DISNEY1975
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2008
I just read a thread about someone who had a nightmare about cancelling her/his resort reservation. Got me thinking about my own travel nightmare, but mine was real!
My husband is from Brazil and we were traveling to Brazil a few years ago from Boston. It was a 2 week trip and knowing doing laundry in his "village" isnt easy (think washboard) we each brought 2 suitcases of clothes so I wouldnt have to do laundry. I lined up the luggage in the kitchen and he carried them to the car. The night before, doing online checkin for the airline, I got a message stating he needed to check in at the gate ??? Not sure what that was about but I figured because it was his first time traveling as a US citizen, so I planned to leave a little bit earlier than we would have had we been able to all do online checkin.
We were taking a shuttle to the airport from a nearby town. Airport is a 40 minute drive. Shuttle town is 20 minutes from my house. I decided to take an early shuttle just in case whatever they needed from him at the gate took more than a few minutes.
We arrive at the shuttle terminal and my husband unloads the car. We all grab our bags and my DD is standing there empty handed. The back of the car is also empty. Ummm..wheres her luggage?? Long story short, my husband missed them in the corner of the kitchen. We had 2.5 hours until the flight so he decided we should go ahead on the shuttle and he would go back home then drive directly to the airport with the bags (costing us $40/day to park instead of $7 for a 2 week trip. Yes, I was LIVID.
Against my better judgement I get on the shuttle with 3 kids and 8 suitcases!! Im steaming just thinking about it now! Somehow I manage to get from the shuttle and into the airport, frantically calling my husband every 2 seconds to get an update of where he is. Believe it or not, he arrived with some minutes to spare. He went to the counter and breezed through. Still have no idea why they wouldnt allow him to do online checkin??
So this guy, my husband, can barely drive 1/10 of a mile without stopping at a Dunkin Donuts and of course needs to do the same as we head to the gate. I advise him not to, but that didnt work. I was already fuming so didnt want to be near him. I took the kids to the gate while he got his coffee.
They start calling boarding groups and he is no where is sight. Group 2 is called. We are Group 4. I walk towards the Dunkin Donuts and dont see him. Maybe he's in the bathroom??? Group 3 is called. OMG OMG what do I do???? Then our group. I told the stewardess I could not find my husband. She paged him. Nothing. I dont swear, but my brain was thinking ***??? Im freaking out and had to make a decision...get on the plane or call the police. Where could he possibly have gone? Did immigration take him?? I thought about all the money for all those tickets at $1500/ticket x 5! What if he is just lost then we lost all our tickets??? Do I go to Brazil without him and hope he is lost and catches the next flight, at least saving us the cost of 4 tickets?? I start crying. Then I hear my name. There he was on the jetway. He had already boarded the plane because he didnt see ME and thought we had already boarded. Can you believe HE would have gone without me and the kids?? He was already seated and someone told him I was looking for him.
I still dont know why I didnt divorce him the minute
Does anyone else have a real life travel nightmare?
My husband is from Brazil and we were traveling to Brazil a few years ago from Boston. It was a 2 week trip and knowing doing laundry in his "village" isnt easy (think washboard) we each brought 2 suitcases of clothes so I wouldnt have to do laundry. I lined up the luggage in the kitchen and he carried them to the car. The night before, doing online checkin for the airline, I got a message stating he needed to check in at the gate ??? Not sure what that was about but I figured because it was his first time traveling as a US citizen, so I planned to leave a little bit earlier than we would have had we been able to all do online checkin.
We were taking a shuttle to the airport from a nearby town. Airport is a 40 minute drive. Shuttle town is 20 minutes from my house. I decided to take an early shuttle just in case whatever they needed from him at the gate took more than a few minutes.
We arrive at the shuttle terminal and my husband unloads the car. We all grab our bags and my DD is standing there empty handed. The back of the car is also empty. Ummm..wheres her luggage?? Long story short, my husband missed them in the corner of the kitchen. We had 2.5 hours until the flight so he decided we should go ahead on the shuttle and he would go back home then drive directly to the airport with the bags (costing us $40/day to park instead of $7 for a 2 week trip. Yes, I was LIVID.
Against my better judgement I get on the shuttle with 3 kids and 8 suitcases!! Im steaming just thinking about it now! Somehow I manage to get from the shuttle and into the airport, frantically calling my husband every 2 seconds to get an update of where he is. Believe it or not, he arrived with some minutes to spare. He went to the counter and breezed through. Still have no idea why they wouldnt allow him to do online checkin??
So this guy, my husband, can barely drive 1/10 of a mile without stopping at a Dunkin Donuts and of course needs to do the same as we head to the gate. I advise him not to, but that didnt work. I was already fuming so didnt want to be near him. I took the kids to the gate while he got his coffee.
They start calling boarding groups and he is no where is sight. Group 2 is called. We are Group 4. I walk towards the Dunkin Donuts and dont see him. Maybe he's in the bathroom??? Group 3 is called. OMG OMG what do I do???? Then our group. I told the stewardess I could not find my husband. She paged him. Nothing. I dont swear, but my brain was thinking ***??? Im freaking out and had to make a decision...get on the plane or call the police. Where could he possibly have gone? Did immigration take him?? I thought about all the money for all those tickets at $1500/ticket x 5! What if he is just lost then we lost all our tickets??? Do I go to Brazil without him and hope he is lost and catches the next flight, at least saving us the cost of 4 tickets?? I start crying. Then I hear my name. There he was on the jetway. He had already boarded the plane because he didnt see ME and thought we had already boarded. Can you believe HE would have gone without me and the kids?? He was already seated and someone told him I was looking for him.
I still dont know why I didnt divorce him the minute
Does anyone else have a real life travel nightmare?
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