Cautionary Tale: Double & Triple Check When Booking

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Meggan: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Travel tip Tuesday, the travel Mug Podcast. It's a lot of Ts it's our new bi-weekly treats. So you don't miss us in between our regular shows. Hey Jen. All right. So this week we want to chat about double and triple checking when booking your travel.

Now, Jen, are you in double or triple checker when booking?

Jenn: Yeah.

So I would say that I usually am, although I will tell you that I did book a flight recently, shocker I'm heading out in December. I booked the flight without looking at the flight connection times. Why don't know, got really excited and forgot what I was doing. I guess I have a need a bit of a tight connection in Toronto going to be interesting. But in general, I am a double, triple checker.

Meggan: Well, the reason that I say this is because I have a cautionary tale for our travel tip Tuesday, Jen and bill, if you're listening, I'm sorry. We were once in Cuba. And we met a really great couple from Ontario.

So we were there for two weeks and they were there for one week or so they thought. So we were sitting in the lobby, they just got back from a walk and they're like, we'll be right back up to like, have a drink or whatever. So then later we saw them sort of like scurrying like red faced through the lobby. And we're just like, maybe there was something wrong with their room.

Maybe there was a leak or something, but an hour later they joined us. They advised us that the group of people leaving the hotel earlier that afternoon, that we sort of liked snickered at because they had to go home. They should have been with them.

Jenn: Oh my God.

Meggan: They thought they had booked a seven day trip, but they had actuality only booked a five.

Jenn: Oh my God.

Meggan: So their ride home left both, you know, ground transportation and then flight. So therefore they'd missed everything. So it costs them thousands of dollars to stay one more night pay for their ride to the airport. Pay for their flight home. They could not fly into the city they needed. So they had to take the train.

Once they got into Canada to then get to Toronto, I think they were only able to fly into Montreal, had to take a train to get back to Toronto.

Jenn: Oh my God.

Meggan: It makes me still like, jittery to think about it today. Like I would throw up right. Wherever I was standing, I would just be like, this cannot be happening.

Cause what happened is they got back to the room in their room key wouldn't work cause they weren't to be there. We kept out, oh my God. I know, what did they, this caution

Jenn: that the hotel didn't like clean their room and like throw away

Meggan: their stuff actually was still in their room. But at a certain time the key just stopped.

God, what did they tell them? They had to pay on their own to stay in that room one more night. Bless their hearts, but this definitely taught us a lesson. So whenever we're booking something, we're both like, yep. Nope. Calendar check it. Is it? Nope. Okay. Like probably 20 times. And we're like, if people were listening to us, they'd be like, just book it over.

But I have just learned from that one story to never take what I think is the proper date for granted. And like when we're checked, when we're booking as well, especially hotels and stuff, even though you can likely cancel especially hotels, we really make sure we're following a grid. Like, are we what's the next night?

What's the next two nights. I really just think that being careful and taking your time never hurt anybody. Cause the opposite has hurt people.

Jenn: Yes. Thank God. Not like nothing like this has ever happened to me, but I will say a friend he, we used to have this midnight flight, right. Halifax to London Heathrow.

So he showed up on the wrong date because midnight is confusing, right? Midnight is the first minute of that day. So if your flight is on the fifth, you need to show up the night of the fourth, but he showed up thenight of the fifth thinking his flight though. He missed his flight by like 24 hours. Right. They have later changed this flight.

I don't know if it's back yet. COVID but they change a

Meggan: twleve oh five or some,

Jenn: I don't remember if it's 1205 or 1155. It was like, just to make doubly sure that you know, what day

Meggan: that's brutal

Jenn: 12AM is confusing. It is the first minute of the day. So Yeah,

Meggan: what happens with him?

Jenn: He had to book another flight. I mean, I don't know what happened there, I guess. Got there eventually, I think, but this was like, I don't know, probably eight or nine years ago, but I remembered that and I was like, yep, that's a problem. Yeah.

Meggan: See these are cautionary tales. So. With that we hope we've sort of made you not too paranoid, but we just recommend double checking, triple checking, just whatever you need to do.

And really we hope this can be helpful. So thank you for tuning in to the travel tip Tuesday. We wish you a really careful booking on your next adventure. Have a great day, everyone. Bye bye.