stevenshev

Last year I was living in London and this girl was living in Paris.

She was in London for the weekend - and we both needed to go to Paris on Sunday morning. The trains and planes were sold out! So we decided to drive.

We go out at night, part ways, and agree to meet at 6am in her lobby.

I wake up at 5.30 and have a frantic phone call from her asking where the hell I am?

I try to call her. No response.

Go to her hotel, she's gone.

Don't know what to do - get in the car.

Suddenly she calls - where the hell am I?

Uh...where the hell are you?

I'm at Waterloo - trying to get a train - why did you oversleep?

Uh..I didn't oversleep, it's 5.55.

No, it's 6.55.

Uh...London's an hour behind Paris.

$#%!.

So, I go to Waterloo, and pick her up.

We're on our merry way to Dover, finally past Greenwich and trolling along to the Motorway and she freaks out and wonders if she remembered to take her passport.

I laugh at her and say, "wouldn't that be hilarious?"

And then my heart stops....my passport, travel wallet, etc.: in the hotel safe in the City. Shite.

Back we go.

We now have 1h05 to make the departure from Dover...a drive that is easily 1.5 hrs, and you're supposed to be there 45 minutes prior.

We made it - by the Grace of God - and my setting a land speed record in this poor A4.

tkey75

Heading to NRT from downtown, I took the subway all the way to the end of the line and would catch the train from there to the airport. I was looking for adventure and got one. I had no Yen and no way to get any when I got off the subway and the automated tellers take cash only. Luckily I had a subway pass and took it back to Shinjuku, where I would have several options to get to NRT, or so I thought. The day's last bus and express train had left by then and the best I could do was a local train to Narita.

At my train connection for the last train to Narita, I noticed I was in the same prefecture (Chiba) and though I'd just take a cab as I had no idea if I'd be able to get from the train station to the hotel I was in. I thought it would be just down the road from where I was. It wasn't. That cab ride cost me over $150. Who knew there's no way to get to the airport from Tokyo, of the world's major cities, after 9pm? I didn't.

Captain Flush

A few years ago a friend of mine was getting married in Key West on a Saturday. I decided to take the Friday off and make a mini-vacation out of it, and planned out a wonderful itinerary. The Wednesday before the wedding, one of my bosses decides I have failed to provide adequate advance notice that I'm taking Friday off and tells me in words of one syllable that it would be a very bad career move for me to do so. I grudgingly reschedule my flights, eat the change fees and the higher ticket cost, say goodbye to one night of nonrefundable B&B lodging in Key West, and fume. I end up arriving in MIA late Friday night and spending the night at a motel in lovely Florida City, not wanting to miss the scenic drive to Key West by doing it at night. In the middle of all this, still steaming mad at the situation, I make it my mission to cram my entire three-day itinerary into the two days I have left to work with.

Fast forward to Sunday morning as I'm checking out of my B&B in Key West. It occurs to me that perhaps I should ask to use the computer behind the desk for OLCI in case the drive back to MIA is slow. My mojito-hangover-addled brain decides this is unnecessary, since the drive back to MIA can't take too much longer than the drive down. I fail to factor in that I had to change my original ticket, and as a result am now departing from FLL. Which is of course farther from Key West than MIA.

I realize I'm cutting it very close somewhere about halfway through the slow drive back up U.S. 1. Despite this, bull-headed me decides to nonetheless check off the last two remaining items on the weekend itinerary. Stopping at a Cuban restaurant back in Miami for some takeout (item #1) wasn't the best idea, but it wasn't nearly as bad of an idea as item #2, which was going for a swim. I ended up leaving a perfectly good expressway to take a miles-long detour through a sea of traffic lights for a 15-second swim, and headed for FLL wearing shorts over my still-wet bathing suit.

I arrived at the counter in FLL about 20 minutes before departure, which still would have been enough time to get through security and to the gate had I only had a boarding pass. Naturally, I had passed up a perfectly good OLCI opportunity that morning, and the flight had of course closed. The flat-tire rule was no help, as it was the carrier's last flight of the day from FLL and the TA showed no interest in rebooking me the next morning (which wouldn't have helped anyway, since I needed to be back at the office first thing). I ended up buying a full-fare last-minute ticket on the only other airline that could get me home that night.

Took home several lessons from that episode, along with a much lighter wallet.

jackal

Wow. Your attempts to cram everything in at the last minute (and planning to take time off with only cursory permission from the bosses ) sound like one of my trips! Fortunately, luck has been with me each and every time, and nothing bad's happened yet. I'm sure it'll catch up to me sometime soon, though...

...and then I'll probably have some nice material to post on this thread!

tfar

I love the story about the short term relationship hotel. But the story about forgetting your husbands camera for the honeymoon is an absolutely priceless Freudian slip. You probably wanted your husband to spend time with you looking in your eyes instead of looking through the lens. And it was tricky, too. After all, it is the honeymoon and not a photo safari so he can't be angry. Very bad. Very, very bad. I will tell that to my GF who always complains I am taking too many photos and who always happens to stand right between me and the motive I want to shoot.

Till

Menace to Sobriety

OK, not mine, but my parents.

When I was a kid, we were ,making our annual trip, ABZ to ORF. Routing was ABZ, LHR, IAD, ORF. My mom is the only one who was not a US cit. Dad decided that with two kids, it is such a long day so we flew the ABZ to LHR the night before the LHR to IAD flight. We stay in a hotel by LHR, arrive at the counter fully rested and ready for a long day. Mom realizes at the counter that she left her visa on her nightstand. She had to fly back to ABZ and take the trip the next day. My dad, sister and I took the original routing. Mom loved taking the trip by herself without the kids. To this day Dad swears she did it on purpose.

HereAndThereSC

One bit of advice: Always check your wallet/cash/credit card and passport before you leave... The rest... you can get there (generally anyways).

I did have an eventful trip one time...

I was on US PHL->DCA (->LAS) (cheap routing - tight connection, about 35 mins). Land at DCA and it took forever to taxi to the gate, the minutes are running down to nothing. Slow gate operator... I notice the captain is eagerly trying to get the heck out of the plane... turns out he was deadheading on the same DCA->LAS I was trying to get on. We both bolt to the LAS flight, it's closed. He knew the door code, lets me on, and the gate agent gives him hell for letting me on... By that time my F seat is gone of course (why they never give me one but always give mine away is puzzling), so I grabbed "any open seat", which turned out great as there was one with an open middle seat. Made the flight just fine.

Another time, I was taking the same friday afternoon flight ORD->CLT every week at 4:30pm, but one week I booked an earlier flight to get in earlier, since I had a date that night. Forgot about the earlier flight, missed it, and missed the date too. LOL

HTSC

nickyboy

too many...

Turned up at MAN for MAN-AMS-PEK only to be told the flight was the following day.....just went home, rescheduled my meetings in China and went back the following day, never told a soul at work

Forgot to take my passport to the airport 3x in China, once leaving it in a hotel safe after a monster baijiu session the previous night. Had to get a friend to go to the hotel and persuade the manager to let him in the room (which by then was resold) to get at the safe. Mossed the flight, missed the factory meeting.....

Once slept in (forgot to take the "not at weekends" option off the alarm on my phone) and made it to the airport 20mins before take off....no chance, even with an attempted bribe of the manager of the (very small Chinese) airport. Had to get a bus to another city....5 hours....wait for another flight to the desitnation city.....3 hours. Arrived 10 hours late

nickyboy

rxalexa

I was going through security, used my drivers license for ID, and rather than put in back in my wallet, I put it in my shirt pocket. The line for screening was backed up, so I grabbed a tray, put it on the floor and put my shoes and other items in it. After leaving security, I quickly put my shoes on and gathered my things and I proceeded to the bar for a drink before my flight. The bartender asked for ID and I could not find it. I ran back to security thinking I lost it there. TSA could not find it. I was depressed all the way home knowing I would have to spend hours at the DMV getting a new license. When I got home, I took off my shoes and there was my license in the bottom of my right shoe. It had fallen out of my shirt pocket when I bent over the tray while putting my things in it. From now on, my license goes back in my wallet immediately.

JerryFF

In the days when paper tickets were still in use, I was staying at a resort about 40 miles outside of Munich. I took the train into Munich and as I got off the train, I heard my name being paged.

It turned out that I had left both my passport and my airline ticket in the desk drawer in my hotel room. The maid had found them and someone from the hotel took them to the train station, put them on the next train to Munich, and the conductor delivered them to me about an hour later in the Munich train station.

brendog

I let my wife convince me to fly WN once. Man was that dumb...

flyphilrun

Ok this is not my mess up but I was involved.
I just took a trip on the TGV (French high speed train). Got on and found my seat in the right carriage etc only to see it was already occupied. I ask the bloke why he is in my seat (nicely though) and he tells me its his. We compare tickets and indeed we seem to have the same reservation so we call the conductor. He spots what we had both missed. The other chap is a month early... yes really a MONTH early. How is that even possible??? Anyway it cost him a full price First Class ticket...

sjclynn

I still wonder how I managed to do this and not get a severe whacking from the travel gods.

I had a 6:10AM Continental departure from SJC. I set my alarm for 4:15 but screwed up and it didn't go off. I awoke at 5:05 with the personal notation that I was truly screwed. I threw on clothes and made it to the counter at 5:35 where I was assured by the agents that "people have been later than this and made the flight." The line for security was huge; all the way past the normal crowd control, all the way around baggage claim and back past security in the hall. To their credit, TSA was very effective and they time in line was only 20 minutes.

Ok, I have to be manually scanned and so there is a period where my carry ons are out of my control. I had two bins and a large computer case. One bin had the computer and the other had shoes. I normally place everything from my pockets into the computer case. The TSO that brought the carry on stuff to where I was being groped, I mean...inspected, stacked the bins, shoes on to. You know where this is leading. I finished with TSA, pulled on my shoes and ran to the gate. It dawned on me as I was putting away the case that it felt a little light. It was 6:05.

I took my things and went back down to the gate to see if I could go back to security and get my laptop. I was told, and politely too, that they were just minutes from closing the door and I would miss the flight. To my shock and amazement one of the gate agents took off in hot pursuit of my computer and returned with it in time for me to reboard. Kudos to Continental personnel at SJC for this one. I had no expectation of making that flight after not one but two screw ups that should have left me on the ground watching the plane leave.

I probably should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

OneirosDreaming

I left my drivers license (but fortunately not my wallet) at the security gate before getting on a red eye to DTW. And didn't find out until I walked up to the Avis counter, of course.

Fortunately, my hotel wasn't but a mile from the office, and it was fairly mild weather, so I just got some extra exercise that week. The best part was all everyone I was working with freaking out and asking me if I needed rides. A mile really isn't that bad of a walk, folks!

home222

Years ago I remember rushing through an airport as I was late. Then rushing to the gate, rushing into the jet and then rushing to my seat. Someone then got on the plane and we both had the same row and seat number.

Only then did a flight attendant look at my boarding pass and notice that I was on the wrong plane to the wrong city. (at least I had the correct airline) Can you imagine this happening in today's post 9-11 world?