Minor Mishap # 12

They lost our luggage... again. Both the backpacks stayed in LAX on our way home, while we continued on to Brisbane. Of course it really did have to happen. The last flight of our entire world trip needed to be marked by something special.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS pick up your luggage and re-check when transferring through USA especially when traveling either to or from Canada.

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #11

We had flown in from Lima to Toronto via Miami and were starting to feel the effects of the cold Dad had left us with. As a little bit of history, the last time Mum flew with Amercan Airlines, to Montreal... they lost her bags for 4 days. Thus, when we arrived at Miami we checked with 3 attendants that our bags had made it on to the plane to Toronto. We were thoroughly assured they had (I'm sure you can tell where this is going).

On arrival at Toronto airport (11.50pm), we waited in trepidation at the turnstile while Mum's bag failed to show up. Apparently, the wayward bag had decided that San Jose in Costa Rica was a much more acceptable destination. It convinced a whole pallet of bags to jump planes in Miami. We went to the hotel with my sensible bag to wait for Mum's bag.

It took 5 days for them to get Mum's bag to us. At least they got it to us before we left the next day... (I won't bore you with the found-not found saga.)

Moral of the story: Don't fly to Canada with American Airlines. Perhaps the Canadian government has a conspiracy with AA to make you spend money in Canada?!

l
R
x
and Judy

P.S. Do you know the way to San Jose?... apparently Mum's bag does!

Minor Mishap # 10

We had flown from Lima to Juliaca, with a stop in Arequipa. In order to get to Puno, it was necessary to take a bus. So we threw our bags on top of the minivan and sardined ourselves into seats in the overpacked vehicle.

First stop for the driver was at a station to fill up the tyres. We didn't think much of that event until halfway to Puno (about 30 mins) he stopped to check the tyres... hmm. The next station he stopped at didn't have any air. So the driver decided to try and change the tyre - with us still packed inside.

The light was fading, cold was coming in and we were all starting to feel the altitude. While wondering if we would ever make it to Puno, the driver gave up on the tyre and rang for another bus - bigger and better yay!

l
R
x
and Judy
+ the Δ

Minor Mishap #9

On the Saturday before we left St Petersburg, Mum was looking through the trip notes and noticed that our flight in to Moscow arrived at a different Airport than where we were supposed to fly out (to South America). We didn't panic, because our travel agent hadn't pointed it out to us, so we thought it likely that they were just two names for international and domestic terminals.

That afternoon I showed Katya, our tour leader, and asked what was the best way to travel between the terminals... and her face dropped. Apparently the Airports were on opposite sides of the city. We thus started to panic.

For those of you who have not been to Russia before here are the locations of the two airports:

Straight line distance between these is 60 km.

Katya suggested a taxi would be the best way, but would be expensive, and luckily we were travelling on a Sunday, since during the week it could take up to 6 hours crossing the city. We went to bed feeling a little nervous.

As it happened, our flight from St Petersburg arrived an hour early in Sheremetyevo and I immediately went to the transfer desk to ask about the best way to get to Domodedovo. The two attendants exchanged disbelieving looks, which further plummeted my confidence. However, they gave me comprehensive information on catching a bus, metro then train.

Luckily passport control was unattended, so we saved another hour there. Outside I asked about the cost of a taxi - 5000 Rubels (about $250!). This pretty much made our decision to take the public transport. All up we had 3 hours to get to Domodedovo.

It took an hour on the bus to the metro because traffic was bad due to rain. The nausea started to rise. The metro took 30 minutes and the express train to the airport took a further hour. So we ended up making it with 30 minutes to spare. Easy... right? Total cost - 500 Rubels ($25).

After checking in, our nausea had lifted and we even had time to get something to eat.

l

R

x

and Judy

Minor Mishap #8

We spent the morning running around Naples trying to find a post office. The first one we found only acted as a bank - naturally. We continued our search (with directions) and after 2 hours we found another post office which had 1 teller for postage, and 8 for banking. The automatic doors were not working, so we had to queue in the hot sun until security manually let people through. Upon reaching the counter we posted 4 postcards.

After this excursion we managed to have a 20 minute lunch before quickly collecting our luggage and briskly walking to the station. We were very pleased with ourselves that we had made the train to Bari after our dilemma filled morning.

Arriving at Caserta, the departure board showed our connecting train to Bari was 30 minutes late. We were not too concerned because we still had 1 .5 hours at the other end to make our way to the dock... 30 minutes later the delay had increased to 50 minutes... this increased our nervousness a little but the conclusion was not yet forgone...

Finally we left an hour late and lost another hour in the journey to Bari. Thus, we missed the boat by 5 minutes. The only boat to Greece.

This forced us to have an unplanned but lovely day in Bari, checking out the old city, city wall and castle.

A side street in Old City, Bari.

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #7

This one came in the superstitious multiples of 3... each!

7a. Really a major misunderstanding. We arrived at the Colosseum late on the first day and asked at the counter whether we could buy a ticket for the next day. We were led to believe that the ticket worked for 2 days and we could go on through with the little time we had left and come back the next day for the guided tour. Not so, to Mum's surprise when she tried to use her ticket. A little bit of diplomatic conversation concluded in Mum being let through without having to buy an extra ticket. We really did appreciate it. (see 7d for my ticket fiasco)

7b. A souvenir stand outside the Colosseum was aiming to decapitate Mum during a huge gust of wind. The flimsy umbrella Mum was holding snapped, but may have slowed the inertia of the mini-Colosseums and postcards, thereby saving Mum's life. May it rest in peace.

7c. An unknown and unseen bug decided to bite Mum on the ankle twice. We were starting to get worried about necrosis... but thankfully it abated.

7d. After making sure I had my "2day pass" in my pocket with my camera I decided to take some pics on the way to the Colosseum. Somewhere in this process I lost my ticket and consequently was rather displeased with myself when I had to buy another one.

7e. I hooked my mobile phone up to be charged and got the message: "Unable to Charge". My Response: *blank look... panic* WHAT?! I solved the problem by taking some advice from the internet - taking out the battery, replacing and charging the phone on "off".

7f. I thought I had lost my Swiss Army knife. How was I ever supposed to be prepared for all situations without that? Luckily, it was a false alarm, I found it hiding in the bottom of my backpack in Tuscany. Definitely needed the break!

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #6

Frolicking in an adjoining sheep paddock to the ruins of a Roman fort in Hadrian's Wall. Later, I was moving the car into the shade for a litte afternoon kip... when I could smell something rather un-car-like. I thought I had driven through something.

But no. Somehow, I had been so engrossed in the ruins that I had not noticed myself sinking up to my armpits in the sheep paddock. Half an hour and several baby-wipes later, my shoes and jean bottoms were semi-decent, to the point where there was no longer an overpowering stench (as long as the windows remained open).

I had to throw out my jeans and socks. I mean, how does a sheep smell that bad? They only eat grass!!!

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #5

My friend Kelly lives with 3 other people and most of the furniture belongs to Andrew - a lovely guy from Aberdeen. The first morning we were at Kelly's, Mum was using the computer and I wanted to sit next to her to view what she was doing. I spied a lovely 3-legged chair made of wood where the three legs had been carved out of one piece of wood, but made to lock together in a plaited/celtic type fashion. I began to sit down.

Before I could sit down completely I heard a loud craaaaack!... and I fell to the floor in total shock.

Mum proceeded to point and laugh and ask why I had sat on a table.

I was so terrified that I had just destroyed a family heirloom, and didn't have a chance to tell Andrew until the evening, so was boiling in my guilt and fear all day. I was quite vividly envisioning the wrath of a Scottish temper.

However, Andrew showed no sign of concern, and pointed out that the table should be able to be fixed with glue quite easily, and apparently it was a cheap table and fell apart all the time.

Sorry Andrew!

l
R
x
(and Judy)

Minor Mishap #4

Our felucca ride was relaxing... mostly.

A felucca is an egyptian sail boat and ours was set up with a rather large mattress covering the entire deck. Captain Smiley (as he liked to be called) was very competent at tacking against the wind toward Luxor, and seemed to have the knack of skimming our heads just above the water.

Mum and I were relaxing in the late afternoon, listening to Pride and Prejudice on podcast and the others were on deck in various states of relaxation. We were all feeling very indulgent and regal. That is, until a strong gust of wind came up unbeknownst to us.

As we were used to the frequent tipping of the boat, we didn't suspect anything was amiss... However, then we started to slide towards the edge while the icy cold water of the Nile started to rush in. I got to my feet in quite a rush with only a minor amount of screaming.

Captain Smiley was able to avoid capsising (we weren't so sure if he could at one stage) and correct the boat. We sailed towards shore to dry out and wait out the wind.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of myself, but it looked a bit like this...

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #3

In which Mum says "Throw me a freakin' screwdriver!"

We flew from Vic Falls to Jo-burg and needed to get a connecting domestic flight to Cape Town. We had made it through immigration with no hassles and on the other side Mum disappeared. Knowing Mum, I immediately headed for the bathroom. Once in there I heard a feeble "Hello? Can someone help?"

To which I replied "Mum?"

It turned out that she had managed to lock herself in the cubicle by breaking the lock - so that it wouldn't turn back.

I trotted off to find help.

I decided to go up to a female attendant to save some embarrassment, however she called over her friend to come in and have a look as well. They tried turning from the outside with a coin to no avail.

Then, when Mum's weakening cries of "I just need a screwdriver... I only have 2 screws to undo" seemed to be ignored by the general company and I could fast see the scene turning into one of the beginning scenes from 'There's Something about Mary' Mum suggested I go and get my swiss army knife from our luggage, so I did.

When I came back from collecting the luggage, there was a guy trying to bash down the door with a broom handle. I quickly handed the knife to Mum and she undid one screw on the latch.

So after 20 minutes, we were finally on our way. And after we solved the problem, they wanted us to buy them a drink!

l
R
x
(and Judy)

Minor Mishap #2

Our disembarkment from the bus in Jaipur was a slight fiasco. It occured on the hottest day we had in India, and during my sickness phase (see India blog).

We had been driving through the city for some time, and we came to a stop. Two men came on board and one asked briskly "Are you for Jaipur?"

To which we replied "Yes."

"This is your stop, get off here." He said.

To which we unloaded our luggage and asked "Are you with Geckos?"

They of course replied "Yes."

However, there were many tuk-tuks and we started to feel that the situation wasn't quite right. Mainly because their attitude was not what we had experienced by our other guides. This was confirmed by them asking us where we needed to go and pointed to get in the tuk-tuks. Of course, if they had been our guides, they should have known where we were going.

Fortunately, I had my mobile phone roaming and we could resolve the situation with little stress. Dheerendra -the true tour guide- came and picked us up in a car within 20 minutes.

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #1

If ever it was going to happen then it was bound to happen on the first day!

It was the first day in China (Beijing) and we went up to the Summer Palace with the bus and then back with the taxi. We hadn't realised at the time, but when the taxi driver handed back our 100 yuan note and said he "didn't like new notes" - he had actually switched the note we gave him with a counterfeit. We found this out later when Mum tried to pay for dinner at the hotel and it was returned as a counterfeit.

We deduced it must have come from the taxi driver because Travelex would check their money and the only other place we got money exchanged was at the hotel - and they checked it all through a special machine before they gave it to us. Rocky, our tour leader, later confirmed that this scam sometimes happens in taxis.

Now we have another souvenir!

l

R
x
and Judy