What's the biggest mistake you made on a European trip?
Apr 30th, 2017, 01:29 PM
#121
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
PegS
Here's the full version of our car hire in Pisa.
We landed in Pisa - been to Tuscany lots of times before but had never seen the tower.
It was around 5pm and as many of you know the dampness from the hills creates huge thunderstorms in mid summer. We hadn't seen the rain coming, just dashed into the car hire office grabbed the car and drove into Pisa which is very close to the airport. We had to see the tower then as we were driving down to Pienza and wouldn't come back to Pisa.
Just as we parked the car, the heavens opened and we ran round the streets without a map looking for the tower, we found it (drenched) and then suddenly realised that we hadn't a clue :
1. Where we had parked
2. What make car we had parked
3. What colour of car we had parked
The car hire docs were in the car, so we googled the agency office rang them (see we're not stupid) .....they had closed at 6pm (5 minutes earlier).
We wandered the streets for 4 hours , just pressing button on the key fob. Finally a black Fiat blinked its headlights to say hello.
The rest of the trip went well and was great fun.
Worst moment abroad was at Washington Dulles when I was held by some security agency for 90 minutes, had to witness other detainees being strip searched in side rooms. I was then questionedabout 9 armed robberies in Texas but then released without any explanation.
I asked what the hell it was all about : the security official (CIA I think) said "you're lucky, we are looking for someone with your name but he's black". Just walked off without asking whether they had noticed my colour 89 minutes earlier.
Other mistakes in travel : (all men make this one)
The decision in a car as to which voice you take notice : your wife or the lady on the Sat Nav?
Here's the full version of our car hire in Pisa.
We landed in Pisa - been to Tuscany lots of times before but had never seen the tower.
It was around 5pm and as many of you know the dampness from the hills creates huge thunderstorms in mid summer. We hadn't seen the rain coming, just dashed into the car hire office grabbed the car and drove into Pisa which is very close to the airport. We had to see the tower then as we were driving down to Pienza and wouldn't come back to Pisa.
Just as we parked the car, the heavens opened and we ran round the streets without a map looking for the tower, we found it (drenched) and then suddenly realised that we hadn't a clue :
1. Where we had parked
2. What make car we had parked
3. What colour of car we had parked
The car hire docs were in the car, so we googled the agency office rang them (see we're not stupid) .....they had closed at 6pm (5 minutes earlier).
We wandered the streets for 4 hours , just pressing button on the key fob. Finally a black Fiat blinked its headlights to say hello.
The rest of the trip went well and was great fun.
Worst moment abroad was at Washington Dulles when I was held by some security agency for 90 minutes, had to witness other detainees being strip searched in side rooms. I was then questionedabout 9 armed robberies in Texas but then released without any explanation.
I asked what the hell it was all about : the security official (CIA I think) said "you're lucky, we are looking for someone with your name but he's black". Just walked off without asking whether they had noticed my colour 89 minutes earlier.
Other mistakes in travel : (all men make this one)
The decision in a car as to which voice you take notice : your wife or the lady on the Sat Nav?
Apr 30th, 2017, 02:29 PM
#123
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 2,302
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<The decision in a car as to which voice you take notice : your wife or the lady on the Sat Nav?>
A very easy one : you liwten to your wife, then if - IF - you're intelligent when you get lost you say 'maybe we'll just listen to the GPS'.
If you're like me, you'll say 'told you'; WRONG answer.
A very easy one : you liwten to your wife, then if - IF - you're intelligent when you get lost you say 'maybe we'll just listen to the GPS'.
If you're like me, you'll say 'told you'; WRONG answer.
May 1st, 2017, 03:40 AM
#127
Wonderful memories, but I don't think I could travel that way again.>>
nor me, coquelicot.
BC - I can't match your airport story, but we did lose the hire car in a car park in Christchurch, NZ for a couple of hours - post the earthquake they have turned many of the empty lots into car parks but they all look the same. Although we thought that we had taken a careful note of how to get back to the car, of course we failed miserably to find it. As tempers frayed, in the end I said that if DH was so sure HE knew where it was, I was just going to sit in the nearest bar and wait for him. [it was that or commit murder by that point]. off he marched in high dudgeon, [why is dudgeon always high, BTW?] and 10 mins later he returned, saying that it was just round the corner [which is what I'd been saying all along but I forbore to remind him of the fact]. Marital harmony was quickly restored with the help of some liquid refreshment. [What a wonderful thing beer is].
We now take photos of the roads leading from any place where we park a car including the road names so that if we get lost, at least we know what road it's in.
Our worst moment abroad was when we lost DS at Epcot in the middle of the fireworks. One minute he was by my side, the next he was gone vanished into the night. And of course most of the lights were dimmed because of the fireworks. You would not believe how many 7-8 year old boys wearing dark coloured hoodies there are at Epcot at any one time. It took us about 30 mins to find him, with the help of several Disney employees, by which time we were beyond scared, but he was fine, and couldn't understand the fuss. he was under a very tight guard for the rest of that holiday. my tip - don't dress your child in dark anonymous colours if you're going to be in a place with lots of other people, especially at night.
nor me, coquelicot.
BC - I can't match your airport story, but we did lose the hire car in a car park in Christchurch, NZ for a couple of hours - post the earthquake they have turned many of the empty lots into car parks but they all look the same. Although we thought that we had taken a careful note of how to get back to the car, of course we failed miserably to find it. As tempers frayed, in the end I said that if DH was so sure HE knew where it was, I was just going to sit in the nearest bar and wait for him. [it was that or commit murder by that point]. off he marched in high dudgeon, [why is dudgeon always high, BTW?] and 10 mins later he returned, saying that it was just round the corner [which is what I'd been saying all along but I forbore to remind him of the fact]. Marital harmony was quickly restored with the help of some liquid refreshment. [What a wonderful thing beer is].
We now take photos of the roads leading from any place where we park a car including the road names so that if we get lost, at least we know what road it's in.
Our worst moment abroad was when we lost DS at Epcot in the middle of the fireworks. One minute he was by my side, the next he was gone vanished into the night. And of course most of the lights were dimmed because of the fireworks. You would not believe how many 7-8 year old boys wearing dark coloured hoodies there are at Epcot at any one time. It took us about 30 mins to find him, with the help of several Disney employees, by which time we were beyond scared, but he was fine, and couldn't understand the fuss. he was under a very tight guard for the rest of that holiday. my tip - don't dress your child in dark anonymous colours if you're going to be in a place with lots of other people, especially at night.
May 1st, 2017, 07:11 AM
#128
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 790
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This was before there were selfie sticks. We asked a stranger to take our photo sitting on a rock in front of the Colosseum in Rome, and I decided to put my handbag beside the rock. I never saw the bag again--credit cards, cash, a second camera etc. all gone. Even more, my husband and I were not wise enough yet not to carry the same cards. He just had one AMEX that I did not have and it wasn't accepted in many places. Our hotel in Venice almost cancelled our reservation because the card was cancelled.
May 3rd, 2017, 02:42 PM
#130
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,863
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The biggest mistake (which turned out OK in the end) was not paying attention to the exact location of the self-check luggage lockers in the Copenhagen airport on the way in starting our trip last year. We checked bags in the lockers, then got a receipt with a code. A few hours later we returned to get our bags to catch a flight to Budapest...and the locker was empty! OH no! what are we going to do now? How could someone have stolen them? We had our money and passports, but would need to buy clothes and stuff.
Turned out that there was an identical set of lockers in the airport a few meters away, but not visible from the first set. We figured it out somehow when we looked at a photo my daughter snapped of the lockers , and they looked ever so slightly different. We had time to find our luggage and all was well, but for a few minutes we were in a panic.
Turned out that there was an identical set of lockers in the airport a few meters away, but not visible from the first set. We figured it out somehow when we looked at a photo my daughter snapped of the lockers , and they looked ever so slightly different. We had time to find our luggage and all was well, but for a few minutes we were in a panic.
May 10th, 2017, 04:54 PM
#131
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trying to see too much and spending a lot of time on transport. I find a can plan for 2 days on each day I am away and then find I could have done it better but usually I put too much into the days. Better to stay in one area and see more locally and appreciate the moment and what is there rather than running for a train.....again.
May 10th, 2017, 05:30 PM
#132
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,863
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I thought of another one. Last year we went to visit SWMBOs mom in Ukraine and were trying to catch a train in Kyiv for Odessa. I had bought the ticket online (surprisingly Ukrainian railroads was able to complete the transaction with my US credit card) but confused the train stations in Kyiv. The ticket was issued to go from the main station "Passagerska" in central Kyiv, but we thought the train left from a suburban station " Darnitsa" 5 miles south. We figured out with less than 2 hours to go that we were miles away from the right station and took a wild and dangerous cab ride through kyiv (Cost ten bucks) to catch the train.
May 14th, 2017, 07:22 AM
#133
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 308
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
After wading through the list, the most important thing IMO is taking more than one credit card per person. Yep, four cards. On our 6 week trip to the U.S., we "took" a card each. When we got to the first hotel abroad, I discovered that I forgot my card. We managed for 2 weeks on one card (while waiting for my "new card" to reach us) until it got hacked! There we were at Bryce Canyon with no usable credit cards! Luckily, we could withdraw as much cash as we wanted, so we paid cash for a week. We learned the hard way that there are so many things you CAN'T do if you don't have a credit card in the States.....
May 17th, 2017, 03:54 PM
#135
Both stories I've told before:
Not double checking the alarm , so missing our 6am flight to Brindisi - so spending the next 18 hours getting firstly to Rome, then across Italy by assorted trains before reaching Lecce.
Amd years before - assumiing that a train arriving on platform 2 at 3pm at an Italian station was the train supposed to arrive there at 3pm (so finding ourselves heading in the complete opposite direction and only managed to get home thanks to the extraordinary kindness of Italian railway staff).
Now that smartphones are the norm, I find myself snapping pictures of everything - the rental car, parking lot loccation (bay 32 level2), the exterior of the carpark, left luggage lockers etc.
Not double checking the alarm , so missing our 6am flight to Brindisi - so spending the next 18 hours getting firstly to Rome, then across Italy by assorted trains before reaching Lecce.
Amd years before - assumiing that a train arriving on platform 2 at 3pm at an Italian station was the train supposed to arrive there at 3pm (so finding ourselves heading in the complete opposite direction and only managed to get home thanks to the extraordinary kindness of Italian railway staff).
Now that smartphones are the norm, I find myself snapping pictures of everything - the rental car, parking lot loccation (bay 32 level2), the exterior of the carpark, left luggage lockers etc.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
nbs_mjs
Europe
25
Dec 17th, 2003 03:30 PM
