Made any travel mistakes lately?

[cove]

My two sons went to Russia for the soccer and thought it was ok. They think Qatar for the soccer may be a NO

 

[JohnM]

Bottom line ... Only go to Russia if you really need to.

$223 ? Really?

Something to think about, perhaps:

Somewhere, last year, and maybe while I was in Russia: "If you think that a Russian visa is hard to get for an Australian, just think about how hard an Australian visa is to get for a Russian."

Oops... Boot. Foot. Other.

Think about it... - can we object to another country protecting its borders...? I think not. (The bureaucracy and the cash-raising is another matter...).

Russia is a sensational place. Like Iran, Sudan, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia etc. etc. the stereotypes are NOT the - appropriately chosen - reality.

 

[JohnM]

My two sons went to Russia for the soccer and thought it was ok. They think Qatar for the soccer may be a NO

Err, why @cove? Doha is one of the more dystopian places on the planet, but it's benign to the point of boring IMO.

 

[Flashback]

Err, why @cove? Doha is one of the more dystopian places on the planet, but it's benign to the point of boring IMO.

Kuwait resembles that remark...

 

[cove]

I think soccer with no alcohol would be like going to watch paint dry. They may still go to Qatar.

 

[JohnM]

I think soccer with no alcohol would be like going to watch paint dry. They may still go to Qatar.

Tell 'em to go to Iran or Sudan for a few weeks to really feel the pain... .

 

[Buzzard]

Am surprised so many more people dont forget things in the seat pouch.

You need your passport and pass to fill put the forms, and you're tired, half asleep, grumpy

Very easy to forget your stuff there
Maybe its more of a Y problem?

Luckily my passport number is easy to remember with only 2 numbers, for example A1112222. I don't need it to fill out anything.

 

[Hvr]

On yesterday's CX flight HKG-BKK, I went to the toilet and on my return saw my credit cards on my seat. No idea how they had fallen out of my passport case. My debit card wasn't anywhere to be seen.

When I got to my hotel in BKK I went to log on to my bank to check and cancel the debit card. The VPN played up and needed to be reset. Have cancelled the debit card and locked the credit cards after paying for the hotel.

Then the hotel reception, where I am well known*, called me and said we've made a mistake. "We've overcharged you several hundred Baht because we entered the incorrect rate." Huge apologies all around, Look stuff happens and you identified it and have told me. Mistakes happen, you've admitted it and rectified it. Thank you and let's move on.

*How well known? There was a new person checking me in (with the name badge, New). When he asked for some details I quietly said they're on file, another staff member heard me and moved over and said he's here a lot and there's a different process, you do it this way.

 

[earlyriser]

Just landed in Da Nang after an almost 40-hour journey which started with a 7 hour delay and jumped in a taxi to go to the hotel. The driver, who couldn't have been over 21 years old, tried to get me to pay a very high price up front, but having been here a few weeks ago, I knew better. Anyway, his driving was atrocious, even by Vietnam standards, and this was due to the fact that he texted with two hands most of the way to the hotel. On at least three occasions he drifted across lanes without looking at the road with no hands on the wheel and received plenty of beeps from other traffic - such as Dad's with young kids on motorbikes.

I cleared my throat loudly once, but he continued to text. I eventually politely asked him to focus on the road and he finally put the phone down but we were almost at the hotel. I got out of the taxi at the hotel extremely angry and having had a few back and forths with my partner. I lifted the suitcases out and paid the driver with about a 15% tip because I just wanted to get away!

About 15 minutes later, while sitting in the Hilton Executive Lounge calming down with a wine, the bell lady came in with my backpack which I had left in the taxi on the back seat. The driver returned it. Nothing was taken and two work laptops worth about $1,500 each were still there!

 

[VPS]

Jetlagged and taking UK cards out of wallet and put back in Aussie purse. Just checking balances this morning - I used my UK Barclay debit card to get groceries yesterday (it's the same colour as the Citibank Signature card) ARGGGHHH

 

[dairyfloss]

After being away for a couple of weeks and doing a spot of rather uninteresting shopping in Singapore, last weekend, I selected AUD instead of SGD when prompted by the merchant terminal Sigh, I reckon it's been 10 years since I last made that mistake!

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Hvr]

Have cancelled the debit card and locked the credit cards after paying for the hotel.

There was a new debit card in my PO Box when I arrived home today. Credit cards have only been used by myself.
Flying off to SIN tomorrow and here's hoping nothing goes wrong.

 

[Aus ATC]

A few years ago now, but I was requested to attend a meeting. Having spoken to someone about it before hand (including the location) when the Outlook invite arrived, I duly booked my flights to CBR. I arrived in CBR on the appointed day and in the cab from the airport realised I didn't know which meeting room - so logged on, only to find the meeting had been relocated to MEL (we have significant presence in both locations). To add insult to injury, I had left my phone at home!

Our head office is in CBR, so went to our travel cell to explain my predicament - their first reaction was "what did we do wrong". When I explained it was my error, they dutifully rebooked me CBR-MEL, I jumped in a taxi and headed off to MEL. 2.5 hours late for the meeting and an additional 15 status credits in the kitty!

 

[flyrod]

My first trip to the USA was some years ago and I was travelling with my 30 yo son.

We were on the train to Brooklyn NY to visit the subway museum and the train had stopped at a station, the name of which I can't recall. I thought to myself, "Is this the station??" and moved toward the map on the wall of the carriage (somewhat suddenly) to check.

Unfortunately, the dude sitting in front of the map was rather sensitive to sudden movements in his vicinity as he jumped up at a similar rate and landed three or four solid whacks to the top of my thick head.

"Goodness me", I thought (Or something like that) as I turned and saw the only option available to us - escape through the still open carriage doors. The doors closed immediately behind us as we stepped onto the platform and that was that. It was all over in a matter of seconds.
The result was a beaut black eye, but above the eye, not below as is the usual custom, so it was only obvious if I raised my eyebrows

Upon greeting my dear, ever vigilant wife in MEL her first question was "Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?" The second question was "What's wrong with your eye??"

 

[daft009]

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...

happened to me too, for our new born son..
was hard enough taking passport photo of a 2month old
took about 20 attempts
doh! return trip to auspost

 

[blackcat20]

happened to me too, for our new born son..
was hard enough taking passport photo of a 2month old
took about 20 attempts
doh! return trip to auspost

Got ours done at Teds, the did a great job.

 

[JohnM]

Ceeerrrraaaaappp! A Tripcase alert just popped up that checkin for my flight CUN-HAV is open.

Huh?! I'm still at home.

Oh, no! Got caught with LOTFAP date formatting: 7 June instead of intended 6 July. Gaaahhhh! Date shows on the booking email formatted as 06/07/2019.

The return flight, booked separately about 6 weeks later with the same airline, shows the date formatted as: July 14 2019.

Ceeerrrraaaaapppp again!

Luckily an el cheapo.

Too frazzled tonight to re-book; will tackle it tomorrow.

Gaaaahhhh!

 

[Pushka]

Oh gawd. Last night. It was late. We were tired. And we just slept in the wrong hotel room! Now we have to fess up. Room was cough. Correct room would have been much quieter. Damn.

 

[Hvr]

How do you sleep on the wrong room?

 

[JohnM]

Ceeerrrraaaaappp! A Tripcase alert just popped up that checkin for my flight CUN-HAV is open.

Huh?! I'm still at home.

Oh, no! Got caught with LOTFAP date formatting: 7 June instead of intended 6 July. Gaaahhhh! Date shows on the booking email formatted as 06/07/2019.

The return flight, booked separately about 6 weeks later with the same airline, shows the date formatted as: July 14 2019.

Ceeerrrraaaaapppp again!

Luckily an el cheapo.

Too frazzled tonight to re-book; will tackle it tomorrow.

Gaaaahhhh!

REWIND!

Tripcase interpreted the date in LOTFAP format . I had it correct!

I'd had a busy day yesterday and just took it at face value. Woke in the night thinking I couldn't possibly have selected the wrong date in the booking engine.

I wonder whether in the intervening six weeks or so between my bookings it dawned on the airline that apps like Tripcase could misinterpret dates in dd/mm/yyyy format as mm/dd/yyyy so they changed to Month day, year?

How to give the unsuspecting a heart attack!