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In reply to the discussion: I want to travel to Germany one day. What should I know ? [View all]CTyankee
(66,621 posts)I went to Portugal on a museum tour with 5 other friends. Because we arrived in Lisbon early and our rooms weren't available til later, the concierge at the hotel recommended we take one of the city's colorful trolleys that made a circuitous trip from the hotel and back. We could see Lisbon and experience the people! What could possibly go wrong?
So we stashed our bags at the hotel desk and took the trolley. Halfway through the trip the driver's supervisor got on and evidently dressed him down right there for some infraction of the rules. The driver resumed driving but was steaming mad and finally stopped dead, took the keys out of the ignition and ordered everybody off the trolley. Then he stormed off.
We found ourselves in the middle of a city whose language we did not know and we had no idea of where we were. Anybody have a map? No. Anybody remember the name of the hotel? Nope. Anybody speak a word of Portuguese? Uh,uh.
Great.
As sheer luck would have it, I had my trip itinerary, which listed the name of the hotel, in my handbag, not my backpack which was back at the hotel. We walked until we found ourselves at a large public park where taxis were stationed and took two taxis back to the hotel.
Upon retrospect, I guess we could have gone to the U.S. Embassy (luckily we were in a capital city!) and pieced it all together somehow, while feeling like idiots.
Lesson: carry itinerary listing everywhere you will be staying with you in your travel bag or backpack. You never know...
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