davidcalgary29

Last week, my SO and I were in Portugal for a lovely mini-vacation made within a larger European trip. We had rented a car to visit the ancient city of Evora, and had made it just beyond the Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon when we realized that we were running low on fuel, and so made our way to the closest "Galp" station. As I ran into the station for a quick bathroom break, my SO looked confusedly at the pumps, and asked me what he should get. "I don't care, as long as it's not diesel!" I shouted.

We left the station, and all seemed well until the car just sputtered to a stop in the middle lane of the four-way highway, about two km from the service station. After several heart-stopping near crashes, we were rescued by a pair of highway workers, who towed us to a service station where it was confirmed that we had, in fact, filled up with diesel instead of gasoline. After many thanks to our rescuers (who looked secretly relieved not have had to scrape us off the pavement) and apologies to the car rental company (who seemed to be secretly amused at our plight), we eventually made it to Evora.

I don't consider myself to be an inexperienced traveller, but this episode showed me, certainly, that small things can cause BIG problems. Has anyone else been put into a position of danger by language problems or a lack of communication in a foreign country? Or am I the only true dumbass here?

seat 50J

I have taken pictures of foreign military bases even though there were warning signs in some cases. I didn't take a photo of any that looked unusual or anything that a satellite couldn't see. Still, I don't think that I would do that again.

British spotters have been arrested and imprisoned.