What’s the worst single thing you’ve ever experienced while traveling? Well, actually, the worst several things you’ve experienced? Stockholm-based travel journalist Doug Lansky wants to know for a survey he’s taking that will launch the world’s first annual Titanic Awards, a celebration of all things that can go wrong on the road.

I know, I know—my blog here is generally meant to celebrate travel. But everyone has a favorite travel horror story, and it’s so delicious to recount them. And to read them—on the Titanic Awards web site, you can read others’ contributions and take the survey yourself.  

Larry Habegger, co-founder and executive editor of the publishing company Traveler Tales and a guy who’s visited 50 countries, identified the border crossing between ZhangMu, Tibet, and Kodari, Nepal, as the “worst border crossing in the world.” It took him eight hours to step from one country into another simply because the border guards “felt like it.” Jim Benning, co-founder and co-editor of worldhum.com, says he thinks the worst tourist trap is Kuta Beach in Bali, thanks to its cheesy shops and cheesy bars and tuk-tuk drivers hassling tourists. National Geographic Traveler editor Keith Bellows identifies Cambodia’s Ankor Wat as the “most overrun attraction” in the world. And writer Tim Cahill labels this as the world’s worst name for a night club: The Disco of the Giant Ground Sloth in Puerto Natales, Chile.

So go ahead, join the fun, and post your nominations for the Titanic Awards. Exorcise those demons that haunt you from your stay in that horrendous hotel room or that cruise from hell. The site also accepts photographs and videos that illustrate your point. Like the one that accompanies this posting, which shows an average rush hour in Tokyo’s subway, where train pushers make sure everyone gets to know everyone else REAL well aboard each train car.

****

On a happier note, these sales were just announced by luxury hotels, usually the last to discount rooms. Here are four deals worth noting:

—Thirty members of The Leading Hotels of the World in the U.S. and Canada are knocking 30 percent off the price of hotel rooms from May 22 until September 7. They’re calling it “The American Summer Sale.” How about the Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, California, for only $375 a night? Or the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Manhattan for approximately $500 a night?  (Yes, that’s a bargain.)

—Pay with an American Express card through September 30 when you stay at a Ritz-Carlton, and receive three nights for the price of two, five nights for the price of three, or seven nights for the price of four, plus breakfast for two, free parking, and free Internet access.

—The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers has a “no-hidden-fee” offer through September 7 if you book by June 30. Rooms begin at $119 a night, and that rate includes free parking, free Internet access, free unlimited domestic phone calls, and access to the hotel’s fitness center. Potential savings: $75 a night.

—In a bid to bring back business to Mexico, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts offers a "Rosewood Escapes" promotion for its two properties south of the border. At the Rosewood Mayakobá, where summer rates normally start at $590 a night, it’s $395 nightly for a double room through September 30. (Footnote: You must stay at last four nights.) At Las Ventanas in Cabo San Lucas, it’s $515 a night, approximately $85 off a night of the regular summer rate, with a three-night minimum stay. In addition, each room receives a $200 resort credit that can be used for meals or spa services, daily breakfast for two, and a room upgrade at check-in if available.