Made any travel mistakes lately?

[p--and--t]

I forgot the Aerogard!

Who knew there would be a mosquito invasion of Uruguay and even the locals were running for spray and shops sold out by noon!

Invasión de mosquitos: se trata de una especie "agresiva" pero que "no suele durar mucho"

Invasión de mosquitos: se trata de una especie "agresiva" pero que "no suele durar mucho"

www.elobservador.com.uy

Nasty little coughs too!

Literally arrived overnight. Bizarre!

When we did our sojourn are South America we made a day trip from BA to Colonia and got eaten alive on that side of the river but not problem on BA side

 

[SYD]

When we did our sojourn are South America we made a day trip from BA to Colonia and got eaten alive on that side of the river but not problem on BA side

Apparently BA had a similar swarm recently.

We went from none the day/night before to millions swarming around the city during the day. No idea where they can from .

Literally must have blown in overnight?

Anyway, I’ve added “Insect repellant” to my “Things to pack” travel note…

 

[tdimdad]

Booked VA flights and realised only afterwards that we have promo codes for 5% or 10% off. Oh, well...
Lucky they are short local flights so the loss is small.

 

[quick_dry]

missed opportunity perhaps? I used QR status to get extra baggage and lounge for a SYD-AKL on QF last week, and had it changed in the lounge to credit the flight to QF. Only to read afterwards that QR needs some program earn/purchase to get a soft landing from Platinum and that would've likely been met if I'd left the QR number on there.

Not a huge issue if purchased a Qpoints or two will do the trick, but more of an 'oh, bugger' than an expletive type of 'mistake'.

 

[Seat0B]

When QF put up that little banner saying "price nearly gone" for paid fares, or "seats nearly gone" for award fares, they really, really, really mean it.

Don't ask me how I know! I just know.

 

[ellen10]

I have been researching the best ways to get from Amsterdam to Cognac France.
About 6 weeks ago I looked at flying KLM to Bordeaux, then train up to Cognac. I got an airfare quote.
Then I had the bright idea of train to Paris and then 2 connections to Cognac. But I had to wait for the French train fares to be released as it was too many days before the timetable would be released.
I studied the earlier connections for the month before, worked out my times and trains etc.
Then finally the new timetable and fares are released and oh no none of my pre planned routings worked. Instead of an all up trip of 7.5 hours it had blown out to 11.5 hours.
So I checked the airfares again and of course they have gone up $150 ( for 2 of us)
So I rang the travel agent who has booked a few things for us and her quote was $350 more! I had to go out to an Appointment . So when I got back home looked up the airfares again, ready to do the booking myself and sadly they had gone up another $120 in a few hours

So I booked the exorbitant fares and chastised myself for my procrastination! Lesson learned.
And I still have to book the train from Bordeaux to Cognac. But it is still less than half travel time, as opposed to the train all the way.
The travel agent told me France is imposing hefty taxes on flights, as they want mor people to use trains to reduce the carbon footprint.

 

[n7of9]

Booked VA flights and realised only afterwards that we have promo codes for 5% or 10% off. Oh, well...
Lucky they are short local flights so the loss is small.

I'll see your forgetting to look for a promo code and add, also forgot to use my travel credit

 

[henrus]

A minor mistake recently, needed to take a flight last minute and was booking a VA flight via their website about 60 minute before departure. For some idiotic reason I picked the flex fare instead of the choice because I was rushing and not thinking. Luckily it was only $170 more but as soon as I'd got the boarding pass I began kicking myself for the mistake, at least I got some more SC/Points.

 

[JohnK]

Seeing the email that Hhonors points are expiring in February 2024.

Working out how to keep account active by transferring e-rewards points to Hhonors.

Not doing anything about it and now March statement showing 0 balance and panic sets in.

It's only ~110,000 Hhonors points but this is the first year in around 15 years that I have not had status and these are hard earned points that should not be wiped that easily.

 

[DejaBrew]

Waiting airside enroute to AFF NZ dinner in Christchurch today and realised with horror that my dinner jacket, plus DejaBrew+1’s dinner dress are both sitting in a suit bag back at home waiting patiently to be packed into the car to make the trip with us into the airport

Guess I know what’s on the agenda for later today/tomorrow

 

[Seat0B]

In the past on ski holidays in Japan, we have sent our skis (in a purpose specific ski bag) and ski wear (in a medium suitcase) from Nagano JR station to Haneda Airport via Yamato/Black Cat luggage forwarding service. For about $60, they take the bags and we just pick them up at the airport in the departures hall about 200m or less from the check in counters on our way home. Perfect!

This year, we discovered to our considerable inconvenience, that the JR Nagano office of Yamato/Black Cat had closed - but only when we turned up there with all our ski gear expecting to forward it to Haneda before we boarded our trains for the next part of the holiday.

A comedy of errors ensued, with us unable to send the bags at all from Nagano, considering taking a separate shinkansen trip to Tokyo for the specific purpose of shipping the bags to the airport, before finally lugging them all the way with us to our next destination (Nagoya) after checking on the Yamato web site that we could in fact send from there, and also checking with our hotel in Nagano that they could facilitate this - only to find when we tried it that Black Cat said "okuranai" - CANNOT SEND!

It had a happy outcome in the end, but took 3 days (literally) to sort out that the skis could in fact be sent from Nagoya to Haneda. See my Trip Report for the full tale of woe.

Lesson learnt - always, always, always get rid of the bags at the first opportunity, even if you think you know a better way

 

[drron]

Well off on our trip at 0600 tomorrow. I will probably revisit later tomorrow and recount my mistakes.

 

[bashworth]

I always have heaps of spare data on my Australian SIM so never bother about data use.

Travelling to Bhutan I forgot to set my Google Photos to only update on Wifi.

Staying way out in the country, with no accomodation wifi.

Went to bed with 50% of my local SIM data left. Woke up with only 10% left!

Spent the next day worrying about running out until I could get a recharge.

 

[fly2earth]

In the past on ski holidays in Japan, we have sent our skis (in a purpose specific ski bag) and ski wear (in a medium suitcase) from Nagano JR station to Haneda Airport via Yamato/Black Cat luggage forwarding service. For about $60, they take the bags and we just pick them up at the airport in the departures hall about 200m or less from the check in counters on our way home. Perfect!

This year, we discovered to our considerable inconvenience, that the JR Nagano office of Yamato/Black Cat had closed - but only when we turned up there with all our ski gear expecting to forward it to Haneda before we boarded our trains for the next part of the holiday.

A comedy of errors ensued, with us unable to send the bags at all from Nagano, considering taking a separate shinkansen trip to Tokyo for the specific purpose of shipping the bags to the airport, before finally lugging them all the way with us to our next destination (Nagoya) after checking on the Yamato web site that we could in fact send from there, and also checking with our hotel in Nagano that they could facilitate this - only to find when we tried it that Black Cat said "okuranai" - CANNOT SEND!

It had a happy outcome in the end, but took 3 days (literally) to sort out that the skis could in fact be sent from Nagoya to Haneda. See my Trip Report for the full tale of woe.

Lesson learnt - always, always, always get rid of the bags at the first opportunity, even if you think you know a better way

I misread you have sent your kids and then you pick them up at the airport

 

[Cossie]

Nothing major, but annoying all the same. Had time between rallies in Austria and Hungary, so thought I get a couple of new countries and go to Romania via Serbia, because the boss hasn’t been there.

Wanted to drive the Transalpina and the Transfagarasan. Didn’t do any research, both roads are closed until middle/late April. bugger,

Other mistake was a vignette (basically a tax to use motorways) for Romania, was told I didn’t need one, no-one checks, no cameras checking plates, so I drove the first day without one, seems I should have got one so I’ll probably get a fine and of course admin charges from the car company. Policeman said the fine won't be much, probably 50 euro. When I bought one it cost all of $6.00 for ten days.
Much cheaper than the other 4 countries where I needed one, Croatia has toll gates.
Motorways in Romania and Hungary are great, but once you get off them, average speed is probably 60kph, lots of traffic, bad roads and small villages every couple of kilometres. But the locals speed like you wouldn’t believe.

 

[Flashback]

Nothing major, but annoying all the same. Had time between rallies in Austria and Hungary, so thought I get a couple of new countries and go to Romania via Serbia, because the boss hasn’t been there.

Wanted to drive the Transalpina and the Transfagarasan. Didn’t do any research, both roads are closed until middle/late April. bugger,

Other mistake was a vignette (basically a tax to use motorways) for Romania, was told I didn’t need one, no-one checks, no cameras checking plates, so I drove the first day without one, seems I should have got one so I’ll probably get a fine and of course admin charges from the car company. Policeman said the fine won't be much, probably 50 euro. When I bought one it cost all of $6.00 for ten days.
Much cheaper than the other 4 countries I needed.
Motorways in Romania and Hungary are great, but once you get off them, average speed is probably 60kph, lots of traffic, bad roads and small villages every couple of kilometres. But the locals speed like you wouldn’t believe.

In Slovenia they had automated camera checking of the vignettes, whereas in Bulgaria it was more manual (we were near the border to Serbia when we got pulled over and told we needed one..... so a few minutes later, we were out of the zone anyway so didn't bother ). Bulgaria might be automated now but not sure. In Slovenia and Austria you only need them if you drive on specific motorways, varies per country I guess.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Oh dear - while double checking all trip doco for our trip to Spain (Majorca and the Canaries) from April 10 I noticed that Mr LL had booked and pre-paid (non-refundable) one of the hire cars for March not April. (Thanks goodness it wasn't my mistake )

 

[Flashback]

Oh dear - while double checking all trip doco for our trip to Spain (Majorca and the Canaries) from April 10 I noticed that Mr LL had booked and pre-paid (non-refundable) one of the hire cars for March not April. (Thanks goodness it wasn't my mistake )

Not all prepaid are nonrefundable, most of the majors let you cancel for a full refund so long as it is more than 48 hours before pickup. Who is it with?

 

[luxury-lizard]

Not all prepaid are nonrefundable, most of the majors let you cancel for a full refund so long as it is more than 48 hours before pickup. Who is it with?

T&Cs stated non-refundable and I only discovered this error yesterday when the incorrect booking dates had already gone past so we were essentially no-shows. I was a bit surprised we did not receive an e-mail. The agency was "EnjoyTravel" in Majorca - not exactly a major company. Fortunately the cost was less than 100EUR.

 

[Flashback]

T&Cs stated non-refundable and I only discovered this error yesterday when the incorrect booking dates had already gone past so we were essentially no-shows. I was a bit surprised we did not receive an e-mail. The agency was "EnjoyTravel" in Majorca - not exactly a major company. Fortunately the cost was less than 100EUR.

Ah, in the past means nothing you can do anyway. FWIW Hertz and Avis tend to operate as I've explained, but Sixt doesn't. For Sixt you have to book the flexible rate but sometimes it's only €1.5-2.50/day more anyway.