Admit it, you have one... we all do. A friend of mine recently travelled to Europe. Upon her way back she was screened at London's Heathrow Airport. Apparently, answering the questions honestly can get you in a bit of a security snafu. You see, they had packed their bags, but then checked them into their cruiseline's cargo hold. So when asked if her bags had been out of her possession at all, she said yes. Enter the land of security shut down and intense questioning. Add to this that she was traveling with 3 kids under the age of 12 and you can only imagine the chaos that ensued.
Whilst laughing at her Facebook post today, I couldn't help but think back on a few of my travel oddities. You know, that little black cloud that follows me around - it doesn't take vacation, even when I do. Sure none of mine are nearly as entertaining as hers, but I thought I'd share:
*Take for example my honeymoon. Following a lovely wedding the hubs and I were off to beautiful, sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Little did we know we were arriving the first day of monsoon season. Yes, you read that correctly. Gazing out of the windows of our plane I knew we were off to a lush tropical paradise, complete with sparkly water and sandy beaches. We arrived and it wasn't exactly what I had pictured, but I was still excited to explore around. Down to the dining room we go... we are told we cannot sit on the patio - because those big, grey clouds in the distance were headed our way. Fantastic seafood dinner, everything going great. Then the storm hit. Just as we were leaving. We waded through water waist deep to get to our stairwell. A cactus - yes, an actual cactus - floated by along the way. In the morning when we headed to the beach, we discovered a wasteland. You see, the monsoons wash out all the dried riverbeds right onto the beach. Just a quick dip in the ocean and you were covered with unimaginable filth. Note to self: do not go to the beach in P.V. during the first two weeks of July. We spent about 10 days there... the beaches were finally clean on day 9. Lovely.
*Example two comes a few years later. I am terrified of flying. It usually takes some sort of anxiety meds and/or a couple glasses of wine for me to fly. I had neither when we went to Disney World in 2004. I'd flown to Disney a couple times without incident. But for some reason, this particular trip I didn't fare too well. On the way home, looking out at the Gulf of Mexico between Orlando and New Orleans I freaked. I had a massive panic attack and was convinced I was traveling in the metal death trap. We were not scheduled to get off the plane when we stopped in the Big Easy... but I did. Our short flight home turned into a long drive in an overpriced rental. The hubs will never let me live that one down.
*Then there was the trip to Croatia in 2006. It was relatively uneventful. We flew on frequent flier miles, so our options on flights were limited to whatever they had for points. We had a 10 hour layover at JFK. The kids handled this ok. They surprisingly slept in the airport. But, when we went to check through security we had a lovely surprise. Apparently, middle child was flagged to be randomly searched. Umm... he was 3.5. What, you think the Mickey Mouse backpack he had filled with stuffed animals, books and dinosaurs was suspicious? We were actually accused for a few minutes of changing the information and trying to pass him off as the hubs. Umm... we gave you the birth dates upon booking. We have all the proper documentation. The security guard was baffled. She'd never heard of them having to search a toddler before. But, policy is policy. So before we knew it I was ushered over to a room to the side and my little boy was being asked to hold his arms and legs out while they patted him down. Another guard took every item out of his backpack one at a time, inspected the items, and then returned them. During the process a very solemn J looks at the guard and very seriously says, "I not dangerous. I Jonathan." A quote we will forever tease him with.
So those were the three stories that I could quickly remember. There are plenty of other ridiculous tales I could report, but in the interest of time and space I won't bore you. I would; however, love to hear your most interesting travel story!
My entire flight to Italy for HUF was an experience. We were scheduled to leave Sept. 12th, 2001. Obviously, that didn't work out. When we were able to leave 2 weeks later, everything was still chaotic. First, we couldn't get anything out of LR. Then the group ahead of us at the Memphis airport had one-way tickets, making them flagged for a search. They agents mistakenly thought the HUF group was part of that too. We all had to go through individual item-by-item bag checks. It took hours. The gate had to hold our flight. Then, in Amsterdam, I had a 13 hour layover... but couldn't leave the airport in case a seat opened on an earlier flight. It took over well 24 hours to get to Florence.
ReplyDeleteOn a good / fun note, a couple of years ago, our flight from Chicago to LR was overbooked. When they called our name, we were sure they were asking us to take another flight. My BIL and I had to work the next day, so we were freaked. Instead, they asked us to "do them a huge favor" and take an earlier flight. Um, okay! It was non-stop and got us home 3 hours sooner. Not to mention, it left within minutes of them asking, so we got to be whisked through the airport on the golf cart thing. Of course, it was my sister and me and our large husbands... and the poor guy driving. I think they had to replace the shocks after that! :-)