Most Expensive Mistakes

Ever seen those flawless travelers, the ones who exit the plane after a 13 hour flight looking like they just left the spa? I daydream about being that person, but even after years of travel I still have to plan meticulously to come out looking mildly presentable.

The point is that even with experience, there is always learning to be done in travelling. Really isn’t that the point? Travel is in essence making the world your classroom, excuse the philosophical digression. Sometimes those learning experiences are gorgeous, stunning, glorious and pain free. Sometimes. They are also occasionally frustrating and expensive. This is my list of the top five most expensive travel mistakes I’ve made . 

1. Booking flights for the wrong dates. $300

Yup. That happened. And boy did I ever feel like a prize idiot. For Mr. C’s and my second trip abroad together we were headed to Thailand for a week in February because really if you’ve lived in the Northeast, you know, it is vital to escape to warmer climes at least once a winter. It was going to be glorious. I had found these spectacularly cheap flights ($600) round trip from JFK to BKK on The Flight Deal. Now don’t worry, those weren’t the flights I screwed up. No, see I figured it would save us time and stress to fly to JFK from our spot in VT, so I booked additional flights for that. Except I booked them each one day late in each direction. And, incredibly hubristically, I didn’t double check until about 2 weeks later when I was doing a review of our itinerary to plan some tours. Oh did I groan! But what was an experienced traveler to do? Nothing for it really, airlines are never particularly accommodating and really why should they be? I totally screwed up. So, $300 later we had the correct flights. Lesson learned, double, triple, quadruple check the dates for your flights (and hotels, and tours and whatever else you’re paying a lot of money to schedule) before you book them. Then set yourself a reminder on your phone and check them again in 12 hours, just in case, so that if somehow on your triple check earlier you missed an error, you’ll still be within the 24 hour grace period.

2. Upgrading to Economy plus. $270

YOHO, you only honeymoon once. Hopefully. Anyway, on our honeymoon Mr. C. and I decided to try treating ourselves on our flight to Belgium and inquired about an upgraded seat at the gate counter, just to see. While the business class upgrade made me blink, the Economy Plus upgrade was only $135 each, which seemed reasonable. Except that it just meant we were in the front row of the section. Mr. C. might say the extra leg room was worth is, but I think you’d do about as well with an aisle seat. Plus this location meant our tray tables folded up from the side of our seat, which made napping on them harder. Maybe it’s just a short girl perspective, and if you and your significant other are both leggy the $270 is worth it, but I think next time I’ll stick to Basic Economy, unless that Business upgrade is free. 

3. Moulin de la Galette in Paris. $240

I mentioned already that Mr. C. and I were all about making the honeymoon as baller as possible (having your registry pay for your honeymoon is a smart move). We splurged the most on food, because food is wonderful and we were in Paris for NYE. You have to go all out right? We booked a table at a lovely restaurant in Montmartre, with one of those classic windmills on top. The reservation was for 9pm, a 5 course meal plus champagne for about $120 each. The booking was not the mistake here. The food was excellent, the service was good, the locale was adorable. The mistake was going to a bar for drinks before hand. Mr. C. happens to be perpetually hungry, so we popped into a little bar in Montmartre for a glass or two of wine and some charcuterie, both of which were delightful, despite this being what I think probably passes for a dive in Paris. By the time we got to our reservations, we were both no longer hungry and proceeded to become more and more full as each of the 5 courses passed, to the point of not really enjoying dessert, which is quite sad. Really, we should’ve just stayed at the little bar for the evening and rang in the new year there, but because we had our expensive reservations we couldn’t possibly skip them (plus that would be rude to the restaurant, keep your reservations people). The point being, just because the experience, item, or meal is expensive, doesn’t necessarily mean it is any more “worth it” than a cheaper option. 

4. Paying for international service, the wrong way. $150

I should’ve known better on this one. But I was optimistic, with a cell phone company…I know I know. On our most recent trip to France we were going to be doing a lot of driving and definitely wanted GPS, so I figured, I’ll get us a relatively inexpensive car and then we can use the GPS on our phone, easy peasy. We use Straight Talk wireless here in the States because it’s cheap and has a month to month contracts. They also have an “international plan” which is month to month. I checked it out, and it said the international plan worked in France. Perfect. I switched to that plan for the month of our trip for a cool $60 and called it good. Then, on our drive up to Montreal, I noticed my phone was not getting data access in Canada, despite this international plan I’d paid for…Once we get to the airport, I go back on the Straight Talk website to see if maybe it’s just a Canada thing. It’s not. So, I started searching for information, because the Straight Talk website is not clarifying anything. Finally, I found a post that says the international plan is really to make international calls FROM the US to other countries, but not vice-versa…So much for the cheap rental car. We ended up having to upgrade to a car with GPS for another $90, bringing the grand total for this oops to $150. 

5. Paris Pass snafu. $30

Ok, this wasn’t really a mistake per se and it wasn’t really that expensive, but it was frustrating. The Paris Pass is a good buy if you’ll be in Paris for a few days and want to cram in a good deal of sightseeing. I used one on my first solo trip to Paris and it was perfect. So, when Mr. C. and I decided to go to France this past June, I bought us two Paris Passes, but instead of having them shipped I figured we could just pick them up in Paris. Then as our dates approached, it seemed to make sense that we would be going to Versailles, an activity included in the Paris Pass, on our way into Paris from the Loire Valley, thus we should really have them in hand before our arrival. I called the company and had them rushed shipped to our house. Meanwhile I also booked our audio guides for the Louvre, to save us time there too. Now, the timing on all of this should’ve been fine. With the rush shipping, the passes should’ve arrived the week before we were supposed to leave. Except, FedEx can’t seem to find our house, so the morning of our flight they had not yet arrived. I sent a quick email to Paris Pass explaining the situation and they said we could simply get the passes in Paris as originally planned. Sounds good, and off we go. Fast forward to two days before we were due to arrive in Paris, in our little Airbnb in Villers Sur Mer I get an email saying the passes have been returned and they are issuing a refund. So we are without Paris Passes, and therefore unable to go to the Louvre and use our audio guides…the grand total of course for this mistake is negligible, just $30. However, it was quite frustrating. Lesson, just have the Pass shipped as soon as you buy it and make sure that Fed Ex knows where you live.