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What is the most stupid travel mistake you have ever made?

What is the most stupid travel mistake you have ever made?

Old Oct 24th, 2008, 12:31 PM
  #81  
 
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Just recently went off a ship without our passport and couldnt exchange $$$...what a disaster... Finally when we got back on the ship remembered we had an ATM card b ut couldn;'t remember password..lol.. finally straightened it out but we missed Cadiz and more of Malaga than we wanted to.
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Old Oct 25th, 2008, 12:55 PM
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Ha, never mind forgetting the passport when leaving the cruise ship. One time we had a flight out of SFO to Miami to take a cruise with some friends. The day and evening before was a nightmare, business problems during the day and family problems in the evening.

I got to SFO and I didn't have my passport! It was a flight booked in connection with the cruise. Somehow I got the boarding pass but was told if I didn't have my passport for the cruise well it would be no cruise for me. I called our friend who checked out our house anytime we were on a trip, gave him the combination to our safe and he overnight expressed my passport to the ship.

This was around 1980, way before 911 of course. I posted about this years ago and some poster said I was lying but I am not. Security was not like it is now. But in any case I almost had a heart attack when I realized I hadn't brought my passport with me, lol. Talk about a stupid travel mistake. But it all worked out and when getting to the cruise ship I was taken to the Purser (think it was the Purser) who handed me my passport. I believe the next thing I did was to have a cocktail!
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Old Nov 13th, 2008, 08:52 AM
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Monday afternoon train tickets arrive in mail... Monday evening tickets are thrown in trash by me, unbeknownst to me... Tuesday morning trash is picked up... Tuesday night I notice tickets are missing, frantic search ensues... and then the sick to my stomach realization of what I had done.

Where is the emoticon hitting itself over the head with a frying pan when I need it???
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Old Nov 19th, 2008, 08:51 AM
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On a trip to Lake Como, we booked the wonderful Grand Tremezzo Hotel for 10 nights.

We purposely left the last night open "to find a cute little place while we were roaming around".

On about the 9th night when were at the desk, we asked the clerk if she had any suggestions. She spoke in Italian to the other clerks, and they all burst out laughing.

It seems that this was "Monza Weekend" for the big race. She said there wasn't a room to be had in 200 miles!

Another adventure was in store. She found us a room in Bergamo. It was a bit of a drive, but we had a great time there. The pedestrian shopping streets were perfect. And we got to see a part of Italy we never knew existed.
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Old Nov 24th, 2008, 07:31 AM
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Four of us flew on a military hop into South Korea. When we landed, I told my wife to grab a cab while I got our bags. I grabbed the bags, got my passport stamped and met her outside.

We flew out of a different Korean Air Base later. We found out my wife hadn't had her passport stamped at entry. We were taken into a back room with sparse furnishing and a bright light.

Korea is still at war and it's a million won (huan?) fine and a year in prison for entering the country illegally. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay a bribe (like a Mordida in Mexico) or what?

Because I was an Air Force officer, they allowed my wife to stamp her passport in and out there and allowed us catch our flight out. Whew!
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Old Nov 25th, 2008, 08:51 PM
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I've two - not bad for a few years of travelling.

The first was when I had 4 bottles of expensive champagne in my carry on - post 9/11. I bought them 'duty free' from work (one of the perks of working for an international organisation), so I had in my head that they were duty free and therefore not subject to the ban on liquids in hand luggage. When I got to the gate I was told I had to leave them behind - about $500 worth of champagne. They eventually let me carry them on but I'm not sure I was even very happy with that - what else do they let people carry on???

The second was when I smartly booked an 'airport' hotel on a layover we had in Frankfurt. Not realising that there were 2 airports in Frankfurt and I had booked a hotel some hours away at the other airport.
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Old Nov 28th, 2008, 05:26 PM
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I don't know why Fed Ex doesn't set up a small office at the airport for people that forget about that rule and bring expensive champagne or perfumes. They could make a small fortune.
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Old Nov 29th, 2008, 10:13 AM
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Unfortunately, Fedex can't ship alcohol. There are so many rules and regulations regarding the shipment of alcohol and it varies dependent upon the start and end points (even within one country) that Fedex staff could never keep them straight.
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Old Nov 29th, 2008, 10:23 AM
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Thanks toedtoes, I had no idea that they couldn't do that.
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Old Nov 29th, 2008, 11:11 AM
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I didn't either until I went to work for the state ABC agency.

There's a ton of regulations.
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Old Dec 1st, 2008, 10:05 AM
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Using Orbitz to book our flight from Chicago to Los cabos. We lost all customer service with the airline (US Airways) because we had gone through a third party. We ended up with a two-stopover trip isntead of a one stopover trip as originally planned. From now on, I will book directly with the airlines.
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Old Dec 4th, 2008, 07:11 AM
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My mistake has been blindly believing that Priceline has the best rates for hotels on the bidding part of the site. I have on several occasions paid 20 or 30 bucks more a night on the priceline bidding program compared to the hotel's own web site that allows you to cancel reservations...so I have a prepaid booking months in advance on Priceline that I'm paying 13.99 % interest on while I could have saved all that money in interest if I had shopped around. I have also underestimated how low some of the priceline's bidding service's hidden rates are and have bidded on trips that I was not totally commited in going on as I was trying to comparison shop this way. Plus the thrill of making a bid is a lot of fun. Because of this I am racking up way too much debt and may have to cancel two long distance trips this year and still pay for them on my credit card. I have to end the compulsive bidding on Priceline.
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