Confesssion: my worst travel mistakes
One of the reasons I started this blog was to share my travel successes and failures with others. If I learn something the hard way, I love to be able to share information that may help someone else avoid it. That being said, it’s been hilariously fun to write out some of the worst mistakes I’ve made when it comes to travel. Not a “how to” post or anything (unless you want to call it a “how to fail”). Just a “let’s laugh at my expense” sort of post. And if you’ve made some major travel blunders, don’t worry, you are not alone!
I’d like to point out that some things happen to you that are beyond your control, such as hotels canceling your reservations or a bad storm coming through and wrecking your plans. (Or getting bit by a sea lion while snorkeling). There are some things that happen to you that are your fault. These are my own snafus.
In no particular order, here are some of the worst mistakes I’ve (we’ve made) when traveling.
- Crashed our rental car within ten minutes of picking it up.
- Wore house slippers for an entire day of sightseeing. Both of us. We even have photographic documentation. We wore those to walk around all day in. I’m still amazed at our stupidity.
- Forgot our camera at home and had to buy a very expensive one.
- Forgot our camera battery, had to purchase a charger and charge the dying camera on a train.
- Got the wrong address for our bed and breakfast and ended up in a field trudging through mud. Had to find an Internet cafe where we could look at Google maps for the real place, after reading “where am I?” in Spanish directly from a book to a person who spoke no English.
- Drove somewhere and stayed the night to go on a fantastic tour of Mammoth Cave. We even bought special boots and clothing for the event. Found out I booked the tour for the wrong day and it was sold out by the time we showed up.
- Paid $100 for a transfer from the airport to the hotel. Forgot we paid and then paid another $100 when we arrived.
- Brought a cheap suitcase and it busted right as we were getting on the train platform and had to round up all my stuff while people were in a hurry.
- Left my day bag at a spa, with my rain coat, jewelry and other needed-items. (Went back to get it and they “couldn’t find it.”)
- Only had $5 in cash left while in a very small English village. Since it was tea time, there was only one restaurant open, that accepted cash only and we needed lunch. We ended up sharing one piece of cake, since that’s all we could afford.
- Forgot my base layers, ended up being stranded at a metro stop with freezing wind blowing on me for 40 minutes.
- Eating McDonalds in Italy more than once.
There are many, many more. Hopefully this gave you a good laugh and maybe makes you feel better about some of your traveling blunders.
Do you have any funny (or not so funny) travel mistakes you’ve made? Share below! (You know, I won’t judge.)
