Most seasoned travelers have a story that still makes them uncomfortable to tell.
For Geraldine Joaquim, a 54-year-old hypnotherapist and wellness coach who visits around four countries a year, that story involves a late-night arrival, a no-show transfer, and a 30-minute car ride she spent clutching a pen knife.
The city? Caracas, Venezuela.
How It Started
Joaquim was on a work trip, flying from Montevideo, Uruguay to Isla Margarita, a Caribbean island that's part of Venezuela. Caracas was just a transit stop — a single overnight stay before she reached her final destination.
Her flight landed late at night. She had a car transfer booked to take her to a hotel in the city center. And then she waited.
And waited.
“It felt pretty normal until I started waiting for the transfer, and waited and waited,” she said. “I was there for hours and as the small airport emptied I realized I was alone.”
Her phone wasn't working. There was no one left around her. And eventually, a man showed up speaking broken English, saying he was there to take her to the hotel.
The Ride That Put Her on Edge
She got in the car.
And then she noticed a second man sitting in the front seat. That's when, as she put it, her “stress response went through the roof.”
“I would never normally get in a car with two strange men but I had no other options,” she said. She pulled a small pen knife from her hand luggage and spent the entire 30-minute drive on high alert, holding it in her hand.
She arrived at the hotel safely. But she didn't sleep well.
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The trouble continued at the airport the next day.
As she was paying her driver, her bags disappeared. She tracked down the man who had them, only to be told he was offering an informal “check in service.” She had to pay him to get her luggage back.
After handing over some money, she boarded her flight and headed home to the UK.
Here's What the Story Is Really About
This one hits close to home for a lot of travelers because nothing explicitly violent happened. But the uncertainty, the isolation, and the lack of any backup plan made it feel terrifying anyway.
And that's the real lesson here.
Joaquim wasn't necessarily the victim of a dangerous city. She was the victim of a bad situation that could have been a lot less stressful with a few simple changes.
Her phone wasn't working. Her transfer didn't show. She had no backup contact, no plan B, and she arrived late at night when airports are empty and options are thin.
Those are universal travel risks. Not just Venezuela-specific ones.
The Part the Headline Leaves Out
It's worth knowing that Joaquim was actually traveling to Isla Margarita, which is a resort island that's generally considered safe and tourist-friendly.
Caracas was never the destination. It was the gateway. And that's where things went sideways.
This happens more than people realize. A place you're actually going can be perfectly fine while the city you have to pass through carries serious safety concerns. Caracas has had long-standing crime and infrastructure issues that make it a very different experience from a typical tourist city.
The “check in service” scam she ran into at the airport is also a known one. Someone swoops in, offers to help with your bags, and then demands payment. It happens in parts of South America, Africa, and even some European tourist areas.
What Would Have Made This Trip Go Differently
A few things Joaquim didn't have that most travel experts would say are non-negotiable:
A working phone or downloaded offline maps. A confirmed, verified driver with a hotel backup contact. A daytime arrival, or at least one that didn't leave her alone in an emptying airport after dark. And a plan B for when the first plan falls apart.
None of those things are complicated. But when you're transiting through an unfamiliar city for a single overnight stop, it's easy to treat it as an afterthought.
That's how you end up in a car with strangers, holding a pen knife, and hoping for the best.
The Bigger Takeaway
Joaquim put it well herself. She believes it's important to see “the good and the not-so-good” of countries rather than expecting a sanitized version of every trip.
But this story isn't really a verdict on an entire country. It's a reminder that preparation matters more than destination.
The same night, with a working phone, a confirmed driver, and a daytime arrival, probably looks a lot different in the retelling.
