Made any travel mistakes lately?

[Seat0B]

A mistake which we luckily caught in time and have now corrected. Booked a hotel in Berlin for the day after we are due to arrive. It would have been nice to turn up in central Berlin at 22:00 and found no room at the inn. I think the mistake was caused because the QR flight out of Singapore is leaving at 10:30 and I am used to catching evening flights to Europe so I automatically added a 'day' to account for the travel time..

I always live in fear of this type of mistake with flights home from DXB. They always leave at times like 0050 or 0200 or some equally ungodly hour and it is very easy to be out by a day. I’m quite obsessive about checking this now.

 

[clifford]

Not a major, earth shattering mistake, but I was planning to use the public buses in Chiang Mai yesterday to visit several of the temples and sights that were beyond walking distance (for me). I even had my Rabbit card at the ready.

Well, I hadn't taken Labour Day (1 May) into consideration, so it was a few long walks for me. At least it was good excercise...

 

[VPS]

I always live in fear of this type of mistake with flights home from DXB. They always leave at times like 0050 or 0200 or some equally ungodly hour and it is very easy to be out by a day. I’m quite obsessive about checking this now.

A friend who is always hopeless with travel was coming to Australia from UK via Dubai - RTW ticket. Had a stopover in Dubai and presented herself on the wrong day and should have been there the day before. Had to pay £1000 for another flight and then fly back to Hong Kong then back to Australia to complete the RTW ticket requirements

 

[gaz0303]

A super quick stopover booked in Paris, with the Louvre a key destination. But one of the world’s biggest and busiest galleries is shut on Tuesdays. $50 fee to change Eurostar tickets to a later train on the Wednesday.

 

[Seat0B]

A friend who is always hopeless with travel was coming to Australia from UK via Dubai - RTW ticket. Had a stopover in Dubai and presented herself on the wrong day and should have been there the day before. Had to pay £1000 for another flight and then fly back to Hong Kong then back to Australia to complete the RTW ticket requirements

Exactly what I stress about! It’s a mistake just waiting for me given my regular visits to DXB.

 

[JohnK]

Not a major, earth shattering mistake, but I was planning to use the public buses in Chiang Mai yesterday to visit several of the temples and sights that were beyond walking distance (for me). I even had my Rabbit card at the ready.

Well, I hadn't taken Labour Day (1 May) into consideration, so it was a few long walks for me. At least it was good excercise...

Why not use Bolt? Relatively inexpensive.

 

[VPS]

Pretty sure I took the wrong turn today but beautiful countryside

 

[outthere1000]

They're way ahead of you - Novotel Brisbane Airport is located in the suburb of Brisbane Airport.

It's still 3.4 km from the international terminal and 5.6 km from the domestic terminal. There's actually quite a dearth of what most of us would call an airport hotel - two at Domestic (Ibis and Pullman) and none at International.

 

[outthere1000]

They have a free shuttle - if you tell them when you book what flight you are on, they'll be waiting at the airport for you... I stay there 90% of the time when I go to BNE and have to O/N to catch the QF flight the next day to DRW.

Actually given the new layout of the BNE Domestic Airport, its probably closer than the taxi rank...

The reviews for the Novotel on Google Maps say that they don't have a free shuttle, or any shuttle at all, and one has to use a "mall shuttle" for $8.

 

[RooFlyer]

two at Domestic (Ibis and Pullman)

And both of those are a bit of a hike to get to.

The reviews for the Novotel on Google Maps say that they don't have a free shuttle, or any shuttle at all, and one has to use a "mall shuttle" for $8.

When I enquired earlier this year, it seems they did have a shuttle but only during maybe 9 am to 5 pm which is not very useful if you are a Airport hotel.

 

[Haplo]

I overstayed at a lounge post closing. I was sitting in the corner of a semi enclosed area and the cleaner must have missed me. I was out 45 minutes after closing time ....

 

[cambriamarsh]

I overstayed at a lounge post closing. I was sitting in the corner of a semi enclosed area and the cleaner must have missed me. I was out 45 minutes after closing time ....

That's not a mistake!

 

[Happy Dude]

I overstayed at a lounge post closing. I was sitting in the corner of a semi enclosed area and the cleaner must have missed me. I was out 45 minutes after closing time ....

Belongs in a travel hack thread

 

[JohnK]

Fingers crossed this does not turn into a travel mistake.

Booked SQ economy BNE-BKK return for April next year. I saw airfare was just on $1000 each return and decided to bite bullet. Managed to get $290 cancellation fee per person so worth the risk.

I did check airfares a few days before and these were ~$950/person but when I went to book 2 days later those airfares went ~$350 and tweaked dates slightly and got them at ~$1000 each.

Looks like people are booking early as this Easter, BNE school holidays and Songkran festival. Now we can relax.

 

[hmmm]

Yes. Flying Lufthansa!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yep - finally got sick of wonky wheel on suitcase last week in Shanghai so off to fake market at SS&TM to buy a new one - RMB 300 = AUD64.64:



Memo to Self: Before abandoning old suitcase in hotel at checkout make sure you retrieve Art Tag from old one - D’Oh

Edit: Crisis averted - EL Manager Coco has retrieved said AT and will hold until I return

 

[Seat0B]

Arghh, she who hesitates is lost - after starting a thread a couple of days ago seeking advice about best ways to maintain Accor ALL status, I went to buy an Accor Signature subscription. There was a 15% sale advertised on the Accor site - fantastic! But then I put in the sale code, and the web site said that the sale code was no longer valid.

Chased through several pages of typical Accor translated from French to Portuguese to English confusing terms and conditions, and seems like the code finished - yesterday.

So I guess the decision is made for me - I will now have wait until Nov/Dec to get the Black Friday deal at the end of the year and thus will have to skip Platinum benefits in Japan in February 2026.

 

[Seat0B]

I just gave myself an idea while typing this, so I set my VPN to somewhere where it is yesterday still - but it still came up invalid . I don't know why Accor still has it advertised - surely that must be misleading?

 

[henrus]

Arghh, she who hesitates is lost - after starting a thread a couple of days ago seeking advice about best ways to maintain Accor ALL status, I went to buy an Accor Signature subscription. There was a 15% sale advertised on the Accor site - fantastic! But then I put in the sale code, and the web site said that the sale code was no longer valid.

Chased through several pages of typical Accor translated from French to Portuguese to English confusing terms and conditions, and seems like the code finished - yesterday.

So I guess the decision is made for me - I will now have wait until Nov/Dec to get the Black Friday deal at the end of the year and thus will have to skip Platinum benefits in Japan in February 2026.

It sounds like you are chasing status points not nights? If the latter Platinum can be gained/retained quite easily through Accor plus and all plus China.

 

[sudoer]

quite easily

all plus China.

I haven't been through the process myself but I thought I had read ALL Plus China wasn't a particularly easy process?