Travel Disasters ??

[DISNEY1975]

I just read a thread about someone who had a nightmare about cancelling her/his resort reservation. Got me thinking about my own travel nightmare, but mine was real!

My husband is from Brazil and we were traveling to Brazil a few years ago from Boston. It was a 2 week trip and knowing doing laundry in his "village" isnt easy (think washboard) we each brought 2 suitcases of clothes so I wouldnt have to do laundry. I lined up the luggage in the kitchen and he carried them to the car. The night before, doing online checkin for the airline, I got a message stating he needed to check in at the gate ??? Not sure what that was about but I figured because it was his first time traveling as a US citizen, so I planned to leave a little bit earlier than we would have had we been able to all do online checkin.

We were taking a shuttle to the airport from a nearby town. Airport is a 40 minute drive. Shuttle town is 20 minutes from my house. I decided to take an early shuttle just in case whatever they needed from him at the gate took more than a few minutes.

We arrive at the shuttle terminal and my husband unloads the car. We all grab our bags and my DD is standing there empty handed. The back of the car is also empty. Ummm..wheres her luggage?? Long story short, my husband missed them in the corner of the kitchen. We had 2.5 hours until the flight so he decided we should go ahead on the shuttle and he would go back home then drive directly to the airport with the bags (costing us $40/day to park instead of $7 for a 2 week trip. Yes, I was LIVID.

Against my better judgement I get on the shuttle with 3 kids and 8 suitcases!! Im steaming just thinking about it now! Somehow I manage to get from the shuttle and into the airport, frantically calling my husband every 2 seconds to get an update of where he is. Believe it or not, he arrived with some minutes to spare. He went to the counter and breezed through. Still have no idea why they wouldnt allow him to do online checkin??

So this guy, my husband, can barely drive 1/10 of a mile without stopping at a Dunkin Donuts and of course needs to do the same as we head to the gate. I advise him not to, but that didnt work. I was already fuming so didnt want to be near him. I took the kids to the gate while he got his coffee.

They start calling boarding groups and he is no where is sight. Group 2 is called. We are Group 4. I walk towards the Dunkin Donuts and dont see him. Maybe he's in the bathroom??? Group 3 is called. OMG OMG what do I do???? Then our group. I told the stewardess I could not find my husband. She paged him. Nothing. I dont swear, but my brain was thinking ***??? Im freaking out and had to make a decision...get on the plane or call the police. Where could he possibly have gone? Did immigration take him?? I thought about all the money for all those tickets at $1500/ticket x 5! What if he is just lost then we lost all our tickets??? Do I go to Brazil without him and hope he is lost and catches the next flight, at least saving us the cost of 4 tickets?? I start crying. Then I hear my name. There he was on the jetway. He had already boarded the plane because he didnt see ME and thought we had already boarded. Can you believe HE would have gone without me and the kids?? He was already seated and someone told him I was looking for him.

I still dont know why I didnt divorce him the minute

Does anyone else have a real life travel nightmare?

 

[hereyago]

Years ago, I booked a trip backbac Europe with my then Fiancee. Well we broke up and his mom went with me. Whom I adore to this day.

Anyway, it was a bus tour. One of the stops was in Salzburg. We were looking around together and I say I will be right back and to stay around the area.
Well she didn't. I ran to the bus. She wasn't there. I was beside myself I had lost my almost mil.
Yea here she comes.

Another time, we barely made our flight. I left house early but there was an accident in tunnel, so I went another way around and got caught up in rush hour traffic. I was all tear
y eyed with a 6 year old and got a ride on a golf cart,lol

 

[DISNEY1975]

and got a ride on a golf cart,lol

LOL! Yes, you know youre late when the golf cart arrives!!! Glad it worked out for you!

 

[mnrose]

This just happened to my SIL and BIL (and their kids). They had booked a car service to take them to the airport, which cancelled on them very last minute. They thought "we still have time", but the reason the car service was late (and cancelled) was because the roads were AWFUL due to an overnight snowstorm. Long story short, they left with 3 hours to get to the airport, for what was normally a 70 minute trip....and they got there 10 minutes AFTER their flight had left. Sigh. I thought for sure they would get out on the next flight, but the "next flight" wasn't until the next morning....to a different destination that required them to take a cab, then a ferry to get to their resort. They lost one day of their vacation, but they did make it. I felt so bad for them....she was on the phone to me the whole time they were in the car, and I was desperately trying to find them an alternate route that would speed them up a bit, but there was NONE. Everything was locked up tight with tons of accidents. Lesson: if snow is forecast, get a hotel near the airport the night before. A few bucks for that room was nothing compared to what they had to go through.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Lesson: if snow is forecast, get a hotel near the airport the night before. A few bucks for that room was nothing compared to what they had to go through.

Ill make a note! Im from New England and this is bound to happen to me someday (though I dont usually travel in the winter for this very reason. Trip insurance is $$$ with 5 people. I dont usually get it.)

 

[jaiminee krikit]

This just happened to my SIL and BIL (and their kids). They had booked a car service to take them to the airport, which cancelled on them very last minute. They thought "we still have time", but the reason the car service was late (and cancelled) was because the roads were AWFUL due to an overnight snowstorm. Long story short, they left with 3 hours to get to the airport, for what was normally a 70 minute trip....and they got there 10 minutes AFTER their flight had left. Sigh. I thought for sure they would get out on the next flight, but the "next flight" wasn't until the next morning....to a different destination that required them to take a cab, then a ferry to get to their resort. They lost one day of their vacation, but they did make it. I felt so bad for them....she was on the phone to me the whole time they were in the car, and I was desperately trying to find them an alternate route that would speed them up a bit, but there was NONE. Everything was locked up tight with tons of accidents. Lesson: if snow is forecast, get a hotel near the airport the night before. A few bucks for that room was nothing compared to what they had to go through.

I couldn't agree more! We did Christmas at WDW a few years ago and our flight was on Dec 21. Dec 20 there was a huge snow storm and hundreds of flights were canceled. Luckily we had already planned on staying the night before near the airport. Our flight was at 9am but I decided we would head to the shuttle at 5. I am so glad we did! The line for checked bags wound through parts of the airport I haven't seen since - hundreds of people in line. I was freaking out big time and asked DH if they'll hold the plane if we can't get through security before it leaves. I hadn't flown much before then so I had no idea lol. He laughed and laughed. We did make it to the gate with plenty of time to spare, especially since our flight got delayed a good 90 minutes. Ugh.

Our travel nightmare was a couple years later. DH's parents decided to treat the women and children of the family to a little WDW vacation and a small cruise. While waiting in line to check-in to the ship, there was a CM telling everyone to get their passports out. DMIL just stands there. I ask if she has her passport. She told me her husband said she won't need it to board the ship, but it's in her luggage - that they picked up at 7 that morning. I thought, "they've been on cruises before, they know what they're doing". So we get to the counter and sure enough the CM tells us we need her passport. She told them it was in her luggage, so they got a description of her bags blah blah blah. An hour (waiting with 6 kids was super fun BTW), the CM tells us that the rest of us can and probably should go ahead and board. They assured us that the ship would not leave with DMIL, so she told us to go ahead. The kids were all super excited for the "free" ice cream on board, so that was the first thing we had to do. Well, we get up to Deck 13 and guess what?! The ice cream station is closed. One of my nephews then has a hissy fit, screaming at his mom in the middle of the walkway. Wow. Meanwhile, we're all worrying because MIL still isn't on the ship. We start the muster drill, and she's still not there. Uh oh. We get into our spot, and here she comes, phew!
Most of the trip after that was quite nice. Then we get to the airport at the end of our trip. DMIL's luggage never came! They found it a few days later, but man, she just couldn't catch a break!

 

[mnrose]

Ill make a note! Im from New England and this is bound to happen to me someday (though I dont usually travel in the winter for this very reason. Trip insurance is $$$ with 5 people. I dont usually get it.)

We travel in the winter quite a bit...because, duh, the weather here sucks. LOL. Minnesota winters are long and brutally cold. Getting out is what gets me through.

Almost as soon as I book the trip, I book a hotel the night before right at the airport....always fully refundable. I assess the weather as the week before the trip progresses and either keep or cancel the reservation depending on what the forecast is. If it's iffy AT ALL, I'm there the night before. We can always get through no matter how bad it is, but there's no predicting how long it will take so the night before gives us lots of leeway. I've never missed a flight that way. And, I certainly don't wait till the last minute to make the reservation for the "night before' hotel because those reservations get real scarce in bad weather.

And, most of the time, we don't need to use the reservation. But, I like knowing that I have options.

 

[WorldWacky]

My mom was just last night recounting a nightmare vacation story that they had. It was 1983 and back then you had to send a cashier’s check to some hotels to reserve your room. My parents decided to take a last minute vacation to Wildwood, NJ with me(6 yrs old) and my sister(4). They set off from Pittsburgh and 6 1/2 hours later arrived the beach. My dad went into the hotel and after a few minutes came back out, cashiers check in hand, only to tell my mom that their check arrived too late and the room had been given away. My mom made him march right back to tell them to cash the check as it was made out directly to the hotel and did them no good. The hotel cashed the check and they were off to find a hotel. (Well...not during this very busy week.) Every hotel was booked solid. They finally found one hotel that could accommodate them in two days. So they drove 45 min inland to find a hotel for a couple of nights. The next day, they drove the 45 min back with my sister and me so we could enjoy the beach for the day. Now this next part I remember vividly. The beach was packed. Blankets and umbrellas were everywhere. It was time for a snack so my dad told us before we could have our pretzels, we needed to rinse our hands off in the ocean. They told me to keep an eye on my sister. We went down and she started to play in the water. I was getting very annoyed that she wouldn’t just stop splashing her hands in the water because I REALLY wanted those pretzels. I told her I was leaving and she’d better come. I got back to the blanket and when my parents asked where she was, I realized she never followed me back. They told me to stay put in case she came back to the blanket and my dad went one way down the beach and my mother the other way. My mom says she remembers turning around after quite a ways down and figured my dad must have had my sister. My dad thought the same thing. And when their eyes met and neither one had her, my mother burst into tears. The lifeguards were alerted and as it turns out, my sister ended up on the injured and lost kids cart. She was fine. She was gone for about an hour but didn’t even realize she was lost. She just felt bad for the kid with glass in his foot. (She would also be a terrible witness in court-she told the lifeguards that my mother had black hair and was in a red bathing suit. My mother has light brown hair and was wearing an orange suit!) After they found her and my mother realized that in her panicked state, she left a 6 yr old to stand guard at the blanket alone she wanted to pack up and leave altogether. My father said, “No. Everyone is fine. We’re staying on vacation. Give the kids their snack.” And we happily ate our pretzels.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Our travel nightmare was a couple years later. DH's parents decided to treat the women and children of the family to a little WDW vacation and a small cruise. While waiting in line to check-in to the ship, there was a CM telling everyone to get their passports out. DMIL just stands there. I ask if she has her passport. She told me her husband said she won't need it to board the ship, but it's in her luggage - that they picked up at 7 that morning. I thought, "they've been on cruises before, they know what they're doing". So we get to the counter and sure enough the CM tells us we need her passport. She told them it was in her luggage, so they got a description of her bags blah blah blah. An hour (waiting with 6 kids was super fun BTW), the CM tells us that the rest of us can and probably should go ahead and board. They assured us that the ship would not leave with DMIL, so she told us to go ahead. The kids were all super excited for the "free" ice cream on board, so that was the first thing we had to do. Well, we get up to Deck 13 and guess what?! The ice cream station is closed. One of my nephews then has a hissy fit, screaming at his mom in the middle of the walkway. Wow. Meanwhile, we're all worrying because MIL still isn't on the ship. We start the muster drill, and she's still not there. Uh oh. We get into our spot, and here she comes, phew!
Most of the trip after that was quite nice. Then we get to the airport at the end of our trip. DMIL's luggage never came! They found it a few days later, but man, she just couldn't catch a break!

WOW...Nightmare for sure!

 

[maxaroni]

For us, nothing too bad compared to these. We had the condos we rented for vacation to have the worst beds in the word. DS26 was little and in the pack & play, he had the best bed and we wanted to sleep in it. LOL. We had a flight home from Jamaica get canceled,having to stay a night. It wasn’t convenient and fun but on the way home, not there.

However, my neighbors had a similar experience to some upthread. They got to the airport Christmas Day to fly to CO to visit family. They decided to go Christmas Day and do Christmas Eve instead at home due to singing in the choir at church (midnight mass & children’s pageant). They got to PHL in plenty of time, went to get something to eat and who knows how it happened but lost track of time, never heard announcements and missed the plane. They wound up home for the week, as they coudn’t get a flight out. By the time they could get one out, it was time to get back home.

 

[Skippy918]

I caught a bad cold and wasn’t feeling great on the flight home from Europe and it was a long flight. We get near our destination and the wind is really bad so they have the planes circling for a bit. The movement of the plane caused me to get motion sick so that barf bag came in handy. We still had another flight to get home after that.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Furloughs april 2013

Coming back from our honeymoon in St. Lucia. There's ONE flight there and ONE flight back per day. The flight coming to St. Lucia was late landing because of furloughs for airline employees. This caused our plane to be late to take off. They were boarding people in the front of the plane while the back of the plane was being swept for contraband. Just about everyone getting on the plane knew in advance that connections were going to be missed.

Plane takes off and I go to the bathroom and there's this guy at the back with his tablet and he's being snippy with the FA.

Finally land in Atlanta and they ask if people can make consideration for the TWO flights that people can still make connections for, ours being one of them. A good amount of people did hold back and let the rest of us still trying to make it to our connections but still others did not. We run and I do mean run to Customs. We're still behind probably enough people that I'm really nervous as time is ticking by and we know people in front of us had long ago missed their connection in front of us. I just kept hoping we could make it.

Remember that guy that was snippy with the FA? Well he was close enough to us and he became snippy with the Customs agent! We were next in line for an available agent and the Customs agent says loudly enough "if you want to keep up with your attitude I can just make these people wait even longer behind you"...that sure as heck made him become quiet. So we get that same Customs agent who was quite pleasant to us.

We get through quickly from him and have to book it pick up our luggage and drop it off at a different spot for the connection (I forget why). We're running, as are a couple of other people too near us, and we have to go through security with our carry on bags. The wooden vase in my carry on sets off their alarm, understandable because of the shape, but we just did not have time for them to do this.

Thankfully that didn't take long. So now we're running again to get our connection, with people in the terminals saying "you can make it you can make it" and a guy right by the gate tells us "they're holding the plane for you, hurry". We get to the gate and the jetway door has been closed but not the plane door. Gate agent takes our tickets though not too happily and we rush to the plane. The FAs just tell us to sit whereever rather than our assigned seats and we take off just after we buckle our seats.

Lordly we had just barely made it.

Our luggage of course did not but they were delivered to our house by the airline by mid-morning the next day.

 

[ronandannette]

Nothing I'd even begin to describe as a disaster but over the years we've had a couple of incidents. We were on a cruise ship once that lost propulsion and most of it's electricity and had to be tugged back to Miami. We were 6 hours late disembarking and missed all our planned (and pre-paid) activities that day but fortunately our flights were booked for early evening so we did make it home. The worst part of that experience was the miserable mood amongst the disgruntled passengers on the ship and the absolute mayhem when we got back to the terminal.

More grave was losing our Passports during the second stop of a week-long Med cruise. Years of dreaming and months of planning and saving were in jeopardy if we had ended up not being able to go ashore for the duration. Blessedly, due to EU rules we were free to come and go as planned and didn't really have any consequences until the cruise ended in Spain and we had to recover our documents before we could board a plane home. We received a great deal of assistance, although some of it turned out to be a comedy of errors and spent 4 extra days in Barcelona getting everything sorted out. In the end, all we really lost was money due to the unbudgeted expenses and extra time away from work, but all-in-all, far less than a "disaster".

 

[barkley]

if snow is forecast, get a hotel near the airport the night before.

honestly, depending on the cost of a shuttle or parking it can be a good deal rain or shine to do this. when we lived in northern california and were traveling by air we routinely stayed at an embassy suites near sfo that offered 2 weeks free secured parking with an overnight stay. it was less expensive to stay the night before departure and take the free shuttle vs. doing long term parking at sfo esp. when you figured in the 2 hours of free cocktails the night of arrival and free made to order breakfast on the morning of departure. one of the local resort hotels near us now doesn't make a huge point of advertising it but they offer 2 weeks free secured parking and on call airport shuttle w/ a one night stay-MUCH less expensive than long term airport parking (esp. if it's during the winter and you want the premium long term parking that's in the covered garage-i can't imagine getting off a flight and having to deal with a buried car).

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

We once had a Disney trip from hell.
We got lice, got the flu, one sister puked in front of the castle and the other in line on IASW, my parents thought they lost a roll of film (after leaving my two older sisters at the hotel and taking me back to MK with them and not finding it at lost and found they realized they never lost it to begin with), my parents were so down and out with the flu that they almost had to call for help because none of us had eaten or drank anything, my dad broke his toe, I got some kind of weird wart/blister, and to top it off our car alarm wouldn't stop going off and we had to drive it to a garage to get it fixed.

Other than that the worst thing was when I took a tumble during a solo Disney trip and needed stitches.

 

[amcnj]

My aunt and uncle took their first cruise, and of course it ran into a hurricane. They said the ship was really rocking and things were falling all over. People made human chains to try and get anywhere, and at one point it got so bad all you could do was to lay face down on the bed and use your arms to grab around and hold onto both sides of the bed to keep from being thrown off.

When things calmed down a lot of people got off at the next stop and ended their cruise there. I do remember they got some kind of voucher for a future cruise, but don’t think they ever used it!

 

[lovesmurfs]

Could've been a disaster. Back in 1984, my grandmother took me to Austria for a week. We flew on Romanian Airlines from NYC (I don't think they exist anymore). Seems weird now, but then they had exactly one flight to/from Vienna per week.

When we arrived at the airport to leave, we were told the plane already boarded...? Apparently my grandmother (a seasoned traveler) had misread the itinerary and got the departure time wrong. The counter agent said she'd contact the gate. Apparently, the plane had not just boarded; it had left the gate. They actually pulled the plane back to the gate just for the two of us, running through the airport.

I will always remember the kindness of that airline -- it wasn't easy to change airlines, etc. then and we would likely have been "stuck" in Vienna another week.

 

[DISNEY1975]

DS26 was little and in the pack & play, he had the best bed and we wanted to sleep in it. LOL.

LOL! Thats pretty bad if the pack and play was the most comfortable bed!!

I caught a bad cold and wasn’t feeling great on the flight home from Europe and it was a long flight. We get near our destination and the wind is really bad so they have the planes circling for a bit. The movement of the plane caused me to get motion sick so that barf bag came in handy. We still had another flight to get home after that.

Ughhhh...must have been miserable. Glad I wasnt seated next to you on that flight!

Furloughs april 2013

My heart was racing reading your story! WOW!!! I cant imagine the stress!

we routinely stayed at an embassy suites near sfo that offered 2 weeks free secured parking with an overnight stay. it was less expensive to stay the night before departure and take the free shuttle vs. doing long term parking at sfo esp. when you figured in the 2 hours of free cocktails the night of arrival and free made to order breakfast on the morning of departure.

I did this once, at an Embassy Suites, pre cruise out of Puerto Rico. It was AWESOME (and got me hooked on Rum Punch!!)

We once had a Disney trip from hell.
We got lice, got the flu, one sister puked in front of the castle and the other in line on IASW, my parents thought they lost a roll of film (after leaving my two older sisters at the hotel and taking me back to MK with them and not finding it at lost and found they realized they never lost it to begin with), my parents were so down and out with the flu that they almost had to call for help because none of us had eaten or drank anything, my dad broke his toe, I got some kind of weird wart/blister, and to top it off our car alarm wouldn't stop going off and we had to drive it to a garage to get it fixed.

Other than that the worst thing was when I took a tumble during a solo Disney trip and needed stitches.

Nightmare FOR SURE!

My aunt and uncle took their first cruise, and of course it ran into a hurricane. They said the ship was really rocking and things were falling all over. People made human chains to try and get anywhere, and at one point it got so bad all you could do was to lay face down on the bed and use your arms to grab around and hold onto both sides of the bed to keep from being thrown off.

When things calmed down a lot of people got off at the next stop and ended their cruise there. I do remember they got some kind of voucher for a future cruise, but don’t think they ever used it!

I would have had a heart attack. Ive been an a few cruises and thankfully all have been wonderful. An experience like that and I probably would never leave the house again, nevermind go on another cruise!

They actually pulled the plane back to the gate just for the two of us, running through the airport.

I will always remember the kindness of that airline -- it wasn't easy to change airlines, etc. then and we would likely have been "stuck" in Vienna another week.

WOW..that would never happen these days. You got LUCKY !!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Police emergency closed the highway. 8 hours to move 17 miles. Ate the cost of our hotel reservation.

 

[rlk]

We've had a few incidents that were not quite disasters.

A few years ago we were being driven to the airport by a car service in rush hour traffic in New York City. As we are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the on-ramp to the JFK bridge, our driver tells us he has a flat tire. He stops the car and tries to get the tire off to put on the spare. There was no way he was getting the tire off. After a few minutes, he told us we need to find another way to the airport. We had to unload all our luggage and hoist it over a 4-foot barrier in order to get off the bridge. As we were walking, a wonderful livery cab driver took pity on us and offered to drive us. He overcharged us but at that point, we had no choice if we wanted to get to the airport on time.


About 9 years ago, we had plans for a weekend at Hershey Park followed by a few days at Gettysburg. Hershey had(don't know if they still do) this great perk for people going to their park. They offered free admission the evening before the use of your first-day ticket.

My kids were so excited, especially my oldest, who was 9 at the time. He had talked about going on every rollercoaster for weeks. We entered and headed to our first rollercoaster. Everyone was happy. We go on the second coaster and my 9 years old suddenly looks a bit pale and complained his head hurt. My husband and I, in our infinite wisdom, thought he just needed to eat. After eating, he still was 'off' so we took a slow ride on the Ferris wheel. As we were getting off the ride, my son threw up. We went back to the hotel were he continued throwing up. Thankfully, the hotel is right across from the hospital, where my son and I spent the next 6 hours waiting and getting a CT scan. They diagnosed him with a concussion and told us we needed to return to the park to report it the next day.

When we returned to the hotel around 4:30 am, the person at the front desk was very nice and canceled our next night's reservation as well as refunding the first night's stay. I did report the injury in the park the next day before we left early for Gettysburg. We received a call from corporate about a week later to ask how my son felt and gave us a number to call if we needed anything.

It took about 6 years until we were finally able to make a trip back and have a redo.


In 2014 we spent two nights in Waikiki before our stay at Aulani. The same son got dehydrated from spending the day surfing before our move to Aulani. As we pulled up to the beautiful open lobby, my son tumbles out of the car and proceeds to vomit all over the entryway. As we are checking in, I am looking for the closest walk-in clinic to get him an IV. My husband and younger son head to the room and we drive off to a clinic. After some juice and IV, my son felt much better until the next incident a few days later.

Same Aulani trip, same son, broke his braces and had a piece of metal cutting into his cheek. This required another trip to find an orthodontist.