Made any travel mistakes lately?

[wandering_fred]

Paracetamol=acetaminophen in the US
Ibuprofen is the same although many use the trade name Advil
Spoils the joke:
Why are there no aspirins in the jungle?

Because the parrots eat em all

And which British pantomime performance did you pick that up from ?

Ah yes, the "pleasures" of living in an expatriate community while working overseas.

Maybe that's where I started wandering

Fred

 

[JohnK]

Planning too much. Mattress runs with wife and luggage in tow and a full day of golf are very tiring.

 

[feezable]

I used a non-refundable rate to book 2 rooms in Malacca at a boutique hotel. I don't know why I did it! I now realise that there are only 10 reviews and after reading them believe that all bar one are written by the hotel. The location is far from ideal, the hotel is brand new and seems to be selling itself as something it may or may not live up to being. I don't know what I was thinking. I would much prefer to be centrally located so I may end up forfeiting the money which really hurts. I don't normally commit money unless I am really sure and am feeling very disappointed with myself. I'm just hoping that some great 'real' reviews appear over the coming weeks.

 

[24601]

I liked this thread. good bump.

On settling into my room at Fraser Suites in Perth realised that my 7:30am flight the next morning was in fact 7:30pm that same night, ie just enough time to pack up and get back out to the airport. You only make that mistake once. I hope.

 

[Awesom Andy]

I used a non-refundable rate to book 2 rooms in Malacca at a boutique hotel. I don't know why I did it! I now realise that there are only 10 reviews and after reading them believe that all bar one are written by the hotel. The location is far from ideal, the hotel is brand new and seems to be selling itself as something it may or may not live up to being. I don't know what I was thinking. I would much prefer to be centrally located so I may end up forfeiting the money which really hurts. I don't normally commit money unless I am really sure and am feeling very disappointed with myself. I'm just hoping that some great 'real' reviews appear over the coming weeks.

Where/which hotel is it? Let me know as I was up there a couple of months ago, I can have a look.

 

[feezable]

Where/which hotel is it? Let me know as I was up there a couple of months ago, I can have a look.

Thanks AA, it is Kapitan Kongsi boutique hotel, it's about 4km from Jonker St. I am currently thinking that we will stick with the booking as it is only 2 nights out of our 16 night trip. But, if I suddenly have additional money in the budget will jump ship. Travelling is so much more expensive with 2 teenagers in tow requiring an extra room in most places. OT but, any Malacca tips would be very welcome.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks AA, it is Kapitan Kongsi boutique hotel, it's about 4km from Jonker St. I am currently thinking that we will stick with the booking as it is only 2 nights out of our 16 night trip. But, if I suddenly have additional money in the budget will jump ship. Travelling is so much more expensive with 2 teenagers in tow requiring an extra room in most places. OT but, any Malacca tips would be very welcome.

Hmmm... quite a lot of reviews (on tripadvisor and a couple other sites) where the reviewer has only made a single review. But there are a few where the reviewers appear to be a bit more travelled. You might be ok! Only two nights...

 

[feezable]

Hmmm... quite a lot of reviews (on tripadvisor and a couple other sites) where the reviewer has only made a single review..

Yes, and those reviews appear to be written by the same person. My lesson from this is to actually read a few of the reviews rather than just skimming over them, I realise now that I tend to just read the first line or two. AND don't be fooled by pretty pictures. It might be great. Our stay isn't until January (school hols) I will definitely report back.

 

[JohnK]

Booked a series of one way AA awards outbound to Asia to use up the miles I bought 4-5 years ago.

The inbound flights were not easy to book as awards due to connections so have had to use QFF points or purchase revenue airfares one-way. These were ok out of season but killing me September/October.

You win some but lose most. Seriously wondering why I bother with frequent flyer points with extremely high fuel surcharges.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Booked a series of one way AA awards outbound to Asia to use up the miles I bought 4-5 years ago.

The inbound flights were not easy to book as awards due to connections so have had to use QFF points or purchase revenue airfares one-way. These were ok out of season but killing me September/October.

You win some but lose most. Seriously wondering why I bother with frequent flyer points with extremely high fuel surcharges.

If tickets are available on QF points they should also be available via AA?

AA has low fuel surcharges. QF is a problem if you wish to stay with them.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Thanks AA, it is Kapitan Kongsi boutique hotel, it's about 4km from Jonker St. I am currently thinking that we will stick with the booking as it is only 2 nights out of our 16 night trip. But, if I suddenly have additional money in the budget will jump ship. Travelling is so much more expensive with 2 teenagers in tow requiring an extra room in most places. OT but, any Malacca tips would be very welcome.

Jonker Street goes a fair distance, so it's only about 2.5km away from one end of it. Having said that, I probably wouldn't want to walk that distance in the tropical heat. Cabs should be cheap enough though, a few AUD equivalent can get you to quite a few places. Traffic jam can be quite bad, however.

And to cover Malacca briefly, Jonker Street goes all the way east to the river, and then Dutch Square is across the bridge. The Dutch stuff then stretch from there to near A Famosa (which is now practically ruined and overshadowed by the silly shopping mall development next door which built a pirate ship that's bigger than the fortress remnants). A few malls are in this area. They aren't that exciting, but the air conditioning can be very welcoming. Overall, I personally didn't like Malacca - too many tourists, and too many developments exploiting the said tourists with very little (if any) thoughts on the actual heritage. Battling swamps of coaches while having rock music blasted out from nearby speakers isn't exactly the best way to check out 18th century buildings, and most of the food places have raised prices while dropping quality and quantity at the same time. Anyway, I'll leave it at that here, happy to take PMs or further discuss in another thread.

 

[I love to travel]

Booked a hotel in Paris with no air conditioning, never thought about it for summer as when i have been in august beforw rarely gets above 30. 37 degrees this week so suffered until i gave in and booked a new hotel that had it.

 

[teamhamsandwich]

Booked me and the wife into a business hotel in Chuncheon, Sth Korea as it was a last minute booking. Turns out business hotel in that part of Korea means "business". The giant tub of lube next to the tv and the pack of condoms given at check in gave it away.

 

[JohnK]

If tickets are available on QF points they should also be available via AA?

AA has low fuel surcharges. QF is a problem if you wish to stay with them.

Have run out of AA miles. The connections BKK-HKG-SYD/BNE don't work quite well on AA redemptions with limited availability. I have been purchasing one-ways coming back and sometimes using QFF points.

The one remaining in October is killing me as I had to split an existing trip.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Have run out of AA miles. The connections BKK-HKG-SYD/BNE don't work quite well on AA redemptions with limited availability. I have been purchasing one-ways coming back and sometimes using QFF points.

The one remaining in October is killing me as I had to split an existing trip.

Still not sure I follow

Anything you can get on QF award you can get on AA. AA won't show CX on line, but easily bookable by phone. Unless you mean you already booked your one way fare to asia and have no points left on AA and are trying to get home via QF points or revenue fares? Have you considered cancelling the AA outbounds and using the points to book the returns? Then perhaps use your QF platinum to request award availability for the more difficult ones?

There are other ways to get home - JQ, even ScootBiz fares. They had ScootBiz ex BKK for as low as TBH13000.

 

[RooFlyer]

I booked the Hobart Airport Travelodge for a bit more sleep before a 6:20am departure. On check-in I discovered that the free shuttle doesn't start to 7am (even though there are 4 flights out of HBA before 7am!).

Alternative offered is a regular hotel bus, originating in the city, cost $3. The catch is you have to be ready to leave from Airport Travelodge at 4:45am !! :shock: :shock: :evil: Its a 5 minute ride and the airport only opens at 5:00am.

If I left from my home at 4:45am, I would have been at the airport at 5:35, still in plenty of time to board. I did my dough.

I booked a cab and left the hotel at 5:40am. $10.

 

[Pushka]

Love_the_life and I are cruising to Dubai from Singapore next year. The flights from Dubai to Adelaide depart at just after midnight so basically the date is the next day. Booked an award flight for the next day realising after I clicked I had jinxed myself of a day and l_t_l would be there for a day longer than me! Luckily nabbed the award flight for the next day as soon as it was released.

 

[Wingin..it]

I usually research fairly well before travel plans and almost always take the free cancellation policies ........got lax and booked a couple of non refundable hotels.
In a nutshell even the most concrete plans can have something go wrong,which it did.I was lucky I did get a refund because of the operational running of a domestic aircraft at the start of the trip and lost a day.
Never doing non refund again.......unless it's a give away!

 

[Pushka]

Remembered another one. Did book a refundable hotel booking for a complex Alaska USA trip that had to be cancelled. I'd say 20 individual cancellations for tours, cruises, hotels and flights with multiple airlines. Thought I had done them all. Noticed on my credit card an unusual debit. I was grumpy at the time as I should have been overseas. Thought it was for the rental car and found the cancellation notice so not that. On the very last night had booked a cheapie hotel near Honolulu airport. As the name appeared on the statement that hotel had not been cancelled. So missed that on a 35 day trip.

 

[24601]

I booked the Hobart Airport Travelodge for a bit more sleep before a 6:20am departure. On check-in I discovered that the free shuttle doesn't start to 7am (even though there are 4 flights out of HBA before 7am!).

.

This is something that really annoys me about airport hotels. Surely a big reason for their existence is to allow easy access to the airport early in the morning. Yet this is so common: no shuttle bus before 8am; no breakfast before 7:30. You've probably already paid a premium to stay in the stinking place, but too often it seems there is little point bothering. In Australia if it isn't actually at the airport, physically attached to it, there often seems little point. Plces like LAX with constant shuttles are a different matter.

Back a bit OT: I made the mistake once of booking into a BNE "airport" hotel. It was cheap, but taxi there and back again negated any savings. It wasn't the Novotel. It was in Albion.