Travel Headaches I Could Have Avoided

I really don’t like having to travel far on business and luckily for me my trips are few and far between. On a recent business trip to America I think I made almost every mistake in the book.

Things started to go wrong when I arrived at Gatwick airport in my car only to find that there were no more available airport parking spaces close to my terminal. I was forced to pay top price for a car parking space that was miles away from the airport terminal building.

This delayed my arrival, and I was already late. The people at the check in desk were none too pleased telling me that I should have arrived at least an hour sooner. They also told me that I could have checked in online and printed my boarding pass myself before leaving home. I suppose you live and learn, but it can be expensive.

The early start had meant that I left home without having any breakfast so I immediately headed for one of the many airport restaurants. The prices for a full English breakfast were unbelievable and it wasn’t much less for a simple continental.

I arrived in Atlanta and immediately headed for one of the car hire providers. There were a whole load of conferences taking place and attendees had taken all of the best models. I ended up accepting a Chevrolet pickup for my two day visit. If I’d sensibly booked in advance I would have saved my employers some cash and maybe got myself a nice car.

When I came back to Atlanta airport I had forgotten to take my keys out of my pocket and I was wearing a new belt witha big American eagle metal buckle. My ovsersights resulted in me going through the body scanner no less than three times before I passed the security check.

After boarding my flight I noticed that I had lost my PDA. Maybe it was stolen, but the chances are that I had simply left it in the airport bar where I’d enjoyed a beer before my flight. Unfortunately my travel insurance didn’t cover me for lost or stolen items like this.

It’s pretty obvious that I am a little out of practice when it comes to air travel these days. I now think that I should stay at home here in the UK.