I made a really stupid mistake, and wanted to share it with Fodor's readers. Maybe others can relate...

In order to save ourselves a 14 hour drive (each way) to check out a college in Ohio for our DD, we decided to make airline reservations from Portsmouth, NH to Columbus, OH on Skybus for a great rate. We also went onto Priceline and got ourselves a $20/day car rental and a $52/night rate at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus. Anyway, long story short, we end up having to come back a day earlier than we booked originally.

So....Skybus charges $40/per person to change the flight. That's a $160 mistake right there. Then, because we did a "Name Your Own Price" on Priceline, we forfeited a $52 hotel night, and one day's car rental.

I'm not looking for advice. I knew the risks when I booked everything, but we were so SURE of our dates when we booked.
I just want to hear similar stories from others, so I can feel better about it. Geez, I hate to throw money down the drain!

Changing your dates isn't a "mistake." If you change your flight at the last minute you just have to pay - that's the price of travel. I've paid change fees before, too. I'll bet most of us have. No need to worry about it.

You probably didn't lose any money, either. If you had not used Priceline, you most likely would have paid more for both the rental car and the hotel. Sure you could have saved a day on the car (probably not much in the end) and night's hotel but comparing your total price with Priceline vs. without, you may STILL have saved money or are at best now even.

So I don't think what you did was STUPID at all. Don't sweat it.

Andrew beat me to it.

You didn't make a dumb mistake. Your plans changed.

A dumb mistake would have been to book the wrong date.

Now, had you book the wrong date one day too early, that would be called "dumb luck".

I agree carolyns, not a mistake at all..sometimes plans change and we have to pay the Piper so to speak.

That happened one time when I was in Italy. My daughter back home got very ill. I did manange to get a flight home the next day but it cost me..only $150.00 though..I was just glad that KLM got me on their next day morning flight.

Carolyns - By coming back a day early, you probably saved on some restaurant meals, so you actually saved money there. When you look it as a percentage of total college costs, it has to be infintisimal(ignore the spelling). Just curious, where did you visit? We went to Denison last fall.
We have a unused ticket on United(who knows how much to exchange) when DD decided she didn't want to do an overnighter at Santa Clara last spring. Since her scholarship is bigger where she is now, I am okay with it. Good luck on the college search, don't beat you up on this, its too much of an emotional year.
Mom of a college freshman.

If you regularly book on Priceline, then you have saved more in the previous trips to cover these charges. Just think of it as self-insurance.

I agree with all the above. Not a mistake ... just called "life." Stuff happens ...

+1 on all above.

We have a saying: If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything.

Andrew called it and everyone else has confirmed it. Not a mistake.
Now, a question for you...what did you think of SKYBUS? I am in GSO and they are going to be doing flights to BOS, LAX, and most of FL for the $10-40 fares. Seems too good to resist so I did book for a FL trip in Feb.

A mistake would be for travelers who are sure of their schedules to book fares that allow changes for very low fees. Because over the long haul, the extra money spent on this form of "insurance" will most likely never end up to the amount of money saved when the rare change needs to be made.

At the risk of being completely redundant, you did not make a stupid mistake, Carolyn.

Wanna hear about a really stupid travel mistake that might make you feel better?

I found DH a great rate -less than $400 - from LAX-Munich so he could go skiing with his buddies in Austria. At the end of the trip, his friend dropped him off at the MUC airport. While sitting AT THE GATE, he fell asleep and missed all of the boarding announcements for his flight. The flight left without him and it cost him $800 to get home -- more than double what we paid for a round-trip ticket.

That is a dumb mistake.

oh lvk, I bet you were so angry.

How often do you remind him of this?

Although I consider myself pretty good with public transportation, I've done really dumb things with trains in Europe. Going from Vienna to Budapest, I got off at the wrong Budapest stop (in the suburbs!). I assumed for some stupid reason that because this train was going on the Belgrade was that no one else was getting off here, just me. The train left before I realized I was stuck at a tiny suburban Budapest rail station with nothing in English, no ATMs, etc. and I had no Hungarian money. It was just a dumb "brain freeze" mistake. (I hopped on a commuter train about 20 minutes later and got to the right station just fine - no harm/no foul.)

My husband was recently on a flight returning from Melbourne Beach, Florida. A French lady in front of him who spoke very little English was hysterical, but she spoke enough for him to understand that she had intended to fly from Paris to Melbourne, Australia and apparently didn't notice the error until she arrived in Melbourne, USA! She even had a layover in New York. Now that is a DUMB mistake!

Another quickie, my brother once missed a flight to Spain with a group from college because he went to the wrong departing airport (BWI instead of Dulles). He didn't have any of the info with him (b/c he is disorganized!) so he
caught the next flight out and had to sit in the small town square until he saw someone from his group. Lucky for him, it didn't take long!

Those two stories should make anyone feel better!

Another dumb mistake I've heard (more than once): People flying to Rochester, NY for the Mayo Clinic, which is in Rochester, MN

Thanks everyone, for making me feel better. I leave on this trip 11/29, so have no opinion of Skybus yet. I'll post when I return.
Our family is headed out to visit Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.
The stories you all shared about different travel mistakes made me laugh. I'd never heard about flying to somewhere you hadn't intended. That would be a major OOPS feeling!
I actually added up the costs we will incur (even with the mistake), and it still ends up being about $100 cheaper than if we hadn't used Priceline.
SO, I'm feeling okay. I'm just determined to have fun!

Here's a follow up to my Skybus experience. It was wonderful! The plane was new and clean, and for the cheap fares we got, were very pleased. On board, the stewardesses have the customers who paid less than $100 raise their hand, then $50, then $35, and finally $10. It's amazing to me that the first ten seats on each flight really are $10.Anyway, it was a success.

My daughter is going back out to Cedarville for an engineering camp this summer, so I'm watching the Skybus website for the July fares. I'd love to secure her a $10 flight!

Thanks for posting, Carolyns. I am flying SKYBUS for the first time in Feb. Headed to sunny and better be warmer than here Naples.

cmcfong, just so you're coming in February. Last night we had the coldest night in a decade -- may have actually had frost -- but probably not as there was too much wind. But we hit the low 30's. Never fear. It's supposed to be 70's again by tomorrow and 80 by Monday! It never stays cold long in Naples.

Where does Skybus fly from to RSW (I'm assuming that's where you're flying), and is that the airline I recently heard is now flying Columbus, Ohio to Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte?

carolyns, I've had priceline rooms in South Beach that I've had to just no show probably about six nights total.

Some times these things just happen.