Welcome to my blog, I am Tamara, aka part-time working Hockey Mom to an almost 15 year old son. I'll be doing two writing challenges this month, Blogging from A - Z and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Expect to see daily blog posts!
As announced in my theme reveal, I am going to entertain you with things I messed up, mainly while traveling. You may identify with one or another thing gone wrong, and if you don't, you'll probably shake your head and go "I couldn't live on the edge like this". Either way, I hope you'll have fun.
Today we'll start at the airport.
It was late summer of 2003. Then boyfriend (today husband) and I had been enjoying a handful of different road trips throughout the U.S. and spent the last four days in NYC. It was my first time in the city, and I had been looking forward to it.
Unfortunately it was cold, rainy and over all unpleasant.
We had been arriving from the Southwest, where everything was sunny, relaxed and friendly, and most people in the Big Apple seemed rude and ripping off tourists. Like the waiter who expected a 30% tip, refused, however, to take care of the cockroach situation right on our breakfast table. Which is why I was kind of glad to get out of there.
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| Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash |
Our last taxi ride, that ate up all of my remaining Dollar cash, brought us to Newark Liberty International Airport.
Things were looking good. We were there early, and the line at the check-in counter was short. The passenger in front of us had a cat, and they went back and forth about the cat having to be checked in, and what kind of cage was required, and which document they needed to complete. It took a lot of time until it was finally our turn.
The clerk looked at our passports and tickets and frowned. "I am sorry, there is no flight going to Zurich, Switzerland tonight", he said. Haha, bad joke, of course there was a flight! "Yeah, but not out of Newark - you guys need to go to JFK, and you better hurry!"
What?
Was it even worth the effort, could we make it in time?
Shuffling together our bags and getting in line at the taxi stand, I realized we didn't have any cash left. Certainly not enough for a 35 miles ride from New Jersey to Queens.
Running through the airport in search of an ATM, I kept thinking why the h*** had I been so sure we needed to depart from Newark? Up until today I don't know.
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| Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash |
Our driver was a Russian who holds a PhD in math or physics or both. He made it his personal mission to get us to JFK in time, never mind rush hour. During the ride, or should I say "race", I texted a friend who is a flight attendant, asking her about our options. Of course I was on my last battery bar.
Piotr, our driver, did a wonderful job and got a fat tip. We were really hopeful we could make our flight. The snotty check-in person didn't think so. The airplane was still here, but the door was about to close. Sorry. Come back tomorrow.
What??
It was clear that there was no point arguing.
So for the second time we picked up our bags and left. This time we wouldn't take a taxi but some hotel shuttle bus. It was in the old days where you had to pick up a red courtesy phone in the arrival area and got connected with a random airport hotel.
We had to give the Ramada clerk our credit card details on the phone and were told to wait for the shuttle bus at Arrivals. We were waiting for about 45 minutes and saw various hotel shuttles coming and going, but nor ours. As we didn't have Ramada's phone number, we just boarded the next random van and checked into that random hotel, I don't even remember what it was.
It was also a time when hotels didn't provide free wireless internet, but you had to ask for an ethernet cable and pay for a 24 hours internet access package, even if you just needed half an hour. However, we had to to cancel the Ramada (they were giving us such a hard time claiming we just didn't wait long enough for the van, and they didn't want to give us our money back) and check out "stand-by procedures" and prices for new tickets.
We left the next morning, looking at a perfectly blue sky and sunshine, and luckily got our seats back home.
Your posted sounded quite stressful. I remember a time my husband (then boyfriend) traveled to Atlanta, Georgia. It was my first time traveling there, but it was my husband's home state. We were there for a family reunion. I was so stressed because we weren't able to get a rental car. We reserved one, but they wanted to place a hold on my card that was double the price of the rental. When I originally booked it, the website stated we didn't have to pay until returning the rental. It was so frustrating because I had my son with me (previous marriage). My husband's hometown was about two hours away. I didn't know how we were going to get there. My husband was not worried at all and I couldn't figure out why. Once things settled, he explained there was a shuttle/bus that was able to take us to his hometown. This was in 2008 and only one story I could share...
ReplyDeleteWell wishes with the challenges.
Lokilani Raiyne
Wow. Sounds like things were way too stressful to be fun.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for A:
My Languishing TBR: A
Accomplished Athena
Oh my goodness, nooooo thank you. My husband would never go anywhere again. Next time you come to my house and ill give you free wifi. Lol
ReplyDeleteOMG stressful but glad your challenge ended up well! Glad to see you back in the challenge and looking forward to your blogs!
ReplyDeleteWow, Tamara! I feel super stressed just reading of your experience. I have family in NYC. Not sure if we ever used Newark airport. Mostly it was JFK. Our relatives always met and delivered us. So no such stress. However, when we went to France a few years ago, we had to buy a few set of tickets before that happened. But we did get refunded for those extra ones in the end.
ReplyDeleteI love the stories that can be told. Long after the fact. We very nearly missed a flight in Panama. But, in point of fact, the doors closed just BEHIND us. But the scenarios that went through my mind as we were running made up for the fact! So glad you were able to finally escape!
ReplyDeleteLast summer we were flying to Las Vegas and after we parked in satellite parking and got to the airport terminal (2 hours early), we were told our flight was canceled due to weather (I call BS). The next available flight was in seven hours. We didn't want to go back to satellite parking and could not go into the terminal because we couldn't go through security with checked bags. Ticketing would not check them early. We had to sit in stupid uncomfortable chairs in ticketing and use the hot spot on my phone to connect my laptop so we could watch Netflix five hours. There are no restaurants in ticketing so we went through all the plane snacks in our carry-on bags. 😆
ReplyDeleteWhat a crazy adventure! I've had traveling challenges but never so many on one trip! On our first trip to Italy the airline lost our luggage for 4 days. We rinsed out a few things and managed okay. The best part was that I learned that I really didn't need 3/4 of the stuff that I packed. I'm a much better packer now.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but chuckle as I read through your airport mishap. Your writing style is engaging, and I found myself hanging on to every word as I followed your misadventure.
ReplyDeleteIt's refreshing to see a blogger who is willing to share their less-than-perfect moments with their readers. As someone who has had their fair share of airport mishaps, I found your story relatable and entertaining. I also appreciate that you included a call-to-action in your post, encouraging readers to share their own airport mishaps in the comments section.
Overall, I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts throughout the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Your writing has a way of drawing readers in, and I can't wait to see what other adventures you have to share.
Travelling mishaps sometimes make the best memories!
ReplyDeleteSorry it was such a hassle, I hope that you do have some positives about that trip to NYC.
Stopping by from #a2z!
https://draigona.wordpress.com/2023/03/31/atozchallenge-2023/
I have not taken a plane in years. I've never had any bad experiences. The train did lose my luggage once and it was months before they found it and I got it back. It was just before they would have had to pay me for losing it. That was in the last century.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I would have been so anxious. Yes, I have had many airport mishaps, but thank goodness, I have never been in a place where I had to figure out which airport to go to, because there's a good chance I'd end up at the wrong one!
ReplyDeleteOh no! I'd have been so upset with myself. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we don't travel that much. The worst that ever happened is that we had a 4 hour layover in Portland on our way to Oregon but we knew about that in advance. Great start!
ReplyDeleteJanet’s Smiles
I loved reading your blog post about your travel mishaps! I can definitely relate to some of the things you went through, like the time you showed up to the wrong airport. It's always so stressful when things go wrong while you're traveling, but it's also kind of funny in hindsight.
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed your story about the time you and your husband almost missed your flight to Zurich. It sounds like you had a really crazy day, but you handled it all with such grace and humor. I'm impressed that you were able to stay calm under pressure and make the best of a bad situation.
I also appreciate the honesty in your writing. You don't sugarcoat anything, and you're not afraid to admit when you make mistakes. That's refreshing to see, especially in the world of blogging, where everyone seems to be trying to put their best foot forward.
Thanks for sharing your story with us! I can't wait to read more about your travels in the future.
What a story! I don't remember many travel mishaps in my life. My husband has a lot more because he travels more. I look forward to reading what you write next!
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I feel like I need to take some nice deep breaths to calm down my nerves. That was quite a misadventure. I smiled a bit at your cab ride though - I had the craziest fastest cab ride to the JFK airport with a fascinating Russian driver as well. What are the chances it was Piotr?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a stressful time.. and we have had our share of travel misadventures, each one of which is now a cherished memory (of sorts) ... Like applying for a passport for my son two days before our trip to the East Coast when we realized part of it included going across the border to Canada and back (my brain did not process it as an out-of-the-country passport-needing trip till almost too late..
ReplyDeleteWow! What a stressful time! My most stressful airplane experience was the flight back from Aruba in 2009 when a toddler cried the entire time. It was intense.
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter (who is now 23) 4 months old my wife and I decided to take a short vacation during President's day weekend. The plan was to fly to New York, get dropped off at some friends apartment and then about wake up and get on a train to Connecticut where my sister was living at the time. The problem was it was snowing pretty good in Chicago and the flight was delayed several hours so we ended up contacting our friends and telling them we would just take a cab to Union station. When we got to New York I got a cab and negotiated a price for a cab. New York was a mess, there was a major ice storm, and our 30 minute taxi ride took 3 hours. At one point we were stuck on a bridge and the cabby got out and was talking to another cabby and he was taking perverse pleasure in the fact that the passenger in the other cab was still on the meter. We got to the train station in enough time to get on the train but we only made it with an hour or so to spare when there had been enough time originally to stay overnight with friends. Our daughter slept through the entire cab ride and I don't think she was bothered at all by the delays. The interesting thing is that the plane tickets were given to us free by the airlines because of us switching flights on a stop over in Denver which delayed us about 2 hours. I think we were delayed 8-10 hours on this excursion when you add everything together.
ReplyDeleteHi Tamara - if stress can be reduced by handing over historical stress situations to others then you should already be feeling a whole lot better and after 26 posts you will be floating on air!
ReplyDeleteWe never went to the wrong airport but we did come back from the Greek islands to Athens airport a day early and unlike you, had practically no money left in the bank, so slept on the airport floor then left luggage in a locker and wandered round Athens on foot the next day includinga siesta in the park bandstand...
Visiting from how-would-you-know.com
WOW you sure have some amazing adventures while traveling which will keep you on the edge of your seat. As for the Cockroach I would have left and never come back to that place.
ReplyDeleteWhat mishaps you had. I remember seeing you in the master list snd wanting to visit but I lost track of that master list this year. Did they make it go poof? I missed so many blogs. I’ll be going back to read Now that I found you. Good luck on the finish.
ReplyDeletehttps://everyonehasafamilystorytotell.wordpress.com/