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Travel Kismet: When mistakes turn into magic

Tell about a travel mistake that turned into a wonderful adventure. We were in Cordoba, Spain, and knew that the next day, Sunday, May 1, was a holiday. We checked aat the bus station and verified with the ticket seller that, yes, the bus to the medina outside the city was running tomorrow. We arrived at the appointed time the next day to find the bus station closed. What to do in Cordoba on a Sunday and a holiday? We'd been there a few days, had been staying in unfortunate accomodations, and needed an out-of-town diversion. I remembered a town we'd passed on the train from Seville: Almodovar del Rio. It was a tiny town at the foot of a hill topped by a castle. It looked so unusual sticking up in the middle of the valley that I'd checked my guide for info. A sentence said precisely what I've written above, nothing more. No hints about anything to do or see. We took the train there and found a sleepy town. Wandered the main street up the hill, took artistic photos, followed the road out of town. Had a beer at a roadside cafe. Watched the locals arrive for their break from working nearby farms. Then we walked up the dusty road to the castle. We wanted to get a closer look. We were surprised to find the gate open. The gatekeeper explained that this was a private residence, open to the public only on the first Sunday of each month--today! We paid 100 pesatas each and toured the ramparts and towers, the only visitors. Great views of the valley and fun climbing up and down the towers and ledges. We had lunch back in town at the only open restaurant where we became part of a family birthday party for a local 10-year-old boy . It was nice to see that kids everywhere have the same fun at birthdays. This turned out to be a great day after a very bad beginning.

Hi ellenem, Great story.

anyone else have a story to share?

I don't have anything near as lovely as your story. Once when we were travelling the overnight train to Heidelberg, we overslept and ended up in Frankfurt. To make lemonade out of lemons, we took a 1/2 day bus tour of the city and it was lovely! I was sorry I did not make time (that trip) for a full day at least. Also, bought fruit at a friendly fruit stand and the guy slipped me some free plums "for extra vitamins." I've been back once more and found the people friendly and very nice. One time in China, my friend Randall got separated from the tour and ended up roaming the streets by himself for a few hours. He watched people in the marketplace, socializing, etc......and I was extremely jealous because at the end of the trip, Randall had the BEST pictures! None of the "just for the tourists" crap.

Yes, Melissa, Lemonade out of lemons...Most of my travels have been in Italy. While my grasp of the language is beginner level, with moderate food vocabulary, I have learned a few important words. One: strike. In more than 15 trips, I believe I've run into a transportation strike at least 10 times. Now I just see them as part of my trip--that extra morning's stay in Sorrento or extended shopping in Rome. It's just part of being there.

1996, our first trip to Mexico. We were in Puerto Valalrta, and thought a day trip to poke around Mismaloya would be fun. Noegotiated a cab fare and off we went - to be stopped about 1/3-1/2 of the way there because a huge traffic accident had the road impassable in both directions. The cabblie advised we sit tight and wait a bit, see if the road was cleared soon. While waiting, we got out of the cab and wandered a bit into the field next to the road. In a moment we were both surrounded by clouds and clouds of butterflies! It was absolutely incredible - and beautiful! Never did make it to Mismaloya.

A few years ago we were in Paris and on our 2nd to last day we had arranged to take the train to Bayoux and be picked up by a tour company so we could see Normandy. The tour company told us which train to get on. Problem was it was a Sunday and the tour companies information was wrong. We got to the train station and could not get to Bayoux in time to be picked up. We had baguette and cheese in hand to eat on the train too. So we headed back to our hotel and the lady at the desk asked what happened. Told her the story...she called the company and told them we would not be there and why. Then she told us to go enjoy the city the rest of the day and that she would find a way for us to get there the next day (which would be our last full day). So the 4 of us (we had our children with us) enjoyed Paris for the day...came back that evening to the hotel and the desk lady had arranged a private tour for us. A taxi driver they knew who liked to go to the beach area every so often agreed to take the 4 of us for a full day. He picked us up at around 7am...the fog was very thick...he wasn't even sure if we would make it over. Anyway...he took us to the peace memorial in Caen, then to some little village for lunch. What a treat for us to spend a meal with him! After lunch we went to the American Cemetary. Later in the day we stopped in Bayoux for the tapestry before heading back to Paris. We arrived back at our hotel around 9pm. The lady at our hotel and our guide absolutely made our trip. We are a military family and my husband did not want to leave without going to the American Cemetary and Omaha Beach. Those two people made it possible. It was especially moving for us since my husband had just returned from a 6 month deployment one week before we left for Paris. When we returned home we sent a small thank you gift. The hotel was nothing fancy (a Best Western)...but they sure earned our respect!!!

Sorry...forgot to tell the funny part! We put the baguette and cheese in our room...the cheese in the fridge. Well when we returned that evening the room smelled SO bad...the fridge was unplugged and we didn't realize that. We still hadn't realized it was the cheese though...we kept blaming the smell on our son. After he kept insisting it wasn't him having gas we realized it was the cheese. So my husband walked it 2 blocks away to throw it away. We still to this day laugh about the cheese and wish we knew what kind it was. Has made for a family memory in many ways:)

In 2001 we were driving From Cinque Terre to Florence, four of us in the car. Just outside of Florence was a toll booth, so we stopped at the gate. We looked and looked and could not figure out what to. Meanwhile cars are gathering behind us. A voice (in Italian, of course) comes out of the toll machine. I am sure he was telling us what to do. Unfortunately, because of our limited expertise in the Italian language, none of us could figure what he was saying. As the cars piled up behind us, a sterner voice and sounding exasperated(in Italian, of course) once again came on. Once again, we could not understand. Finally after a few minutes and about 30 cars later, a ticket magically appears and the gate opens. As I reach to grab it, a voice (this time in perfect English) says in a tone I will never forget, "Take the ticket and go away!" We laughed continually for about ten minutes, and that line was used throughout our trip. It is a line that lives in infamy, and still makes us all laugh just as loudly today.

We spent a week in Bonifaccio, Corsica and drove three hours to catch a plane to Marsailles and then one to Frankfort. I had fallen in love with Corsica and was trying to figure out a way to stay for a few more days, but my husband's family was expecting us in Frankfort, so that was out of the question. When we got to the airport in Ajaccio, we turned in the Avis car and noticed that they airport looked pretty empty, no taxis, etc.. We checked in, and gave them our luggage and then they told us that there was a one day general transportation strike in France and that we would not be able to get out of Marseille until the following day. I asked if we could stay in Ajaccio for the remainder of that day and take the short flight to Marseille the next day and then the flight to Frankfort. The clerk said no problem. My husband asked if e would have problems getting on the small plane the next day, and she assured us that there would be space. It only had about 15 seats on it. We found a nice hotel and had a fabulous dinner in a recommended restaurant, high on a hill over looking the city. Unfortunetly, there was a raving lunatic in the next room of our hotel. He banged on the walls and screamed contantly for most of the afternoon and night. We did have our room changed to another floor, but we could still hear him, but not as loud. When my husband complained to the day clerk the next morning and told him that the night clerk refused to call the police etc., the manager refused to let us pay for our room or for the room service breakfast. I got my extra day and a free room to boot. Of course my husband put in his ear plugs and slept through the whole thing. He prefaced his story to the day clerk - 'my wife........'

A couple of years ago, my husband and I decided to go to Europe for Christmas instead of home to visit family. We wanted to pick someplace that would be nice at Christmas - and we thought Switzerland should be nice and Christmassy. (For those of you who can see where this is going, I know, I know, dumb that we didn't check how open things are . . .) We planned a 9-day itinerary through Switzerland. We arrived in Zurich, checked into our hotel at about 5 p.m., and rushed down to the main shopping street in the old town, the one that's known for its lights at Christmas. It was an absolute GHOST town! There were NO people out. We seriously saw about 5 other people in an hour walk around town. It was beautiful, but looking at the signs in the windows, we saw that everything would stay closed until early January. We went back to our hotel, opened a map, and decided to take the train the next morning to Milan, and we did that every day. We'd wake up, decide whether or not we wanted to stay where we were for another day or take the train someplace else. Milan was absolutely lovely - it was snowing, and so peaceful, but still lively during the day. We circled through northern Italy to Nice, then Geneva, then back to Zurich, where things were just opening back up. We ended up having a very fun trip, completely unplanned. A complete first for me, reading about hotels and sights in a guidebook on the train instead of months in advance - but very fun!

In May of 2001, we were in Sibiu, Romania and had spent the morning visiting an open air museum. When we retuened to the parking lot and our car, the elderly parking attendant kept insisting we listen to him. We of course thought he wanted us to pay again and so we were trying to tell him that we'd already paid to park. Then someone who spoke English came over to us. He told us that our car had been hit (very slightly) and that the owner of the other car wanted to talk to us. The owner appeared with his daughter (who was studying to be an English translator) and she translated for us. The wife and the daughter's fiancee accompanied them. Even not knowing the language, we could tell by body language that the wife was furious with her husband for hitting our car. We soon found out that a minor dent is a really really big deal as far as paperwork in Romania. We had to go to the police station to do paperwork and then we also had to go to the insurance company to show then the dent (and of course this was May Day so we had to wait until the next day). What was serendipitous about all of this? The family invited us to their apartment for dinner. We had a marvelous time, got to meet some real people and find out about what their lives were like, and visit a communist era apartment building. This was a middle class couple--she was a middle school teacher and he a bank auditor who was in the process of losing his job. The average teacher in Romania earns $40-$80 a month, and the only job prospect he had was for $20 month. They lived in the apartment (a kitchen, bath, and 2 other rooms) that had been given them in the communist era, and couldn't afford to upgrade. The only way the daughter had been able to attend college was to first spend a year after high school attending a special prep school so she could compete for a scholarship. She scored in the top percentage and thus was able to attend University for free. We ended up losing a day of sightseeing, but it was replaced by a one of a kind experience. Also, after this experience I will never again complain about American insitutional bureaucracies. It took us close to 1 1/2 hours in the police station to do paperwork for $300 worth of damage. The next day when we went with them to the insurance company was also an eye-opener. Even though we went as soon as the office, there were huge lines. The only way we finished the processing in 2 hours wasw because the man pushed his way to the front of each line he had to wait in by explaining that he didn't want to inconvenience these Americans any longer. There were no computers and no Xerox machine; for copies you had to go to the store down the street and pay for every copy. We had to sign a statement that was a demand for restitution and then the appraiser had to see the car. Finally, we left with a piece of paper stating that the guy's insurance company would pay the costs because he had backed into our parked car. We were a tad concerned because everything was in Romanian and we had rented the car in Hungary. When we returned the rental car, the company told us ther would be no problem since we had proof that this insurance company would cover the damage. Of course, as soon as our credit card bill came, there was a charge for damages to the car. Good thing we had used our Visa Gold to pay the rental charges because they paid for everytbing; they told us that on a claim like that it would take at least 9 months to collect on it if ever. So, we screwed around for a day and ended up being liable anyway. But, we got a real picture of life in Romania that we could never have gotten no matter how many tourist sights we'd seen.

This is a wonderful thread and destined to become a classic. Well, my first trip (out of the country, overseas, ON A PLANE) was to London where I spent one night and then took the Chunnel next day to stay in Paris for a few days. After the trip, I was to return to London to catch my flight back to the U.S.. The only problem was that I mis-read the train info and I got back to Gatwick airport to be told at the Northwest gate that I'd just missed my flight (I thought I was a 1/2 hour early & still had plenty of time) and that the next one wouldn't go out until the next day (this is what happens when you buy your tickets thru ticket discounter - you have to stick with the original airline). So with virtually no money left, I had no choice but to spend the night in Gatwick. QUITE the eye-opening experience. I was able to see so many different people of different nationalities and races, different languages, it was great! I walked all around the airport & observed people, showered in the hotel shower (cool!), e-mailed my friends in the U.S. to tell them of my blunder and phoned work to let them know I'd be a day late. Eventually, I meandered my way up to the smoking lounge where it turns out this is place where everyone crashes; I ended up having a conversation with a really fascinating, charming Londoner. We talked for hours, mostly about politics, and I discovered I was woefully inept about my own countries politics & history & foreign policies. Then this gentleman regaled me with stories of his own travel life complete with the one of CLIMBING the pyramids in Egypt at night (I know, totally illegal, yet completely fascinating). I just have to say it was one of those great, serendipitous moments. : ) And I didn't even mind losing the sleep!!

Wandering aimlessly around Venice totally lost for hours. My last trip, stumbling onto the Menagerie (Zoo) in Paris w/my 9 month old daughtertotally by accident. Cesky Krumlov...

Some of my fondest memories and best stories fall into this category. Here's one: We are on a ferry from Piraeus to the Cycladic islands of Naxos and Paros. Poor weather keeps us in port, and so our ferry that was to leave at 8:30 in the morning does not, in fact, depart until 6:30 that night. By then we have spent the day sharing food, drink, and friendship with a group of Berliners. We ended up camping with them on Naxos for several days. That was in 1973! One couple are still close friends of ours and we have visited each other many times. In 1993 we met in Crete to celebrate our 20th anniversary of friendship, and this year we are trying to arrange another rendezvous to celebrate our 30th.