Pre-children, Hubby and I used to travel A LOT! We do it much less now but there was a time when we would rather travel than do much else with our spare time.

I remember in 2010 it got to Christmas and I said to my Husband that I didn’t want to go anywhere, I was so exhausted. He agreed we would do nothing for Christmas and New Years Eve. Then at the last minute we booked a quiet trip to Cornwall. I guess this is what people now call ‘FOMO’ meaning - Fear of missing out!

Of course this is what life can be like when you’re young, spritely and both earning a salary without any kids in tow.

But that doesn’t mean we always got things right then, or now!

This month on the Dolce Vita Bloggers linkup we are all writing about ‘Hilarious travel mishaps’.

So what has gone wrong for us…

1. Jamaica

One Spring we booked a last minute trip to Jamaica. Everyone told us to go to Negril. We arrived to find that Hubby had forgotten his wallet! Our hotel was seriously dodgy and the door to our room didn’t close properly. You could see sky around the air conditioning unit in the wall! Oh and our taxi had blackened out windows and the driver was drinking Red Stripe!

2. Malibu

We got a little bit merry at the Malibu distillery and joined a guided tour. We really enjoyed ourselves with the other tourists and followed them onto a little truck which we thought was taking us to the next part of the excursion.

It was actually taking them back to their cruise ship! Luckily we realised just before and didn’t get on the boat. No one checked us though so we always wonder where we would have traveled to!

3. Christmas

Surely every travelling family has a Christmas mishap?

One year we were due to fly back to Italy and were sent by Gatwick airport staff through the supposedly helpful ‘Family assistance queue’. Unfortunately the queue was so long that we had to run for our flight. Hubby thought he saw one gate number when in fact it was another. So we arrived at the wrong gate only to learn that our flight was leaving from one in the other end of the airport. We missed our flight. It was Christmas, there were no others available.

Except to fly the next day from Heathrow via Zurich. At this point my son started to cry at the idea of not seeing Nonno at Christmas. I thought we should call it a day and have an amazing relaxing Christmas with no relatives in our own home…. Let’s just imagine how wonderful that is for a moment…

But no Hubby got out his credit card and booked the crazy flight the next day from Heathrow. Which meant we had to get a bus from Gatwick to Heathrow. Find a hotel for the night and then fly the next day.

Only it wouldn’t be that simple would it? Our flight was delayed, left late at night. And on arrival in Milan all our luggage had been left in London. We couldn’t get it for 2 days and by then my daughter had bronchitis from probably sheer exhaustion and cold.

4. Small is not always perfectly formed

We once booked a 2 bedroom apartment to find we could not fit my daughter’s cot in the second bedroom or our bedroom as they were so tiny and overfilled with furniture! We had to open a walk-in cupboard in the hall and have the cot half inside. Luckily it was very warm if completely impractical!

5. Perils of Airbnb

We’ve had many great Airbnb experiences. However you have to be really careful about assuming things are there when they’re… well not! We spent a very odd weekend in Kent once in an ‘Apartment’ that had no living room, kitchen or eating area. There was no where to sit but your bedroom and no where to eat but the garden. Very very strange.

6. Escaping

There have been very few places that we had to completely abandon. Normally we make the best of things and get on with it. However we hired an apartment in a converted barn once and my baby kept waking in the night crying and looking completely disturbed. The third night I watched her on the monitor and was horrified to see her body lifting off the cot…. But no one was holding her. It was the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen. The baby was completely freaked out after being woken but looking frantically about because there was no one there.

As you can imagine. We left the next day! To avoid this situation and many others like it, you might want to consider doing plenty of research before you actually go on any holiday or do any travelling. There are some kinds of holidays which are going to be a lot better, much less likely to cause these kinds of mishaps - such as a family Galapagos cruise, for example. If you plan ahead, you can avoid much of the trouble.

Alla fine - At the end

So either we are hopeless at travelling or if you do it a lot you have to take the rough with the smooth!

How do you avoid the above? Plan, plan, plan. Triple read reviews and websites offering accommodation. But be open to the fact that you can’t prepare for everything when travel is involved.

And if you do it with children half of your brain cells have been lost so you make more mistakes!

 What have been your travel mishaps?

Tell all!

Love more on Travel or Italian culture? Check out these posts first…

**This Post Is Written As Part Of The Monthly #DolceVitaBloggers Link UpWith Jasmine Of QuestaDolceVita And Kelly Of ItalianatHeart. If You Would Like To Join Please See Details Here.**

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