Top 5 Travel Bloopers!

Frequent traveller or not, we all have our share of travel bloopers. While there is always room for error, you can’t really afford to spoil your trip because of a silly goof-up, can you?

Here are top 5 common ‘oops’ moments that you might want to consider and avoid the next time you travel.

1. Calendar Clash

So finally after procrastinating for five years, you’ve decided to take that much awaited break and go on your dream holiday to Italy with your beloved. Obviously you want everything to go right, so you book your tickets well in advance to save on the cost of last-minute airfares. But, oops! You forgot to cross-check your calendar. There’s a clash of dates with your cousin’s wedding and there is no possibility of skipping it (family obligations; we’ve all been through that). Unfortunately, you now end up blowing more moolah in rescheduling and cancelling your tickets and hotel reservations. It leaves me wondering why you bought your smartphone for!

You might want to consider: “Downloading an app (like SyncCalendar, SmoothSync) on your smartphone to sync calendars and avoid such blunders.”

 

2. Travelling With a Couple (If You Are Single!)

Have you ever faced the pangs of travelling with your friends who are dating or your recently married brother and sister-in-law or anyone else falling under the category of “we-are-a-couple”? I have, and trust me, by the end of the trip you would want to fall under one of these two categories, namely: “I will never travel with a couple” or “I will travel only when I have a partner”. You know what I mean! While on such a trip, one ends up transforming in to a counselor, while trying to resolve ‘couple fights’ or to deal with their frequent mood swings. What else were you expecting anyway?

Here’s a small don’t: “Do not play a counselor. You might get lucky at settling the issues with your awesome middleman skills at first but don’t try too hard; the echoes might haunt you later.”

 

3. Alarm – Not My Style

This is hilarious and sometimes super irritating for everyone else, except you (because you love a sound sleep on wheels!). So you board an overnight train and don’t bother to put the alarm because either you possess some superpowers that will wake you up without you worrying about it or you are too careless to do yourself that small favour. I remember a train journey from Mumbai to Delhi during my college days when my co-passenger forgot to put an alarm. He missed getting down at Bhopal and woke up just a few stations before Delhi. Frantic calls, blaming everyone under the sun and jumping around the whole compartment was a funny scene for the rest of us. Considering he was supposed to attend a wedding, I’m guessing the panic attack was more because of losing out on the free booze and food!

An easy tip: “When sending that last message on whatsapp/BBM or checking updates on Facebook, tell a friend/family member to give you a call in the morning. Easy, isn’t it?”

 

4. Carrying Only Cards, No Cash

 

You often get to hear and use this statement: “Do you accept cards?” I guess, almost everywhere. But do you really think you can manage to reach the station with a waiting ticket in hand, assuming that the ticket checker would be carrying a card swipe machine to help you bribe him and get a confirmed seat? And with a footfall of over lakhs at these railway stations, please don’t blame the ATM machines to be sailing in the same boat as you – cashless.

What can you possibly do about it? “Nothing else, but keeping a reasonable amount of cash to help you get through these situations is not a bad idea at all.”

 

5. Not Taking the Sun Seriously

Think Goa, beaches, bikinis and unlimited fun. But never underestimate the power of the sun. While you expose yourself to the blazing sun rays on a trip, think about the fact that sunscreens are made for a reason. The seemingly harmless ultraviolet rays might actually end up giving you bad sunburn, cataract, or even worse, skin cancer. I remember going all ‘spaghetti and shorts’ on the beaches of Goa without wearing sunscreen and coming back with sunburn that took almost 2 weeks to say goodbye.

Sunscreen – Check: “When making your ‘to-carry’ list, a sunscreen lotion should be right on top. Compliments on the bronzed body look post the tan do sound flattering, but eh, not at the cost of your health.”

Been there, done that and still learning from previous mistakes? Do share your ‘oops’ moments with me. I’m sure, they are aplenty!