The dumbest travel-related mistake you ever made?
Jul 12, 2012, 1:57 pm
#676
Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 15,651
Not me but...
My Mom is a former travel agent and used to be president of the "travel club" in her NJ town, which often took group trips together.
My Mom organized a fall foliage cruise, sailing out of Manhattan, to depart Sept. 15, 2001. Not surprisingly, the ship was diverted from Manhattan and instead departed from either Boston or Baltimore (I can't remember which). This necessitated a last-minute scramble for my Mom, because instead of 40 people each getting themselves into Manhattan (easy under normal circumstances), she had to arrange for a bus to transport 40 people to a port a few hundred miles away.
The day of the trip arrives, my Mom & her (now deceased) boyfriend are playing tour director to get 40 people accounted for at the meeting spot, and to get people and their luggage loaded onto the bus and off to the port. About 90 minutes into the bus trip, my Mom & her boyfriend realize that their own luggage was still sitting in the car at the parking lot where the group gathered.
My Mom's boyfriend gets the bus to pull over at the next rest stop or exit ramp, finds a cab & tells the cabbie that he'll pay meter plus a generous tip if the cabbie gets him back to the car in under an hour. Boyfriend makes it to the car, jumps in, speeds to the port and is one of the last people to board the ship--with their luggage!
My Mom is a former travel agent and used to be president of the "travel club" in her NJ town, which often took group trips together.
My Mom organized a fall foliage cruise, sailing out of Manhattan, to depart Sept. 15, 2001. Not surprisingly, the ship was diverted from Manhattan and instead departed from either Boston or Baltimore (I can't remember which). This necessitated a last-minute scramble for my Mom, because instead of 40 people each getting themselves into Manhattan (easy under normal circumstances), she had to arrange for a bus to transport 40 people to a port a few hundred miles away.
The day of the trip arrives, my Mom & her (now deceased) boyfriend are playing tour director to get 40 people accounted for at the meeting spot, and to get people and their luggage loaded onto the bus and off to the port. About 90 minutes into the bus trip, my Mom & her boyfriend realize that their own luggage was still sitting in the car at the parking lot where the group gathered.
My Mom's boyfriend gets the bus to pull over at the next rest stop or exit ramp, finds a cab & tells the cabbie that he'll pay meter plus a generous tip if the cabbie gets him back to the car in under an hour. Boyfriend makes it to the car, jumps in, speeds to the port and is one of the last people to board the ship--with their luggage!
Jul 13, 2012, 2:47 pm
#677
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ORD
Posts: 870
Jul 14, 2012, 3:38 pm
#678
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Colorado
Programs: UA & IHG Plat, SWAlist, Frontier 100k, Marriott Titan, IHG-Hilton-Hyatt-Wynd Gold, Nat EE, Hertz PC
Posts: 445
Not catching that a late night flight I had booked for work was to Sacramento and not Orange County and having to drive overnight in a rental car for an early morning meeting. Sucked!
-Patrick
-Patrick
Oct 4, 2012, 2:35 am
#679
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: CP-ASEL,AMEL,G-IA in Tucson, Arizona, United States
Posts: 1,124
I remember a trip visiting my daughter where I forgot to pack underwear. We went to the store to buy new underwear and other items. She refused to allow me to put the underwear in the shopping cart and made me walk behind her. I think she was about 12 at the time.
Oct 4, 2012, 2:28 pm
#680
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AS, DL
Posts: 278
Completely forgetting about my first ever mileage run I had booked. Only realized that I no-showed a week later, which by that time meant that the ticket was worthless. Can't say that my generous donation to AA saved them out of bankruptcy!
Oct 4, 2012, 2:58 pm
#681
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: YYJ
Programs: AC 100k, BA
Posts: 47
But I had an excuse ... sort of
I flew from BKK to PSP and picked up my suitcase. Got home only to find it was the wrong one, same make etc. but somebody else's. I am usually really vigilant about luggage but this particular piece is an unusual shape and color so was not paying much attention.
In my defence I was in an extreme sleep derived state. I had been up since 6 am in BKK. My flight left about 1 am the next day and featured stops in ICN, NRT and LAX before arriving at PSP. I am not sure how many hours it was from bed in BKK to bed in PSP but I think it was 40+. I have never been that tired.
And I was not the person responsible for that travesty of an itinerary!
In my defence I was in an extreme sleep derived state. I had been up since 6 am in BKK. My flight left about 1 am the next day and featured stops in ICN, NRT and LAX before arriving at PSP. I am not sure how many hours it was from bed in BKK to bed in PSP but I think it was 40+. I have never been that tired.
And I was not the person responsible for that travesty of an itinerary!
Oct 5, 2012, 12:53 pm
#683
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: CCU
Posts: 51
2006 - Left my backpack inside the cab in Cairo (passport / ticket / $$ / camera / binoculars) and merrily walked away without realizing the fact. The cab driver was frantically chasing me down the crowded sidewalks to return me my bag after couple of minutes!
2007 - about to fly to US for first time - left home and realized in a minute that I have left my I-129 at home, without which it shall be impossible to get in to US. U turn and got the document. Relief!
2012 - Flying MDW-EWR on WN on an award ticket that warrants driving down from Milwaukee. Normally it takes me 2.5 - 3 hours in traffic. took me 4.5 hours that day. The door closed when I reached the counter with shoes in my hand. That was the last flight for EWR for that day. Requested to be rebooked on a LGA flight after 30 mins - and got a seat after being standby # 2. People who were supposed to pick me up were having an evening out in NYC - so it was even easier for them.
2012 - Miscalculated the drive time from my relatives place near Philly to PHL for PHL-ORD. Again reached the gate with the doors closing on my face. Rebooked on the next flight couple of hours later.
2007 - about to fly to US for first time - left home and realized in a minute that I have left my I-129 at home, without which it shall be impossible to get in to US. U turn and got the document. Relief!
2012 - Flying MDW-EWR on WN on an award ticket that warrants driving down from Milwaukee. Normally it takes me 2.5 - 3 hours in traffic. took me 4.5 hours that day. The door closed when I reached the counter with shoes in my hand. That was the last flight for EWR for that day. Requested to be rebooked on a LGA flight after 30 mins - and got a seat after being standby # 2. People who were supposed to pick me up were having an evening out in NYC - so it was even easier for them.
2012 - Miscalculated the drive time from my relatives place near Philly to PHL for PHL-ORD. Again reached the gate with the doors closing on my face. Rebooked on the next flight couple of hours later.
Oct 5, 2012, 1:06 pm
#684
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
Not the dumbest, but I still felt pretty stupid. I'd taken an overnight trip to New York which was going to involve several buses and subways. At the end of the night I swiped my Metrocard at 81st Street/Museum of Natural History station and noting it had about 12 cents left on it, threw it in the nearest trash barrel. Only after getting on the train did I remember I needed that card to transfer to the bus at my next waypoint. Cost me $2.50 and a hell of a lot of dignity to get on the bus. And I was born and raised in New York too 
Oct 5, 2012, 5:37 pm
#685
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 136
The dumbest travel-related mistake you ever made?
Had been spending a lot of time on the road. I am leaving the UK after 3 weeks there. The trip back to Manchester took 3 hours and 3 train changes. I take the train to the airport where I'm spending the night before my flight. The shuttle for the hotel comes, I hand my suitcase to the driver and go to take off my backpack with with my work laptop in it. I'm not wearing a backpack. I left it on the last train.
The shuttle driver took me back to the train station and told me where to find the manager's office. He actually had it. Thank you for honest people.
Still can't believe I left it on a train.
The shuttle driver took me back to the train station and told me where to find the manager's office. He actually had it. Thank you for honest people.
Still can't believe I left it on a train.
Oct 6, 2012, 2:21 pm
#686
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Had been spending a lot of time on the road. I am leaving the UK after 3 weeks there. The trip back to Manchester took 3 hours and 3 train changes. I take the train to the airport where I'm spending the night before my flight. The shuttle for the hotel comes, I hand my suitcase to the driver and go to take off my backpack with with my work laptop in it. I'm not wearing a backpack. I left it on the last train.
The shuttle driver took me back to the train station and told me where to find the manager's office. He actually had it. Thank you for honest people.
Still can't believe I left it on a train.
The shuttle driver took me back to the train station and told me where to find the manager's office. He actually had it. Thank you for honest people.
Still can't believe I left it on a train.
Oct 7, 2012, 2:51 am
#687
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DTM
Programs: TK Gold, AZ Gold, HH Honours Gold, SPG Platin
Posts: 80
Two weeks ago in Rio de Janeiro:
Took the airport bus to get to the hotel at Copacabana. Had my passport plus wallet in my laptop case that I did not want to take at first for the whole trip cause it should be leisure. Put the case in the bus bin above me. After 90 minutes drive in the too cold temperatured bus I saw my hotel, got out. Noted that I missed something...the laptop case.
Run as fast as I could and made the bus after 200 meters and got my stuff out. Otherwise I would have had big problems.
Took the airport bus to get to the hotel at Copacabana. Had my passport plus wallet in my laptop case that I did not want to take at first for the whole trip cause it should be leisure. Put the case in the bus bin above me. After 90 minutes drive in the too cold temperatured bus I saw my hotel, got out. Noted that I missed something...the laptop case.
Run as fast as I could and made the bus after 200 meters and got my stuff out. Otherwise I would have had big problems.
Oct 7, 2012, 3:39 am
#688
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: NL
Programs: FB M&M AA Amex HH SPG and others
Posts: 1,929
The dumbest mistake I made was ... at my Honeymoon. My BIL and SIL brought us to the airport and when I was changing money my wife bought some coffee. Because none of us paid attention to my luggage, it was disappeared when I came back. Luckily I had the ticket for the first destination in my pocket, but the ticket for the next trip, the vouchers for the hotel and my medicin were all in this luggage.
Luckily the luggage wasn't stolen, but somebody thought it was luggage of theirs. When they found out that it wasn't theirs, they were over 100km. They contacted a number which they found in the suitcase, which contacted my FIL. Finally we were lucky to arrange transport from their home to the airport (travel insurance #1) and then to our destinaton airport (travel insurance #2). So just before we went to the second destination all was back.
Ofcourse we bought a replacement ticket to the second destination before we knew the luggage was found. And had much to explain to the TLV security why we told that we bought the tickets home while there was Arabic on the ticket...
Luckily the luggage wasn't stolen, but somebody thought it was luggage of theirs. When they found out that it wasn't theirs, they were over 100km. They contacted a number which they found in the suitcase, which contacted my FIL. Finally we were lucky to arrange transport from their home to the airport (travel insurance #1) and then to our destinaton airport (travel insurance #2). So just before we went to the second destination all was back.
Ofcourse we bought a replacement ticket to the second destination before we knew the luggage was found. And had much to explain to the TLV security why we told that we bought the tickets home while there was Arabic on the ticket...
Oct 7, 2012, 4:08 am
#690
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: KSA
Programs: Only QR Burgundy
Posts: 10
Early August I checked some rental cars on the Sixt homepage for our holiday next year in the U.S.
2 days after that I booked a rental car in Thailand on the sixt homepage, 07.08. to 15.08.
Everything looked fine and the booking went through (pre-paid rate).
At BKK airport we went to the Sixt desk to get the car, the poor guy behind the counter was looking for my reservation and was not able to find it. 1 hour later he finally discovered that my booking was for next year! 07.08.2013 (my browser must have saved the values from 2 days before)!!
I was so embarrassed... He called Sixt in Germany and told me that the money will be credited to my account within the next 2 weeks, so I paid for a new reservation and everything finally worked out.
Stood there for 2 hours because I didn't check the year properly only the day and month... My wife was not very happy :-)
2 days after that I booked a rental car in Thailand on the sixt homepage, 07.08. to 15.08.
Everything looked fine and the booking went through (pre-paid rate).
At BKK airport we went to the Sixt desk to get the car, the poor guy behind the counter was looking for my reservation and was not able to find it. 1 hour later he finally discovered that my booking was for next year! 07.08.2013 (my browser must have saved the values from 2 days before)!!
I was so embarrassed... He called Sixt in Germany and told me that the money will be credited to my account within the next 2 weeks, so I paid for a new reservation and everything finally worked out.
Stood there for 2 hours because I didn't check the year properly only the day and month... My wife was not very happy :-)