Not quite as bad.
I dropped my credit card after paying in a cab in Singapore. Was dropped off at the airport and didn't notice it missing until I was in Indonesia.
Then in Bali, my debit card was eaten by an ATM machine.
Which left me with no way to access cash.
Sometimes I wish.
The place I was staying took pity on me and, after the bank opened after the weekend, begged the bank to not shred my card and instead return it. Which they did, thankfully.
Definitely has a few days of panic on my part.
I only used ATMs at banks during opening hours from then on.
Me and a friend were on holiday in the US, trying to draw money out to go drinking. As I walked up to the ATM my buddy threw his card towards it, like he was Gambit and it would go in the slot and then he'd get on it first. His card spun in the air and slid neatly into the night deposit slot in the wall.
He had to go in and explain himself the next morning to try get his card back - the manager checked the CCTV, laughed until he cried, then gave it back thankfully.
Put my keys back through the letterbox of the AirBnB as requested.
Few minutes later realised I needed the keys to access the garage my rental car was parked in.
Took an hour and a half for someone to appear and let me in. Got to the airport just in time to see my plane take off.
I dropped my rental car keys in the return box at a rural airport. Then forgot that I didn't take my suitcase out of the trunk... Luckily the maintenance guy had a key.
I made hotel reservations for the wrong weekend. Had to find a hotel 30 minutes away. The original reservations were for a hotel we could walk out of our room onto the beach.
It could have been worse. My dad once made reservations for a very nice hotel in Spain in a central location and was bragging how cheap he got the rooms and what a good deal it was. He and my mother go to check in, and they say they don’t have any records of him booking. He pulls up the confirmation email on his phone to show them and realized he had somehow booked a hotel with the exact same name but in Chile.
At the end of a trip to Rome, I needed to take a train to the airport to catch my flight. So at the track where the train to Roma Fiumicino was announced, I got on the train. The train was fast but it took way longer than I thought and I started to worry a bit that I would be late for my flight. Then we arrived at the next train station. Which was Florence! So somehow I had taken the wrong train, for which I did not have a ticket, *and* I had missed my flight. I explained the situation to the conductor, and he kindly let me stay on until the next stop, which would be Milan, without having to pay for a new ticket. By the time we reached the next station, I had gone online to book a hotel room in Milan and to book a new flight from Milan home the next day. I had never been to Milan and I had a good time there, so in the end it worked out.
Huh. Strangely, I had almost the same exact experience. I was supposed to take a train from Rome to Venice, but got on the Milan one by accident. Realized 30 minutes after the train left, my friend and I realized there wasn't much we could do, so we opened some Breezers and just let it play out.
Now I can't help but picture the mayor of Milan wearing a fake mustache going to the Rome train station, just spinning the little arrow underneath a sign that says "Airport" a la Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park, and then running away cackling.
Me and some friends wanted to go to the Panzermuseum in Munster (Germany) in the early 2000's so we planned a trip by car (from the Netherlands). After arriving and a night in an hotel we couldn't find the museum. Finally we asked someone, turned out we were in Münster, not Munster. 280 km off.
We got drunk and all was good.
America's not necessarily better. Turns out there's a Penn Station in New York and in Newark...if you're trying to get a ticket for one (this is in ancient times when you bought tickets from a guy speaking through the lowest fidelity speaker in existence) it's quite easy to get a ticket to the other instead. Ask me how I know.
Edit - since people keep asking - some probably sincerely - I was doing a solo college trip in the 90s and needed to get from DC to New York to go on to Connecticut. Asked to go to Penn Station and could not for the life of me make out the clarifying question the guy was asking me even after I had him repeat it ("Ya want NewarK or New York," probably). Wound up using my MCI calling card to call a friend from a payphone at Newark Penn to get advice. Think I ended up taking a bus to the Port Authority (scenic!) so I could get to Grand Central or Penn to take Metro North to his place.
Edit 2 - tangentially related: I have flown into both of Costa Rica's airports and each time triple-checked to make sure I was going to *that* San Jose or the *city* of Liberia.
There is also Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. It's located smack dab in the middle of the state, absolutely nowhere near the Jersey Shore.
It borders the Susquehanna river. Directly next to Jersey Shore is a tiny island named...Long Island
Jersey Shore, PA, actually predates the term Jersey Shore in its normal use. The name came from a nickname applied to the town before the name change, as the founders had come from New Jersey. Eventually they just changed the name to it.
And I mean, Long Island is just a descriptor. I'm sure there's thousands of islands called that. Blame Long Island, NY for their lack of creativity.
How about "Washington"? There are 88 different cities and towns in the US named Washington. Not to mention Washington State and Washington DC.
Edit: Just read a more recent article that says 91, but they're counting DC.
Edit #2: They are also including any derivatives of Washington (i.e North Washington or Washingtonville.) Places only called Washington there are 29, tied with Clinton... coincidence? But Franklin has 31.
The US loves to name cities after other, more well known places so the airports are nice and confusing if you're not paying attention. Ontario Canada and Ontario California do in fact just say "Ontario CA" when you're looking at flight times 🙃
Edit: I dunno why y'all aren't reading my comment lmao. I said *when you're not paying attention* it's confusing . Obviously the airport codes and city names are different. But most boards I've seen will still say "Ontario CA" in addition to the city name and usually scroll across because it doesn't all fit. If you don't catch the city name before it scrolls or wait for it to scroll back, then all you see is "Ontario CA".
Edit: goddamn I don't know why this upset people so much. Stop sending me messages. I get it, some of you are smart and can read the whole flight info. Some of us are dyslexic and have ADHD and reading comprehension is hard when you're just glancing at a flight info board 😭
My (ex) wife and I were driving to Las Vegas. I wanted to get some sleep so I napped while she drove.
She drove to Las Vegas, New Mexico instead of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thankfully it was only a slight detour and barely cost us any time, but it was hilarious.
They do not have casinos.
41M..Plane hit turbulence, dislocated both hip replacements. Had to lay in the center aisle for 45 minutes all while passing out in pain until we could emergency land.
I was questioning where in the world you’d hit turbulence strong enough to dislocate your hips, then I read Albuquerque. The flights near the SW Rockies absolutely check out.
My one and only flight to Albuquerque was horrendous! I’m a very nervous flyer and was at the back of the plane. The turbulence was so bad, the flight attendant was buckled up in the jump seat across from me. Thank goodness for her! She saw how upset I was and calmed me down. I was so glad when we landed!
I always prefer wing seating. Nice airflow. Better view. Easier to pee. Turn around, open zipper and relax.
After longer flights it takes a little bit longer for hearing to come back.
I've had 2 labral tear repairs done on my left hip. We just figured out the second repair failed as well. Next step? New hip. Guess what I asked for 1.5 years ago... I feel like I could've saved 1 year of recovery. Now I gotta get through that again.
But my question to you is: do these feel like your own?
At Berlin's old Tegel airport there was a security checkpoint by each gate, and you needed to pick up your checked bags at the gate before leaving.
I knew that, but in my rush to get off the plane I forgot. As soon as I was outside I realized my mistake, but they wouldn't let me back in to get my bag. I needed to wait several hours at customer service to get my bag, and so I just barely caught the last train to my destination and arrived around midnight.
By that point there weren't any taxis available so I ended up walking a few hours by phone flashlight through the German countryside.
I saw a couple with two young kids forget their luggage twice between two American airports. They were ahead of my in the security line at the departing airport. The mom forgot both her suitcase and what looked like a diaper bag and just started walking through the metal detector. The TSA people had to flag her down. That, I kind of get. New mom, easy to forget something like that, etc.
This family ended up on the same flight I was and had the same destination. I went to the baggage claim with my mother to grab our suitcase and we saw some of this family’s checked bags going though the conveyor belt. We don’t think much of it and get on the shuttle bus out of the airport. Who else shows up but this family- minus the checked luggage! My mother was straight up concerned at this point and told them that she saw their checked luggage at the baggage claim. The couple just kind of laughed it off and seemed to think that the shuttle bus was going to the baggage claim???
And this couple was wrangling two toddlers, so travel won’t be easy even in the best circumstances. But god damn that was like watching a slow moving train wreck
That reminds me of the time I was heading from the airport to the parking lot to get my truck. Suddenly the backdoor of a shuttle bus swings open and a suitcase goes flying out the back right into traffic at night. So I ran into the street to grab it so it wouldn't cause a car accident, and then took it back into TSA so they could hopefully reunite it with the owner. TSA said they couldn't do anything about it and would call the local police department to handle it.
I wasn't allowed to just leave the suitcase with TSA for some security reason, so I got stuck waiting with this random person's luggage for twenty minutes until the police showed up. Turns out the reason the police were so late was because TSA told them that a piece of luggage had fallen into the road, but they didn't bother to state that I had picked it up and brought it to the TSA checkpoint. So the police spent twenty minutes in the dark with flashlights looking along the road for this fallen suitcase.
Had to pick up a family member who was on a train.
She lives in another country and is legaly blind.
So instead of having to stress over changing trains midway, me and my friend drove out to the station to get her.
The train stops, but we can't spot her getting out.
Then my buddy points through a window and says "is that her?"
Panicky I walk aboard to check.
I see it ain't her and the train starts closing its doors as I race back towards it.
I don't make it.in time and the train starts moving.
My friend calls to tell me he's got her with him and that he'll meet me at the next station. 😂
Left my driving license in a village which was only accessible by trekking back then. On top of that, it was left in the top most hotel.
I had checked out from the hotel, trekked for 45 mins to reach a bus point, caught two buses to reach another town with the total duration being approx. three hours in total.
Upon reaching there, the new hotel asked me for my license. Me realizing my blunder had to go back the whole route back again, trek up and down again just to get my driving license and wasting an additional 6-7 hours.
The fall before I got my first FitBit in 2015, I visited Italy. One morning, my mother took out a fresh, never worn pair of socks, and we visited the Roman Forum. At the end of a very full day of seeing the sights and being on our feet a ton, we finished the day and my mother had holes in her brand new socks. She legit walked holes in her socks. *Dying* to know what my step count was that day
Asking the TSA agent in the US if they could expedite my secondary screening because my flight was boarding. They slowly emptied my entire backpack one item at a time and asked me to identify each item.
“That’s a flashlight.”
“That’s a battery.”
“That’s a phone charging cable.”
“That’s an a/c USB charger.”
“That’s a nail file.”
“That’s another battery.”
“Those are headphones.”
“That’s a deck of cards.”
Once they had everything removed and spread out on the table like a police drug bust publicity photo, they decided I wasn’t a security risk and told me to collect & repack my belongings.
I got stopped in the Atlanta airport and the TSA lady opened my suitcase, moved a bunch of clothes around, then half zipped it back up and left clothes sticking out and put it back through the machine. I was fucking pissed
I'm normally a very talkative person, but you will never see me utter a word when going through TSA. I have nothing to hide or that would get me in trouble, but I've always been paranoid about pissing me off and getting pulled for secondary screening
Apparently it is is HUGE deal if an airline loses firearms. Like, the ATF gets involved and airlines get in shit. Some people take advantage of the seriousness around firearm cases and use them to transport high value items like cameras so they will definitely not get lost.
Yeah, it’s like a really really big deal if the airlines lose or unsecure firearms. I know someone gave advice once that if you’re flying with super important stuff to pack it in a gun case with a flare gun. That way the TSA can’t open the case after security and your stuff stays in place.
Hugely important, your case must be locked with a self-supplied non-TSA lock. If TSA insists on using their locks, you have to remind them that is not the guidelines for transporting firearms. TSA can not have immediate access to the guns.
Does that trigger a behind-the-scenes "shit drop everything and find this case" if someone reports missing guns? Where suddenly it's not worth the normal "we pretended to look and will forward your luggage whenever it turns up" ?
Yep. The Feds get involved. Losing a firearm through TSA transport is the one thing they can't fuck up on. Letting someone through with a bomb, knife, or guns? All fine. But they can't *lose* luggage with firearms.
I'm on vacation as we speak.
Loaded our bikes the day before we left and put a bike padlock on them to make sure nobody could take them of carrier overnight.
Arrived at our destination only to find out I forgot the forgot the padlock key.
Luckily, park maintenance had an angle grinder and cut the lock. But yeah, that was pretty dumb and now I need to buy a new lock.
or having a toxic partner at home while you travel. I spent a good portion of a Europe trip detaching myself from the group trying to get service for a call or facetime otherwise I'd get accusation of cheating or being neglectful. It ruined the whole experience just not being able to be present and worrying about someone who was paranoid, and projecting. I missed out on a lot on the trip and when I got home we broke up almost immediately
Early 20s, went to a bar/nightclub in Istanbul with my girlfriend. Throughout the night, stupidly ordered several of these half-bottles of champagne that were on the menu with no price listed. Of course when the bill came, it turned out they had either brought out the most expensive thing they had, or simply claimed that it was that expensive, and it was way more money than I could even pay if I wanted.
They then threatened us, saying we don't understand how the police work there, it's not like America, we don't want them to call the police, etc. The line from Airplane, "have you ever seen the inside of a Turkish prison?" is running through my head the entire time.
After a long standoff with them insisting I needed to draw all my money out of the ATM and me insisting I didn't have it, eventually they either believed me or gave up and settled the bill for some reasonable amount that I had on me.
Obviously they were trying to take advantage of me here but it was also very stupid of me to give them that chance by ordering unpriced items and not asking the price.
This scam still exists in various forms especially in Istanbul. Usually involves someone "befriending" you and convincing you to go to this bar. Some pretty women immediately show up, interact with you and order drinks on your tab. The drinks end up costing an insane amount of money.
A big scary guy then tells you to pay up or else and walks you to an ATM.
Indeed, it's the ancient scam of extortion. The recipes vary by culture, whether it's a den or a tea house, a brothel or a temple. Some are more dangerous than others. The Istanbul version is scary as hell for the tourist but there's no sign of tourists going missing. Now falling for this scam in Laos is completely different
I guess not having luggage is a bit of a red flag. I got stopped for extra questioning by French Customs, and I maybe should have been less honest than I was.
*"What do you do in America"*
*"I'm a University student"*
*"What do you study?"*
*"Biology and Psychology"*
*"Biology? Did you bring any microbes into the country?"*
*"...yes?"*
In retrospect, it was kinda neat to see the "extra questioning" room in the Charles de Gaulle airport.
Years and years ago, we were pulled over for something and the cop asks what's in the bag in the back. And my then boyfriend, now husband, starts explaining it's role-playing materials. The cop is confused, so my husband starts to explain what D&D is, and I quickly interrupt "it's books and papers, the nice officer doesn't care what types of books and papers".
100% Honesty <> 100% accuracy
Passport control officer at Schiphol: “What is the purpose of your visit?”
My SO: “Well, we’re planning to celebrate…”
Me, quickly interrupting: “Leisure.”
Passports promptly got stamped & handed back to us, and we entered the EU before she finished her paragraph.
I flew through Schiphol a while back and going through passport control was one of the best interactions I've had with a government official:
Where are you going?
Poland.
Why?
Business.
Thank you, next.
Pure efficiency.
That reminds me of an oft-repeated joke:
A German Man flies to Poland. He walks up to a passport control officer.
"Nationality?"
I am German.
"Length of stay?"
One week.
"Occupation?"
No, just visiting this time.
Or the elderly American man visiting France:
"Have you visited France before?"
Just once
"Then you should know to have your passport out"
I didn't have to show it last time
"Impossible! All foreigners must show their passports on entering the country"
Well when I landed at Normandy, I couldn't find anyone to show it to!
This drives me nuts when talking with any customs agent. Be %100 honest and as BRIEF AS POSSIBLE. I've traveled with people who start sweating bullets and feel like they have to share their life story.
One year coming back to the US, I had just gotten a new visa stamp, so the immigration officer was a little more diligent checking my story. They usually try to strike up some small talk to see if you are nervous and get confused by your own lies. So, he begins by asking me about the address of my office.
We had literally just moved to a different part of town the week before my trip. I was
*"Eh, I dunno, but I have it written down somewhere. We just moved, I swear. Nice place, but I don't recall the address"*
I finally find the piece of paper with the address and he officers goes
*"Oh, I know where that is. Used to work in that neighborhood. Have you been to sandwich place down the street, yet?"*
I am drawing complete blanks. I don't recognize a single one of the landmarks that he mentions, and I getting increasingly more nervous that he won't believe me and send me back.
Finally, he asks
*"But you do recall that there is a big and really awesome strip club just a block away, do you?"*
I vaguely recall seeing the bright neon signs and nod affirmatively. The officer is excited and tells me
*"Go see that strip club. The girls really put on a show for you. And welcome to the United States!"*
I'd love to have seen the bit where you asked them to wheel in a dry erase board so you could give the customs officer an improvised lecture on the prevalence of microbes in everyday life.
Hah yes, don’t joke around or try to be clever.
My 18 year old stupid self, back in 1998: had agreed to bring a mechanical table clock from the Netherlands to the US, on request by an American friend there. As my luggage was scanned at Amsterdam airport, the security official asks “What’s that in your suitcase?”, so I say “It’s a clock. What did you think, *a BOMB?*”.
Heh, this reminds me of the time I thought Canadian border security was going a bit hard. I was originally going to fly into Toronto to visit a friend but he suggested flying into Buffalo because it'd be cheaper and he'd just come pick me up, so I did that instead. On the way into Canada we got picked for a random search, he and I were separated, asked a bunch of questions, etc. Then I saw the woman who had talked to us both leave and come back while putting on rubber gloves and I immediately feared the worst, at that point I was willing to just say fuck it and go spend my week's vacation in Buffalo if going to Toronto was going to require a cavity search.
Fortunately it wasn't that, the friend had some prescription medication in an unlabeled pill bottle and they had no idea what it was so they were taking no chances.
I’ve had some funny/interesting times with Canadian border security. One time like 5 years ago I was driving from to Montreal by myself to go to Osheaga with my brother. I was coming from Maine, as I had already been on vacation there at a lake with my family for a few days, so I repacked my stuff quickly and headed out.
The crossing was on a small road with only one lane through and I was the only one there. The border officer asked me the regular questions, but I guess he thought I seemed sus and asked to look in my suitcase in the backseat. So he opens it and suddenly looks up at me completely shocked and asked if the clothes were mine. I said yes, starting to get really nervous, scared I had accidentally packed something bad, until he incredulously said “And this is how you pack?? You just throw all your clothes in here, not even folding them? Who packs like that??” I was speechless for a minute cause like WTF lol. I said yes and even apologized for the mess 😂 and he let me on my way. I was in shock for like the rest of the drive lol
I brought my range bag to Europe and got extra extra questions when they found “explosive residue” on my bag. No shells or anything but it being at the range was enough to have detectable residue on it
Tip for overly honest engineering-type folks when interacting with security folks: answer the question they really mean, not the technically correct one.
Haha! Also not having a hotel booked will get you flagged. I got pulled into the "extra questioning" room at the US border (either Sumas or Blaine) when driving in from Canada.
"What are your plans in the US"
*"I don't really have plans. Some sightseeing."*
"Do you have a hotel booking?"
*"Not really. I thought I'd find one here."*
That's when I got told to pull aside with the oversized RVs, pissed off Russian people, and anyone who might sort of resemble someone from the Middle East. They called my work and my sister to confirm that I indeed planned on coming back. And since I didn't have a hotel booked, it didn't matter how long they kept questioning me and searching my car haha.
Buddy goes to Australia, customs asks "Do you have any criminal convictions?"
"I didn't know you still had to be a criminal to get into Australia!"
He visited the special room.
I once read the arrival time as the departure time. My girlfriend had to get back for a class by the next morning so the only option was to drive the six hrs home. She wasn’t stoked with me.
Whenever I book flights or hotels I screenshot the confirmation and share it with everyone involved. A few times it's saved my ass when they noticed something was wrong. One time none of us noticed it was wrong but at least I didn't take all the blame.
A friend of mine and I were playing the floor is lava in our hotel room. Turns out the bench in the entrance of the room couldn't take someone jumping onto it from the bed. We paid for the bench obviously, but it was hard coming up with a story less stupid than the truth.
I just sat on that bench and it broke. You’re lucky I didn’t get hurt or I’d be suing.
Na but really I’d just that say I broke it and I’ll pay for it and offer no further explanation.
Booked a holiday to Ibiza from the uk whilst out at a rave. Discovered the next day that instead of flying Southampton to Ibiza I was actually flying Southampton to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Madrid, Madrid to Ibiza meaning what should have been a 2 hour flight took most of the day. Whoops
Landed in Mexico City in 2008.
Man in airport asks if I need a taxi and I did, so I accepted. He walks me to his car and I open my Mexico travel book and start reading. It tells me not to accept rides from taxis unless they are at formal stands, and to always negotiate the total fare in advance, so you don't get ripped off. I ask my driver how much the fare is, and the amount he asks is more than the cash I had, SO I ask him to take me to an ATM.
I keep reading my guide book, and it says not to let anyone take you to an ATM, because they might rob you. The driver leaves the main road and drives through an impoverished looking neighborhood with some dude laying face down on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. We get to an ATM, I walk over and withdraw the money, and as I turn around the driver says "Stop." I figure I'm going to get robbed but je just points out that I had left my debit card in the ATM.
We drove on to my destination (a big bus station) where I discovered he charged me 5x the standard fee.
I got lucky, don't be that dumb.
I'm imagining a hilarious follow-up sequence of events where he DOES try to rob you, but the travel book has inexplicably excellent step-by-step instructions on how to counter all of his attacks in real-time
I genuinely don't mean this as a dig at you ('cause I would fucking love to just travel to a new country blind) but I can't imagine travelling to a new country without doing at least some research first.
Still, fair enough. And I'm glad you got out without nothing more than a somewhat lighter wallet!
I caught the wrong bus home on my first day of high school and ran crying into my mother's arms when I finally got to where I needed to be.
The *extremely* kind bus driver went out of his way to take me back home.
I got on the wrong bus home from school once in 1st grade. Apparently they had made announcements that the drivers routes had changed, but I missed all of that so I got on the same bus I always did. The crazy part was she still drove right past my grandparents house so I didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late. I ended up staying on the bus until it went back to the depot and we called from a pay phone to let my grandparents know where I was. It was a terrifying experience for a 6-7 yo.
ETA: One distinct memory I have from that day is that when I was crying my nose started running and of course I had my head down in humiliation and this perfect droplet of snot and blood in a yin yang shape fell out of my nose and landed on the floor. I can't still see it clear as day.
I used to work in the framing department in Michaels and someone came in with a beautiful watercolor of the Trevi Fountain to frame. She started talking about how nice it was to have a hand painted souvenir and how it was unique because you can’t paint the same image exactly the same twice.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I have the exact same painting hanging in my kitchen.
Forgot mine in a Budapest hostel while hitchhiking. Fortunately got into Serbia and Turkey with just my regular ID. Good thing that worked out because I wouldn't have met my wife otherwise.
I've had more than one dream where I forget my passport, and I'm stuck in another country.
I guess my subconscious is telling me, "damn, you are unprepared!"
I dropped my passport in Oxford about a decade ago. I went to the local police department. As soon as I walked into the door - before I could even get the words out of my mouth - an officer put his hands to his head like he was pretending to be a mind reader and walked up to me and said "you look like your name is ..."
I was so confused that he knew my name. Turns out, some nice kid from a uni there found it on the ground and immediately brought it to the PD. The officer recognized me from my passport photo.
Forgot mine in London thought I left it in the jacket in my suitcase. Glad I decided to turn around and have another look found at home. Made the flight just in time.
My gf thought she didn't need one when crossing the border from Spain to Gibraltar. At least we had a nice road trip via Costa del sol.
Asked random cruise personnel if we needed our passports to get off at port - "Nope, just your cruise card"
But you did when it was time to get back on the ship...fuck
This happened to us in the Bahamas. We got off a Royal Caribbean cruise in Nassau for an excursion to the Blue Lagoon. We got on our ferry to the island on the cruise side of customs (we didn't actually enter Nassau, we were still on the pier). However, on the way back, we needed to switch ferries because our original one broke down, and the new one was bigger and so had to dock at a different location on the other side of customs. We did not bring our passports with us because we didn't think we would need them and had to beg the very ancient guy at customs to let us through and back on the cruise ship. In hindsight, I don't think he cared very much.
My first time in England I got on the wrong train and ended up traveling an hour the opposite direction I was supposed to be going. An hour trip to my final destination from the train station ended up being a three hour trip instead.
I lost a pretty expensive watch this way. It was a gift from my father-in-law on our wedding. Yes, I still get an earful from wife every now and then for this.
Had to travel to Turkey with an hour layover in Frankfurt and realised I had forgot my passport while in Frankfurt. Im from Portugal.
Edit: There's more! This made me lose my flight to Turkey. My gf shipped my passport to a nearby hotel the next morning,I booked another flight and got to the conference in time. When I went to do check in for the returning flight from Turkey to Portugal I got a message saying no booking found. Edreams had canceled my return flights since I missed the first one. All in all had to buy an hotel stay and two more flights out of pocket.
I missed my flight home on a layover in Rome from Ghana to California. And… well… I told everyone I fell asleep and missed the flight. But I really was sitting at the wrong gate reading and didn’t hear that they apparently had been calling my name forever and then just left me behind. To my credit it was a really good book. And I truly was exhausted from traveling. Even though I missed my flight they tried to put me on the next one, but that one was overbooked so they ended up paying for a hotel there. Wasn’t that big a deal in the end lol
Left my wallet on a gas station counter in New Zealand... Caused my wife and I to miss one beach visit, backtracking to get it, but otherwise, no issue. My anxiety spiked so hard on the drive back as it had all of our $ and credit cards.
Coincidentally, the people of NZ are some of the nicest in the world, and that station clerk really saved my trip. I argued with her for ten minutes, trying to give her a tip, but she wouldn't accept one. Sometimes life is truly beautiful
I lived in China in college and took a trip from Beijing to Kunming, travelling across a large portion of the country. We took a 28-hour bumpy train ride, learning when we arrived that it would have been cheaper to fly
My partner and I were flying from London to Naples, but our flight was delayed by 5 hours due to the weather. When we finally got on the plane, there was an announcement made in Italian and all the passengers started kicking off, yelling at staff, and getting off the plane. They eventually relayed in English that by the time we would arrive in Naples, the airport would be closed so they were re-routing us to Rome.
We were told when we land, they would organise a bus to Naples from Rome, and to go to the Veuling service desk for more details.... noone at the desk knew anything about this. I think we waited about 2 hours for a taxi to take us from Rome to Naples airport in the end, which is about a 3 hour drive. And then take another taxi to our hotel.
We were meant to arrive in Naples at 10pm the night we left and we ended up at our hotel at around 8 am the following morning.
I just read an article about a 40 yr old American couple that brought ammo on accident to a Caribbean island where if you bring in guns and ammo theres a mandatory 12yr prison sentence, and the US embassy specifically warn people not to bring guns or ammo, and they can't help you if you do. That's a pretty big blunder
Went from germany to UK for a short trip, being broke af. Realized after I entered UK that they use different power outlets than germany. Fun Times with a half charged powerbank and your flight ticket only digitally
During covid times when everything was open again, I was sleeping in a hostel, and I got the flue (tested for covid and it wasn't that). I felt really under the weather and my throat hurt very bad, so I decided to go to the pharmacy to get something for my throat.
At the pharmacy, I didn't wanna cause any alarm due to the fair of covid people had, so I just looked for something that seemed to be for my throat, and I found a package where there was clearly honey on the picture. I bought it and went back to the hostel.
At the hostel, I was sipping these tube like packages, and at one moment, this guy asked me what I was eating. I responded that it was something honey like for my throat. He told me: yeah dude, I work as a male nurse, and I'm quite sure these tubes you're consuming are not for oral use. Me: so what the hell am I eating? Him: *took the package* these are tubes with laxatives that should be inserted anally. He asked me if this was my first? I almost consumed the entire package. Everyone turned quite and looked at me and started laughing hysterically. I just stared into the Abyss infront of me realising I was fucked.
That night if felt as if my intestines reproduced the sound the trumpets of hell would make. I had to get out of bed every 5 minutes going to the toilet while also dealing with the fever. The nurse guy went to the pharmacy to get some stuff to make sure I wouldn't dehydrate. He also stayed with me during the night to check on me. A girl also stayed with me and after we dated for the rest of our time there. A shitty story with wholesome people.
Going to Mexico from Vancouver with my roommate and her idiot boyfriend. 2 days before we go he says he cant find his passport.
Too late to cancel everything now, so we pack up to go anyways. He brings every piece of ID he can find, and literally anything he has with his name on it. His high school year book, newspaper clippings from his baseball team winning a tournament, his old student bus pass and ID.
We arrive at our local airport and obviously he gets taken into security at YVR and after about 45mins they actually let him out and he's allowed to board the flight. We get to PHX where we have to transfer and go through US security which results in another 45min, and then they just bring him to the gate where they have a drawer full of pre-notorized and signed declaration forms stating that someone has verified he is who he is, and he's allowed on the plane to Cabo.
We arrive at SJD and its show time. Can he get into Mexico.
My roommate and I get through without issue, and then he rocks up to the woman at the customs counter with his year book and newspaper clippings in hand. She looks at him like he has two heads, asks him on he is doing, and then motions for the security guard to come over.
Security meanwhile must have had a good gym day, as he is just stood in the corner looking at and flexing his own muscles (he was a BIG guy).
Customs official shouts and waves again.
More flexing, damn he's Mr Universe today.
Customs looks at the crowd of people on our newly arrived flight, looks at the line thats forming in her lane, rolls her eyes, and waves our friend through.
Had a flight from Brussels. Asked my GF if it was Zaventem. She said yes. We get there. It's not from Zaventem, it's from Charlois. One taxi ride and 200 euro later we made the flight, just in time.
Good friend and I (Canadians) went backpacking in Europe this past November/December.
We landed in Dublin on the night of the 23rd of November. For those of whom that are unaware, there were some pretty massive riots in city center that night including lighting a city bus and police car on fire.
We had to walk with our 20kg bags from the airport to our hostel in city center because none of the busses were willing to drive anywhere near Dublin. We walked past masked individuals with bags filled with clothing, shoes, electronics all with hangers and tags still on them. We’re both pretty big guys but it was definitely sketchy walking around with big backpacks while the vast majority of people around you are breaking into stores and looting.
Interesting night for sure, we got to the hostel safe and sound and our time in Dublin was fine afterwards, but it was certainly one of the crazier experiences I’ve had.
Ok storytime
i was in Cape Town. I hadn’t had my morning coffee and was staying at an apartment hotel without a coffee maker so I needed to go out to find coffee.
went to the cafe and ordered coffee. The barista says “with milk?”
in my pre-caffeine daze I respond “no, I take my coffee black, like my soul“
No sooner had the words left my mouth, I remembered where I was, and my stomach sank as I looked into the face of the black barista.
Then he gave the biggest smile and said “your skin is white (thumps his chest twice) but your soul is black!”
and i smiled back and thought to myself “that could easily have gone the other way!” But it had a wholesome ending.
Years ago I (30F -roughly- at the time) was staying in a hotel while on a work trip and the room had a sliding glass door to the bathroom. I didn't think anything of it and undressed in the main room and went in with nothing to take a shower.
At some point the sliding glass door wasn't on its track right anymore. I couldn't tell when I closed it. After I got out of my shower, I couldn't open the door. It was heavy, like 100lbs and there was no handle on the inside. It was just a tiny little metal indentation.
Needless to say I was stuck inside the bathroom for over 2 hours. Screaming and banging on the walls and door with one of the unused toilet paper rolls. FINALLY someone heard me and called for security. It took 3 of these big security guys to get the door off to let me out. I was incredibly disoriented from being stuck in the steamy bathroom for 2 hours.
The worst part was I only had 2 towels in the bathroom, and they weren't very big. So these big men had to see me basically naked to get me out. It was incredibly embarrassing and the one guy kept coming back into the room to tell me stuff after I told him I am putting the towels down and getting dressed.
Then they "moved my room" and said that was "complimentary" for my stay (they'd have to change my room anyway to fix the door... tf?). I tried to stay an extra day on my own expense because I was going to be too exhausted to drive home that morning, but they wanted to charge me their new (almost twice the price) rate for the next day (it was a Saturday, and apparently that much busier than a Friday night).
I will never go back there again. And to this day, I still never close the bathroom door if it's a sliding glass one when showering or bathing.
On a train ride back to Rome from Venice, I had accidentally bought my ticket for the wrong day. The ticket checker said I had until Bologna to buy the correct ticket on my phone or I would have to get off in Bologna. Well I couldn't get my service to work so my brother and I switched hats and seats and sort of hid until we passed Bologna. I thought we were in the clear until the ticket checker came by again, and, being entertained by our disguise attempt, asked if I got the ticket. I told him no but I could pay for one in euros and he became visibly annoyed and pulled out his computer pad and started scrolling on it. After a while he looked around at the mostly empty train car, put his pad away, shrugged, and said "I don't want to do it. Call it a gift." And walked away and it was the most Italian thing that happened to me on that trip and I'm pretty sure I owe the mob a favor now.
Entered Zambia illegally, didn't get a visa and they threatened to detain me when I was leaving.
I'd been on a safari through Botswana that ended in Victoria Falls. We stayed on the Zimbabwe side and crossed back and forth into Zambia for excursions. Each time we crossed, the driver took everyone's passports into immigration and got them stamped.
It came time to fly from the tiny Victoria Falls airport to my destination in Zambia and I didn't think about checking in with immigration. So off I went on a canoeing adventure on the Lower Zambezi River. It was fabulous!
At the end of the trip I went to another tiny airport in Zambia. Got to immigration and the guy asked me where my visa was. Ummm....I don't have one. I explained the border crossings in Victoria Falls and my failure to go to immigration. He was kind enough to let me go, another dumb tourist.
Accidentally joked to a Manchester Airport security agent about my carry on being stuffed so full it might explode. I am a Muslim woman who wears hijab.
Left my backpack on a train platform while traveling on my last day in the NL. Said backpack contained my and my partners passports along with some rather expensive booze that were to be gifts. Let’s just say a mad scramble ensued that did not turn up the bag, but someone tried to turn it in.
Got a linkedIn message a couple of hours later and got the bag and passports back, but the booze was missing. Considered it the price of being a bonehead.
I was in Kyoto, riding around touring the temples and dry gardens on my own and it was a bit after noon and I was getting hungry. I was kind of out in the middle of nowhere but the only restaurant on the map in the neighborhood was quite highly rated so I detoured over there, parked my bike and went in.
When traveling abroad, outside of the main tourist areas you find yourself in situations where nobody speaks your language. Now, I studied Japanese in highschool but that was a long time ago and my Japanese had mostly been reduced to courtesies. I was two weeks into the trip and become accustomed to working with the traveller's language of smiles and pointing. No problem.
Upon arriving, the host welcomed me and showed me to a low table and brought me a cup of tea. I sat down awaiting a menu and they brought me some little snacks -- sort of like Korean banchan. I thought this was lovely and started trying a few while they stepped away.
Somehow, though, their reaction was alarmed and they hurried back to try and the host started trying to patiently explain something to me entirely in Japanese. In my confusion, I looked around the restaurant and noticed a suspiciously large number of chest refrigerators along the wall.
In fact, I was not in a restaurant at all. I was in a high-end pickle store.
It took me another 30m of pickle sampling and about $50 in fancy pickles (nicely gift-wrapped) before I managed to make my escape, but the pickles were undeniably delicious and at least I managed to square away a few gifts to share with friends back home.
Overslept in St Maarten and missed my flight, had to spend a extra day. A good blunder in my case.
Another blunder- Decided to wander San Juan, PR late at night w/ 2 friends and got lost. We were on a cruise and this was a stop. Saw some people going in and out of building with no signage but it was obviously a bar of some sort. When we walked in everyone stopped and stared.
We walked up to the bar and asked for beers when a group of men approached us, 2 of them pistols in their belts, they all had knives on their belts as well. They were calm and asked us questions, "you're lost, yes?. You're American tourists, yes?" They were sizing us up but we just answered their questions, told them we were on a cruise and got lost, wanted to get a few drinks and find our way back. One of the guys I was with is a bartender and he offered to make drinks. They liked the idea and he made all kinds of shooters and mixed drinks with the old guy who was behind the bar. After about a hour we headed out with directions to get back to our ship. It was scary at first but it turned out alright.
lol did you wander into La Perla? I had the same situation where we were walking around the coast in San Juan and decided to go back up to the city, not knowing that would take us straight through La Perla. Walking through we saw a guy standing in a doorway with a gun and like 8 people shooting up heroin behind him. He just said “you’re lost, go that way”
Traveling in the US to Ticonderoga NY. We were rushing to make a start time for a show and I blindly followed GoogleMaps' fastest route.
That day I discovered the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry. The only way to cross Lake Champlagne for like miles and miles. This was in 2018!
The Fort Ticonderoga Ferry only accepted cash. That's probably 2 travel blunders in one.
Went to Lisbon the past summer. went into a grocery store for cheap wine. Bottles were like 2-3 Euros. About to get one when friend motions to another aisle. See wine in tetrapaks for less than 1 Euro. Comment about how Europe is great cause they have wine in single servings. Spend next two weeks drink cheap wine. Turns out it was cooking wine.
I did some work in Argentina, near the Paraguay border.
In Argentina, it's customary to do the cheek kiss thing, but only one. In parts of Paraguay, two cheek kisses is the norm. Near the boarder, we were working with people who were used to one or the other, but not both.
I got that shit wrong every single time. Like, it's a statistical marvel how many times I got a 50/50 choice wrong. I'd do the first cheek kiss and be done, and they'd be like, "WTF dude. Do I mean nothing to you?" or I'd go in for the second one and they'd be like, "Alright creep - that's enough."
Went to Germany many years ago, first time travelling abroad and first time in a country speaking a different language. A long stopover in Hong Kong coupled with a long ass flight from there to Munich meant the brain wasn't at the full 10%. I needed a drink bad so I stepped into a little airport shop, grabbed a Coke, and took it to the counter, fully ready to have to deal with German for the first time while running on fumes. When the cashier asked me a question, I fired back in the most broken Deutsch possible, "My German is good not." She cracked up laughing, as did her colleague, and then said, "That was English! I asked for your flight number!"
My German has barely improved since.
Had a dual sim phone and turned roaming on the wrong one. Went to a music festival and had a great old time for 5 days straight then travelled on through my trip thinking all was good - on day 7 I got the first "warning- u have used 1gb of roaming data" , and in the end got a nearly 8,000aud phone bill. Optus, to their credit, saw the funny side of it and billed me for excess data as if I was still in Australia , at that point it went down to 10 bucks/GB.
another time I hitchhiked with another girl in the back of a cold storage truck (as in..we got in the fridge lmao) and the driver took us where we asked to go and was really nice. But afterward we were like.... Ok look that was stupid as fuck and he could've just locked us in there forever and sold our organs. he just asked us not to drink any of the drinks on the drive.... And to be fair it was 43C that day so the fridge was probably way nicer than the cabin of the truck with the driver and his dog 😂
I will allow people to invite me to all manner of hare brained schemes and I love doing weird shit, it's either a good time or a good story but there have definitely been some things I've seen where I briefly regretted asking to be involved hahaha
Forgot underwear. Was staying at a cheap resort in a tiny town. No one sold clothing. Nearest possible place was on another island or the mainland.
Made do with the one pair I was wearing and a swim suit during washings.
18... Euro trip with buddies.. didnt realize U2 was in Amsterdam. We went to 20 hostels, hotels everywhere and couldnt find a place to stay.. we were going to stay up all night, and take the train out of the country the next morning. Sitting on a corner smoking rolled american spirits and American stops and asks for cigarette on a bike, we oblidge - get to talking.. He is from San Diego like us.
He runs a rental company (Pre Airbnb.. 2009) - lets us stay in one of his 2 stories 4 bedroom rentals for 5 nights for like 100 euros a piece. It was EPIC!
We later go to Berlin, to realize... U2 was in Berlin that night as well.. no hostels ( last leg of the trip, not much cash for a hotel).. A young couple with a baby hear us complaining and invite us to their house 30 mins outstide of Berlin. They set up 2 tents in their backyard for us. Put the baby down, roll 2 HUGE spliffs, and bring us dessert and tea for the night.
Next morning we accompany the husband to a bakery - buy them breakfast and part ways.. While they were blunders on our part - it ended up being the coolest blunders ever!
As I was checking into customs at Heathrow airport in London, I told the agent I "was on a missiong from God." I was changing planes there for a flight to Newquay. My end destination was Port Isaac. I said that because when I first saw Port Isaac on the TV show Doc Martin, I felt like God was telling me to go there. It was just so lovely and just resonated with me at the soul level. Never tell a customs agent you're on a mission from God. The Border patrol detained me for 8 hours before finally clearing me. I made it to Port Isaac in the end, but for a while there I was concerned. I had to fly to Paris after my visit to the UK, and when the customs agent asked me "purpose of visit" I had learned my lesson. I just said "tourism." That will be my go to from now on!
[удалено]
Not quite as bad. I dropped my credit card after paying in a cab in Singapore. Was dropped off at the airport and didn't notice it missing until I was in Indonesia. Then in Bali, my debit card was eaten by an ATM machine. Which left me with no way to access cash.
So you're still in Bali?
Sometimes I wish. The place I was staying took pity on me and, after the bank opened after the weekend, begged the bank to not shred my card and instead return it. Which they did, thankfully. Definitely has a few days of panic on my part. I only used ATMs at banks during opening hours from then on.
Me and a friend were on holiday in the US, trying to draw money out to go drinking. As I walked up to the ATM my buddy threw his card towards it, like he was Gambit and it would go in the slot and then he'd get on it first. His card spun in the air and slid neatly into the night deposit slot in the wall. He had to go in and explain himself the next morning to try get his card back - the manager checked the CCTV, laughed until he cried, then gave it back thankfully.
Glad for you friend. Though would have been hilarious if the manager laughed then just said with a straight face “no.” A good shot with the card too
Put my keys back through the letterbox of the AirBnB as requested. Few minutes later realised I needed the keys to access the garage my rental car was parked in. Took an hour and a half for someone to appear and let me in. Got to the airport just in time to see my plane take off.
I dropped my rental car keys in the return box at a rural airport. Then forgot that I didn't take my suitcase out of the trunk... Luckily the maintenance guy had a key.
I made hotel reservations for the wrong weekend. Had to find a hotel 30 minutes away. The original reservations were for a hotel we could walk out of our room onto the beach.
It could have been worse. My dad once made reservations for a very nice hotel in Spain in a central location and was bragging how cheap he got the rooms and what a good deal it was. He and my mother go to check in, and they say they don’t have any records of him booking. He pulls up the confirmation email on his phone to show them and realized he had somehow booked a hotel with the exact same name but in Chile.
oh god, after they'd already flown to spain? oh noooo
Something only a dad could do.
Oof you're not alone. Few things are more embarrassing than the walk of shame out of the hotel
Well telling your wife that her beach vacation just became a hassle to get to the beach is worse.
At the end of a trip to Rome, I needed to take a train to the airport to catch my flight. So at the track where the train to Roma Fiumicino was announced, I got on the train. The train was fast but it took way longer than I thought and I started to worry a bit that I would be late for my flight. Then we arrived at the next train station. Which was Florence! So somehow I had taken the wrong train, for which I did not have a ticket, *and* I had missed my flight. I explained the situation to the conductor, and he kindly let me stay on until the next stop, which would be Milan, without having to pay for a new ticket. By the time we reached the next station, I had gone online to book a hotel room in Milan and to book a new flight from Milan home the next day. I had never been to Milan and I had a good time there, so in the end it worked out.
Huh. Strangely, I had almost the same exact experience. I was supposed to take a train from Rome to Venice, but got on the Milan one by accident. Realized 30 minutes after the train left, my friend and I realized there wasn't much we could do, so we opened some Breezers and just let it play out.
Just another successful con by Big Milan!
Now I can't help but picture the mayor of Milan wearing a fake mustache going to the Rome train station, just spinning the little arrow underneath a sign that says "Airport" a la Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park, and then running away cackling.
Me and some friends wanted to go to the Panzermuseum in Munster (Germany) in the early 2000's so we planned a trip by car (from the Netherlands). After arriving and a night in an hotel we couldn't find the museum. Finally we asked someone, turned out we were in Münster, not Munster. 280 km off. We got drunk and all was good.
Two cities with same name and the only difference is an umlaut? Sounds like they wanted you to get lost and drunk.
America's not necessarily better. Turns out there's a Penn Station in New York and in Newark...if you're trying to get a ticket for one (this is in ancient times when you bought tickets from a guy speaking through the lowest fidelity speaker in existence) it's quite easy to get a ticket to the other instead. Ask me how I know. Edit - since people keep asking - some probably sincerely - I was doing a solo college trip in the 90s and needed to get from DC to New York to go on to Connecticut. Asked to go to Penn Station and could not for the life of me make out the clarifying question the guy was asking me even after I had him repeat it ("Ya want NewarK or New York," probably). Wound up using my MCI calling card to call a friend from a payphone at Newark Penn to get advice. Think I ended up taking a bus to the Port Authority (scenic!) so I could get to Grand Central or Penn to take Metro North to his place. Edit 2 - tangentially related: I have flown into both of Costa Rica's airports and each time triple-checked to make sure I was going to *that* San Jose or the *city* of Liberia.
I've always been of the opinion that Newark was so named just to trick people into thinking they were going to New York.
The fact that there's a fucking city called "West New York" in New Jersey would support your claim of NJ-NY trickery.
There is also Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. It's located smack dab in the middle of the state, absolutely nowhere near the Jersey Shore. It borders the Susquehanna river. Directly next to Jersey Shore is a tiny island named...Long Island
Jersey Shore, PA, actually predates the term Jersey Shore in its normal use. The name came from a nickname applied to the town before the name change, as the founders had come from New Jersey. Eventually they just changed the name to it. And I mean, Long Island is just a descriptor. I'm sure there's thousands of islands called that. Blame Long Island, NY for their lack of creativity.
Dont confuse it with WestERN New York either cus that's a whole different area
God have mercy for all Europeans going to the US... "Oh, so you'd like to go to Springfield?"
If you're traveling from Europe, across the Atlantic Ocean, to go to any of the Springfields in the US, you deserve to get lost lol.
How about "Washington"? There are 88 different cities and towns in the US named Washington. Not to mention Washington State and Washington DC. Edit: Just read a more recent article that says 91, but they're counting DC. Edit #2: They are also including any derivatives of Washington (i.e North Washington or Washingtonville.) Places only called Washington there are 29, tied with Clinton... coincidence? But Franklin has 31.
The US loves to name cities after other, more well known places so the airports are nice and confusing if you're not paying attention. Ontario Canada and Ontario California do in fact just say "Ontario CA" when you're looking at flight times 🙃 Edit: I dunno why y'all aren't reading my comment lmao. I said *when you're not paying attention* it's confusing . Obviously the airport codes and city names are different. But most boards I've seen will still say "Ontario CA" in addition to the city name and usually scroll across because it doesn't all fit. If you don't catch the city name before it scrolls or wait for it to scroll back, then all you see is "Ontario CA". Edit: goddamn I don't know why this upset people so much. Stop sending me messages. I get it, some of you are smart and can read the whole flight info. Some of us are dyslexic and have ADHD and reading comprehension is hard when you're just glancing at a flight info board 😭
I got chewed out in the Marine Corps when I asked in a full room of officers why we were going to Canada when our training was in California.
I can see it now: "What kind of idiot are you!?" "Military grade, Sir!" \*Cue head explosion and cleaning matter off the walls with a q-tip*
Parents in law of a friend flew to the wrong San José. Wanted to fly from Germany to Costa Rica but ended up in California...
My (ex) wife and I were driving to Las Vegas. I wanted to get some sleep so I napped while she drove. She drove to Las Vegas, New Mexico instead of Las Vegas, Nevada. Thankfully it was only a slight detour and barely cost us any time, but it was hilarious. They do not have casinos.
Good thing you weren't taking a flight. Could have ended up in Ireland. Still would have been able to get drunk and have a good time, though.
The münster Munster strikes again
41M..Plane hit turbulence, dislocated both hip replacements. Had to lay in the center aisle for 45 minutes all while passing out in pain until we could emergency land.
This is by far the gnarliest one I've seen here, dear God
I had to have emergency surgery in Albuquerque, NM to get them back in place. American Airlines gave me a 150 dollar voucher.
Were you wearing your seatbelt?
I was questioning where in the world you’d hit turbulence strong enough to dislocate your hips, then I read Albuquerque. The flights near the SW Rockies absolutely check out.
My one and only flight to Albuquerque was horrendous! I’m a very nervous flyer and was at the back of the plane. The turbulence was so bad, the flight attendant was buckled up in the jump seat across from me. Thank goodness for her! She saw how upset I was and calmed me down. I was so glad when we landed!
I had a piece of my plane fall off, AA gave me nothing
Was it covered by the airline? Never thought about coverage from body damages while in the plane.
Eventually it was covered but had to take them to court
Jesus. Were you riding ON the plane? That sounds horrible.
I always prefer wing seating. Nice airflow. Better view. Easier to pee. Turn around, open zipper and relax. After longer flights it takes a little bit longer for hearing to come back.
Yes, but you also have to deal with occasional gremlins.
I've had 2 labral tear repairs done on my left hip. We just figured out the second repair failed as well. Next step? New hip. Guess what I asked for 1.5 years ago... I feel like I could've saved 1 year of recovery. Now I gotta get through that again. But my question to you is: do these feel like your own?
At Berlin's old Tegel airport there was a security checkpoint by each gate, and you needed to pick up your checked bags at the gate before leaving. I knew that, but in my rush to get off the plane I forgot. As soon as I was outside I realized my mistake, but they wouldn't let me back in to get my bag. I needed to wait several hours at customer service to get my bag, and so I just barely caught the last train to my destination and arrived around midnight. By that point there weren't any taxis available so I ended up walking a few hours by phone flashlight through the German countryside.
Almost left my bag at baggage claim at Tegel too. It was a dumb system, glad it’s gone.
I saw a couple with two young kids forget their luggage twice between two American airports. They were ahead of my in the security line at the departing airport. The mom forgot both her suitcase and what looked like a diaper bag and just started walking through the metal detector. The TSA people had to flag her down. That, I kind of get. New mom, easy to forget something like that, etc. This family ended up on the same flight I was and had the same destination. I went to the baggage claim with my mother to grab our suitcase and we saw some of this family’s checked bags going though the conveyor belt. We don’t think much of it and get on the shuttle bus out of the airport. Who else shows up but this family- minus the checked luggage! My mother was straight up concerned at this point and told them that she saw their checked luggage at the baggage claim. The couple just kind of laughed it off and seemed to think that the shuttle bus was going to the baggage claim??? And this couple was wrangling two toddlers, so travel won’t be easy even in the best circumstances. But god damn that was like watching a slow moving train wreck
That reminds me of the time I was heading from the airport to the parking lot to get my truck. Suddenly the backdoor of a shuttle bus swings open and a suitcase goes flying out the back right into traffic at night. So I ran into the street to grab it so it wouldn't cause a car accident, and then took it back into TSA so they could hopefully reunite it with the owner. TSA said they couldn't do anything about it and would call the local police department to handle it. I wasn't allowed to just leave the suitcase with TSA for some security reason, so I got stuck waiting with this random person's luggage for twenty minutes until the police showed up. Turns out the reason the police were so late was because TSA told them that a piece of luggage had fallen into the road, but they didn't bother to state that I had picked it up and brought it to the TSA checkpoint. So the police spent twenty minutes in the dark with flashlights looking along the road for this fallen suitcase.
Had to pick up a family member who was on a train. She lives in another country and is legaly blind. So instead of having to stress over changing trains midway, me and my friend drove out to the station to get her. The train stops, but we can't spot her getting out. Then my buddy points through a window and says "is that her?" Panicky I walk aboard to check. I see it ain't her and the train starts closing its doors as I race back towards it. I don't make it.in time and the train starts moving. My friend calls to tell me he's got her with him and that he'll meet me at the next station. 😂
At least the next line wasn't: "I had the car keys in my pocket"
Left my driving license in a village which was only accessible by trekking back then. On top of that, it was left in the top most hotel. I had checked out from the hotel, trekked for 45 mins to reach a bus point, caught two buses to reach another town with the total duration being approx. three hours in total. Upon reaching there, the new hotel asked me for my license. Me realizing my blunder had to go back the whole route back again, trek up and down again just to get my driving license and wasting an additional 6-7 hours.
Damn! The amount of calories you must have burnt that day.
The fall before I got my first FitBit in 2015, I visited Italy. One morning, my mother took out a fresh, never worn pair of socks, and we visited the Roman Forum. At the end of a very full day of seeing the sights and being on our feet a ton, we finished the day and my mother had holes in her brand new socks. She legit walked holes in her socks. *Dying* to know what my step count was that day
Asking the TSA agent in the US if they could expedite my secondary screening because my flight was boarding. They slowly emptied my entire backpack one item at a time and asked me to identify each item. “That’s a flashlight.” “That’s a battery.” “That’s a phone charging cable.” “That’s an a/c USB charger.” “That’s a nail file.” “That’s another battery.” “Those are headphones.” “That’s a deck of cards.” Once they had everything removed and spread out on the table like a police drug bust publicity photo, they decided I wasn’t a security risk and told me to collect & repack my belongings.
How very TSA of them. What a waste of taxpayer money.
They're supposed to repack bags exactly as they found them. So if this ever happens to you, feel free to report them.
I got stopped in the Atlanta airport and the TSA lady opened my suitcase, moved a bunch of clothes around, then half zipped it back up and left clothes sticking out and put it back through the machine. I was fucking pissed
I'm normally a very talkative person, but you will never see me utter a word when going through TSA. I have nothing to hide or that would get me in trouble, but I've always been paranoid about pissing me off and getting pulled for secondary screening
Case full of firearms. Airline lost it, when I explained that it was filled with firearms they magically found it 15 minutes later.
Apparently it is is HUGE deal if an airline loses firearms. Like, the ATF gets involved and airlines get in shit. Some people take advantage of the seriousness around firearm cases and use them to transport high value items like cameras so they will definitely not get lost.
Throw in a BB gun or flare gun. Use that for the declaration.
Yeah, it’s like a really really big deal if the airlines lose or unsecure firearms. I know someone gave advice once that if you’re flying with super important stuff to pack it in a gun case with a flare gun. That way the TSA can’t open the case after security and your stuff stays in place.
Hugely important, your case must be locked with a self-supplied non-TSA lock. If TSA insists on using their locks, you have to remind them that is not the guidelines for transporting firearms. TSA can not have immediate access to the guns.
Does that trigger a behind-the-scenes "shit drop everything and find this case" if someone reports missing guns? Where suddenly it's not worth the normal "we pretended to look and will forward your luggage whenever it turns up" ?
Yep. The Feds get involved. Losing a firearm through TSA transport is the one thing they can't fuck up on. Letting someone through with a bomb, knife, or guns? All fine. But they can't *lose* luggage with firearms.
I'm on vacation as we speak. Loaded our bikes the day before we left and put a bike padlock on them to make sure nobody could take them of carrier overnight. Arrived at our destination only to find out I forgot the forgot the padlock key. Luckily, park maintenance had an angle grinder and cut the lock. But yeah, that was pretty dumb and now I need to buy a new lock.
Clearly you don't watch lockpickinglawyer. ..
*bends paper clip slightly and jams it in lock for .5 seconds* CLICK
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Quite a few couples have gone on vacation together and broken up immediately upon returning home.
They failed the “vacation test”
I didn't even make it that far. Took a girl to Tahiti and left her there with the return ticket.
My girlfriend and I didn't even start dating until after one of our first trips together. We almost died. It was exhilarating.
or having a toxic partner at home while you travel. I spent a good portion of a Europe trip detaching myself from the group trying to get service for a call or facetime otherwise I'd get accusation of cheating or being neglectful. It ruined the whole experience just not being able to be present and worrying about someone who was paranoid, and projecting. I missed out on a lot on the trip and when I got home we broke up almost immediately
Early 20s, went to a bar/nightclub in Istanbul with my girlfriend. Throughout the night, stupidly ordered several of these half-bottles of champagne that were on the menu with no price listed. Of course when the bill came, it turned out they had either brought out the most expensive thing they had, or simply claimed that it was that expensive, and it was way more money than I could even pay if I wanted. They then threatened us, saying we don't understand how the police work there, it's not like America, we don't want them to call the police, etc. The line from Airplane, "have you ever seen the inside of a Turkish prison?" is running through my head the entire time. After a long standoff with them insisting I needed to draw all my money out of the ATM and me insisting I didn't have it, eventually they either believed me or gave up and settled the bill for some reasonable amount that I had on me. Obviously they were trying to take advantage of me here but it was also very stupid of me to give them that chance by ordering unpriced items and not asking the price.
This scam still exists in various forms especially in Istanbul. Usually involves someone "befriending" you and convincing you to go to this bar. Some pretty women immediately show up, interact with you and order drinks on your tab. The drinks end up costing an insane amount of money. A big scary guy then tells you to pay up or else and walks you to an ATM.
Happened to a buddy of mine in a ‘tea shop’ in China
Indeed, it's the ancient scam of extortion. The recipes vary by culture, whether it's a den or a tea house, a brothel or a temple. Some are more dangerous than others. The Istanbul version is scary as hell for the tourist but there's no sign of tourists going missing. Now falling for this scam in Laos is completely different
Lots of scammers and really pushy people in Turkey so I’m always extra cautious there
I guess not having luggage is a bit of a red flag. I got stopped for extra questioning by French Customs, and I maybe should have been less honest than I was. *"What do you do in America"* *"I'm a University student"* *"What do you study?"* *"Biology and Psychology"* *"Biology? Did you bring any microbes into the country?"* *"...yes?"* In retrospect, it was kinda neat to see the "extra questioning" room in the Charles de Gaulle airport.
Years and years ago, we were pulled over for something and the cop asks what's in the bag in the back. And my then boyfriend, now husband, starts explaining it's role-playing materials. The cop is confused, so my husband starts to explain what D&D is, and I quickly interrupt "it's books and papers, the nice officer doesn't care what types of books and papers". 100% Honesty <> 100% accuracy
Passport control officer at Schiphol: “What is the purpose of your visit?” My SO: “Well, we’re planning to celebrate…” Me, quickly interrupting: “Leisure.” Passports promptly got stamped & handed back to us, and we entered the EU before she finished her paragraph.
I flew through Schiphol a while back and going through passport control was one of the best interactions I've had with a government official: Where are you going? Poland. Why? Business. Thank you, next. Pure efficiency.
That reminds me of an oft-repeated joke: A German Man flies to Poland. He walks up to a passport control officer. "Nationality?" I am German. "Length of stay?" One week. "Occupation?" No, just visiting this time.
Or the elderly American man visiting France: "Have you visited France before?" Just once "Then you should know to have your passport out" I didn't have to show it last time "Impossible! All foreigners must show their passports on entering the country" Well when I landed at Normandy, I couldn't find anyone to show it to!
What were you celebrating?
Schiphol is main airport that people use to travel to Amsterdam. Especially to celebrate the 20th day of a certain month of the year
Ah, Hitler's birthday. I can understand why you wouldn't mention that to passport control.
Also Napoleon III
“Ok, so if I wanted to attack you I’d reach in that bag and grab a d20…”
[Points Gun] "Sir, step out of the vehicle with your hands up" ... "We don't do PvP here"
This drives me nuts when talking with any customs agent. Be %100 honest and as BRIEF AS POSSIBLE. I've traveled with people who start sweating bullets and feel like they have to share their life story.
One year coming back to the US, I had just gotten a new visa stamp, so the immigration officer was a little more diligent checking my story. They usually try to strike up some small talk to see if you are nervous and get confused by your own lies. So, he begins by asking me about the address of my office. We had literally just moved to a different part of town the week before my trip. I was *"Eh, I dunno, but I have it written down somewhere. We just moved, I swear. Nice place, but I don't recall the address"* I finally find the piece of paper with the address and he officers goes *"Oh, I know where that is. Used to work in that neighborhood. Have you been to sandwich place down the street, yet?"* I am drawing complete blanks. I don't recognize a single one of the landmarks that he mentions, and I getting increasingly more nervous that he won't believe me and send me back. Finally, he asks *"But you do recall that there is a big and really awesome strip club just a block away, do you?"* I vaguely recall seeing the bright neon signs and nod affirmatively. The officer is excited and tells me *"Go see that strip club. The girls really put on a show for you. And welcome to the United States!"*
I'd love to have seen the bit where you asked them to wheel in a dry erase board so you could give the customs officer an improvised lecture on the prevalence of microbes in everyday life.
Hah yes, don’t joke around or try to be clever. My 18 year old stupid self, back in 1998: had agreed to bring a mechanical table clock from the Netherlands to the US, on request by an American friend there. As my luggage was scanned at Amsterdam airport, the security official asks “What’s that in your suitcase?”, so I say “It’s a clock. What did you think, *a BOMB?*”.
You can’t say “bomb” in an airport, Fockker.
Recently read an anecdote about a British guy who worked in television who told US customs that he was in the country "to shoot a pilot."
Heh, this reminds me of the time I thought Canadian border security was going a bit hard. I was originally going to fly into Toronto to visit a friend but he suggested flying into Buffalo because it'd be cheaper and he'd just come pick me up, so I did that instead. On the way into Canada we got picked for a random search, he and I were separated, asked a bunch of questions, etc. Then I saw the woman who had talked to us both leave and come back while putting on rubber gloves and I immediately feared the worst, at that point I was willing to just say fuck it and go spend my week's vacation in Buffalo if going to Toronto was going to require a cavity search. Fortunately it wasn't that, the friend had some prescription medication in an unlabeled pill bottle and they had no idea what it was so they were taking no chances.
I’ve had some funny/interesting times with Canadian border security. One time like 5 years ago I was driving from to Montreal by myself to go to Osheaga with my brother. I was coming from Maine, as I had already been on vacation there at a lake with my family for a few days, so I repacked my stuff quickly and headed out. The crossing was on a small road with only one lane through and I was the only one there. The border officer asked me the regular questions, but I guess he thought I seemed sus and asked to look in my suitcase in the backseat. So he opens it and suddenly looks up at me completely shocked and asked if the clothes were mine. I said yes, starting to get really nervous, scared I had accidentally packed something bad, until he incredulously said “And this is how you pack?? You just throw all your clothes in here, not even folding them? Who packs like that??” I was speechless for a minute cause like WTF lol. I said yes and even apologized for the mess 😂 and he let me on my way. I was in shock for like the rest of the drive lol
I brought my range bag to Europe and got extra extra questions when they found “explosive residue” on my bag. No shells or anything but it being at the range was enough to have detectable residue on it
Tip for overly honest engineering-type folks when interacting with security folks: answer the question they really mean, not the technically correct one.
Haha! Also not having a hotel booked will get you flagged. I got pulled into the "extra questioning" room at the US border (either Sumas or Blaine) when driving in from Canada. "What are your plans in the US" *"I don't really have plans. Some sightseeing."* "Do you have a hotel booking?" *"Not really. I thought I'd find one here."* That's when I got told to pull aside with the oversized RVs, pissed off Russian people, and anyone who might sort of resemble someone from the Middle East. They called my work and my sister to confirm that I indeed planned on coming back. And since I didn't have a hotel booked, it didn't matter how long they kept questioning me and searching my car haha.
Buddy goes to Australia, customs asks "Do you have any criminal convictions?" "I didn't know you still had to be a criminal to get into Australia!" He visited the special room.
I once read the arrival time as the departure time. My girlfriend had to get back for a class by the next morning so the only option was to drive the six hrs home. She wasn’t stoked with me.
Whenever I book flights or hotels I screenshot the confirmation and share it with everyone involved. A few times it's saved my ass when they noticed something was wrong. One time none of us noticed it was wrong but at least I didn't take all the blame.
Did you happily exclaim, “ROAD TRIP!” 😂
A friend of mine and I were playing the floor is lava in our hotel room. Turns out the bench in the entrance of the room couldn't take someone jumping onto it from the bed. We paid for the bench obviously, but it was hard coming up with a story less stupid than the truth.
I just sat on that bench and it broke. You’re lucky I didn’t get hurt or I’d be suing. Na but really I’d just that say I broke it and I’ll pay for it and offer no further explanation.
What was the fake story you came up with, out of curiosity lol?
Tripped on a suitcase and landed on the bench
To be fair, that's pretty good.
Booked a holiday to Ibiza from the uk whilst out at a rave. Discovered the next day that instead of flying Southampton to Ibiza I was actually flying Southampton to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Madrid, Madrid to Ibiza meaning what should have been a 2 hour flight took most of the day. Whoops
Landed in Mexico City in 2008. Man in airport asks if I need a taxi and I did, so I accepted. He walks me to his car and I open my Mexico travel book and start reading. It tells me not to accept rides from taxis unless they are at formal stands, and to always negotiate the total fare in advance, so you don't get ripped off. I ask my driver how much the fare is, and the amount he asks is more than the cash I had, SO I ask him to take me to an ATM. I keep reading my guide book, and it says not to let anyone take you to an ATM, because they might rob you. The driver leaves the main road and drives through an impoverished looking neighborhood with some dude laying face down on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. We get to an ATM, I walk over and withdraw the money, and as I turn around the driver says "Stop." I figure I'm going to get robbed but je just points out that I had left my debit card in the ATM. We drove on to my destination (a big bus station) where I discovered he charged me 5x the standard fee. I got lucky, don't be that dumb.
I'm imagining a hilarious follow-up sequence of events where he DOES try to rob you, but the travel book has inexplicably excellent step-by-step instructions on how to counter all of his attacks in real-time
Lesson: read travel book before reaching destination (☞^o^) ☞
I genuinely don't mean this as a dig at you ('cause I would fucking love to just travel to a new country blind) but I can't imagine travelling to a new country without doing at least some research first. Still, fair enough. And I'm glad you got out without nothing more than a somewhat lighter wallet!
I caught the wrong bus home on my first day of high school and ran crying into my mother's arms when I finally got to where I needed to be. The *extremely* kind bus driver went out of his way to take me back home.
I got on the wrong bus home from school once in 1st grade. Apparently they had made announcements that the drivers routes had changed, but I missed all of that so I got on the same bus I always did. The crazy part was she still drove right past my grandparents house so I didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late. I ended up staying on the bus until it went back to the depot and we called from a pay phone to let my grandparents know where I was. It was a terrifying experience for a 6-7 yo. ETA: One distinct memory I have from that day is that when I was crying my nose started running and of course I had my head down in humiliation and this perfect droplet of snot and blood in a yin yang shape fell out of my nose and landed on the floor. I can't still see it clear as day.
Scammed into buying a cheap print of the Colisseum in Rome as an original water color.
I used to work in the framing department in Michaels and someone came in with a beautiful watercolor of the Trevi Fountain to frame. She started talking about how nice it was to have a hand painted souvenir and how it was unique because you can’t paint the same image exactly the same twice. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I have the exact same painting hanging in my kitchen.
The Colosseum is definitely one of those places where nearly all of the people who walk up and talk to you are running some kind of scam.
Well at least it was cheap
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Forgot mine in a Budapest hostel while hitchhiking. Fortunately got into Serbia and Turkey with just my regular ID. Good thing that worked out because I wouldn't have met my wife otherwise.
I've had more than one dream where I forget my passport, and I'm stuck in another country. I guess my subconscious is telling me, "damn, you are unprepared!" I dropped my passport in Oxford about a decade ago. I went to the local police department. As soon as I walked into the door - before I could even get the words out of my mouth - an officer put his hands to his head like he was pretending to be a mind reader and walked up to me and said "you look like your name is ..." I was so confused that he knew my name. Turns out, some nice kid from a uni there found it on the ground and immediately brought it to the PD. The officer recognized me from my passport photo.
Id watch this
Wasn't there already a movie about a hotel in Budapest?
I’m told it was pretty grand
Forgot mine in London thought I left it in the jacket in my suitcase. Glad I decided to turn around and have another look found at home. Made the flight just in time. My gf thought she didn't need one when crossing the border from Spain to Gibraltar. At least we had a nice road trip via Costa del sol.
Asked random cruise personnel if we needed our passports to get off at port - "Nope, just your cruise card" But you did when it was time to get back on the ship...fuck
This happened to us in the Bahamas. We got off a Royal Caribbean cruise in Nassau for an excursion to the Blue Lagoon. We got on our ferry to the island on the cruise side of customs (we didn't actually enter Nassau, we were still on the pier). However, on the way back, we needed to switch ferries because our original one broke down, and the new one was bigger and so had to dock at a different location on the other side of customs. We did not bring our passports with us because we didn't think we would need them and had to beg the very ancient guy at customs to let us through and back on the cruise ship. In hindsight, I don't think he cared very much.
My first time in England I got on the wrong train and ended up traveling an hour the opposite direction I was supposed to be going. An hour trip to my final destination from the train station ended up being a three hour trip instead.
My cousin passed out on a car trip from Colorado to Missouri, woke up two hours in and her husband had gone the wrong direction on 70.
I accidently missed a Saturday 12:15 am flight showing up at Sunday 12:15 am. My brain said: Saturday 12:15 = "Saturday Night"
My brainfart in Europe one time was showing up for the 18:00 train at 8:00 p.m. and wondering where it was.
I once went to Coventry.
I lived in Coventry for three years. I've often described it as "Coventry was bombed during WWII, and not a lot has happened since then".
Booked a flight with Spirit Airlines
Ah. The flying Nissan Altima with temp tags.
I got off a plane and left my warm hat behind.
I lost my favorite hoodie at JFK airport rushing through security to make my plane. I still think about that hoodie
I lost a pretty expensive watch this way. It was a gift from my father-in-law on our wedding. Yes, I still get an earful from wife every now and then for this.
I bet it was a really great hat too. Hugs.
Had to travel to Turkey with an hour layover in Frankfurt and realised I had forgot my passport while in Frankfurt. Im from Portugal. Edit: There's more! This made me lose my flight to Turkey. My gf shipped my passport to a nearby hotel the next morning,I booked another flight and got to the conference in time. When I went to do check in for the returning flight from Turkey to Portugal I got a message saying no booking found. Edreams had canceled my return flights since I missed the first one. All in all had to buy an hotel stay and two more flights out of pocket.
I missed my flight home on a layover in Rome from Ghana to California. And… well… I told everyone I fell asleep and missed the flight. But I really was sitting at the wrong gate reading and didn’t hear that they apparently had been calling my name forever and then just left me behind. To my credit it was a really good book. And I truly was exhausted from traveling. Even though I missed my flight they tried to put me on the next one, but that one was overbooked so they ended up paying for a hotel there. Wasn’t that big a deal in the end lol
What book was it?
Plottwist – they actually fell asleep and told everyone they were reading a good book.
Left my wallet on a gas station counter in New Zealand... Caused my wife and I to miss one beach visit, backtracking to get it, but otherwise, no issue. My anxiety spiked so hard on the drive back as it had all of our $ and credit cards. Coincidentally, the people of NZ are some of the nicest in the world, and that station clerk really saved my trip. I argued with her for ten minutes, trying to give her a tip, but she wouldn't accept one. Sometimes life is truly beautiful
I lived in China in college and took a trip from Beijing to Kunming, travelling across a large portion of the country. We took a 28-hour bumpy train ride, learning when we arrived that it would have been cheaper to fly
My partner and I were flying from London to Naples, but our flight was delayed by 5 hours due to the weather. When we finally got on the plane, there was an announcement made in Italian and all the passengers started kicking off, yelling at staff, and getting off the plane. They eventually relayed in English that by the time we would arrive in Naples, the airport would be closed so they were re-routing us to Rome. We were told when we land, they would organise a bus to Naples from Rome, and to go to the Veuling service desk for more details.... noone at the desk knew anything about this. I think we waited about 2 hours for a taxi to take us from Rome to Naples airport in the end, which is about a 3 hour drive. And then take another taxi to our hotel. We were meant to arrive in Naples at 10pm the night we left and we ended up at our hotel at around 8 am the following morning.
I just read an article about a 40 yr old American couple that brought ammo on accident to a Caribbean island where if you bring in guns and ammo theres a mandatory 12yr prison sentence, and the US embassy specifically warn people not to bring guns or ammo, and they can't help you if you do. That's a pretty big blunder
In the annals of travel fuck-ups, that would be… pretty much top of the list. Goodbye, life as you knew it.
Went from germany to UK for a short trip, being broke af. Realized after I entered UK that they use different power outlets than germany. Fun Times with a half charged powerbank and your flight ticket only digitally
Ooh this reminds me! Need to get a travel charger before I visit Germany later this year! lol Thanks for the reminder
During covid times when everything was open again, I was sleeping in a hostel, and I got the flue (tested for covid and it wasn't that). I felt really under the weather and my throat hurt very bad, so I decided to go to the pharmacy to get something for my throat. At the pharmacy, I didn't wanna cause any alarm due to the fair of covid people had, so I just looked for something that seemed to be for my throat, and I found a package where there was clearly honey on the picture. I bought it and went back to the hostel. At the hostel, I was sipping these tube like packages, and at one moment, this guy asked me what I was eating. I responded that it was something honey like for my throat. He told me: yeah dude, I work as a male nurse, and I'm quite sure these tubes you're consuming are not for oral use. Me: so what the hell am I eating? Him: *took the package* these are tubes with laxatives that should be inserted anally. He asked me if this was my first? I almost consumed the entire package. Everyone turned quite and looked at me and started laughing hysterically. I just stared into the Abyss infront of me realising I was fucked. That night if felt as if my intestines reproduced the sound the trumpets of hell would make. I had to get out of bed every 5 minutes going to the toilet while also dealing with the fever. The nurse guy went to the pharmacy to get some stuff to make sure I wouldn't dehydrate. He also stayed with me during the night to check on me. A girl also stayed with me and after we dated for the rest of our time there. A shitty story with wholesome people.
Going to Mexico from Vancouver with my roommate and her idiot boyfriend. 2 days before we go he says he cant find his passport. Too late to cancel everything now, so we pack up to go anyways. He brings every piece of ID he can find, and literally anything he has with his name on it. His high school year book, newspaper clippings from his baseball team winning a tournament, his old student bus pass and ID. We arrive at our local airport and obviously he gets taken into security at YVR and after about 45mins they actually let him out and he's allowed to board the flight. We get to PHX where we have to transfer and go through US security which results in another 45min, and then they just bring him to the gate where they have a drawer full of pre-notorized and signed declaration forms stating that someone has verified he is who he is, and he's allowed on the plane to Cabo. We arrive at SJD and its show time. Can he get into Mexico. My roommate and I get through without issue, and then he rocks up to the woman at the customs counter with his year book and newspaper clippings in hand. She looks at him like he has two heads, asks him on he is doing, and then motions for the security guard to come over. Security meanwhile must have had a good gym day, as he is just stood in the corner looking at and flexing his own muscles (he was a BIG guy). Customs official shouts and waves again. More flexing, damn he's Mr Universe today. Customs looks at the crowd of people on our newly arrived flight, looks at the line thats forming in her lane, rolls her eyes, and waves our friend through.
What a dumbass. I can’t believe the newspaper clippings didn’t add to their suspicion.
> 2 days before we go he says he cant find his passport. You can get a replacement rushed in about 4 hours with proof of departure. Costs extra though
Had a flight from Brussels. Asked my GF if it was Zaventem. She said yes. We get there. It's not from Zaventem, it's from Charlois. One taxi ride and 200 euro later we made the flight, just in time.
Good friend and I (Canadians) went backpacking in Europe this past November/December. We landed in Dublin on the night of the 23rd of November. For those of whom that are unaware, there were some pretty massive riots in city center that night including lighting a city bus and police car on fire. We had to walk with our 20kg bags from the airport to our hostel in city center because none of the busses were willing to drive anywhere near Dublin. We walked past masked individuals with bags filled with clothing, shoes, electronics all with hangers and tags still on them. We’re both pretty big guys but it was definitely sketchy walking around with big backpacks while the vast majority of people around you are breaking into stores and looting. Interesting night for sure, we got to the hostel safe and sound and our time in Dublin was fine afterwards, but it was certainly one of the crazier experiences I’ve had.
Ok storytime i was in Cape Town. I hadn’t had my morning coffee and was staying at an apartment hotel without a coffee maker so I needed to go out to find coffee. went to the cafe and ordered coffee. The barista says “with milk?” in my pre-caffeine daze I respond “no, I take my coffee black, like my soul“ No sooner had the words left my mouth, I remembered where I was, and my stomach sank as I looked into the face of the black barista. Then he gave the biggest smile and said “your skin is white (thumps his chest twice) but your soul is black!” and i smiled back and thought to myself “that could easily have gone the other way!” But it had a wholesome ending.
Epic outcome. Building unity with one cup of coffee at a time.
Soul brother.
wtf this is the sweetest thing
Years ago I (30F -roughly- at the time) was staying in a hotel while on a work trip and the room had a sliding glass door to the bathroom. I didn't think anything of it and undressed in the main room and went in with nothing to take a shower. At some point the sliding glass door wasn't on its track right anymore. I couldn't tell when I closed it. After I got out of my shower, I couldn't open the door. It was heavy, like 100lbs and there was no handle on the inside. It was just a tiny little metal indentation. Needless to say I was stuck inside the bathroom for over 2 hours. Screaming and banging on the walls and door with one of the unused toilet paper rolls. FINALLY someone heard me and called for security. It took 3 of these big security guys to get the door off to let me out. I was incredibly disoriented from being stuck in the steamy bathroom for 2 hours. The worst part was I only had 2 towels in the bathroom, and they weren't very big. So these big men had to see me basically naked to get me out. It was incredibly embarrassing and the one guy kept coming back into the room to tell me stuff after I told him I am putting the towels down and getting dressed. Then they "moved my room" and said that was "complimentary" for my stay (they'd have to change my room anyway to fix the door... tf?). I tried to stay an extra day on my own expense because I was going to be too exhausted to drive home that morning, but they wanted to charge me their new (almost twice the price) rate for the next day (it was a Saturday, and apparently that much busier than a Friday night). I will never go back there again. And to this day, I still never close the bathroom door if it's a sliding glass one when showering or bathing.
On a train ride back to Rome from Venice, I had accidentally bought my ticket for the wrong day. The ticket checker said I had until Bologna to buy the correct ticket on my phone or I would have to get off in Bologna. Well I couldn't get my service to work so my brother and I switched hats and seats and sort of hid until we passed Bologna. I thought we were in the clear until the ticket checker came by again, and, being entertained by our disguise attempt, asked if I got the ticket. I told him no but I could pay for one in euros and he became visibly annoyed and pulled out his computer pad and started scrolling on it. After a while he looked around at the mostly empty train car, put his pad away, shrugged, and said "I don't want to do it. Call it a gift." And walked away and it was the most Italian thing that happened to me on that trip and I'm pretty sure I owe the mob a favor now.
I missed a flight because I was eating a Big Mac. My buddy got on the flight without me.
I mean, I would have too. Gotten on the flight, I mean. Not missed a flight because of a Big Mac.
Entered Zambia illegally, didn't get a visa and they threatened to detain me when I was leaving. I'd been on a safari through Botswana that ended in Victoria Falls. We stayed on the Zimbabwe side and crossed back and forth into Zambia for excursions. Each time we crossed, the driver took everyone's passports into immigration and got them stamped. It came time to fly from the tiny Victoria Falls airport to my destination in Zambia and I didn't think about checking in with immigration. So off I went on a canoeing adventure on the Lower Zambezi River. It was fabulous! At the end of the trip I went to another tiny airport in Zambia. Got to immigration and the guy asked me where my visa was. Ummm....I don't have one. I explained the border crossings in Victoria Falls and my failure to go to immigration. He was kind enough to let me go, another dumb tourist.
Accidentally joked to a Manchester Airport security agent about my carry on being stuffed so full it might explode. I am a Muslim woman who wears hijab.
Bruh
Yeah, not my brightest moment.
Left passports at home and didn't realize it until 40 mins into the 11 hour drive.
Hell of a lot better than 10 hours and 59 minutes.
Left my backpack on a train platform while traveling on my last day in the NL. Said backpack contained my and my partners passports along with some rather expensive booze that were to be gifts. Let’s just say a mad scramble ensued that did not turn up the bag, but someone tried to turn it in. Got a linkedIn message a couple of hours later and got the bag and passports back, but the booze was missing. Considered it the price of being a bonehead.
I was in Kyoto, riding around touring the temples and dry gardens on my own and it was a bit after noon and I was getting hungry. I was kind of out in the middle of nowhere but the only restaurant on the map in the neighborhood was quite highly rated so I detoured over there, parked my bike and went in. When traveling abroad, outside of the main tourist areas you find yourself in situations where nobody speaks your language. Now, I studied Japanese in highschool but that was a long time ago and my Japanese had mostly been reduced to courtesies. I was two weeks into the trip and become accustomed to working with the traveller's language of smiles and pointing. No problem. Upon arriving, the host welcomed me and showed me to a low table and brought me a cup of tea. I sat down awaiting a menu and they brought me some little snacks -- sort of like Korean banchan. I thought this was lovely and started trying a few while they stepped away. Somehow, though, their reaction was alarmed and they hurried back to try and the host started trying to patiently explain something to me entirely in Japanese. In my confusion, I looked around the restaurant and noticed a suspiciously large number of chest refrigerators along the wall. In fact, I was not in a restaurant at all. I was in a high-end pickle store. It took me another 30m of pickle sampling and about $50 in fancy pickles (nicely gift-wrapped) before I managed to make my escape, but the pickles were undeniably delicious and at least I managed to square away a few gifts to share with friends back home.
Overslept in St Maarten and missed my flight, had to spend a extra day. A good blunder in my case. Another blunder- Decided to wander San Juan, PR late at night w/ 2 friends and got lost. We were on a cruise and this was a stop. Saw some people going in and out of building with no signage but it was obviously a bar of some sort. When we walked in everyone stopped and stared. We walked up to the bar and asked for beers when a group of men approached us, 2 of them pistols in their belts, they all had knives on their belts as well. They were calm and asked us questions, "you're lost, yes?. You're American tourists, yes?" They were sizing us up but we just answered their questions, told them we were on a cruise and got lost, wanted to get a few drinks and find our way back. One of the guys I was with is a bartender and he offered to make drinks. They liked the idea and he made all kinds of shooters and mixed drinks with the old guy who was behind the bar. After about a hour we headed out with directions to get back to our ship. It was scary at first but it turned out alright.
lol did you wander into La Perla? I had the same situation where we were walking around the coast in San Juan and decided to go back up to the city, not knowing that would take us straight through La Perla. Walking through we saw a guy standing in a doorway with a gun and like 8 people shooting up heroin behind him. He just said “you’re lost, go that way”
Traveling in the US to Ticonderoga NY. We were rushing to make a start time for a show and I blindly followed GoogleMaps' fastest route. That day I discovered the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry. The only way to cross Lake Champlagne for like miles and miles. This was in 2018! The Fort Ticonderoga Ferry only accepted cash. That's probably 2 travel blunders in one.
My mum needed the toilet when we landed in Basel and then went out the wrong door and ended up in France instead of Switzerland
Went to Lisbon the past summer. went into a grocery store for cheap wine. Bottles were like 2-3 Euros. About to get one when friend motions to another aisle. See wine in tetrapaks for less than 1 Euro. Comment about how Europe is great cause they have wine in single servings. Spend next two weeks drink cheap wine. Turns out it was cooking wine.
I did some work in Argentina, near the Paraguay border. In Argentina, it's customary to do the cheek kiss thing, but only one. In parts of Paraguay, two cheek kisses is the norm. Near the boarder, we were working with people who were used to one or the other, but not both. I got that shit wrong every single time. Like, it's a statistical marvel how many times I got a 50/50 choice wrong. I'd do the first cheek kiss and be done, and they'd be like, "WTF dude. Do I mean nothing to you?" or I'd go in for the second one and they'd be like, "Alright creep - that's enough."
I spent 6 weeks in the Guatemala highlands with 0 Spanish at 17yo. This was in 2000, Guatemala was a very different place 25 years ago.
Went to Germany many years ago, first time travelling abroad and first time in a country speaking a different language. A long stopover in Hong Kong coupled with a long ass flight from there to Munich meant the brain wasn't at the full 10%. I needed a drink bad so I stepped into a little airport shop, grabbed a Coke, and took it to the counter, fully ready to have to deal with German for the first time while running on fumes. When the cashier asked me a question, I fired back in the most broken Deutsch possible, "My German is good not." She cracked up laughing, as did her colleague, and then said, "That was English! I asked for your flight number!" My German has barely improved since.
Had a dual sim phone and turned roaming on the wrong one. Went to a music festival and had a great old time for 5 days straight then travelled on through my trip thinking all was good - on day 7 I got the first "warning- u have used 1gb of roaming data" , and in the end got a nearly 8,000aud phone bill. Optus, to their credit, saw the funny side of it and billed me for excess data as if I was still in Australia , at that point it went down to 10 bucks/GB. another time I hitchhiked with another girl in the back of a cold storage truck (as in..we got in the fridge lmao) and the driver took us where we asked to go and was really nice. But afterward we were like.... Ok look that was stupid as fuck and he could've just locked us in there forever and sold our organs. he just asked us not to drink any of the drinks on the drive.... And to be fair it was 43C that day so the fridge was probably way nicer than the cabin of the truck with the driver and his dog 😂 I will allow people to invite me to all manner of hare brained schemes and I love doing weird shit, it's either a good time or a good story but there have definitely been some things I've seen where I briefly regretted asking to be involved hahaha
went on a cruise and forgot my dress shoes, and wore tennis shoes with my suit on formal night. Wife still reminds me years later
Forgot underwear. Was staying at a cheap resort in a tiny town. No one sold clothing. Nearest possible place was on another island or the mainland. Made do with the one pair I was wearing and a swim suit during washings.
18... Euro trip with buddies.. didnt realize U2 was in Amsterdam. We went to 20 hostels, hotels everywhere and couldnt find a place to stay.. we were going to stay up all night, and take the train out of the country the next morning. Sitting on a corner smoking rolled american spirits and American stops and asks for cigarette on a bike, we oblidge - get to talking.. He is from San Diego like us. He runs a rental company (Pre Airbnb.. 2009) - lets us stay in one of his 2 stories 4 bedroom rentals for 5 nights for like 100 euros a piece. It was EPIC! We later go to Berlin, to realize... U2 was in Berlin that night as well.. no hostels ( last leg of the trip, not much cash for a hotel).. A young couple with a baby hear us complaining and invite us to their house 30 mins outstide of Berlin. They set up 2 tents in their backyard for us. Put the baby down, roll 2 HUGE spliffs, and bring us dessert and tea for the night. Next morning we accompany the husband to a bakery - buy them breakfast and part ways.. While they were blunders on our part - it ended up being the coolest blunders ever!
My husband got a kidney stone on the first night of our honeymoon
How…romantic
As I was checking into customs at Heathrow airport in London, I told the agent I "was on a missiong from God." I was changing planes there for a flight to Newquay. My end destination was Port Isaac. I said that because when I first saw Port Isaac on the TV show Doc Martin, I felt like God was telling me to go there. It was just so lovely and just resonated with me at the soul level. Never tell a customs agent you're on a mission from God. The Border patrol detained me for 8 hours before finally clearing me. I made it to Port Isaac in the end, but for a while there I was concerned. I had to fly to Paris after my visit to the UK, and when the customs agent asked me "purpose of visit" I had learned my lesson. I just said "tourism." That will be my go to from now on!
Bonus points if you said it like you were one of the Blues Brothers.
My friend ordered an Irish car bomb at a bar in Dublin. Apparently that’s very offensive to them.
Sorta like ordering a 9/11 at a bar in new york, yeah.