When I went to Denver to RomCon, I had an experience. I had just got off the plane and thought I should run to the restroom and get down stairs so I could claim my checked bag which had a lot of expensive goodies in it. I had my carryon and my laptop bag with me and rushed into the restroom.
I picked the large stall so my suitcase would fit inside with me. I take a seat and someone down the row slams the stall door, jiggling my door and effectively loosening the latch. My door swings open. Outward. I can’t reach it. People are walking by looking at me like I did it on purpose. Finally the cleaning lady was nice enough to close my door until I finished.
But it didn’t end there. I go down to collect my checked bag and I am looking for the exit that will take me to the shuttle. There is a sign that points to pickup above an escalator. So I have a fifty pound rolling suitcase, my carryon rolling suitcase and my laptop bag.
I can do this. Or at least I thought I could. I put the large suitcase in front of me and pulled my smaller one and laptop behind me. I got on successfully. But like with airplanes, it is all about the landing. LOL.
The large case hits the end of the stairs and sticks. My smaller suitcase hits me and I go flying over the top of my suitcase. My luggage and shoes are now tumbling at the bottom of the escalator and I am quickly jumping up to look around to see if there were witnesses to my humiliating landing. The people near the top look away, smirks barely hidden.
So that happened... Have you ever had a bad travel experience? Or a loopy one? They say misery loves company!
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Nope, Travel usually go well for me but I love reading about others misadventures
ReplyDeleteTravel is an adventure for me as well. It doesn't even have to be a long trip. I was visiting a friend and ran to Wal-Mart when I realized it was going to rain soon and I desperately needed new wiper blades. No problem, I got this. Okay, one problem. I had no idea what kind I needed. Simple fix. I went and removed the ones I had to I could match them. Easy peasy. Except that I didn't notice they were different sizes. Back into the store I went to get both new blades. Then, I returned to the car to realize I didn't know which blade went to which side.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm trying to figure this out, my guardian angel was having her own adventure. Apparently, she's just as clumsy as I am and tripped and fell onto heaven's weather switch. It went from overcast to deluge on 0.5 seconds. My shirt was soaked. I couldn't keep my glasses dry enough to see what I was doing. My everything was soaked. In some bizarre twist of fate, there was NOBODY around to ask for help and I was NOT going back into the cold store to test any theories of cutting glass with the girls.
You would think at this point I would get into the car but it wouldn't open. It wasn't locked. There were four doors. Four perfectly fine, fully operational doors that for whatever reason would not open. At this point, I remembered I was maybe a 10 minute walk from my friend's place and I could just leave my car there. I should have just left. I should have walked back, borrowed a pair of sweats, dried my clothes, and joined in the laughter. But I'm a redhead and occasionally, I get stubborn. The car would be fixed, I would drive it back, and that was all there was to it. I would NOT call for help like some numbskull damsel in distress either. I got this.
By now, you should realize I'm either incredibly optimistic or lived on the bank of deNile in a previous life. First things first. The blades were going on the car. As I struggle with this, a power line snapped and Wal-Mart, it's parking lot, and the entire block went black. Not gonna lie. I screamed, tried the door, and when it miraculously opened, I took it as a sign to get the hell out of Dodge.
Of course, I missed my turn and ended up on the highway. Keep in mind, I still have no windshield wipers. I drove the 45 minutes through the storm, across a bridge (long, scary bridge I've hated since I was a child and my dad's car broke down and we had to walk across it), to my house. I was a mess. I was shaking. My family was fine. They laughed. My husband looked at me, noted my face, and asked what was wrong. Shakily, I managed to say "the car."
The terror on his face was beautiful. I only wish I could've enjoyed it at the time. He runs out of the house (into a clear night because it had suddenly stopped raining AFTER I made it inside) and just stopped. I followed him out of the house and he just looked at me. I half shrugged and said, "I told you we needed new wipers." I'm not even kidding, he fixed it in 30 seconds. I guess I had put them on the wrong way, on the wrong sides. The were upside down and backwards.
My friends called to see what happened to me and I went through the whole ordeal with them. They found it far more humorous than I did. There's a reason I don't travel much alone. I've ended up in the wrong state so many times...but those are different stories.
Oh my. I once got caught in flood waters in my car and I had those cheap plastic hub caps. The lug nuts held them on. The force of the water broke one so I had this circle like broken plastic left on the center of the wheel.
ReplyDeleteI know I shouldn't but I still laugh every time I think of that story. I'm just glad I didn't have to take you to the hospital!!! And now I know that I have to give you plenty of clearance when travelling. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI don't travel much. When I was in high school I went to Mexico with the Spanish Club. If you knew me, you would shake your head cause I never could get the hang of speaking spanish. Anyway, I got separated from my group on one of our outings. Walking and walking I found myself in a residential area, starting to freak out. I tried many times to ask for directions but my Spanish was so pathetic that the people just laughed at me so I kept walking. I finally found someone who was able to get me back to where I was staying. I will never go anywhere without someone that speaks the language and I will tie myself to them.
ReplyDeleteThe only bad experience I've had was my 'interaction' with the Parking Enforcement officers after they put 2 boots on my van while I was at the AAD book signing. I had to wait over an hour after 2 of them drove by me while I was sitting in my vehicle waiting on them. Let's just say that they weren't my favorite people after we were done.
ReplyDeleteSounds like good stories to read and dream about.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Thial! You've won e-copies of Naming His Mate and A Wolf Awakens - if you can drop me an email at heather (a) heatherlong (dot) net we'll get you your prizes sent out.
ReplyDelete