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.

#1 Tried To Take A Panoramic Picture Of The Eiffel Tower Today, It Went Surprisingly Well

Image credits: Lifelapse

#2 My Sister Rented A Flat Here In North Of Iceland For Christmas, This Is Her View

Image credits: maggipedia

#3 It’s All About The Journey Though Right?

Image credits: xoShaaan

#4 Going To Cristo And Taking A 3D Photo Is Priceless

Image credits: Pedromendonca15

#5 Thanks Tour Guide For Taking Such A Great Photo Of Everyone

Image credits: finnicko

#6 Smile

Image credits: cheekytlacuache

#7 Me, Outside The Duomo In Milan, Getting Photobombed. By A Pigeon

Image credits: wilko2205

#8 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

#9 Bought These Binoculars Specifically To Go To The Grand Canyon Today

Image credits: Ericalva91

#10 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

#11 This Guy Having A Selfie With Mona Lisa

Image credits: tarandfeathers

#12 Not Mount Rushmore, But I Woke Up At 3AM And Hiked Up Machu Picchu To Be There At Sunrise

Image credits: ranzprinzessin

#13 Visited The Grand Canyon. Pictures Don’t Do It Justice

Image credits: bostontom

#14 Climbed North Europa’s Tallest Mountain At 8100 Feet, And Got This Picture

Image credits: White_Plastic_Cup

#15 The “Waterfall” My Family Drove Two Hours To See

Image credits: Single_Savage

#16 Went To Go See The Golden Gate Bridge

Image credits: thebeardedteach

#17 My Wife At The Top Of The Sears/Willis Tower On A Foggy Day

Image credits: heming_sway

#18 Go To The Taj Mahal At Sunrise, They Said. It’ll Be Beautiful, They Said

Image credits: the_breadlord

#19 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

#20 Waited Forever For The Crowd To Dissipate To Take A Picture, Then This Happened

Image credits: Shaneblaster

#21 On Our Honeymoon In Hallstatt Austria

Image credits: reddit.com

#22 We Hiked 3 Hours To Get A Good Picture Of Our Hometown. Our City Is On The Left

Image credits: 97Hshk

#23 Went On A Hike Today Which Promised Stunning Views. My Pic Is On The Bottom

Image credits: reddit.com

#24 What I Expected To See At Preikestolen vs. What I Got

Image credits: fakejew

#25 The Only Photo I Have Of Myself On My Camera From My Only Overseas Trip

Image credits: Neon_state

#26 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

#27 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

#28 Travelled Nearly 300 Miles To The Northernmost Point Of Vietnam So I Could See China – This Was The View

Image credits: siyoung91

#29 This Is My Wife And I At The Highest Point On Skyline Drive, Overlooking The Majestic Shenandoah Valley

Image credits: anarchistchiken

#30 Took My Buddy To The Grand Canyon For The First Time Today. Spectacular Views All Around

Image credits: happyeggplant_

#31 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

#32 Tried To Grab A Quick Photo While Driving Past The Washington Monument

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#33 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

#34 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

#35 Drove 4 Hours Round Trip To See An Active Volcano Today, While On Vacation

Image credits: marinefuc86ed

#36 Travelled To London To Go On The London Eye

Image credits: thiccnuthair

#37 I (Left) Was Excited To See The Tip Of Africa From Gibraltar But – Fog. Still The Closest I’ve Ever Been

Image credits: WhatAJSaid

#38 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

#39 Travelled 10,000 Km To See The Total Solar Eclipse In Chile. Heavy Rain And Low Clouds Blocked The Entire Show

Image credits: youyouxue

#40 Flew To Kauai To View The Na Pali Coast

Image credits: kwisssy

#41 Wait What?

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#42 My Parents Got To Visit Mt. Rushmore Today For The First Time. The View Is Spectacular

Image credits: HoneyBadgeSwag

#43 That One Family Photo That Sweet Little Old Lady Took For Us

Image credits: michaelpeachey

#44 Picture Of The Eiffel Tower, Taken In The Days Before Digital Cameras

Image credits: ArthurDent2

#45 Hitachi Seaside Park. Expectation vs. Reality

This giant park in Ibaraki is famous for its beautiful flowers and plants on this hill with an ocean view. Every season there’s something else blooming on this hill, which attracts people from all over Japan. So I took a train for 1,5 hours and a car for 2 more hours to see the view in the second picture. When I arrived there with 2 friends, we got the view of the first picture instead. Apparently, we were 5 days too late! They took out all the plants already.

Image credits: tokyotales.shop

#46 Expectation vs. Reality. At Least It Was Just A Four-Hour Hike

Image credits: reddit.com

#47 Flew 13 Hours To Hawaii To See Volcanoes National Park

Image credits: P-dubbs

#48 Months Of Saving, Travelled Over 5000 Miles And An 11 Hour Flight. Ladies And Gentlemen The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

Image credits: Gmunns

#49 In Response To The Girl Not Holding The World, Here I Am, Not Leaning Against The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

Image credits: hoiboi89

#50 Empire State Building Has Great Views They Said

Image credits: rokchok19

#51 My View From The Top Of Mount Machu Picchu vs. What The View Could Have Been

Image credits: PinguProductions

#52 Our First Trip To Kyoto And The Golden Pavilion Was Under Construction. Golden? More Like A Scaffold Pavilion

Image credits: Koto1224

#53 Finally Able To Travel To Paris And The Arch De Triumph Looks Like This. It’s An “Art” Project

Image credits: hhyyerr

#54 Traveled To Norway From Florida, Spent 4 Hours Climbing Pulpit Rock In 40 Degree Weather With Rain To Be Blessed With This

Image credits: JShiner

#55 Temple Of Musseden, Northern Ireland. Still A Lovely Place But We Didn’t Quite Get The Weather

Image credits: SAW25

#56 Seeing Christ The Redeemer After A 23 Hour Journey To Rio De Janeiro Was The Highlight Of My Trip

Image credits: AnonymousJoe12871245

#57 I Took Two Planes, A Shuttle Van, Train, Bus And Hiked To See Machu Picchu. This Was My View Today

Image credits: rtowne

#58 When You Visit To See The Great Pyramid Of Giza And Catch That Perfect Moment, But A Big Camel Is Blocking The Way

Image credits: jnalyn_13

#59 When You Go To A Scenic Overlook But You’re In A Cloud

Image credits: reddituser6533687

#60 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

#61 Family Vacation To The Grand Canyon. What A View

Image credits: ItsCaptainSalty

#62 In Keeping With The Theme Of Not Checking The Weather Before Visiting Beautiful Vantage Points, Here’s Waimea Canyon, “The Grand Canyon Of The Pacific”

Image credits: WornOvercoat

#63 My Husband And I Hiked 2.5 Miles To What We Thought Would Have Been The Roaring Waterfalls We Saw On Our Honeymoon 10 Years Ago

Looks like someone turned off the faucet.

Image credits: KinderEggLaunderer

#64 Fog & Rain. Amazing How Two Consecutive Days Can Be So Completely Different. No Views To Be Seen. Visibility Only 50 Metres

Image credits: holly.bordercollie

#65 The Time I Hiked Up A Mountain For This View

Image credits: osotoes

#66 I Picked The Wrong Day To Go To The Top Of Willis Tower

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#67 Insert View Back There

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#68 Apparently, The Three Sisters Lookout Is The Best View Of The Blue Mountains. I Guess I’ll Take Their Word For It

Image credits: prodbyquinn

#69 Hiked All 5200 Feet Of Half Dome For These Stunning Views

Image credits: MattPatt314

#70 In London For My Honeymoon. Big Ben Looks Just Like I Always Hoped It Would

Image credits: Historiun

#71 Beautiful Volcano Arenal In Costa Rica

Image credits: quietly-complicated

#72 When You Plan A City Break In Summer, And At The Destination, You Find Yourself By Surprise In Winter. Shouldn’t There Be A Breathtaking Panorama In The Background?

Image credits: sinahjump

#73 My Family Went To See The Torii Gate In Miyajima, Only To Find Out It’s Under Construction

Image credits: Demerzus

#74 I Went To Takaya Shrine, Which Is One Of The Places I Wanted To Visit. When The Weather Is Nice, You Should Be Able To See The City Through The Gaps Of The Torii Gate

Image credits: kam_on3636

#75 After Riding Throughout The Night Battling Strong Headwinds And Torrential Rain, We Tackled The Stwlan Dam This Morning With Storm Ellen Trying To Ruin The Views

Image credits: tobychillis

#76 Currently On Vacation In Rhodes, Went To See Their Acropolis

Image credits: reddit.com

#77 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

#78 Buxton’s ‘Blue Lagoon’. Expectation vs. Reality

Image credits: Angry-_-Kid

#79 Such A Nice Day For Visiting Portland (Oregon) And Enjoy Its Incredible Scenery

Image credits: BrunoSwilly

#80 Well, Today Will Go Down As A “Travel Fail”. Can’t Enjoy Crater Lake If You Can’t See Crater Lake

Image credits: lulsfamilytravels

#81 A Nice Asian Family Asked My Son To Take A Picture Of Them. He Didn’t Understand

Image credits: truth_seerum81

#82 Trip Of A Lifetime To Italy To See The Trevi Fountain

Image credits: Topsyroxy

#83 Last Day Of Vacation. I Thought We Would Go To This Field That We Like For A Picnic

Image credits: CardiacSchmardiac

#84 That View

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#85 Paid $60 For An Alligator Tour, This Was My View The Whole Time

Image credits: wiki_blue

#86 Was Hoping To Get Some Nice Pictures Of The Alps. The Fog Had Other Plans

Image credits: hoodieninja86

#87 My Trip To Disneyland

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#88 That Time I Went All The Way To Italy, And The Trevi Fountain Was Broken

Image credits: gingermayhem

#89 Expectation vs. Reality. London Edition

Image credits: anticlimaticveg

#90 Went To Iceland Earlier In The Month And Waited Nearly 10 Minutes For The Geysir To Blow Only For Another Tourist To Walk Right In Front Of The Shot

Image credits: areyoustillwatching_

#91 I Swear New York Is Under There Somewhere

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#92 I Was About To Get A Panorama Shot Of The Reichstag On My School Trip Until My Friend Photobombed Me

Image credits: Noobgaming72YT

#93 Venice In The Fog

Image credits: 24-7_DayDreamer

#94 The View From Our Alaskan Cruise

Image credits: billydoubleu

#95 Went To See The Ocean. Great 360 Vistas Of Fog

Image credits: bkind_808

#96 When You Have A Good Photo, But Tourists Ruin It

Image credits: A_Spicy_Panda

#97 Went To A Swimming Pool That Has A Great View Of The Twin Towers

Image credits: AboutHelpTools3

#98 We Paid Extra For A High Up View Of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Image credits: DaniB3

#99 That’s A Must, Isn’t It?

Image credits: matyasvorda

#100 It Probably Gets Even More Crowded When It’s Nice Out

Image credits: themileboy

Source: boredpanda.com