Most people's holidays go off without a hitch, but from time to time a truly hairy situation can rear its head. Check out these chilling tales of ninemsn Travel readers:

Lucky break in Laos

Kelly Irving was on a rickety old bus driving through the Laotian hinterland when the vexed vehicle puttered to a stand-still. Ten disgruntled backpackers and a throng of locals, accompanied by squawking chickens and a few stray dogs gathered around the shirtless, shoeless driver and watched as he started banging the engine block with a hammer haphazardly. "Jesus," said an Aussie next to her, "if only we hadn't missed the bloody 12 o'clock bus". Realising they were in for a long delay, the locals gathered their belongings and disappeared into the undergrowth. "It was only later that night, when we eventually rolled into the next town, that we understood," says Kelly. "We happened upon a crowd of people outside the hospital. And then the unmistakeable bloody shell of the midday bus, which had been shot to pieces by bandits, killing several of the passengers."

Crooked cops at Carnival

'Roly' was partying it up in Rio de Janeiro with his mate Frank. After a night on the beers at a local backpackers, Roly and Frank hit the streets to take part in the rowdy block party. A Brazilian in a suit approached them and asked if they would be interested in purchasing a certain illegal substance. The obliging young Aussies took him up on his offer, and not a moment later found themselves pushed into the back of a police car. The policemen read the riot act in Portuguese, and rather than driving to the cop station, drove them to a dark alleyway on the outskirts of town. The trio were strip searched, revealing the contraband, a bankcard and 50 real (about $30AUD) in Roly's y-fronts.

"They didn't speak any English, but our Portuguese was improving rapidly", says Roly. "If you ever want to learn a language quickly, put yourself in a position where the language is necessary to keep yourself out of a Brazilian prison! The crooked cops began with an offer of a 1000 real pay-out (roughly $700AUD), or a trip to federal prison. We weren't going to settle so easily, so we started to bargain. After a war of attrition we settled on a bribe of 550 real ($350AUD). It was decided that Frank and the businessman would take a taxi to the ATM to get the cash and I would be held hostage by the police at their station. Frank was driven out to the airport, where he swiped his card at an ATM, and watched in horror as it slipped into a gap in the machine and disappeared from sight, never to be seen again. Our freedom had just fallen through the cracks."

By dawn the police had gotten bored with Roly, and decided to send him on his merry way, with his 50 real, no less, to use as cab fare. Meanwhile, Frank was scouring the city in search of mates from the night before that would consider loaning him ransom money. He eventually gathered the bribe, returned to the police station, paid his dues and reunited with his friend.

The two plan to return to Rio for next year's Carnival.

Doctor who?

Laura Davies left the UK on her gap year to backpack around New Zealand and Australia. Keen on getting a taste of the adrenaline activities on offer in Kiwi-land, Laura booked herself on an extreme white water rafting trip during her first week on the road. "During a particularly harrowing jump in the raft," says Laura, "I bounced out of the boat, banged into the side of a cliff and landed flat on my back in the middle of the rapids. I was pulled out and taken to hospital, where x-rays were taken. I was surprised to be given a clean bill of health; the nurses told me I was a bit bruised and battered but otherwise unscathed.

I continued travelling, but my back pain was incessant and after a week had to basically crawl from my hostel to the nearest emergency clinic. The doctor looked at my original x-ray and said 'You have a fractured vertebrae, and should've been flat on your back in hospital for the last week!' I was strapped up and put on the next flight to the UK. But due to my condition, which required me to stay horizontal, I had to fly first class. It was a rather memorable $10,000 flight home one week into my year out."

Club-napped in Prague

Ella Ramirez and a friend were travelling together in Prague, and decided to have a big Saturday on the town. They went to a large nightclub, where they were approached by a shady-looking Russian. "He asked us all the usual questions," says Ella, "like 'where are you from' and 'how old are you', but he soon became more intrusive, and a little bit scary. He made us both feel quite uneasy, so we told him we had to leave. 'No! You stay here' he demanded. I argued with him, but sooner than I could react he grabbed us each by the arms and shoved us down a dark flight of stairs. We were terrified. He was blocking the only exit, and the club was so loud and cavernous we'd have no hope of being heard if we screamed."

"The man took out his mobile and started shouting into it in Russian. After the longest ten minutes of my life he put the phone down, and I started pleading for a glass of water. I tried to communicate that my friend was having a panic attack, and that she needed something to drink immediately. After much begging, the Russian took off to get us some water, but not before telling us we 'better not move a muscle'. As soon as he was out of sight we dashed up the stairs and out into the street. To this day we talk about the 'scary Russian' and what could've happened if we weren't so lucky."

Bear attack

Sandy Henderson was camping in Yosemite National Park in California, when he awoke to the screams of his travelling companion. Groggy from sleep, he looked out of his tent and saw his friend desperately trying to get out of his sleeping bag, with a giant black bear and three bear cubs rearing up behind him. "Quite possibly the quickest I've ever got out of bed, I scrambled up and we both sprinted in no particular direction — away from the bear was the key. We panted to a halt a few hundred metres away from the campsite and this was when my mate calmly asked if I'd mind taking a look at the wound in his neck, the one he could fit four fingers into … Oh, and did I remember what to do if he went into shock?"

"Not that we had much opportunity to dwell on this, as just then the bear reappeared and we were off running again. By pure chance, we'd passed a toilet cabin a little way back on the trail and we made a dash for that, jumped inside and bolted the door. Seconds later, the bear was scraping at the door as we cowered inside waiting for the whole thing to come flying off its hinges. For want of anything else, we crammed the neck wound full of toilet paper — by some genius instinct, he'd held a scarf to it almost immediately after the bear struck, which had stemmed the bleeding."

"After quite a long time the bears lost interest and we were able to leave the shelter and return to our campsite. Once there I patched my friend's neck up as best I could with my tiny travel first aid kit, and we made a very weary trek down the mountain so as to get him to the park paramedics, who told us the bear's claw had missed his jugular by less than a centimetre."

Make www.smartraveller.gov.au part of your travel plans. There’s useful information to help you get the most out of your trip, like travel tips and insurance advice, passport and health information and helpful facts about local customs. You can register your travel online so you can be contacted in an emergency and subscribe to the travel advice for the countries you’re visiting to keep informed about your destination.

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Check out this video for helpful tips when you're travelling to a dangerous spot: