There is one thing about myself when I travel that is absolutely undisputable. I fuck up.
All.The.Time.
I book the wrong times or dates when I’m in a hurry.I show up a day early or a day late for flights.I opt for the more expensive option by mistake.I forget to check details...
I make mistakes because I’m either excited or I’m in a hurry, or just stupid. Usually the latter. It happens at least once or twice with every single trip I go on.No exceptions.
A few years ago, I took my friend Erin to Palma de Majorca for a weekend get-a-way. We were both in Edinburgh at the time and she was in the midst of a horrible divorce. It was cheap, I had the money, we both needed some sun… so we took off to Spain. It was going to be fantastic.
Friday to Sunday.
A whole weekend of drinking and suntanning and partying...
Flight left Edinburgh around 10am and we were (supposedly) booked to return on a 6pm flight leaving on Sunday.
We arrived around 1pm on a Friday… spent the day at the beach, in the sun, drinking all afternoon. We ate paella, drank more and tried to figure out how and where we were going to party the night away, while also making plans for the next days adventure.
As we were heading back to our hotel room after being at the beach all day, the girl at the front desk 'reminded' us that the shuttle would be there around 4am to pick us up in the morning.
....Excuse me?
So... no wonder the vacation was so cheap.I’d accidentally booked for us to fly home at 6am on Saturday.Not even 24 hours in Palma…
Typical.
Yes, I screw up.
Actually when I booked this flight to Quito, I screwed up and accidentally booked on the days that didn’t qualify for the seat sale. Instant panic. I ended up phoning Delta Airlines right away… and the guy I spoke to was the nicest, most accommodating customer service representative that I have ever dealt with.He was amazing.Fixed everything immediately, reimbursed my over-spent money and got me on the $500 return flight.
That’s probably not where it will end.The other day, I was inserting my final work shifts in to my phone calendar and I realized that it said January 3rd-5th, I was scheduled to be in Quito, staying at the Art Plaza hotel.
Uh-oh…I don't even actually fly until January 14th.
That was wrong.
I had screwed up on the date... again. I went in to the booking on Expedia and tried to change it to the actual February dates I needed, but they were booked out on those rooms & dates. Stupid me.
Unfortunately I had to change hotels which upset me cuz that hotel looked amazing and I was really looking forward to staying there.
BUT… then this happened... I'm at work and during a slow time of the day, I picked up my phone to check texts, facebook, emails…. etc... and this was the email that was waiting there for me.
Joanna: We were waiting for you yesterday. We can’t rent your room because your booking. We are without your booking, without money and without renting the room. We believe in foreigner people, it’s the first time that occurs this kind of problem. Now we no longer believe.
Automatic panic attack.
I COULD NOT believe I did it again!
And to add insult to injury, this time I had not only managed to screw up another reservation, but I’d brought DOWN the faith that Ecuadorians had in foreigners…My limited attention to detail had caused not only the fall of Canadians in the eyes of the entire Ecuadorian tourist sector, but the fall of ALL foreigners.
This was big.
....But.... then I noticed another email followed... sent about 10 minutes after...
Good morning Joanna Sorry for the mail, it was wrong. We are waiting for you in January 29 to 31.
Big hugs!
They better kiss my ass when I get there.
BIG hugs...