Vacation Gaffes and Goofs
After the year and several months we’ve all just lived through, what a joy it is to hear folks talking about taking vacations this spring and summer. I have friends who, as I write this, have begun trips to Cancún, Puerto Rico, and Georgia. Others have announced preparations being made for trips to points here, there, and beyond. And the tone of their messages cannot hide the glee they are feeling. And who can blame them?
Have you ever taken a vacation and, well, had something go awry? The funny thing about vacations is that sometimes they don’t quite live up to expectations. While it’s certainly not unusual to have a fly in the ointment, sometimes the fly is more like an elephant. I was thinking about this when a story came to me about a newlywed couple who signed up for an Airbnb in a resort community. After driving to the location and entering the passcode into the lockbox to retrieve the house key, they opened the front door to discover the place was an absolute mess. From a kitchen sink with a few dirty pans and dishes in it, to unmade beds, to what was described as a disgustingly dirty bathroom, they were very upset the owners hadn’t prepped the place for paying guests.
Determined not to let this blip define their honeymoon, they had just about finished straightening up, cleaning up, and thoroughly disinfecting the bathroom when the owner walked in. Have you guessed yet they were in the wrong house? The irony wasn’t lost on anyone that the owner and his next-door neighbor, with whom he shared a driveway, had independently selected the same password for their lockboxes.
Speaking about honeymoons, how nice it was when a California couple was given a honeymoon trip to Disney World in Orlando by the bride’s parents. It was a place the newlyweds especially hoped to see someday. The couple was looking forward to the trip when they learned the in-laws also harbored a long-time desire to see Disney World, as did the bride’s mother’s two best friends, their three young children, and the bride’s sister and husband. What a glorious honeymoon! A great time was had by some.
Then there’s the story of a family on a trip to Florida to go to Cape Canaveral. Noticing a road sign that intrigued them, they pulled off the highway to explore the interestingly named Mosquito Lagoon. They were there only a short time before learning exactly how the lagoon earned its name. (Honestly, though, why were they surprised?)
One has to feel sorry for Joseph Griffin. If you’re a fan of viral videos, you’ve already recognized the name. Joseph is from Ireland and while on vacation in Las Vegas, where he’d never been, he used his son’s GoPro camera to record the sights and attractions he visited while there. Unfortunately, Joseph made a slight error in setting up the camera and discovered, all too late, his vacation video only showed his face as he toured Las Vegas as he had pointed the camera’s lens in the wrong direction. (Note: One can view Mr. Griffin’s video on YouTube where, to date, it has been viewed over 10 million times.)
Traveling with children can also be, well, a trip of its own. Imagine being the woman who was heading for a vacation with her young child to visit her parents who was seated next to someone who interested her child in an unflattering way. In that never sotto voce voice children possess at the precise moment you wish they would, the child announced loudly, “You’ve got stinky feet!” I imagine it was a longer flight than usual.
Just imagine the confusion and embarrassment suffered by a woman on a flight to Jakarta with a boarding pass stating she was assigned seat 35F, only to discover that there were only 34 rows in the airplane and that 35F was, technically, the airplane’s bathroom. Apparently, at the last minute the plane she was scheduled to take (which had 39 rows of seats) had to be substituted for a shorter plane. Fortunately, a flight attendant found an unoccupied seat for her so that the woman didn’t have to fly to Jakarta in—ahem—a crappy seat.
Huma Mobin was all set to fly to Greece with her new husband for their honeymoon when her husband was denied a visa. But, inasmuch as the trip was paid for, Huma decided to go anyway—and took her parents with her! Much of the “honeymoon” was spent with Huma posing in front of various tourist spots with an arm outstretched, as if she were holding onto her hubby. I think it’s nice to start off a marriage with a sense of humor.
Finally, have you ever travelled and had your luggage end up where you weren’t? I certainly have, and I’m here to tell you it isn’t fun. However, how many times have you left something in an airport, only to panic when you realized you didn’t have the missing item? That happened to me as I returned from a business trip to Atlanta. I had used the restroom in the luggage carousel area while waiting for my bag, and only as I was driving away from the airport did I remember leaving in the restroom the satchel I’d carried on the airplane. The satchel held many important papers (important to me, but worthless to anyone else) and I drove back to the airport to get it. Fortunately, it had already been turned in to the lost and found room where I was able to retrieve it.
I remember speaking with the staff member there about it, and he told me some of the more interesting things people had left behind in the restroom. Items such as wedding bands and watches made some sense to me, as sometimes people will take those off to wash their hands, but several people left behind full sets of false teeth. That baffled me.
What other left-behind items baffle, or at least amuse, me? Here are some that as far as anyone knows are still waiting to be claimed by their owners:
- a Samurai sword
- a prosthetic arm
- a coffin
- a stuffed fox
- a puffer fish
- a lawnmower
- a park bench
- WW2 gas masks
- a home vasectomy kit
- a pair of breast implants
- a shrunken head
- bag pipes
- a complete Las Vegas showgirl costume
- a 5.6 carat diamond hidden in a sock
- a stuffed goose
If any of these are yours, contact the airline ASAP. Oh, and have a great vacation!
This week’s Street Advertising Smile:
