Made any travel mistakes lately?

[Brissy1]

A 10k limit today will buy a LOT less in 10 or more years time

Good advice, the original min $6k limit on my Maq black card now barely covers the house insurance. And preloading other cards to pay flights etc in order to activate travel insurance is a pain.

 

[Cossie]

One reason why I used to pay my amex by phone, you could put in extra if big expenses were coming. Online, you can only pay the amount owing and not even 'pending' payments. Pay by phone was automated, as of December you will transferred to an agent.

 

[n7of9]

One reason why I used to pay my amex by phone, you could put in extra if big expenses were coming. Online, you can only pay the amount owing and not even 'pending' payments. Pay by phone was automated, as of December you will transferred to an agent.

If you BPay from your bank account you are not limited by closing balance amounts

 

[SYD]

@ellen10 Vilnius is so worthwhile, any place that has a statue to Frank Zappa has to be worth visiting and of course the self declared republic of Užupis is definately a must.

Drove past the sign to the memorial coming in from the airport after returning a rental car. Literally walked past it today (hidden in a carpark)! Before the GPS got excited that I’d passed it!

 

[mel-world]

Made a big mistake of packing a rather expensive half bottle of Scotch, purchased Tax Free in Japan, into my hand luggage for the flight out of HND last week.

But then, 'Little things I like', was that security did not flag it so only remembered when I got to the Hotel in SYD that it was there. Not sure I should be happy that it got thru or worried that the usual Japanese efficiency failed. Maybe liquids as not quite as important as they used to be.

Obviously I had no issues on the VA flight to MEL the next day.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

We went to Schonbrunn Palace at the end of a quick weekend getaway from Paris to Vienna in early June.
Left our backpacks in a locker facility at the tourist centre across the road.
All packed ready to head direct to the airport for our return flight to Paris.
We returned at about 18:15 only to find the entire facility locked, dark and abandoned.

We had both failed to notice the sign stating the facility closed at 17:30 and no assistance would be available after hours.
However I could see my partner was about to blame me, perhaps on the spurious basis that the sign was in English.
Numbers and times are the same in French!
He confessed he was so worried because his passport was in his backpack.
Mine was on me - I am never separated from my passport while overseas.
We needed to make the flight because we had tickets to the men's final of the French Open at Roland Garros the next day.

Fortunately despite the sign I was able to find a friendly gentleman who had keys and gave us access to retrieve our backpacks.
I then insisted on taking a taxi from the taxi stand to the airport instead of calling an Uber or Bolt.
My partner complained about the fare but it was worth paying to calm him down and avoid his wrath!

When we arrived I whisked him through the express lanes for business class at the dedicated Austrian Airlines section of the terminal.
Once in the (Austrian) lounge my partner looked at the flight board and remarked "Oh - are we flying with Austrian instead of Air France?".
I just looked at him (I always forward all the booking emails to him) and gestured at our surroundings.
He said "Oh, I wondered why we were able to use their express lanes!".

 

[kookaburra75]

We went to Schonbrunn Palace at the end of a quick weekend getaway from Paris to Vienna in early June.
Left our backpacks in a locker facility at the tourist centre across the road.
All packed ready to head direct to the airport for our return flight to Paris.
We returned at about 18:15 only to find the entire facility locked, dark and abandoned.

We had both failed to notice the sign stating the facility closed at 17:30 and no assistance would be available after hours.
However I could see my partner was about to blame me, perhaps on the spurious basis that the sign was in English.
Numbers and times are the same in French!
He confessed he was so worried because his passport was in his backpack.
Mine was on me - I am never separated from my passport while overseas.
We needed to make the flight because we had tickets to the men's final of the French Open at Roland Garros the next day.

Fortunately despite the sign I was able to find a friendly gentleman who had keys and gave us access to retrieve our backpacks.
I then insisted on taking a taxi from the taxi stand to the airport instead of calling an Uber or Bolt.
My partner complained about the fare but it was worth paying to calm him down and avoid his wrath!

When we arrived I whisked him through the express lanes for business class at the dedicated Austrian Airlines section of the terminal.
Once in the (Austrian) lounge my partner looked at the flight board and remarked "Oh - are we flying with Austrian instead of Air France?".
I just looked at him (I always forward all the booking emails to him) and gestured at our surroundings.
He said "Oh, I wondered why we were able to use their express lanes!".

When I started reading this, I thought that you were lucky to dodge that bullet. But then by the end, I think that your partner was lucky to dodge the bullet by making that statement. No jury would convict you

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Made a big mistake of packing a rather expensive half bottle of Scotch, purchased Tax Free in Japan, into my hand luggage for the flight out of HND last week.

But then, 'Little things I like', was that security did not flag it so only remembered when I got to the Hotel in SYD that it was there. Not sure I should be happy that it got thru or worried that the usual Japanese efficiency failed. Maybe liquids as not quite as important as they used to be.

Obviously I had no issues on the VA flight to MEL the next day.

This reminds me of two things.

First, a return flight from Paris last June.
Flew from CDG to LHR with BA to pick up QF2 LHR-SIN then QF72 SIN-PER.
Was upgraded to First LHR-SIN.
The wonderfully attentive FA noticed two things.
First, I had just attained LTG.
Second, I had a very shiny obviously brand new white and rose gold ring on a certain finger.
After asking about the ring, she returned with a bottle of champagne as a gift to celebrate the occasion.
Then she returned shortly thereafter with a second bottle.
Luckily, a short while after that, I remembered that SIN do LAGs checks at the departure gates.
So even though SIN has an integrated airside area, with no security check for transit passengers on entry, I would not have been able to board QF72 with the two bottles of champagne not in a sealed duty free bag.
I chatted with the FA to confirm this and test my plan.
In SIN I left airside, and checked in again, with a backpack containing the two bottles, wrapped in QF F pyjamas, as an additional item of checked luggage.
I then boarded QF72 lighter and retrieved the backpack and the champagne in PER.

Not a mistake I made, but a mistake I avoided.

Second, a flight back from MEL to PER last year.
Was HLO and, going through security, was horrified to watch an officer pull a waiter's friend (with built in knife) out of my bag.
They didn't confiscate it, and put it back in my luggage.
But security in PER had not even found it!
It was a souvenir from Bellagio, so i was pleased not to lose it.

So this one was a mistake I made, but, like you, I avoided the consequences.

 

[Brissy1]

HLO

HLO is fraught with danger