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| Photo by Kody Cheyne on Unsplash |
I was on a road trip with my ex-boyfriend, yes, the one with whom I scored the missing basketball player's hotel suite.
It was our last day of the same Florida trip. We had a couple of hours to kill, and after we had checked in our bags at the airport, he suggested we'd go to the mall. Gotta love a guy who wants to go shopping!
It must have been 1998 or 99, just mentioning this, because we didn't have a GPS in the car.Important detail.
Still it was easy to find the way to the mall. It was getting back to the car rental return that turned out to be difficult. We had a certain exit in mind that we needed to take, but it didn't show up. We took an exit much further out than we should have and drove back. Again, no luck.
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| Photo by Roberto Nickson on Pexels |
Still it was easy to find the way to the mall. It was getting back to the car rental return that turned out to be difficult. We had a certain exit in mind that we needed to take, but it didn't show up. We took an exit much further out than we should have and drove back. Again, no luck.
The clock was ticking, and we were getting nervous. I don't remember how many times we cruised around that airport in Tampa, but it was getting seriously late.
At some point we spotted a shuttle bus of our rental company. Yay, we could follow it, and it was going to lead us right to where we needed to go!
Considering the time was getting tight and tighter, we got desperate. We switched on the emergency flasher, got out of the car right there at arrivals, approached the shuttle driver, gave him the keys and said we were terribly sorry, but we needed to catch an international flight, and could he please make sure our car would get back to where it belonged.
Well, back then I had no idea I was going to become a blogger and write about this unfortunate situation one day, but here we are ;-)
Or not.
It was on its way to pick up new customers.
At arrivals.
Considering the time was getting tight and tighter, we got desperate. We switched on the emergency flasher, got out of the car right there at arrivals, approached the shuttle driver, gave him the keys and said we were terribly sorry, but we needed to catch an international flight, and could he please make sure our car would get back to where it belonged.
"You will be charged a penalty fee" he said.
Sure. It couldn't be worse than missing our flight.
And it wasn't.
There was a charge of 80 bucks on our credit card.
Later, all buckled up in our seats, sipping on something with lots of ice to cool us down, we were joking and saying we should have saved us the trouble and done this all along.
As I'm reading this today, I'm thinking we were really young and stupid, or at the very least, careless. Our main mistake was that we thought we had to take an exit on the freeway we were on, when we should have taken a junction onto another freeway first. Look at this mess of multiple lanes!
Well, back then I had no idea I was going to become a blogger and write about this unfortunate situation one day, but here we are ;-)
What's your worst navigation disaster? Let me know below and don't forget to leave the link to your blog post, or at the very least your name, since it's impossible for me to visit back the creator of an anonymous comment!
Our worst disaster? Maybe not worst but there was the time we were flying out somewhere from Syracuse, New York. First time doing that. Someone I knew who lived in Syracuse for years gave us explicit directions, including "Exit X says airport but don't take it - take the next one" Of course, my husband, who had never been to Syracuse, ignored the explicit directions from the native, took the exit he thought was right just because, and we got lost and almost missed our flight. He does tend to be an expert on places we've never been to before. Yes, we're still married.
ReplyDeleteWanted to add - we lived in Tampa for a couple of years in the 1970's. Left and didn't return until 2006. Yikes. Everything was way different and it was almost like we had never lived there. I feel your pain here.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you sharing this story to us.
ReplyDeleteThe one that comes to mind was when I was 15 and I was on my way back home from a NY Mets night game with my cousin and some of his friends. This was 1995, so, no GPS here either. My cousin insisted that he had driven to Shea Stadium many times and he could definitely get us home. Well, that was not so, we wound up lost in the Bronx in the middle of the night, driving around and around. We found a payphone and two of us got out to call one of the friends parents who worked in the city and could hopefully help us navigate. He tried, but, we were still going in circles. Finally, 2 police officers pulled us over and wrote down directions for us. I think we finally got home around 3am.
ReplyDeleteOh my. I have been to the Tampa airport. Getting in there is still no joke. LOL I am sure it was a different issue since it was only 4 years ago, but we did some driving around trying to return our rental car too.!
ReplyDeleteOur worst was thanks to our GPS. For ten years we lived and traveled with a 42' fifth wheel trailer pulled by a medium-duty Freightliner. We had a GPS that was for truckers, it usually kept us out of trouble. We had just left a log cabin show & tour in NC and were heading to a friend's new home in TN. We were on the interstate and the GPS told us to exit. Gulp - two minutes in and we knew we shouldn't be on that narrow winding road. But we guts it up and continued through, even though we took out a ton of construction zone cones on corners. Yes, a major portion was lined with the cones and we were yelled at by the workers picking them up. They told us we shouldn't be there. Too late, we already knew that but there was no place to turn around. Period. When we finally arrived at our friend's house, we dug out a paper atlas and realized if we had taken the next exit, we would have been fine. Someimtes a GPS isn't the answer.
ReplyDeleteMy A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol - Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories - My Life in Black & White
WOW another exciting life story! The worse navigation disaster I had wasn't our fault. Hubby and I were on the way to St. Croix from LAX back in 1989 I think. This was my first plane trip and the plane had just taken off. I'm looking at the ocean from far above and hear the captain say there is a problem. We have to dump the fuel and return to the airport. I'm snapping pictures of the fuel coming out while the lady next to me is saying her prayers. LOL As we approached the runway, I noticed it was lined up with so many fire trucks, foam trucks and ambulances. Fast forward 2 hours and we were back on our way. Never found out what happened but we made it to St. Croix.
ReplyDeleteI can't drive at night anymore, and my worst disaster was the left turn, seemingly just shy of the hotel, that put me back on the interstate. It was quite dark by the time I found my way back!
ReplyDeleteWow! That map is insane. I would have done the same thing as you to catch our flight. These stories are great! I'm so glad this is your theme this month. I'm sure you are a much better and more experienced traveler by now - and yes GPS is a godsend!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a interesting trip and a fun post to share. This reminds me of when my parents were dating and the took the Bus to her aunts. She got lost but didn't want to admit to my dad she didn't know where they were going. They walked around a school for hours until he got feed up and said he was getting on the bus to go home. When she decided to call my aunt and they was 5 minutes from her home. But needed to turn a corner to get to her house.
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