As I’ve mentioned, I leave Friday for Italy. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this trip for about 8 months, and I’m so excited that it’s finally here! I have a flight to Florence that has a connection in Munich, and my friend and I decided to meet there to spend a few days exploring the area. After deciding this I booked a plane ticket out of Munich to Rome, and then a train to get from Rome to Florence, totaling about 200 dollars. Not bad, right?
My dad told me to call and check if that was okay with my airline, and my big shock 4 days before my trip is that is NOT okay! It turns out that if you show up as “missing” your flight it voids your return flight as well! Thank goodness my dad heard this on the news! I had 2 options:
- Change my flight and pay $500 extra so I can get off in Munich
- Eat the $200 and fly into Florence
So needless to say, I won’t be making it to Munich. I’m really upset about this not only because I lost a ton of money (well, for me it’s a ton of money), but also because I really wanted to visit Munich. I feel really bad that I didn’t know about the voiding of flights because my friend Stacey also lost money on a flight.
So not only am I writing this post to complain about the frustrations of travel, but also to write about some things I learned from this experience:
- Read the fine print of your flight, and when you have an idea or a question call before you book any other tickets!
- Don’t sweat the small OR the bigger stuff. It’s not worth it to get frustrated when things don’t go your way. Besides, you have a trip to look forward to, and you’ll forget that you had frustrations once you get there!
- When you mess up a trip for you and a friend, losing you both money, and the friend won’t let you pay her back, and she’s really awesome about the whole situation… She’s a great friend to travel with!
Thanks for letting me rant a little bit! I’m curious about any frustrating experiences any of you guys have had while traveling, and what you learned from them! Let’s hear ’em!
8 Comments
Nate
November 15, 2011 at 5:09 pmWow, I didn’t know that that happens either. I’m planning a similar thing with my up and coming trip to Peru in 15 days where I was thinking about missing one of my connection flights…better look into that I guess. In my experience, the worst is international flight delays and missing connections because of it.
Will you still be able to get to Rome? I’ve been there and I highly recommend it if you could make it. That city is so incredible and the history is amazing.
One last little bit of advise. The train station in Rome is crazyyy. I missed my stop off the train leaving Rome, or I got on the wrong train all together…to this day I’m still not sure what happened, so make sure you know exactly where you’re going before you go hah. Either way, getting lost in the Italian countryside is an adventure all in itself! Have Fun!
Nate
ashleypaige4
November 15, 2011 at 10:07 pmI was really shocked! I’m sure that it varies on who you fly with. This was Lufthansa, who I really love flying with, but if I plan on getting off on a connection, I won’t fly Lufthansa.
I probably won’t make it down to Rome this time. I went 4 years ago, and loved it! I wish I had the money to go, but after this 200 dollars down the drain, I’m a bit low on cash!
That’s really great advice, thanks! I’ll be going on the train a few times to go around Tuscany, so I’ll be sure to get there ahead of time to make sure I get there.
Thanks for reading and commenting! I’m very jealous of your trip to Peru! It’s really high on my list of places I want to see!
thirdeyemom
November 15, 2011 at 9:42 pmYeah….those travel companies like to s*you. Have a great trip! I love Italy! The food, the wine, everything….sounds wonderful!
ashleypaige4
November 15, 2011 at 10:11 pmI know, I wish that I would’ve looked into it more before I started booking other things- lesson learned, right?
I can’t wait for this trip! My friend is studying abroad there and her professor is generously letting me sit in on her foods of Italy class! I’m so excited!
Thanks for reading, and the good wishes on my trip!
Little Fingers
November 17, 2011 at 11:12 amOh I am so sorry to hear that you can’t make it to Munich, but I am glad that you are still going ahead with Florence. Have fun when you are there. I remember during our last Mexico vacation even our flight was cancelled and we lost money re booking and stuff, its frustrating to start the journey something like that, but we had great time while we were there. Good luck, come back with lot of memories and photos to share with us.
ashleypaige4
November 18, 2011 at 11:34 amI’m a little disappointed, but I’m trying not to complain considering I’m spending 9 days in Italy. 🙂
It is frustrating when a trip starts off like that, but you’re right, it’s usually easy to forget once you’re enjoying yourself!
Thanks for your reading and comments! I’ll be sure to share lots of photos!
shawnandsuzanne
November 29, 2011 at 11:23 amSorry about your frustrations but hey, you’re in Italy! One of my favorite places in the world! Enjoy every moment and good for you for having a positive attitude. Kiss Italy “hello” for me and have the best time ever!!!!
ashleypaige4
December 1, 2011 at 8:28 amThanks for reading! I had an amazing time! I also love Italy, and I didn’t even think about my frustrations once I got there.