Made any travel mistakes lately?

[ellen10]

I was even stressed leaving a day earlier on a paid ticket to Singapore. Then picking up rewards flights to Europe and beyond.
For weeks before, I would daily check the flight to make sure it never got canceled, delayed was ok but canceled not!

 

[Seat0B]

Haven't heard of one that bad for a long time. Many years ago, my mum & dad got caught like you did ex HBA - connecting through to a flight to London. Wait, wait, wait due to fog. Mum thought dad was going to have a heart attack. They eventually got away and just caught their connection.

Sounds like you are rightly cautious about same day domestic ---> international connections. My mum & dad's experience makes sure I never plan to do same day international connections during autumn/winter out of Hobart, but I probably would have taken the connection you chose!

I am now so paranoid I go the day before.

Heck I now go the day before from Canberra for many International connections. Even to SYD.

Post automatically merged: May 13, 2024

Same here for MrsK and me. After a few close calls when we had virtually the whole day to get from Canberra to Sydney or Melbourne, we head out the day before. It makes for a leisurely start to our holiday, and sets the right mood. Being in a panic, running for flights, just doesn't cut it

Just saw this - glad I’m not alone in my paranoia. This is pretty much what we do now after a few too many close shaves.

 

[WCFCHobart]

Me three. I just don't need the stress, and make sure I go the day before, and also not on the last flight of the day.

Us as well. We flew in Saturday midday to HBA, oblivious to the fog chaos, very curious to arrive with VA and see 3 x VA aircraft already parked.

 

[Flashback]

Potentially a pending travel mistake...? Applied Monday 10am.


3.5 working days have now passed and....


Fly out in a day and a half, fingers crossed they pull their finger out and do what they said they would.

 

[Flashback]

Potentially a pending travel mistake...? Applied Monday 10am.
View attachment 384966

3.5 working days have now passed and....
View attachment 384967

Fly out in a day and a half, fingers crossed they pull their finger out and do what they said they would.

Raised a ticket with their support, amazingly had a reply back in 3 minutes. But ... the reply just said "Please be informed that additional time may be required for consideration of an e-Visa application. Once an e-Visa application is reviewed, an applicant will receive a notification to their e-mail.".

On the visa application I put today as the travel date as it had a few days buffer from their committed processing time and then would be valid in time for me to arrive (it's just ahead of when I actually travel, but it's valid for a period of 90 days from that date). So basically, if you're looking to visit here and have a travel date set - apply more than a week out and they might actually process it before you fly. It doesn't seem like they're even prioritising based on arrival/travel date. Given tomorrow isn't a working day.... if it's not sorted today then I guess I'm not going to Azerbaijan.

 

[kookaburra75]

Raised a ticket with their support, amazingly had a reply back in 3 minutes. But ... the reply just said "Please be informed that additional time may be required for consideration of an e-Visa application. Once an e-Visa application is reviewed, an applicant will receive a notification to their e-mail.".

On the visa application I put today as the travel date as it had a few days buffer from their committed processing time and then would be valid in time for me to arrive (it's just ahead of when I actually travel, but it's valid for a period of 90 days from that date). So basically, if you're looking to visit here and have a travel date set - apply more than a week out and they might actually process it before you fly. It doesn't seem like they're even prioritising based on arrival/travel date. Given tomorrow isn't a working day.... if it's not sorted today then I guess I'm not going to Azerbaijan.

Or an on-site processing fee when you arrive?

 

[Flashback]

Or an on-site processing fee when you arrive?

As per https://evisa.gov.az/en/apply-faq - no, the airline wouldn't let me board.

Can the citizens of all the countries eligible for e-Visa apply and obtain a visa upon arrival at the border checkpoint of the Republic of Azerbaijan?​

No. E-visa application should be submitted at least 3 working days before planned travel date to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

 

[tassie6]

Somewhere between the night before and arriving at train station in Paris yesterday morning, lost my magnetised wallet on back of phone. Checked Airbnb host, restaurant the night before and managed to call the taxi driver that drove us to station but no luck.

One debit/credit card - no biggie, locked it via the app and have others with me. No suspicious transactions and I think less than $100 was even in that account.

But, drivers licence… this occurs enroute to picking up hire car in Toulouse

Europcar then couldn’t use my booking through Autoeurope as it was in my name and now need the other half to drive. That booking is forfeit with I think $150 no show fee effectively, waiting to hear back.

Europcar then quoted pretty much double for the same hire period and drop off at different location

Went next door to Sixt and got basically the original rate from them and a very helpful gentleman, shoutout to Cesar

Other half not very happy to be stuck with the driving on the other side of the road through some rural areas of France and Italy over the next month…

Dropping this car off in a couple weeks and have another booking in Italy for the Dolomites I need to look at cancelling/modifying. But have plenty of time for that.

Overall, not too much of a downer. A massive PITA though? yep

 

[Flashback]

Somewhere between the night before and arriving at train station in Paris yesterday morning, lost my magnetised wallet on back of phone. Checked Airbnb host, restaurant the night before and managed to call the taxi driver that drove us to station but no luck.

One debit/credit card - no biggie, locked it via the app and have others with me. No suspicious transactions and I think less than $100 was even in that account.

But, drivers licence… this occurs enroute to picking up hire car in Toulouse

Europcar then couldn’t use my booking through Autoeurope as it was in my name and now need the other half to drive. That booking is forfeit with I think $150 no show fee effectively, waiting to hear back.

Europcar then quoted pretty much double for the same hire period and drop off at different location

Went next door to Sixt and got basically the original rate from them and a very helpful gentleman, shoutout to Cesar

Other half not very happy to be stuck with the driving on the other side of the road through some rural areas of France and Italy over the next month…

Dropping this car off in a couple weeks and have another booking in Italy for the Dolomites I need to look at cancelling/modifying. But have plenty of time for that.

Overall, not too much of a downer. A massive PITA though? yep

Can you submit a lost DL online, get it shipped to home and have someone send it on so you can takeover at some point (might be a fee to add an additional driver though). But, can you put a price on a happy other half?

 

[tassie6]

Can you submit a lost DL online, get it shipped to home and have someone send it on so you can takeover at some point (might be a fee to add an additional driver though). But, can you put a price on a happy other half?

Good thought and had a look into it and is possible, but I renewed my licence a couple months ago and that took two weeks to arrive to home in the same state. So by the time I did it and got shipped over it just wouldn’t be worth the hassle I don’t think

 

[Flashback]

Good thought and had a look into it and is possible, but I renewed my licence a couple months ago and that took two weeks to arrive to home in the same state. So by the time I did it and got shipped over it just wouldn’t be worth the hassle I don’t think

Well, I guess you need it anyway so may as well kick it off! Then if it does arrive quicker, bonus..... as this is a lost one, rather than a renewal.

 

[Telemachus]

Somewhere between the night before and arriving at train station in Paris yesterday morning, lost my magnetised wallet on back of phone. Checked Airbnb host, restaurant the night before and managed to call the taxi driver that drove us to station but no luck.

One debit/credit card - no biggie, locked it via the app and have others with me. No suspicious transactions and I think less than $100 was even in that account.

But, drivers licence… this occurs enroute to picking up hire car in Toulouse

Europcar then couldn’t use my booking through Autoeurope as it was in my name and now need the other half to drive. That booking is forfeit with I think $150 no show fee effectively, waiting to hear back.

Europcar then quoted pretty much double for the same hire period and drop off at different location

Went next door to Sixt and got basically the original rate from them and a very helpful gentleman, shoutout to Cesar

Other half not very happy to be stuck with the driving on the other side of the road through some rural areas of France and Italy over the next month…

Dropping this car off in a couple weeks and have another booking in Italy for the Dolomites I need to look at cancelling/modifying. But have plenty of time for that.

Overall, not too much of a downer. A massive PITA though? yep

We feel your pain. Wonder if you obtained an IDP before heading overseas as Italy is on the list of countries that require them: if you have one, I can't remember from personal experience whether a French or Italian car hire company would accept just the IDP and not the associated Aussie licence. My other thought was a digital driver licence: these seem to be issued by NSW, VIC and QLD but from a web search I don’t see any ref to TAS doing these yet so unlikely you have access to one. In any case Australian digital driver licences apparently aren’t recognised across State & Territory borders and it follows that they won't be accepted internationally as a substitute for the physical card; so that is a red herring, sorry.

 

[CaptJCool]

We feel your pain. Wonder if you obtained an IDP before heading overseas as Italy is on the list of countries that require them: if you have one, I can't remember from personal experience whether a French or Italian car hire company would accept just the IDP and not the associated Aussie licence. My other thought was a digital driver licence: these seem to be issued by NSW, VIC and QLD but from a web search I don’t see any ref to TAS doing these yet so unlikely you have access to one. In any case Australian digital driver licences apparently aren’t recognised across State & Territory borders and it follows that they won't be accepted internationally as a substitute for the physical card; so that is a red herring, sorry.

thanks for the Italian tip
guess I gotta go get one then

Driving Licence Information

Only one place does them (although the state based association does them in your state)

International Driving Permits - Australian Automobile Association

www.aaa.asn.au

can be done on-line (3-8 days turn-around time) or in person ...

 

[Flashback]

As per https://evisa.gov.az/en/apply-faq - no, the airline wouldn't let me board.

Can the citizens of all the countries eligible for e-Visa apply and obtain a visa upon arrival at the border checkpoint of the Republic of Azerbaijan?​

No. E-visa application should be submitted at least 3 working days before planned travel date to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

They replied back again and kept the party line, it can take longer.

I replied back quoting their T&C's
5. The standard e-visa is issued within 3 working days and the urgent e-visa is issued within 3 hours regardless of holidays and non-working days. An e-visa to the Republic of Azerbaijan is valid for the period of 90 days with 30 days permission to stay in the country. An e-visa has a single entry status;

Is it a coincidence that my eVisa approval e-mail then arrived 10 minutes later..........?

 

[tassie6]

We feel your pain. Wonder if you obtained an IDP before heading overseas as Italy is on the list of countries that require them: if you have one, I can't remember from personal experience whether a French or Italian car hire company would accept just the IDP and not the associated Aussie licence. My other thought was a digital driver licence: these seem to be issued by NSW, VIC and QLD but from a web search I don’t see any ref to TAS doing these yet so unlikely you have access to one. In any case Australian digital driver licences apparently aren’t recognised across State & Territory borders and it follows that they won't be accepted internationally as a substitute for the physical card; so that is a red herring, sorry.

Yep we have the IDPs but they wouldn’t accept it without the actual licence (nor looked at my partners at all)

Some news! The restaurant got back in contact and it is there! So… waiting to hear back if they are kind enough to post it to our next destination (including a few bonus euros of course) Wasting a day going back for it doesn’t sound like fun (but is possible)

 

[Flashback]

Yep we have the IDPs but they wouldn’t accept it without the actual licence (nor looked at my partners at all)

Some news! The restaurant got back in contact and it is there! So… waiting to hear back if they are kind enough to post it to our next destination (including a few bonus euros of course) Wasting a day going back for it doesn’t sound like fun (but is possible)

Makes sense, the IDP is just a translation of the original document so need to be viewed together.

Great news, nice way to end the week.

 

[VPS]

Makes sense, the IDP is just a translation of the original document so need to be viewed together.

Great news, nice way to end the week.

Interestingly they didn't want to see my original DL were happy with my IDP last hire with Sixt

 

[JohnK]

SYD-CNX return end of year on SQ is now $2100 per person. It was $1300-$1400 return not that long ago. Airfares have shot up real quick. Really need to maintain VA Gold for wife. But.

SYD-CNX return at same time on MH is $1250 per person. Something tells be careful MH long haul.

Or BNE-CNX return at same time on SQ is $1700 per person.

Don't want to rush deciding but they're not leaving much time to decide as airfares are shooting up quickly.

 

[Flashback]

Interestingly they didn't want to see my original DL were happy with my IDP last hire with Sixt

Interesting indeed. In the 30+ countries I've driven in, I've never once been asked for an IDP.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Interesting indeed. In the 30+ countries I've driven in, I've never once been asked for an IDP.

It’s interesting now with digital licensing, outside your own country these are often not accepted and one has to carry the physical one. Guess this will change in time.