Top 10 Worst Things The Simpsons Have Done on Their Trips

While on the run from the law, the Simpsons stop by a gas station to fill up. However, they’re in danger of being identified because of a wanted poster with their faces hanging on the wall behind the counter. To avoid detection, Bart makes some alterations to the poster so it no longer looks like the Simpsons. At first, it seems like a victimless crime, but we immediately find out that there was a family of five who conveniently fit the description with Bart’s forgeries. So, a potentially innocent family was put in handcuffs because of Bart’s fraudulent act.

When the Simpsons go to Florida for a vacation, Homer decides to party it up. Clowning around while riding on a fanboat, he is too busy singing to notice an alligator in front of him, and as a result, runs the boat into the reptile, rendering it unresponsive. Unfortunately for the Simpsons, the alligator is a local celebrity nicknamed Captain Jack, and they earn the wrath of the law for presumably exterminating the creature. However, Captain Jack is found later to be okay, but that still doesn’t excuse Homer’s negligence and we can understand by Flordia bans the Simpsons.

Having the time of his life aboard a vacation cruise, Bart is reluctant to get off the boat and return to his dull, everyday life. To put off this inevitability, he stages a hoax by playing footage from a sci-fi movie that convinces everyone that a virus has broken out worldwide. As a result, all of the passengers and the crew have to stay on the ship, which makes everyone anxious and eventually leads to chaos. Because of his selfishness, Bart was putting people’s lives on hold, and causing many of them to have a mental breakdown.

The most ethical member of the Simpson family, Lisa is the least likely Simpson to do something terrible. At a ranch, Lisa develops a crush on a young ranch-hand named Luke. However, she becomes jealous when she hears Luke talking to a girl over the phone, thinking it was a romantic interest, but was actually his sister. To thwart her would-be romantic rival, Lisa intentionally gives Luke’s sister the wrong directions to the ranch, which almost leaves her sleeping with the fishes. Even if Luke was interested in another girl, it didn’t give Lisa the right to make a young girl get lost.

To avoid an angry mob of celebrities after welching on a PBS pledge, Homer lays low in the South Pacific island of Micronesia where he’s put up to do missionary work by Reverend Lovejoy. It’s no surprise that Homer is a terrible fit for the missionary job, given that he’s lazy and knows basically nothing about Christianity. He also has a hard time adjusting to life on the island, since he’s separated from TV and beer. Instead of preaching the gospel, Homer has the natives build a casino. In this case, his irresponsibility potentially corrupts the souls of innocent people by failing to provide spiritual guidance and introducing them to vice.

On a trip to Japan, Homer and Bart soak up the culture by watching a sumo wrestling match. Homer wanders into the ring and fights one of the wrestlers. Homer wins his fight by tag teaming with Bart, who smacks the wrestler with a chair, knocking him unconscious. After this victory, the Emperor of Japan offers his congrats. But unfortunately, Homer gets carried away, picking up the Emperor and throwing him into a large hamper filled with sumo thongs. Such reckless actions could have started an international incident.

Upon discovering that Ned is much older than he looks because of his clean living, Homer decides to take him on a road trip to Las Vegas to live it up for once. Ned goes along with this idea, because he feels he needs the life experience after he found out how bad people felt for him. This leads to a night of them boozing it up and getting married to a pair of cocktail waitresses. While they successfully wind up escaping at the end of this episode, the two waitresses return in the Season 13 episode “Brawl in the Family,” which wrecks Homer’s family.

While taking a trip to Africa, the Simpsons come across Dr. Bushwell, a scientist loosely based on Jane Goodall who lives out in the wilderness and studies chimps. However, the family discovers that Dr. Bushwell is actually running a diamond operation where the chimps she’s pretending to advocate for are being used by her to work the mines. Rather than turn Bushwell in for her horrific animal abuse, the Simpsons accept diamonds extracted from Bushwell’s mine as payoff for their silence. On their ride home, the only one who feels bad about the way things went down was Lisa.

Upon learning that he can’t bring foreign species into Australia, Bart decides to leave a bullfrog he’s been carrying with him behind. But instead of leaving it in a safe spot, he let it wander on its own. It isn’t long before a kangaroo scoops up the frog in its pouch and carries it away. When the Simpsons family has to hightail it out of Australia on a helicopter, they discover that Bart’s bullfrog has become an invasive species. Lisa tells the family that Australia’s ecosystem has been compromised, which only makes the family laugh.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Homer & His Friends Smuggling Drugs from Canada
“Midnight Rx”

Lisa Exposing Sideshow Bob's Identity to Italians
“The Italian Bob”

Homer Ruining Apu’s Chance of Getting His Job Back
“Homer and Apu”

Bart Getting Himself & His Friends Stranded in Knoxville
“Bart on the Road”

Bart Showing Lisa's Friends Her Yearbook
“Summer of 4 ft. 2”

On the way home from a trip, Homer’s father, Abe, needed to use the restroom really badly. However, Homer didn’t have time to pull over and let Abe relieve himself. His reason? He had to make it home in time to watch a special episode “Inside the Actors Studio” where F. Murray Abraham was the guest. Because Homer waited too long before Abe could use the restroom, both of his father’s kidneys failed, which meant he had to get a kidney transplant or he’d die. Not only was Homer’s behavior cruel and demeaning, it almost killed his father.