Photo While Driving Past The Washington Monument
Image credits: spiggerish
#26 Went On A Hike Today Which Promised Stunning Views. My Pic Is On The Bottom
Image credits: reddit.com
#27 I Traveled From UK All The Way To Germany To Take Photos Of The Devil’s Eye, But When I Got There
Image credits: AlleDs
#28 This Is My Wife And I At The Highest Point On Skyline Drive, Overlooking The Majestic Shenandoah Valley
Image credits: anarchistchiken
#29 On Our Honeymoon In Hallstatt Austria
Image credits: reddit.com
#30 Missus Taking A Photo Of Me With A Llama vs. Me Taking A Photo Of Her. When The Llama’s Rear Becomes Your New Hairstyle
Image credits: jacksonjdsouza
#31 I See Your Scenic Photos Ruined By The Weather And Present The Time I Fulfilled A Life Long Dream To Visit The Taj Mahal
Image credits: Phteven_with_a_v
#32 Travelled Nearly 300 Miles To The Northernmost Point Of Vietnam So I Could See China – This Was The View
Image credits: siyoung91
#33 Told My Girlfriend To Use The Last Piece Of Film We Had With Us To Get A Picture Of Me In Front Of Some Mountains
Image credits: JasonLDB
#34 Travelled 10,000 Km To See The Total Solar Eclipse In Chile. Heavy Rain And Low Clouds Blocked The Entire Show
Image credits: youyouxue
#35 What I Expected To See At Preikestolen vs. What I Got
Image credits: fakejew
#36 Took My Buddy To The Grand Canyon For The First Time Today. Spectacular Views All Around
Image credits: happyeggplant_
#37 It Was Always A Personal Dream To Be Able To Go And Visit This Remarkable Oak Tree In The Shawshank Redemption
Turns out that people after the film released took away all those stones from the little wall that led to the tree away to their homes and lately in 2016 the tree fell in a thunderstorm.
Image credits: Aadarsh18
#38 Expectation vs. Reality. Travel Edition
First picture is me at the Mar Rosado En Galerazamba 2 years ago. The next pic is what it looks like in 2021. The final picture is me looking embarrassed because I hyped this place up to my friends, and it was beyond disappointing.
Image credits: yupshetravels
#39 Unfortunately These Images Are Not An April Fools Joke. This Really Was Our View After Hiking The Famous Preikestolen. We Had To Rely On Google Images To See The View
Image credits: mcstockmisadventures
#40 On Top Of A Volcano, Waiting For The Sunrise To Materialize. Thanks To The Clouds, This Was The Best View We Saw
Image credits: izzy_mitchz
#41 Wait What?
Image credits: paris.instatour
#42 Travelled To London To Go On The London Eye
Image credits: thiccnuthair
#43 Finally Able To Travel To Paris And The Arch De Triumph Looks Like This. It’s An “Art” Project
Image credits: hhyyerr
#44 Expectation vs. Reality. At Least It Was Just A Four-Hour Hike
Image credits: reddit.com
#45 My Parents Got To Visit Mt. Rushmore Today For The First Time. The View Is Spectacular
Image credits: HoneyBadgeSwag
#46 Flew To Kauai To View The Na Pali Coast
Image credits: kwisssy
#47 Flew 13 Hours To Hawaii To See Volcanoes National Park
Image credits: P-dubbs
#48 My View From The Top Of Mount Machu Picchu vs. What The View Could Have Been
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Image credits: PinguProductions