Is there anyone who doesn’t experience travel fails? Of course not.
It’s just that most of the time, I intentionally choose to write about the good experiences of my travels instead of the travel fails.
Today I am going to share my travel fails in the hope that you can relate, we can bond, or you can learn something from it. Or maybe you can judge me for being travel-stupid.
Not Liking The Place I Travelled To (Vietnam)
Unlike most places I deliberately travel to, I chose Vietnam because it’s only a couple of hours away from Singapore. Also, lots of people rave about it. I never had an intrinsic cultural pull. I was slightly hoping I’d be pleasantly surprised once I arrived.
It didn’t.
I went with my cousins and had a good time with them, but I still wasn’t too fond of Vietnam. Not even after sailing on the Mekong River. And after sipping Vietnamese drip coffee for three days in a row, I was ready to return.
Vietnam, I could have done without.
Some of my friends define Vietnam as the place to go while visiting Southeast Asia, kind of like how France is in Europe. There must be a basis to it; it might be because of the war stories, but it’s a generalisation.
South-East Asia is much more than Vietnam. It’s the potluck of Singapore, the rich religious culture of Malaysia, the Hindu influence of Cambodia, and let’s not forget the lush rainforests of Borneo, Indonesia.
This experience taught me not to travel to a place that doesn’t “ping” me from the inside. It might be an obvious choice for others, but if I am not feeling it, I should keep my travel fare for other places I am being called to visit.
I missed The Flight (Jakarta)
The flight was at 8:15 AM, and I reached the check-in counter by 6:50 AM. It’s not late, but this time everyone else had checked in. Since I was late by at most ten minutes (the check-in counter closed 90 minutes before departure), the check-in agent refused to check me in.
I tried to reason with her so much that I was on the brink of tears. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the mood to show a single drop of compassion. I had to buy another ticket for a flight that left 45 minutes later than the first flight. When I passed by the waiting room at 8:20 AM, I could see my actual plane was still waiting to be boarded. Gah!
I wanted to hate that uptight Air Asia lady, but I stopped myself because at least I was still going on vacation.
From then on, I became one of those people who reach the airport hours before the booking counter even opens. And I treat myself to pre-holiday drinking inside in my free time once I have checked in.
Visa Denial aka Most Expensive Travel Fails (New Zealand)
My boarding pass was torn up in front of my eyes because I didn’t have a valid visa to layover for two hours in an airport in Australia before heading to our destination, New Zealand. Who knew that we needed a visa just to layover at the airport? I certainly didn’t. And to find out two hours before flying felt like a death sentence to my travel dreams. So I went back, fighting tears and dragging my luggage, which felt heavier now than it did on the way home. Fafa cheered me up with coffee and, later that night, booze. In the end, we managed to switch to a direct flight and reached Auckland two days later. Phew!
If you think I will conclude this part with a lesson learned to check on layover visas, you are wrong (because, of course, that one is obvious).
The lesson I learned is to have someone try to cheer you up when you are feeling super sad, someone who cares enough about your happiness to stay up all night to sort out the problem while you were passed out after drowning your sorrow in a copious amount of cider. It matters a lot, more than going to New Zealand itself.
Keep Losing Stuff (Japan)
I am not that good at keeping track of my things, especially the random ones. My mind works in an orderly manner and nothing else, which is why I have a travel checklist and always check my passport 15 times before I reach the airport, but I misplace things.
I have already made my peace with losing small things here and there while travelling, but the hard part is when I lose something precious, or when I have a strong feeling I have lost more things during my travels.
Among the things I have lost, the most memorable was my first Kindle, which I went to so much trouble to get for my birthday years before Kindle was even a thing in Asia. I loved it with every fibre of my bookworm, and I left it on Delta Air Lines, flying back to Singapore from Japan.
I didn’t panic initially; I was sure I would get it back. Then, after calling and emailing Delta for a few weeks without an acceptable response, I came to terms with it.
My first eBook, with 35+ self-help collections inside, was gone forever. After reading it, I only hope that it made the person who took it into a better person. They have my self-help blessings.
Misplacing Passport (Netherlands)
My craziest moment of losing something was when I realised I couldn’t find my passport after reaching the immigration counter. So I ran back to the arrival gate. I begged the stewardess to let me in because I thought I had left my passport in the back of the aeroplane seat. Fortunately, she was kind enough to let me back on the flight to collect my passport.
Retrospectively, it was a minor incident, but imagine if the flight had flown somewhere. I would be stuck in the airport, like Tom Hank in The Terminal.
I always do a 4P check before leaving any plane: passport, Phone, earPods, and (travel) Pillow. Also, I stop keeping anything inside the back pocket of a plane seat.
What’s your most memorable travel fail?
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