Murphy's Laws of Travel
 

Hi, all,

Just back from 5 days at a seaside place (paid for by others, thank goodness -- seriously upscale) and all the way back I knew I had a new thread for Fodors!

Set-up: Weather on first 2 days was heavily humid, hot, ending in storms from 4 pm to midnight. Weather on 3rd day, no storms just even hotter weather (95). Weather 4th day, still hot and driving wind -- surf a battle. Weather on last day, the day we left (ca. 5 pm), spectacular -- dry, 83, glorious blue sky, slight fresh breeze, gorgeous water.

Law: On a trip of X days in length, the weather on the day of departure will be far better than any previous day's weather.

I invite other traveller's Murphy's Laws.

That fabulous discount airfare to your planned destination will expire the day before you depart.

When flying with hotel/air package:
The airfare will be low, the flight will be perfect but the hotel will be horrible.

When you get off the train or subway, if there is only ONE panhandler on the street, YOU will be the one he approaches.

If a tour book says "get off the subway at ABC station and proceed west" there will be at least 2 exits, and you can't figure out where that west is because the day is cloudy.

No matter how many times you check and recheck your list, something will be forgotten. Hopefully, it will not be a member of your party like the Mom in "Home Alone".

DFW/ATL/ORD corollary: If you have more than 2 hrs. connection, your second flight will leave from the gate next to where you arrived from the first flight. If you have less than 15 minutes' connection, your departure gate will be at the opposite end of the further terminal from your arrival gate.

soccr: How true! We had a change of planes in Las Vegas this week, with one hour between flights. Planned on playing a few slots and grabbing lunch. Of course, our departure gate was 22 gates away from where we arrived! I still managed to lose $60 in the slots, buy lunch and get on the plane with less than 10 min. to spare, but it was close!

Donna

The last thing you toss into your suitcase will be the thing you use the most, whereas the thing you made special space to take will turn out to be useless.

Cassandra, The same thing happened to me on a 5 day trip. It rained the first 4 days. The 5th day was great. And this was a CAMPING TRIP in the middle of a wilderness!!!! You got off easy.

My first trip to Arizona 2 years ago I was on business and didn't have time to drive up to see the Grand Canyon. We made a special trip to AZ last November just so I could get to see the GC. We planned a whole day there, arriving late the night before and staying at I think Thunderbird Lodge, right on the rim. When we got up the next morning, it was pouring with rain and foggy--couldn't see a thing. It was mass exodus from the park. Driving out of the park on our way to Phoenix, we encountered a blizzard. A herd of deer ran across the road in front of us, one hitting the side of our car. We spent the rest of our trip trying to find a replacement side view mirror (it had to be ordered from the warehouse and took 2 days to get to the garage). But that was okay because it never stopped raining (who says it never rains in Phoenix!) until, you guessed it, our last day there which was a spectacularly beautiful day. My husband wants to go back so we can finally see the Grand Canyon but I'm afraid of what might happen. Maybe we'll get there and find out it's been filled in!

I pack my suitcase with clothes w/ plenty of room to spare. When its time to go back home, I go to put the same amount of clothes back in + some additionals and have a hard time just fitting the orig back in...go figure

The shorter the trip, the longer the flight delays! (Happens to me every time. My last two weekend trips had 5-hour delays.)

You get to the airport 2 hours ahead of time, and your flight crew had a "confusion" and the flight will leave late.

1)You call the taxi company the evening before your 6 AM flight to make extra sure a taxi will be at your house and it never shows up.

2) You just got done setting off 6 bug bombs in your house and wait in front of the house for that taxi which doesn't show up, so you go back into the house the call the taxi again and throw up your breakfast because of the fumes.

3) You finally arrive at the airport with no time to spare with puke breath. True story.

You pack cute warm weathersundresses and capri's and end up
purchasing jeans and a t-shirt
(which you live in because the
weather is about 20 degrees
below normal that week)-
OR
You pack turtrlenecks and fleece
and end up buying a sundress
and capri's.

R5

jor - how true! The car service was supposed to arrive at 3:30 AM. Ours was an overseas flight. 4:00 AM - no car and the dispatcher can't find the driver. 4:10 AM and the driver has been found - at home in bed! Thankfully we had a cool neighbor who helped us out with an early morning trip to the airport!

jor, it happened to me too :(
We were standing out there waiting for that damn car and nothing in sight. When we called they said it would be there any minute.
Never showed up, we had to grab a cab, no a/c (August in NY) and arrived at the airport in the nick of time, sweating, windblown and whining.
Thank goodness, the rest of the holiday went smoothly and we had a great time~

JohnInMiami, I hope you brought back a very nice gift for your neighbor when you got back home!

1. No matter how careful you are to never lock your keys in the car, the one time you will do it is while you are loading up the car at 5 a.m. to drive to the airport for your long-awaited vacation. The only other time you will lock your keys in the car is on the airport parking lot.

2. Something will always go wrong with your car just before your vacation.

3. The only times you will ever have a flat tire are on the way to the airport -- or -- on the rental car on the first day of your vacation.

4. If the air-conditioning is to go out at your house, it will be while you are on vacation.

5. If you have the bad luck for someone to break into your house, it will be just before you leave on a trip -- or while you are several thousand miles away.

6. When your long-awaited first trip to Las Vegas finally comes, you won't have enough money (and will have to borrow from your mother).

ALL OF THE ABOVE happened to me.

Donna