"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" said Scottish poet Robert Burns. Murphy, whoever he was, offered even less optimistic counsel: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." No matter how experienced a traveller you are or how carefully you make your plans, eventually something will go wrong.
I got off the bus outside Durham not knowing I was locked out.
Some of my challenging travel experiences relate to connecting with Airbnb hosts. For the traveller staying in someone’s home there is no 24 hour reception desk. Although hosts and I seem to be as careful and precise as possible in making the arrangements to meet, things can go wrong and sometimes do. In a village outside Durham, England I was left out in the rain when the person who was to let me in had taken a nap and not heard the doorbell. As the local café had closed for the day, I found refuge in the corner shop until the other member of the host couple got home, saw my note and called the shop.
A sense of humor helps - it was still raining the next day in Durham.
Arriving in Berlin, I took the metro from the central train station and easily found the address where I was to stay but didn’t see the name I expected on the buzzers at the building entrance. I rang several buzzers without success and wondered how to connect to my host. Although my international sim card had worked in Ireland and the Netherlands, once in Germany I couldn’t get service on any of the local mobile/cell networks.
Spotting a group of young women sitting outside a neighbourhood café I approached and asked if they spoke English. As they did, I explained about my phone and asked if one of them could call my host. This favor was quickly granted with the caller discovering that my host’s phone was turned off. She didn’t know where I could access Wi-Fi but said there was an internet café down the street. After fumbling around with a different keyboard (each language seems to move some of the symbols) I picked up an email message from my host saying her mobile had just been stolen. I sent a reply asking for the name on her buzzer and soon had an answer and a welcoming entry to the building and apartment.
Apartment building to the left is entered via building on the right & courtyard but how do I get inside?
All my accommodation and transportation arrangements were in place for the last two weeks of my trip. I had even been able to determine that my international sim card would work in both Sweden and Denmark, the last two countries on my itinerary. A week later I spotted a gap. I was leaving Gothenburg for Copenhagen October 16th and my accommodation in Copenhagen started on the 17th. How had this happened? I had been so careful mapping it all out. Much to my relief, a message to my Copenhagen host to ask if she had room for me on the 16th brought a reply that, yes, she did.
My Copenhagen host had this lovely room available at the last minute when I needed it.
On another trip three years ago, the night before I was due to leave London I checked my flight ticket. There would be plenty of time in the morning to get ready and find my way to Heathrow Airport. As I puttered along next day I decided to check my ticket again. OMG! The time I had noted the night before was the time the plane would leave Iceland not the earlier departure from the UK. Throwing everything into the suitcase I fled the Airbnb apartment and set off to replicate in reverse the circuitous route that had brought me to this part of London a few days prior.
I had to get from Airbnb accommodation in Hackney to Gatwick Airport ASAP.
As I had no cell service, the internet was not working and my host had gone to work, I had no idea how to call a taxi even had I wanted to spend the next few months paying for one. Onto the local bus, then the over ground railway, then the underground and at Victoria Station get from a machine my pre-booked ticket for the trip to Gatwick Airport.
At this stage a young man, noticing my apparent stress, helped me retrieve the ticket and find the right train which he was also taking. He had plenty of time before his flight so ran with me from the airport train to the apparently abandoned airline desk, found someone to check me in then asked people in the security line to let me through. He gave me a thumbs up as I sprinted for the gate which was closing as I arrived. Never have I been so glad to get aboard a flight. I will always be grateful to that guardian angel.
Leaving England August 2014 - I was never so grateful to make it on board.
Independent or self-directed travel is about problem solving. Often there are people to help but generally it is up to the traveller to find them. Meanwhile, I hope such travel challenges contribute to keeping my aging brain sharp. "Expect the best but prepare for the worst" is my best advice.