Tuesday, May 5

Most embarrassing travel story (ever)

This week at TFC it's all about vacations and for some crazy reason all I can think of is the most stupid thing I've ever done while travelling. It was back in the early nineties while I was living and working in a pub in London and my friend and I were due to fly out for a week's vacation in a snow resort in Austria (Hopfgarten for anyone who might know it).

So anyway our flight went on Sunday from Heathrow but this didn't stop us going out on the Saturday night, which meant that by the time it came for us to get to the airport we weren't exactly as bright and shiny as we might've hoped.

Our first problem was that we were running late and it certainly didn't help matters when we accidentally managed to get on the wrong tube and then not notice until we halfway around the circle line. Add to the fact that we were starving because we'd both slept in and missed breakfast. However, we eventually got to the airport and up to the counter (though please note at this stage we still hadn't eaten but didn't have time to get anything so all we could think of was the food on the plane. Which I think just proves how hungry we were). Anyway, it was at this point that we discovered that a certain someone (which is code for me, btw) didn't have her passport.

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

So, perhaps because it was a charter flight (or divine intervention, I don't know which), the airline staff actually delayed the flight while I rang up the pub where I lived and worked and had to get one of my friends to stop her shift in order to go upstairs and search my very messy bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later there was still no sign of it and it was starting to look like our vacation was most definitely not going to happen. Anyway, the nice people at the desk who were obviously used to hysterical, hungover, starving Australian girls suggested that I check my handbag one last time. Yeah, right, as if that was going to... oh, you mean this passport...

Yup, it had been in my bag all along I had just been too panicked to see it. The good news is that we had an amazing vacation in the end, though I do feel sorry for the poor man who had to sit next to my friend Tess on the way over because she was so hungry that after she demolished her own meal she started on his while he was asleep!!!!

So anyway, I think we can all agree that mistakes were made here so stop you all from suffering the same humiliating fate that I did, here is a helpful checklist of things to watch out for.

1) don't go out the night before you're due to fly.

2) always carry snacks with you

3) don't buy black handbags that have black lining because you will never find anything in them. Not ever.

4) if anyone called Amanda Ashby ever asks you to go travelling with her, just keep walking (and most definitely don't make eye contact because she is trouble!)

So now I want to know what everyone else's most embarrassing travel moment is. Come on, 'fess up and extra points if it is all self-inflicted like my one was!

11 comments:

Cara King said...

Ooh, funny! And isn't that just the most embarrassing sort of mistake one can make? :-)

Once when I was living in the UK (I'm an American), I took a parcel to the post office and asked what it would cost to ship it. The postal worker weighed it and told me two pounds. I said, "But how much would it cost to send it?" He said two pounds. And I said, "Okay, it weighs two pounds, but how much would it cost to send it?" :-)

Cara

Anonymous said...

Why would I ignore you if you wanted to travel with me? I wouldn't do that!!

As for my embarrassing travel moment, well I don't have many. I haven't travelled all that much. But I do have one for you, so you're in luck. When I was 9, my family and I went to West Virginia. On our way back, I had to pee really bad. But the jeans I was wearing were a bit too tight since I was outgrowing them. So I didn't want to say anything to my parents, because I was afraid I'd pee on myself at a rest stop because I couldn't get my pants down. So when we finally made it home, I got out of the car and promptly peed on myself in front of everyone.

Yep, go ahead and giggle. I know you want to :)

Wendy Toliver said...

Great story, Amanda! Okay, here's mine. I was pregnant (just barely, so not showing) on a totally packed airplane with my 2 year-old son. I had to throw up. I figured rather than haul my toddler to the tiny airplane bathroom and get the airline personnel mad at me for a) disobeying the "fasten seatbelts" sign and b) dribbling a path of vomit en route, I'd use a barf bag from the seat pocket. It wasn't big enough. Not nearly. So I grabbed another, and by the time I topped off the third barf bag I was finally finished. But of course everyone on the plane (maybe even the pilots) heard me and knew what I was doing to entertain my toddler during the long flight.

Amanda Ashby said...

Cara - hahaha - you wouldn't know that we all spoke English would you!!!!!

ND20 - omg - you're right - I do want to giggle!!! But of course you're totally excused because you were only 9!!!!!

Wendy - I am shuddering. I would rather lose a passport anyday of the week than have to go through what you went through. Bad enough travelling with toddlers let alone when you're thowing up. Shudder!

Melissa Walker said...

Oh, man. When I was living in London I was traveling to Germany and I forgot to bring my passport. Guess what? I couldn't go. I think I was in a "New York to North Carolina" mindset and forgot I was switching countries! Argh. I flew out the next day instead.

Glad you had yours!

Amanda Ashby said...

Gosh, could I have more typos in my previous reply? Sorry for that folks and Melissa - argh - that is so annoying though bet you never made that mistake again!!!!

Nisha said...

haha, the whole passport thing happens to me EVERY DAY. I can't find my wallet, I can't find my car keys, my cell phone, or anything like that on a daily basis. Most of the time, I'm holding someone up or making someone look for my stuff.

I don't really have a travel embarrassing story, though. my life is usually one long series of embarrassments. :-)

Alyson Noel said...

As a former flight attendant, I have to say that is one very helpful list you made!!

Too funny about your friend eating her neighbors meal!!

Sara Hantz said...

Why am I not surprised by any of this????

Amanda Ashby said...

Nisha - we are obviously twins seperated at birth because that is me all over!!!

Alsyon - trust me, we were a nightmare and I can't believe how nice everyone was to us considering it was all based on my own stupidity!!!!

Sara - hahaha- you know me too well!

Amanda Ashby said...

And the bad typos continue. Now I can't even spell Alyson's name correctly!