Made any travel mistakes lately?

[Pushka]

The Museum of Islamic Art is worth a look, as is the Souq Waqif.

What I did to kill a half day was to hire a (aircon!!!) car and driver and they just took me around, stopping where I wanted and waited for me.

Are you flying Qatar? Great airline, but beware their 'overnight hotel' deals, or rather the Oryx Rotana. It used to be handy to the old terminal, but now is not convenient and service is a shocker.

Yep Qatar. I like using booking.com so will wing it. I take it airport not far from ‘cbd’ as such?

 

[JohnK]

Change fees on QF red e-deals where flight was booked on special.

Oh my....

 

[gaz0303]

A little bit different to clapping, the last passenger to board a flight to Armidale, clearly out of breath from running to the gate, was greeted by the FA saying ‘Port Macquarie’. The look of ‘oh cough I have run to the wrong plane’ was priceless.

 

[cove]

I didn’t look at my passport expiry date this week so when I arrived in Singapore I had trouble getting through immigration to go to the Crowne Plaza for the night. My passport had just over 3 months to run until expiry. In London there was no issue.

 

[JohnK]

Booked a Virgin flight OOL-SYD for mid-March then booked a QF flight BNE-SYD for the same time as Qantas voucher was expiring.

Cost of VA flight was $91.30 and it's going to cost $80 to change + fare difference.

Not a huge loss but after spending $157 yesterday to change QF flights this weekend to second week of January they are starting to add up.

 

[Buzzard]

A few too many kilos in my VA checked bag today. Agent wanted to charge me $70. I told her I'd take some stuff out and go via self check in and bag drop.
Went straight to bag drop after checking in, nothing removed, no problems

 

[Cynicor]

I didn’t look at my passport expiry date this week so when I arrived in Singapore I had trouble getting through immigration to go to the Crowne Plaza for the night. My passport had just over 3 months to run until expiry. In London there was no issue.

What did you end up doing Cove?

 

[cove]

I told the official in Singapore that I had the key to the London flat and the others were already thru immigration. I was overnighting at Crowne Plaza Changi and then heading to London. Took about 30 minutes and finally I was stamped ok to proceed. They checked that I was on the morning SQ flight to London.
In London all they asked was what date was I leaving. We had all four of us on the one plane to London with a City Carriage SUV picking us up at Heathrow. All went smoothly.

 

[JessicaTam]

Don't arrive three minutes late for the Airbus factory tour in Hamburg. Just don't.

 

[blackcat20]

Don't arrive three minutes late for the Airbus factory tour in Hamburg. Just don't.

Oh no!

 

[RooFlyer]

Thinks of a famous Toyota Hilux ad...

 

[Denali]

Oh no!

Oh no!

Rebook for later that day?

 

[JessicaTam]

Oh no!

Oh yes.

Oh no!

Rebook for later that day?

They are booked a fair while in advance, so unfortunately not.

So I did what any self respecting woman would do in this situation - I went shopping.

 

[KLN]

I told the official in Singapore that I had the key to the London flat and the others were already thru immigration. I was overnighting at Crowne Plaza Changi and then heading to London. Took about 30 minutes and finally I was stamped ok to proceed. They checked that I was on the morning SQ flight to London.
In London all they asked was what date was I leaving. We had all four of us on the one plane to London with a City Carriage SUV picking us up at Heathrow. All went smoothly.

wow, the fact that Cove has done this, makes me feel better about the 5months and 20days that KLN Jnr was short when we went to Malaysia last year for the F1

 

[cove]

Home from that trip on Tuesday I went to the Post Office to complete my new passport application on Wednesday. I hope it is speeding along as my old passport is now history and I have 4 longhauls booked for 2018. I will have to update my ESTA too for USA.

 

[flychrisfly]

Had $450 travel credit on my Amex card so thought I'd use it for a cheeky double SC trip to the Gold Coast (from Sydney). Using the Amex website I could not access the flex fares to maximise the full $450 and get a higher SC earn so I called them. Apparently you have to book the flights you want and then call them to change but it was a bad connection so I didn't push it. So I considered using the cheap fares and using the balance for accom but the Amex available accom was super exy. Okay, change tack. I'm travelling to Europe in July so maybe I could book a hotel with the credit. Found a nice but expensive hotel so treated myself to 2 nights in a room at my daily hotel budget + $100 per night, and would still save $250. Room booked but I still have $450 travel credit?!? Reading the fine print the travel credit is for use on Qantas flights only. Sigh. Okay, looks like I have to book some flights - so booked a day trip SYD-to OOL for this Sunday. Read the fine print again and the DSC bonus starts for trips starts on the following Monday. Sigh again. It pays to read the fine print in advance!

 

[AisleSeat]

Not my mistake, but I have some friends arriving today (from US, but been in NZ for a few weeks), who yesterday, had no idea they needed a tourist visa to enter Australia. I messaged them just to check and they were "oh! what?" Good job its all online and immediate.

I suppose if you don't travel very much its not something you consider.

 

[get me outta here]

Good point. Do UK visitors need a Visa to get in here?

Not my mistake, but I have some friends arriving today (from US, but been in NZ for a few weeks), who yesterday, had no idea they needed a tourist visa to enter Australia. I messaged them just to check and they were "oh! what?" Good job its all online and immediate.

I suppose if you don't travel very much its not something you consider.

 

[JessicaTam]

Good point. Do UK visitors need a Visa to get in here?

No they don't.

Oops, yes they do - see next post.

 

[Geegeela]

No they don't.

Entry requirements - Australia travel advice - GOV.UK

You need a visa to travel to Australia. British citizens can get the following types of electronic visitor visa:

• eVisitor visa direct from the Department of Immigration & Border Protection. There is no visa application charge or service fee for this;
  
  
• Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) via your travel agent or airline. There is no visa application charge, but a service fee of A$20 applies