Made any travel mistakes lately?

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Assumed the Aussie passport form would print the correct size. For some unknown reason it's just larger than A4, so if you don't shrink to fit when you print, you miss the bottom of the form. You don't lose any info, but Aus Post won't accept it. Which is a pain when you've had the photo of your kid signed and had all the paperwork witnessed. Why they don't just make the PDF A4 is beyond me...
 
blackcat20 said:
Assumed the Aussie passport form would print the correct size. For some unknown reason it's just larger than A4, so if you don't shrink to fit when you print, you miss the bottom of the form. You don't lose any info, but Aus Post won't accept it. Which is a pain when you've had the photo of your kid signed and had all the paperwork witnessed. Why they don't just make the PDF A4 is beyond me...
Click to expand...
I've done this as well just recently... why they don't point it out somewhere is beyond me (AusPost or Passport side, idc) I also accidentally took a copy instead of original birth cert... oops. Come back tomorrow!
 
That's odd - our son renewed his passport April last year and it printed on A4 and accepted by Passport Office in Collins Street. Maybe they've changed something.
Our printer was Canon Pixma as point of reference.
 
blackcat20 said:
Assumed the Aussie passport form would print the correct size. For some unknown reason it's just larger than A4, so if you don't shrink to fit when you print, you miss the bottom of the form. You don't lose any info, but Aus Post won't accept it. Which is a pain when you've had the photo of your kid signed and had all the paperwork witnessed. Why they don't just make the PDF A4 is beyond me...
Click to expand...


Being too short suggests that it's formatted to US Letter, which is wider but shorter. Bizarre.

You didn't inadvertently set your printer to US Letter paper, did you?
 
Just used my Macquarie card (no longer Hilton) in the UK because I read that it was FX free (yeah but not until after June or July 1st) :(

I'm presuming if I cancel the transactions I will still get charged Fx fees
 
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Mattg said:
Today I made quite possibly the dumbest travel mistake I've ever made. I left my passport on the plane (in the seat pocket) after a CDG-AMS flight and went home. By the time I realised, I'd already been home for an hour and the plane was already operating another flight.

I tried calling KLM and the phone line would cut out if you selected the "lost items" option. I then tried getting in touch via social media and they were slow to respond. So I just went back to the airport, hoping for the best.

When I got back to AMS, nobody knew anything about my passport. It had not been handed in. By this time the operating aircraft was almost back in Amsterdam after operating a flight to Austria, so I asked the Lost & Found team if they'd take a look on the plane when it arrived. They did and the search turned up nothing. By this point I was getting pretty desperate and they reluctantly agreed to search one more time before the plane left AMS again on another flight. This time, sure enough, my passport was found in the seat pocket where I'd left it! By this point the plane was already pushing back for the next flight though with all the doors closed, so the pilot opened the coughpit window and threw my passport out to the ground crew. I was reunited with it shortly after. What a relief!

This was totally my fault, I was tired and simply forgot about my passport when I got off the plane. I don't think I'll be making that mistake again!
Click to expand...

One of my work colleagues made this same mistake years ago on a trip we did together. Ever since we never put passports in seat back pockets. Never. They are always in our pocket or similar.
 
JohnM said:
Being too short suggests that it's formatted to US Letter, which is wider but shorter. Bizarre.

You didn't inadvertently set your printer to US Letter paper, did you?
Click to expand...
No, printer is set to A4. Guy at Aus post told me the document is larger than A4.
 
aggie57 said:
One of my work colleagues made this same mistake years ago on a trip we did together. Ever since we never put passports in seat back pockets. Never. They are always in our pocket or similar.
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Pockets can be dangerous too, I can remember one such example when I thought I had lost my passport and found it down the side of a chair in the Qantas lounge! I now check frequently!
 
coriander said:
That's odd - our son renewed his passport April last year and it printed on A4 and accepted by Passport Office in Collins Street. Maybe they've changed something.
Our printer was Canon Pixma as point of reference.
Click to expand...
Probably your printer settings were "shrink to fit"; mine were not.

Resubmitted today with no issues, though had to get a completely different person to guarantee/witness it all.
 
Flew out of Melb yesterday.
About to Go throguh the metal scan. Get told i have to go all the way back to the end of the queue and put my wallet in a separate tray and go through.
In hindsight I should have just not told them.

So my luggage has been scanned ages ago, I'm still queuing , pick up my bags, go through passport control, go to trs

Oh cough I've forgotten my wallet with all my cash in it to pick up
Had to use the security phone to call and get them to bring it through the scan again.

Stupid mistake
 
burmans said:
Pockets can be dangerous too, I can remember one such example when I thought I had lost my passport and found it down the side of a chair in the Qantas lounge! I now check frequently!
Click to expand...
Did that with my phone when disembarking the plane once. Luckily the guy next to me saw it drop out.
 
I arrived home about four weeks ago after six weeks in S America, and with just over six weeks before departing on a 17-week DONE4 which includes far E Russia.

Before I went, I had printed all the information for getting a Russian visa and I had ready the last 30 countries visited with dates (down to day/month/year of entry, as anyone who has had a Russian visa will know :rolleyes:) so I was all set to go as top priority the morning after I returned.

Fill out the online form, submit it, print it, down to the Post Office to get the required fresh photo, buy the required $120 money order to pay for it, the express bag to send it, and the self-addressed express bag for them to send everything back. Post it Thursday; tracked as received by the Russian embassy Monday morning. OK, looks sweet. My previous experience last year was that they will take every one of the specified 10 working days to process it.

Next thing I know, the following Friday, is an Australia Post alert that my self-addressed express bag was on its way back to me. Bag arrives, open it and all that is inside is my $120 money order. No explanation of why they had sent it back and it's 1630h WST Friday. Errr, what's going on?

Get onto the Russian visa website only to find, gaaahhh, that they changed their system while I was away :eek:. Applications are no longer sent to the embassy, but rather to a new agency they've set up - at a separate address. Also, pre-payment is not required. They handle all that by emailing an invoice when the visa is ready and you pay by bank transfer - and, BTW, adding an extra $103 for the processing.

Three weeks go by and nothing heard. Start to worry - have they lost my PP and application between the embassy and the new visa centre?

Do you think they will answer emails or repeated calls to the phone number they give on the new website? NFW :mad::mad:. Phone goes through to a voicemail box - that is full and can't accept any messages :mad::mad::mad:.

Getting more and more nervous and no way of getting any reassurance that it was OK.

But today, four weeks and one day after my application was delivered to the embassy, I finally get an emailed invoice :). Visa granted, pay up by Friday and you'll get it sent to you.

Palpable relief, I can tell you!
 
Last edited:
I made the mistake of not checking the latest process so it was ultimately my fault. Essentially, I lost a week of the process as they sent my application from the embassy to the new office.

However, I do note that the new system adds more delay in sending and invoice, paying it, having that payment occur and be verified,, and then send back the PP.

So, allow at least three weeks to get a Russian visa.
 

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