Sometimes, just sometimes ......

[GrannyJen]

Going away is hard to do (Cue Neil Sedaka)...

So yesterday, three days away planned.....

Not my usual smooth get-away, all sorts distractions, I finally got over them, jumped into Alfie, headed off for Lowestoft ....

65 miles later I needed a wee. Clacket lane services, M25 ... might as well buy some food .... reach for my handbag ......

65 miles more on the clock and I am back home reunited with my handbag.

Try again. Fuel is low. Pull into aFilling station and ..... "did I pack my laptop charger?"

Try Again. Finally reach Cambridge. Great nights sleep, 50 mph winds excepting, then this morning if it could go wrong .... it did.

So back home.

Sometimes it doesn't work... am I the only one?

 

[Kernowboy]

Reminds me of my old boss. Drove from Ayr to Dover, Dover to Ayr and finally Ayr to Dover - this time with his wife’s passport. Not a word of criticism passed his lips by all accounts, a lesson in crisis management.

 

[66tim99]

I remember my Dad borrowing his bosses 1970’s VW camper in about 1980, driving us from Settle to Hull...exactly one week before he’d booked the ferry crossing for. Rather than embarrass himself as he’d booked the week off, he decided we should tour Northumberland rather than Denmark.

 

[Skylark2.0]

You all need excel spread sheets for packing!! Print out and cross off. It avoids these annoying incidents.... or at least you know who to blame when they happen....!

 

[BrugseB]

I remember my dad setting off in his car for a visit to the bank, and his safe there. Returned within half an hour because he forgot the key. Half hour later, no key found in his desk so preparing to go back to the bank for crisis consultation. Just to find his brief case, with key, laying on the roof of the car! Still laying on the roof that was, luckily!

 

[Auberg-ine]

Identical here, but then with a pizza on the roof! I swear.

 

[GrannyJen]

You all need excel spread sheets for packing!! Print out and cross off. It avoids these annoying incidents.... or at least you know who to blame when they happen....!

Oh I have the spread sheets!!

I just don't look at them

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Going away is hard to do (Cue Neil Sedaka)...

So yesterday, three days away planned.....

Not my usual smooth get-away, all sorts distractions, I finally got over them, jumped into Alfie, headed off for Lowestoft ....

65 miles later I needed a wee. Clacket lane services, M25 ... might as well buy some food .... reach for my handbag ......

65 miles more on the clock and I am back home reunited with my handbag.

Try again. Fuel is low. Pull into aFilling station and ..... "did I pack my laptop charger?"

Try Again. Finally reach Cambridge. Great nights sleep, 50 mph winds excepting, then this morning if it could go wrong .... it did.

So back home.

Sometimes it doesn't work... am I the only one?

You’re not @GrannyJen
Many years ago we were on Hong Kong Island and decided to take a ferry to Macau. Walked from the Ritz Carlton to the port, probably a couple of kilometres. Got to the port and realised we’d left our passports in the safe in our room. My wife stayed at the port and I walked back and on arrival at the hotel realised the key to the safe was in my wife’s bag. Walked back to the port to get the key and then back to the hotel. Finally back to the port. So about 10 kilometres.

Not a good start to the day and it didn’t improve. No view from the hydrofoil due to spray on the windows and on arrival in Macau, discovered that most streets were closed due to the imminent Grand Prix

Back to HK and the all too familiar walk to the hotel.

 

[Auberg-ine]

You have some time here for another crazy but true story?
Years ago, in a pre-mobile phone era, I ran out of Gasoline at a desolated highway at noon in the middle of France. You know those moments, thinking you will still have enough reserve till the next station, and then just forget to stop. So I called the Help Center via one of those telephone poles, where they explained that it could take a while due to an accident further on. 15 min later a Fiat Panda with a Tunesian family on holiday (4 adults) in it stopped to check if they could help. So I got squeezed in (!) till the next service station. I crossed the bridge where the station was situated, bought a 5l can, filled it, and went to check a resting trucker aiming for the opposite direction. He agreed, I stepped in, to wait another 15min, till his tachograph allowed him to leave. He then dropped me, I crossed the highway (as I said really abandoned at that moment), poured in the 5 liters, ... without any effect! Back to the telephone pole, to ask for assistance. 1 hour later the dépanneur arrived, loaded the Espace at his truck. We took the first exit (, passed a gas station on the local road), to arrive at a garage some extra 3km further on. He unloaded my car while I went into the office when I saw him driving my car!. Apparently, all the movements made that the 5l gasoline found its way to the combustion. Enfin, drove back, till the local gas pump we just passed, to discover they were out of diesel! (forgot the reason). So back to the highway station. I swear, just before the bridge at the service station exit the engine starts to sputter again. I just barely crawled over the bridge and to a proper pump.
This whole craziness started at noon, I got back on the road by 4pm.
....
Wished I could say I learned my lesson. Unfortunately, I still get from time to time these adrenaline kicks when I just pass the planned service station...

 

[willwander]

Mishaps make a trip memorable.
I travelled around Asia for three years.
I can only remember the bad bits.

 

[GrannyJen]

You have some time here for another crazy but true story?
Years ago, in a pre-mobile phone era, I ran out of Gasoline at a desolated highway at noon in the middle of France. You know those moments, thinking you will still have enough reserve till the next station, and then just forget to stop. So I called the Help Center via one of those telephone poles, where they explained that it could take a while due to an accident further on. 15 min later a Fiat Panda with a Tunesian family on holiday (4 adults) in it stopped to check if they could help. So I got squeezed in (!) till the next service station. I crossed the bridge where the station was situated, bought a 5l can, filled it, and went to check a resting trucker aiming for the opposite direction. He agreed, I stepped in, to wait another 15min, till his tachograph allowed him to leave. He then dropped me, I crossed the highway (as I said really abandoned at that moment), poured in the 5 liters, ... without any effect! Back to the telephone pole, to ask for assistance. 1 hour later the dépanneur arrived, loaded the Espace at his truck. We took the first exit (, passed a gas station on the local road), to arrive at a garage some extra 3km further on. He unloaded my car while I went into the office when I saw him driving my car!. Apparently, all the movements made that the 5l gasoline found its way to the combustion. Enfin, drove back, till the local gas pump we just passed, to discover they were out of diesel! (forgot the reason). So back to the highway station. I swear, just before the bridge at the service station exit the engine starts to sputter again. I just barely crawled over the bridge and to a proper pump.
This whole craziness started at noon, I got back on the road by 4pm.
....
Wished I could say I learned my lesson. Unfortunately, I still get from time to time these adrenaline kicks when I just pass the planned service station...

Fabulous story!!!