It’s that time of year when we look back and reminisce about our top travel experiences in 2023: the highlights and special moments that just might inspire your next adventure in 2024. This article was one of the stories that our readers enjoyed the most in 2023.
When you travel for a living, you should have it down to a fine are, right? Errr, wrong. The Travel team confess their sins when it comes to silly mistakes made in airports, hotels and on the road. Learn from us so you don’t fall into the same traps.
We were road-tripping in Long Island, making our way between quaint coastal towns and ogling the Hamptons mansions of the rich and famous. Pulling up at our new hotel – a castle, no less, where I already felt out of place thanks to my dishevelled state after a day on the road - I rummaged in my bag for my passport wallet so I could check in. My heart dropped to my stomach. It wasn’t there. I panicked, thinking it had been stolen, but then realisation slowly dawned. It was still in the safe in the hotel we had checked out of that morning... which was now about 100km away. The safe was cleverly concealed in a drawer in the mini-bar and I had completely forgotten it was even there, so hadn’t bothered to check it before I left the room. The rookiest of rookie mistakes. After a few frantic phone calls, a very kind Long Island local took a very extended journey home and dropped it off to me. And now I will never use a hotel safe, ever again.
A mistake I make frequently is leaving my phone charger plugged in at the wall next to my hotel bed... and not realising until I get home and try to charge my phone after a day of travel. I’ve left them in Sydney, in San Francisco and, most recently, on a boat in Doubtful Sound. I really need to get better at what my Travel team-mate Sarah Pollok calls “the Dad sweep” of the hotel room – one last comprehensive check of the room before you close the door behind you, even when you think you’re good to go. Apple have made a fortune from me in replacement chargers over the years.
It was the night before Christmas. Well, not quite. It was December 21 and my partner and I were all set to fly to India two days later. Planned for months, I’d even created a Bollywood playlist that I envisaged listening to while sitting atop a train. That is, until my partner turned to me and sought assurance that we had received our India visas. And poof, all dreams disappeared. No, Mon Ami, we had not. We hadn’t even applied for them. Hastily doing so didn’t help. We ended up in Australia for Christmas, an email received somewhere between Brisbane and Noosa confirming we could now enter India.
For ex-pats, there’s a little mention on an NZ residency visa that stipulates travel restrictions. Mine came with the condition that I could not travel outside of NZ after December 8, or doing so would forfeit my residency. Not one to waste my time fine-combing the smaller details, I did not know this until I travelled to Australia – post December 8 – and expected re-entry a few days later. Seven years in Aotearoa and I was demoted to an NZ Visitor within minutes. It’s okay, I’m a citizen now. NZ immigration don’t hold a complete disregard for regulation against you.
I often hear Kiwis bemoan Jetstar but compared to Ryanair, the low-cost airline that should come with post-flight therapy, they’re world-class. In the late noughties I was a perpetually skint student with parents (selfishly, I thought) living in France, so I bagged a ten-pound return airfare from the UK to Paris with Ryanair. I’d wrongly assumed we’d fly into Charles de Gaulle Airport (stifles laughter), but no, don’t be silly – it’s Ryanair. The Paris airport that Ryanair frequent – the one they neglected to mention at any stage of the booking process – is Paris Beauvais Airport. A full 90-minute drive from the city.
During my #gapyear I was Interailing around Europe with very little money and arrived in Prague not realising the Czech Republic didn’t use euros. After a very confusing conversation with a barista trying to buy a coffee with my cash, I desperately transferred money into Czech Koruna and had to survive off $2 for the day. Lesson learned to always check the currency in a destination, don’t assume it’ll be the same for a continent or country.
I got to San Francisco International Airport with little time to spare before my first solo flight, to Canada. Which would have been fine, if the flight wasn’t departing from the domestic terminal. After sprinting there, waiting in a long queue, then being told I’d missed the flight, I stone-cold fainted from the stress. Luckily, I came to, convinced paramedics we could skip the hospital trip and was booked on the next flight for free, but you can bet I always arrive early to airports and double-check the terminal.
It’s a mistake as old as cellphones themselves, but during an international layover I was glad to answer a call from my mum and fill her in on my travels. Little did I realise, the sim card deal I had for one set of countries didn’t include the destination I was in, so even incoming calls attracted hefty international roaming charges. I ended up with a $400 souvenir. Bless her heart, my mother said the call was worth it and split the cost with me but I’m now a strong fan of plane mode unless I know I’ve got a comprehensive cellphone roaming plan.
Normally, I’d more readily part with my right hand than my passport. That was until one fateful trip to Queensland, I thought I’d stow mine in my luggage for the short transfer to shore. I was staying on Heron Island, which is a 2-hour boat ride or a beautiful 20-min helicopter transfer over the Great Barrier Reef, from Gladstone. To make more room for passengers in the little Robinson helicopter, bags and luggage are sent ahead. So, it was quite a comedown when there was no bag at the heliport. There was no bag at the harbourside, either. It had gone missing somewhere between the island and the bottom of the coral reef, and I had 12 hours to find it before my flight back to Auckland.
When they tell you to “keep your passport on you”, it is because it is a more concise way of saying “the closest consulate and passport processing office is 1200km away, in Sydney, and there is a three-day processing time on urgent passports.”
Once, during a long layover in Singapore, I decided to split up from my travelling companions to have a bit of a stroll through the city. I was pretty enamoured by the Singapore River and took my time following the winding path, crossing over every few bridges in my jetlagged haze. As it got dark, I realised that I’d left my bag, with my phone, wallet and room key at the hotel, thinking I’d just buzz back in with everyone else. But everyone else had gone ahead without me and I now had no way of contacting them, or proving my identity at the hotel. I did make it back, but it was a shaky, panicked run-walk to the hotel. The event converted me to “fanny packs” so I can keep the essentials with me at all times.
On a walking route around Noosa Heads, I spotted a lovely, bright blue rockpool that looked calm and harmless (and very similar to some a group of us has seen earlier online). We jumped in for a little paddle, took a bunch of very dreamy photos and then started to dry ourselves off one by one. Suddenly, there were a few yells, and we spotted some white caps coming towards us. This pool was tidal – and quite dangerous on the incoming tide. We all scrambled to pull ourselves and our valuables out of the pool, with slightly panicked shrieks. It was a timely reminder to look out for the Insta traps.
Ahead of an early flight, I worried I would forget to look in the hotel room safe when exiting for the airport (see Stephanie Holmes, above). So, instead I left a couple of items sitting conveniently on the desk, where - naturally - I completely forgot them. I did check the safe though.
Booked on a United Airlines flight six months out, I cleverly put the flight time in my diary. I arrived at the airport early evening to learn that the service had been moved to an early-afternoon slot for the past three months. They’d told me in an email. (Totally my bad, and shout-out to the UA and Air NZ staff who got me on a later codeshare flight.)
What silly mistakes do you make when you travel? Send us your best stories and we’ll publish our favourites in an upcoming issue of travel. Email us at travel@nzherald.co.nz with “Mistakes” in the subject line.
This story was originally published on April 11, 2023
When there's nothing as far as the eye can see, you may appreciate the company.