My travel mishaps

Me on one of the 2 days I was in Taiwan.

I travel quite a bit. There are folks that travel a ton more than me, but compared to the average Joe, I'm in airplanes more often than most. Considering my carbon footprint, I should probably consider an electric car! Generally I fly about twice a month. You might think that I have the system down pat, but the reality is I don't. Occasionally, I still forget to take my shoes off at security. All this traveling just puts me at a higher risk of something going wrong!

The worst thing that happened was when I missed a flight to DC. I was sitting in the gate! Granted I was probably in my own little world, I was still there. I never heard my name called and the plane ended up leaving a little early! The desk attendants were super nice and re-booked me for the following morning and it all worked out just fine.

My first ever day skiing, and I was skiing in the alps.

I hate packing. I forget something almost every time I travel. My domestic travels are the worst, but my international travels aren't immune to bad packing. I mostly blame my ballet friends. When I was a kid and we had spontaneous sleep overs, they had everything I needed. I didn't have to pack pajamas or anything. At least I don't remember packing anything. So now I forget stuff all the time! Usually it's a hair brush, something cosmetically related, or most recently I forgot my running shoes. I've compensated to some degree by leaving extras of all my toiletries at a certain someone's place so that I don't have to worry about forgetting that stuff. On my most recent trip I bought a $25 pair of decent running shoes at T.J. Maxx. Now that problem is solved too!

Knock on wood, but I've never actually lost my luggage. That's a blessing I try to remember to be thankful for often! Just so you know, if you buy your plane ticket with a credit card, or buy the $13 extra travel insurance you usually get something like $100 to buy new clothes to get you through till your luggage arrives. That extra insurance is always worth it for international travel! I seriously doubt that your current insurance covered much of anything internationally. I know someone who had a medical emergency that caused a plane to land in London. Not only did that $13 cover all her medical expenses for the brain tumor that was discovered, it covered expenses for her husband who was with her. Then, they flew them home first class. That insurance might actually be $40, but trust me you want it.

JFK Memorial in Dallas.

My other travel woes seem to happen in the parking lot. Ive never lost my car, because I always take a picture of the sign marker closest to my car with my phone camera. One time I left my window down the whole time I was gone. Another time I completely lost my parking ticket thing. Luckily if you show your boarding passes, they'll only charge you for those days. Whew! So my most recent travel mis-hap stems from trying to get to the airport by 5 am. That's why my alarm was still set for 3am yesterday. Arg. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got to my car in the airport parking lot only to find I had a dead battery. Turns out I left the dome lights on. Oops! Lucky for me, the airport provides a free jump-start service. Obviously I'm not the first one to need a jump. The guy told me they jump about 10 cars per day. Sadly, I didn't have any cash for a tip. I did have a Starbucks gift card that was empty, but registered. I gave him the card and told him I'd add money to it from my phone. Which I did. Weird thing is that because the card is registered, I can see the account balance on the card. The guy hasn't used it yet. He seemed excited at the time, but maybe he's just not the Starbucks type. Maybe he lost it. Maybe he's saving it for a present. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before using it!

What are your crazy travel mishaps? Did everything work out ok?