My mother-in-law has decided to start traveling and I’m really glad that she is finally start to get out of the house. It’s been 2 years since her husband passed away and she’s had a hard time getting used to the idea that she is, in effect, single again. Thankfully, my father-in-law made generous financial arrangements for her, so she can enjoy her life in her golden years.
She wants to go to California and I was telling her about some of the sights to see in the Los Angeles area. She is going to spend two weeks on the West Coast and that will give her plenty of time to do fun things. For example, there’s amusement parks like Disneryland and Knotts Berry Farm. I let her know there are ways to save money on her trip if she plans ahead, such as discounts on Knotts berry farm tickets.
I let her know that she can do a lot of research on sites like the one by Trusted Tours & Attractions, and to read their online travel guides, which can give her lots of ideas and help her plan a realistic itinerary and trip budget. She can also sign up for their email newsletter for more travel tips and ideas.
The last time I was in the Los Angeles area, I had trouble getting home. At the time it was a little stressful but now I can laugh about it. I was flying on a ticket that required a stopover in Detroit before continuing the return flight back to Washington. I had spent a ton of money on the trip to California and was flat broke but figured I wouldn’t need any money because the ticket was paid for and I was heading home.
I was anxious to get home, with a wedding to attend the next day, and planned to sleep on the 5 hour flight so I had nothing with me except what was in my pockets. After we all boarded the plane, we sat on the runway for an awfully long time and eventually the flight attendant announced that we were being delayed due to a mechanical issue and that they were in the process of checking it out. Then they cut off the power to the passenger cabin and we all sat on the plane, on the runway with no lights, no air conditioning and no air circulation for 2 hours. We were all trying to be good sports, but OMG - it was horrible. Especially without any air. I was about to lead a revolt to get off the plane when they finally put the power back on and we had air again. After a 3 hour delay we suddenly lurched forward and the seat belt sign came on and off we went.
The worst of it was not having the air conditioning, but besides that by the time we got to Detroit to make the connecting flight, we were so late that the connecting flight had already left. As a matter of fact, ALL scheduled flights had already left Detroit and there were no more planes leaving Detroit that night to go ANYWHERE. So here we were, a planeload of people wanting to go home and no way to get there! Plus i was stone cold broke and had no money for dinner or even a vending machine snack. The airline made arrangements to send us to local hotels for the night and we were able to catch a red-eye flight in the morning. But that was a rough return trip and I learned a couple travel lessons from that experience:
- Never spend all your money at your destination and have no money in your pocket on the return flight. You might need to buy dinner or a toothbrush if you end up spending the night someplace unplanned.
- Never book the last flight out. You might miss that flight or it might be canceled and you’ll be stuck someplace overnight. Always have one or two alternative flights following your scheduled flight as a safety net.
- Always have a book or laptop fully charged to keep yourself occupied in case you have to sit and wait for a couple hours.
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