tcreath

Great question! I have two that I will post.

The first was our stupid mistake to drive into Washington, DC during the week with no hotel reservations. We figured we could just find a hotel and then do some sightseeing. After calling just about every hotel in the area (we had a AAA guide with hotel listings/phone numbers) we finally found a hotel an hour away in Fredericksburg.

The second one was more recent. We were in Vienna in February and it was absolutely freezing, snowy, etc. We had planned on taking the train for a daytrip to Munich. As this was our first trip to the area and our first train experience, we didn't realize that the "daytrip" would involve 4.5 hours of travel each way. Then we finally arrive in Munich and its so cold (colder than Vienna at the time)and snowy that we stayed an hour, ate at McDonalds, and hopped on the next train heading to Vienna because it was too cold to meander around the streets of Munich.

Meesthare

I alluded to this one on another thread but I think it bears repeating: I had been in NYC visiting my daughter. Departure day came and I asked the front desk staff at the hotel how long they thought it would take to get to the Port Authority Terminal to catch my bus to the Newark airport. They suggested a car service rather than a taxi - they thought it would be safer and more reliable. I scoffed, figuring there was some kind of kickback going on with the car service company. I hailed a cab outside the hotel, chatted pleasantly with the driver on the way there, and then hopped out of the car and paid him. I stood there waiting for him to spring the trunk - which contained my suitcase and a smaller bag with my passport, airline ticket, journal, and a few small purchases in it. The driver sped off with the speed of light (no mean feat at that intersection) and was lost in a sea of yellow cabs. It took days before I realized he had really, actually, unmistakeably done that on purpose! The airline replaced my ticket and I got home OK, but that was definitely DUMB. Had it been a car service, of course, they could have traced the driver. So I guess the front desk staff was right that time. Moral of the story: don't pay until you've got your belongings safely in your hands!

BuffaloGirl

We were headed to Aruba for our honeymoon and we had to change flights at JFK. We didn't have a whole lot of time between our flights, but thought it was adequate. Having never been to JFK, we didn't realize we had to go outside and take a shuttle to get to the other airline terminals (we just assumed it was one big terminal - duh). Needless to say, we missed out flight to Aruba, and there wasn't another one until the next day.

I had traveled a bit before I got married, so I'm not sure why I did this. However, the only things I had in my carry on bag were shoes! I had about 6 or 7 pairs of shoes (hey, it was 1986 - I had to have a different color pump for every outfit I didn't end up wearing)! All our clothes and toiletries went to Aruba, and we were stuck in some disgusting hotel in Jamaica, Queens, NY with a bag of shoes. I vomited and cried the entire night...I was certain I would get to Aruba and have no clothes to wear.

It all worked out. When we arrived at the airport, an airline employee led us to a supply room that contained our suitcases!

The 2nd dumbest mistake I ever made while on vacation was getting off the plane in Manzanillo, Mexico. But that's another story.

gyppielou

Making fun of tourists. While at Windsor Court in New Orleans we saw an older couple at the pool absolutely purple with sunburn. I commented that you'd think at their age they'd know better. Well dontcha know how this post ends.........ouch!

Mary2Go

Hate to admit this it is so unlike me....drinking Long Island Iced Teas in the pool at the the Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs in 100 degree heat. We were there for a one night quicky vacation and had already checked out and had our bag held in the lobby. I got sick and we had to stay another night and all they had left was a suite which was beautiful but all I saw of it was the lovely marble floor in the bathroom where I spent the night hating myself (and my husband who ordered those drinks). I also had to call in sick to work the next morning. Humiliating!

Ranger

coming home from a weeks vacation with the whole family, our flight got in at about midnight. I left the wife and kids at baggage claim, while I went to retrieve the car in long term..Got off the shuttle were I THOUGHT I parked the Bronco. Starting walking,,,,and walking,,,didnt see it anywhere..beginning to think someone stole it..after about 45 mins, and after walking for what seemed like miles, a security guard came by and asked if there was a problem,I explained my dilema, so he told me to get in the truck and we drove up and down the rows searching. After about 30 mins of this, he gets a call on his radio..there was a women in baggage claim worried about her husband who had gone to long term parking and never returned, and had he seen anyone..He radioed back that yes, I was with him and they where having trouble finding my "Bronco"...

There was a long pause, and then he came back on with..." you might wanna look for a Subaru..." DUH!!!!!!!

Celine

Ranger..your story is pretty hilarious!

I can't think of anything that I did that was stupid (although I'm sure there's quite a few). I'm pretty anal about doing lots of research (as you can see), so I've prevented quite a few dumb mistakes from happening.

But, our travel agent once booked us an overnight train ticket from Paris to a small town in Portugal. We had to take 2 trains. Well, she didn't realize that we were riding the train overnight, meaning the 2nd train would be taken the next day! She booked both tickets for the same day, meaning the 2nd train was booked for the day before. We had a tough time on the train when we realized this (they tried to kick us off in the middle of nowhere!), but somehow we were able to stay on.

missypie

I was on a choir tour of Eastern Europe, where we went from country to country. Upon arrival in Prague I bought a sandwich and pulled out a "twenty" to pay for it. I got change it their local currency. Later I was looking for that last twenty I had in German marks and realized that I had given that to the shopkeeper in Prague, who had accepted it from the dumb tourist....given the difference in the exchange rate, I think it turned out to be about a $15 sandwich. It was such a stupid touristy mistake to make...no wonder I got taken advantage of.

RandyK

I booked a return flight for an Alaskan cruise a day BEFORE our ship arrived in Vancouver, BC! I checked about changing our Northwest tickets to a day later and learned it would be an additional $3000. I nearly threw up while on the phone. Knowing that I had ruined our summer vacation, I got on line and checked Orbitz trying to think about how I would explain this to my wife who had been reluctant to do an Alaskan cruise. I found one way tickets on Delta from Seattle via Cincinnati that actually gave us a faster connection than our original NW flight schedule. We earned miles on NW, our airline of choice and the tickets were only $79 each! The best $240 I've ever spent. Victory from the jaws of defeat!

jor

I got really irritated with an Egytian kid on a donkey near Luxor Egypt who was relentless in trying to sell me a suvinier. I was hiking in 100 degree heat and very exhausted. I told him to get off of me or I would knock him off his donkey. He understood English very well and told me he was going to get his brothers and beat me up.

I started running like hell and never saw him again. I was totally wrong in saying something like that but I was out of my mind with the severe heat. My bad.

lcuy

I have two, and both on the same trip.

At 8pm, we had just gotten off a long ferry from the island of Hokkaido in Japan. It was in the dead of winter and I was with my husband our 4 month old baby. We planned to take a short train ride into the city of Aomori to stay the night. We got on the train and I asked the conductor (in my limited Japanese) "is this for Aomori?" while pointing to the floor of the car. He said "yes" and I repeated again, "Aomori??" and he again said "yes, Aomori"

We sat down for our quick ride, but realized something was wrong when the train raced into the countryside. The conductor thought I meant is 'this' Aomori, when I meant "this train". We had been in Aomori where the boat docked!!

We jumped off at the next stop and spent 2 hours waiting for a train back to Aomori. The station was very, very old and had a fireplace to keep us warm. At least it was a charming wait.

About a week later, we arrived in Tokyo. Our Japanese friend had said rooms wouldn't be a problem on a Tuesday night. He didn't live in the city and forgot that the World's fair was happening outside the city, but everyone was sleeping in Tokyo!

Nothing was available (I called every hotel on a list of about 30) and the train station was shutting down for the night.

We asked at the police box and the cop referred us to a taxi driver who would take us to a hotel. $80 for the whole package. It was a huge amount at the time, but we had NO choice. Turned out he took us to a cheap "love nest" hourly hotel.

I knew we'd been taken when the landlady gasped at what the driver told her to collect from us. (He didn't know I spoke Japanese). Doors were opening and shutting all night long, and the place was dirty, but we were glad not to be wandering the streets.

We stole a tea cup to even the score, and keep it as a reminder of our love nest night!

puddy

In New Oreans for Jazz Fest two years ago staying at the Hyatt. Second night there got extremely drunk and decided I would return to the hotel, on foot, by myself.. I instead walked to the Hilton (we had walked by it earlier in the day), went up to the 8th floor, and realized the floor did not look right. Instead of realizing right away that I was in the wrong hotel, I thought I must be in the wrong part of the hotel. Went back to the lobby to search for another bank of elevators to take me to a different area of the hotel. Returned to the same spot on the 8th floor about 3 or 4 times before I realized I was in the Hilton. Once I realized my mistake, I stubbornly walked back to the Hyatt, taking the longest possible route through some pretty bad areas near the interstate. I think it ended up taking me about 2 hours to get back to the hotel which should have been about a 15 minute walk.

vegaslocal

I had a two hour drive to the DFW airport, where I was supposed to return my rental car and fly home. Even though I thought I gave myself plenty of time, I found myself running late. As I neared the airport I frantically began searching for a gas station to refill the rental car, but couldn't find one anywhere. Now running very late, I turned the car in and paid their outrageous rates for a full tank of gas (even though I only need a half tank.) The rental car company charged me $65.00 to fill that gas tank up! (At the time, gas was about $1.20 per gallon in Texas.)

The worst part is that when I got to the gate to catch my flight, I found out that I wasn't late at all. In fact, I was two hours early! For some reason, I got confused about my flight departure time and didn't even consider doublechecking my itinerary paperwork.

Boy did I feel like an idiot!

jor

I went on a day trip to the boarder town on Nuevo Laredo with some buddies. On the way back it was dark and everyone else including the driver was drunk.

we were in the middle of the dessert and I got desperate because of the dangerous driving and asked the driver to pull over. He did and I ran into the night. They took off and I wondered for about four hours along the road.

In the mean time the driver got stopped for drunk driving and the police found out there was another person who got left in the desert (me). They all got hauled to the police station because they thought the missing person got beat up and left to die. Hours later the police spotted me. They told me that the rest of them were in this little town all under arrest.

All these years later I still think I did the right thing. One of the guys was nearly shot when the police stopped them because he was wheelding a stick which they thought was a gun.

bonniebroad

Well, folks, can we all agree that that extra drink or two can really get us into big trouble............???

Some of these stories are just hilarious, and Jayne, the one you started off with is still one of the funniest!

dwoodliff

Here's another one of my "mistakes":

Seven or 8 years ago, a couple of days before my first trip to Canada, my old Ford Aerostar broke down, and I rented a small compact car from a local rental company. I successfully made the 2-hour drive to DFW the morning of my trip, but stupidly laid the car keys inside the trunk as I was getting out my luggage. Before I realized it, I had shut the trunk lid with the car keys inside. Figuring I would deal with it when I got home, I proceeded with my flight and had a great time in Edmonton and Calgary. Returning home, I called the the Dallas branch of the car rental company, who referred me to "Pop-a-Lock". The Pop-a-Lock service agreed to meet me in the airport parking lot, so I took the shuttle to the lot containing my car. After waiting sbout an hour, the guy showed up and promptly infomred me he could only open car doors -- not trunks -- but said he would "try". He fiddled around for about an hour, trying different tools (in addition to putting a few scratches on the trunk lock). Finally, I asked if there was any possible way to get into the trunk from inside the car. I guess neither of us were familiar with the design of small compact cars, as we both soon discovered all he had to do was unlock the car door, and fold down the back seat to reach inside the trunk. Boy, did we both feel stupid! Net time elapsed from end of flight to getting back in my car -- four hours! -- longer than the time it took for my flight from Canada to Texas.

Jayne11159

I agree BB, these are too funny!

Reading the honeymoon stories reminds me of another "dumbest travel related mistake" that happened to us but was not OUR mistake. A "friend" decided to pull a prank on us on our honeymoon. When I opened up my case of birth control pills --ON OUR WEDDING NIGHT -- this joker had replaced them with chicklets. No need to elaborate on THAT night any further.

The next morning we went into a pharmacy and tried explaining what had happened; we even showed the pharmacist the evidence. He just walked away without saying a word, came back and GAVE me full pack. The only thing he ever said was "if you tell anyone I did this I'll deny it to my death".

That was almost 20 years ago before the days of FedEx and mega drugstores!

OliveOyl

Jayne...same thing happened to my brother and s-i-l on their wedding night. Yikes...if those are friends, I'd hate to see their enemies! I don't know what their "work around" was but you were lucky.

jersey

This story is a hoot to both my husband and I now that its about 10 years later. We had rented a home in Cape Cod for two weeks. At the time we rented, our girls who ran track on the Junior Olympics circuit, hadn't qualified for the Nationals. Well, since money was tight, we decided he would take the girls to the Nationals and I would take the boys to Cape Cod. We would all be together a few days later. So my beloved husband shows up three days later, tired but glad to be there. After an hour he asks where the bedroom is because he wants to take a shower and a nap. He yells down the hall, asking where his clothes are. I say well where'd you put them. He says all he has is the overnight bag with the clothes he took to the track meet, where's the rest of his clothes? I ask, "Well, where'd you put them?" Seems he assumed I would pack for him and bring him clothes from home (I didn't). Never having packed for him (an adult male of over 40 years old) in the past, I asked him why he assumed I would do so now? (I never did get an answer to that question.) So, we had to go out and buy my husband a complete wardrobe for our two weeks on the Cape. It's funny now, but at the time it wasn't very funny to him.

antlori

Two dumb mistakes:
1. Many many years ago, my sister and I were going on our first vacation without our parents. My sister took out her airline ticket to show one of her friends and forgot to put it back. We didn't realize this until we got to the airport. There was no time to go back home so my mom sent the ticket up via taxi. However, the taxi didn't get there in time. About one minute before they were closing the doors, the airline staff came and told us we could board without the ticket! Boy were we relieved.
2. More recently (like last Fall), my husband and I went to Phoenix for our vacation. When we got to the rental car counter, my husband decided to rent it in his name on his Mastercard, rather than my American Express card (which covers some insurance). Sure enough, we're driving away from the Grand Canyon, where it has just started snowing by the way, and a herd of deer run in front of us across the road. The first deer gets by safely but the second one, a huge buck, runs into the side of the car. A huge crunching noise and we think the whole side of the car must be caved in. When we get out and look, however, it's just the driver's side mirror that's damaged. We spent the remainder of our trip driving around to GM dealers trying to find one that had a replacement mirror for that make and model. Luckily, our blunder only cost about $200--could have been much, much worse (and no one was hurt). We've learned our lesson: either use the Amex card or buy the insurance.