Embarassing Travel Moments
 

I am sure we all have them and hope nobody notices. We cringe at them then but laugh at them now.

Anybody got any embarrassing travel stories.

Me? Strolling through the Qantas lounge whilst waiting for boarding time, then walking past the huge economy queue to board the with priority and then noticing my cardigan was inside out!!! lol

Wonder how many laughed at me!! :D

Embarassing Travel Moments
 

Thought about shaving and then change my mind to do it at arrival in TPE where i have stopover of 3 hrs as the Lavatory is too small. So i took one shaving kit and put it in my pocket At arrival security check to enter airport and totally forgot about what i had in pocket. When i emptied my pockets here is that travel shaving kit from airline and i was embarrassed as people were looking. Still feels awkward sometimes when i think about it.

Embarassing Travel Moments
 

Cardigan inside out? Shaver from the airplane in your pocket? Pfffttt... Where is the juicy stuff?!! ;)

Here's a language one: American to English......

I was out to dinner at a very posh restaurant in London with my then boyfriend, his sister and her fiance. After dinner the waitress asked if we would like coffee or tea. We all ordered coffee and as the waitress started to walk away, I said in my American voice which tends to carry "Oh, could you please make mine a decaf or I'll be tossing all night". Well the waitress's mouth popped open and she dropped the plate she was carrying. My boyfriend turned purple, the fiance spit his water out, the sister burst out laughing and every head in the restaurant turned and looked at me.

I had no clue what I'd said and after the fiance and sister stopped laughing they told me that tossing is English slang for masturbating. And apparently the way I'd said it I'd put the emphasis on "all night" made it even funnier. The guy and I dated for another year after that and for the rest of our relationship his sister and fiance/husband teased him about being able to keep the American girl satisfied or did I still need to "toss all night"

To get into the international departures area of YYZ, you need to show your BP to a dragon, who will then let you in. I was connecting from YOW, onward to AMS on KL. I left my AMS BP in the seat-back of the YOW flight! The only KL agents in the airport were at checkin and in the international departures area, and I had 20 minutes until doors closed... no way was I able to get to checkin! Freaking out, begging and pleading with the security agent, I finally realized I had printed off OCLI BPs and put them in my carry on! Oh boy, did I ever feel like an idiot.

There's a nice ending to this story though. Y was incredibly oversold, and they were processing op-ups for any elite of any status. At that time, I had FO with DL, and KL regarded that as important enough to op-up myself and my non-elite companion!

This is hilarious. I had a similar problem when ordering a cappuccino in England. Lady asked if I wanted chocolate on it, and I said "I'm good." She stared at me for a good 10 seconds and then just put chocolate on it. My English friend said that she probably assumed I was slow and said "mmmmm...good." Supposedly we Americans speak the same language as the Brits, but I'm not buying it.

I've had a few others: My most recent episode was a case of bad bowels the day we're leaving Taipei to head back to New York with a fairly large group of people on a business trip. I almost missed our bus leaving the hotel that morning, somehow survived the bumpy bus ride to the airport only to be held up on an excessively long check in line. I disappeared from the group immediately after and got cozy in the bathrooms for a while. I ended up crapping in three countries in one day.

Another time I was so late for my flight that when I ran through security, I emptied my pockets of everything except my cell phone, forgetting it at first. So I walk up to the security guard who waves me through, and just before I get to the metal detector I remember the phone, so I pull it out of my pocket but cant put it anywhere, so I just hold it in my hands and go through. Of course the detector goes off, and the security guard looks at me, and I look at him, and he says "your cell phone?" and I'm so embarrassed and nervous that I was going to miss my flight that I just played dumb.

"what phone!?"

"that one in your hands, sir..."

I was flying C on a HKG/SFO flight a few years ago sitting in upper deck of UA B744. I was feeling a bit queasy before first meal service, so I decided to take some antacids and close my eyes for a bit. About three hours into the flight, my stomach decided we were at war and I made a beeline to the lav all the way forward adjacent to the cockpit. Well, must've been in there for an hour or so praying to the plastic porcelain g-ds...come out of the lav to find the purser and the pilot standing there looking at his watch giggling. Apparently they had been standing there the majority of the time waiting to close the gate to the restroom to let the pilot go and couldn't because I was in there. No knocks on my lav or anything. Totally awkward. Spent next 10 hours avoiding eye contact with FAs.

On another glorious UA flight EWR/PDX in F, I ordered a gin and tonic, took one sip and fell asleep...with drink in hand. Guy next to me taps my shoulder to alert me of impending doom only to startle me from my sleep at which point I drop my beverage which proceeds to spill all over my feet and bag. We were only 45 minutes into the five hour flight. Awkward.

You're story reminded me of something that happened to a friend, and I guess it's travel related. He was an American exchange student spending a year of high school in Australia. He was a wrestler and as he was getting ready to compete in a match he turned to a girl he was sweet on and asked "Are you going to root for me tonight?" She hauled off and slapped him in the face.

In America to root means to cheer for. In Australia it has vulgar sexual connotations, which my friend learned the hard way.

Another one is to "knock someone up" which means to impregnate them in American but to knock on their door in British.

Here's one of mine. A few years back my wife and I were staying at the Westin Excelsior in Rome, a lovely 5 star hotel. Unlike me my wife had traveled extensively in Europe as a student and insisted that breakfast is always included in European hotels, which was her experience in the lower tier places she stayed at. I was skeptical since the confirmation made no mention of breakfast but deferred to her greater knowledge.

Our first morning we went downstairs and saw a group of people eating at a breakfast buffet so we joined them and helped ourselves, having a nice chat with the other guests. The next morning we went downstairs and the room was empty. We asked at the front desk what was going on and they told us that it was a private dining room and the people from yesterday were a tour group that had since moved on, and that our reservation didn't include breakfast after all :o.

Waiting until someone admits that he was caught trying to join Mile High club...

I once was in a rush and drove like a mad man to get to the airport an hour away. Rushed up to the kiosk to print my ticket - and it wouldn't work. Went to the counter, where the agent politely told me that I was at PVD and my flight was departing from BOS. Thankfully she got me on a flight from Boston...

I took the Eurostar from London to Paris. Coming back I showed up at the train station a good hour and a half early, only to find my train just pulling out. After I testily asked the ticket agent why the train left early, she said it left right on time. I showed her my ticket and pointed out the time on it. She explained to me that I was looking at the arrival time in London, and for the whole three days I was there I had not realized that Paris was in a different time zone.

After a very hectic day working with colleagues at MIT I was running late to the airport. After dashing to Logan Airport I quickly asked the Red Coat which line was for the shuttle to Boston. He looked at me with an odd expression and said "Sir, you are in Boston" I laughed and said in that case how about DC?

As for languages British rubber == American eraser. A friend from the UK has a great story about the proper usage.

My best language fowl up was trying to say in French that I was hungry and need food. I should have simply said "J'ai faim" but instead I said "J'ai besoin d'une femme" (I have need of a woman).

Speaking of trains, I once arrived at the platform only to find the train pulling out. All my bags were already on board as I stepped off to back track to look for something I dropped. My friend opened the window and I dove through it crashing into the cabin where everyone looked. The train came to a halt. We figured we were in for it. But alas the train was only moving to the correct location on the platform.

my husband had a long day of meetings, then a long flight home, and didn't want to fly in his suit, so went into the bathroom stall at the airport to change into jeans and comfortable clothes. He exits the stall to see a woman at the sink, shocked to see him, and she informs him that he's in the ladies room. He argues that she's in the men's room. then another woman exits from another stall. oops.

In all fairness, I'm an American too, but this would confuse me if I was your server. Are you saying you're good with the suggestion or good without it? It's more clear to just say "no thank you". ;)