Close to the Edge Part 2 (Classic)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - SiriusXM and Atlas Obscura

The Atlas Obscura Podcast shares listener-submitted near-death travel experiences from around the globe, including a harrowing encounter with

Key takeaways

• Travel dangers often arise from unexpected sources like animals or poor infrastructure rather than extreme environments.
• Adrenaline and fear can be so intense that people are unable to process or discuss the event immediately after it happens.

Main topics

• Near-death travel experiences
• Unexpected dangers while traveling

Notable quotes

"I was ready to die in that moment. Now, for me, as a person of faith, I might attribute that to divine intervention."

Conclusion

The episode highlights how unpredictable and perilous travel can be, yet also

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:05) Hey, everybody. It's Dylan. A few weeks ago, we put out an episode dedicated to what we called our near-death travel experiences, but basically just times on a trip when things went very poorly and in a dangerous way. And we asked you to send us some of your stories. Who knew that everyone was so eager to share times they almost died? Because boy, did you deliver. Today, we're going to listen to a few of the stories you sent us and find out how you guys survived. How you survived dodging obstacles while flying down a mountain. How you survived drinking way too much absinthe in Paris or getting driven to the airport by a 12-year-old. All of these stories and more. After this. Speaker 4 (1:36) 5 to 10 to 15 kilometers an hour to all of a sudden going 40 to 60 kilometers an hour. Kind of the grand old times. The road is getting kind of narrow though and it is really like cut into the side of the mountain. So we've got like steep cliffs that goes going down. We have a little narrow roadway that's about 20 feet wide, maybe 20-25 feet wide and then it dips down again. Speaker 4 (2:03) And up in the distance, I see somebody walking their dog with a chain. Now, dogs have been an issue with us all trip. And so I'm a little worried about this. And, but I see that there's a man there holding the dog. Okay, it'll be fine. But what happens is the owner of the dog is not paying attention. And the dog is on like a 15 foot metal link chain. And my friend is about 20 feet, 30 feet ahead of me. She goes first. The dog lunges at her, stretching this metal chain way across the road, right? The dog is about, is going on into oncoming traffic. My friend just barely avoids getting bit by this dog. And I don't really have good memory of how this happened, but I know what must have happened is I must have swerved around the dog on the far side. and just swerved into oncoming traffic and was able to avoid it. And all of this while going 40 to 60 kilometers an hour. The crazy part about it is we have this near-death experience. We have this dog pulling this chain taut across the road in front of us. But we can't talk about it for another 10 minutes because the dissent keeps going on and on. So we have this adrenaline-spiking experience. But neither of us can really say anything because we're not going to be able to stop. So we just go on for another 10 minutes. And then I think our first words to each other were, I think I was going to die. I was ready to die in that moment. Now, for me, as a person of faith, I might attribute that to divine intervention. Some other people might call it luck. But one of the many moments on my bike where I thought I got a little too close to the edge. Anywho, love the podcast. Have a good day. Speaker 5 (4:08) the podcast. I listen every day. My name is Bailey and I don't know if this is an incredible travel story, but I listened