Every traveler has been there: your passport is lost, your luggage went to the wrong city, your hotel is overbooked, your train gets stopped at the Turkish border while the police search for smuggled meat (okay, maybe that one is just me). But no matter what happens, these TOWN contributors agree—we wouldn’t trade the mishaps. They are part of the journey, and sometimes become the stories we look back on most fondly. Here are a few of our favorites.
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Travel Fails and Tales
Stuck in Iceland
I was in Iceland for a few days, so we took a bus down to the south. It was around 9 p.m., but Iceland, at that time of year, doesn’t get dark. We took a ride down to Vik and got pizza, and we thought we’d be able to take a taxi or bus back to Reykjavik, because our flight was in the morning. Turns out, at midnight, there are no taxis or buses, even though it looked like broad daylight. So my friends stayed in a hostel, but I stayed out on the road all night with my thumb out, hitchhiking, trying to make it back. No one stopped. The next morning, we got a bus back to the capital, but we missed our flight.
Jack Connolly, photographer
A New Furry Friend
We excitedly booked the one VRBO we could find in downtown Waco and made plans to host a cocktail party with friends at Baylor University’s Homecoming. Upon check-in, we learned we hadn’t booked the entire house, just a single small bedroom on the second floor. We canceled the party, had to share a bathroom with others downstairs, and the owner’s horse-size German Shepherd managed to crash our bed in the middle of the night to sleep with us.
Stephanie Trotter, contributing editor
Terminal Trouble
We once missed an international flight because my husband was only 99% sure which terminal we were departing from, but was too stubborn to stop and check the tickets—kind of like the ultimate version of refusing to ask for directions. It was a good lesson in leaving our egos at home when traveling . . . and forking over the change for flight insurance.
Morgan McCallum, contributing editor
Family Airport Sleepover
Never book an evening flight when traveling with kids. A delay means you could end up stranded in LAX for the night with nothing but Cheez-Its for dinner, your kids huddled under dirty T-shirts from their luggage, sleeping on a bench in front of the Starbucks as the cleaning crew mops around them. Actually, this is one of our favorite travel stories to laugh about, and the photos are priceless, so maybe I do recommend it.
Leigh Savage, managing editor
French Whine
My first trip to Europe was my most memorable for more than one reason. On the day I was scheduled to leave Paris for the states, my friend and I checked out of our hotel, stored our bags there, and set out for one last morning in the City of Light. I had everything important in my purse: U.S dollars, francs, credit cards, passport. So when I was accosted by gypsies on the Métro, they managed to rob me of everything I needed to leave the country that afternoon. Not to mention, it was Bastille Day, so no banks were open. That was the day I learned to whine in French.
M. Linda Lee, contributing editor
