Problems When Traveling When travel goes wrong, it can REALLY go wrong. I remember my mother-in-law coming for a visit from Scotland to New York. Her plane had to make an emergency landing in Iceland. It was an overnight stayover and since the flight was a charter, they didn’t get a hotel room. They were told not to worry about food since there were plenty of vending machines available which had sandwiches and other things. At the time, which was many years ago, it turned out the people who were all from Scotland had no money the vending machines would accept since they didn’t take British money. Lucky for them a replacement plane arrived the next day and she was able to complete her trip. Those charter flights while much cheaper at the time than the commercial flights, were prone to things going wrong. I also remember when one charter company went out of business stranding everyone who was on the flight in a country on the way. The crew and pilots landed the plane with over one hundred and twenty people aboard and just walked away. It seemed a lot of things went wrong with flights from and to Scotland, some of which was not the fault of the airlines. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law flew here for a vacation and were staying with me when the bombing of the World Trade Center took place taking down many of the buildings in the area. Flights home for them were suspended for three weeks. Lucky for them they were staying with me at the time. There are plenty of other horror stories of trips gone bad. This time I was flying to Scotland with my wonderful wife. We were flying on British Airways. We were sitting near the very end of the plane. I said to my wife it was warm and she said why not turn on the ventilation, the switch was right above my head. She had traveled a lot more than me and was a seasoned flyer. I reached up, turned on the valve and immediately a torrent of water fell all over me. It seemed like it would never stop. Stewardesses were running all over getting towels to dry me off with, but the truth is I needed more than a towel, I really needed a change of clothes. When we arrived in Scotland and got off the plane, I looked like one of the people in a comedy flick or had just fallen into the water and climbed out. I am not the only one who has endured some really annoying travel problems, yes there are others I haven’t mentioned, but so have many of you. A lot of flights have problems as do boat trips. I guess this might have something to do with the massive amounts of people taking them. Remember the Costa Concordia? That was a luxury cruise ship which was cruising off the coast of Tuscany. The ship ran aground with over 4200 passengers on it. The captain fled the ship without alerting the passengers. Thirty-two passengers died. Even the coast guard didn’t get notified. They found out when a passenger’s mother phoned them. In 2015 Captain Francesco Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Baggage problems are one of the biggest problems on airlines. If it wasn’t for baggage many of the complaints wouldn’t exist. One has to wonder how many times when people are watching that baggage carousel and they think their bag has come off it and take it home, when they open it, it is not their bag. Not only might someone have the wrong bag and taken it home, but the contents might be very weird. Take for example the person who thought they had their own suitcase and opened it on their bed and to their horror it was lined with cooked food, unwrapped cooked food and nothing else. I guess it could have even been worse, it was better than finding body parts in there. One story which I never get tired of repeating has to do with a problem at the airport in which I was the problem. My wife from Scotland and I had only been married for about two years when her mother was flying over to meet me. My wife was tired from walking all over the airport and I asked her what her mother looked like. She said she was an old lady and always wore a hat. I went to the gate and there getting off the plane was a lady which fit the description. I went to her and said I was her son-in-law and it was a pleasure to meet her. She smiled and didn’t say much. I took her hand and told her to come with me which she did. When we got to where my wife was sitting, she looked startled and asked me who this was. Apparently, I had captured an old lady who seemed to be quite happy coming with me. I immediately brought her back to the gate and said goodbye. One person decided to state everything which was wrong with is trip on a cruise line. It certainly didn’t sound like a fun time. The first thing he talked about was how outdated everything was, but I think the clincher was the backup in the toilet in his cabin. He said the food was lousy, the ship had no indoor pool so if the weather was bad you couldn’t swim. He went on to say the outdoor pool was always over crowded. He even complained about the stops the ship made and said there was nothing there to see or do. This doesn’t sound like a fun trip to me. One of the things besides the ship which people complain about are dangerous ports of call. A security agent with a police agency in Europe said you cannot assume a cruise ship will not dock at dangerous places since they go to places with the best bottom line and their responsibility consists of just warning passengers to be careful. It makes one wonder if people have actually disappeared at some ports. It turns out there have been people disappearing. It seems like the number is about equal for men and women. Every type of trip has its problems, even hiking trips can be problematic. Hiking can be dangerous, especially when you do it alone. You can be subject to dehydration, fatigue and even altitude sickness if you are climbing high enough. Wild animals can be a problem, such as bear attacks, snake attacks and other types of animals.
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