My biggest fear--and it almost happened when I was in Norway--is losing my passport, the document I need to get home. I **ALMOST** left my backpack with my passport on the light rail in Bergen, Norway getting off at the train station. But some Supreme Being looks out for travelers and idiots, and a VERY kind woman yelled at me and handed it to me JUST as the doors were closing. I still have nightmares, and now I keep it on me when I carry it.
When we were at PHX yesterday, a guy left his cell phone on a bench. My son chased him down and returned it. He had six minutes left to board his flight to Honolulu.
I haven't traveled extensively but enough over a lifetime, with too many mishaps (from poor planning), that I'm obsessive about details and arriving early these days. Once I'm sitting on the plane, I can finally breathe. I lost my passport in Haiti on a medical mission trip (thankfully found on the hospital campus!) and my favorite warm hat on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow (I replaced it with an even more fabulous hat while in Scotland that looks like ridiculous overkill but is one of my favorite souvenirs). I've also read Christopher Elliott in the newspaper and online obsessively for years so I have every advantage while traveling!
Mine is a missing a flight. It’s a rational cause we’re always there early and it only happened once in our lives because of a terrible rain storm. I don’t worry about the flights. I don’t worry about plane crashes or things like that. It’s just missing the first flight or the connections Which usually has me rushing through airports to make that connection to then sit and wait for two hours. The other is getting appendicitis and needing surgery in a strange country strange hospital, strange healthcare, and the risk of infection and death. must be age related.
Once my family, despite having "confirmed seating" on a flight, got bumped. I think every seat on the flight must have been sold twice. My biggest fear ever since then is of being bumped because of long lines. So I try to get to the airport early enough to avoid it.
Getting bumped is the worst. Fortunately, it doesn't happen that often. But when it does, and the airline doesn't do the right thing, you know who to call.
I actually have a recurring dream of being late; I've got all the plans, tickets, itinerary together, packing list with money, passports, reservations etc. at the top of the list; yet in my dream I am struggling to get dressed, get out of the house, get everyone else rounded up (or they are already out the door) and I am "paralyzed".
Thankfully this is not the case - just the opposite; I am hours early for flights and always at the ready for pickup rides, tours, etc. Whew !
I usually fly out of IAD, getting there by car (an easy straight shot half-hour drive. Metro would take more than double that at a minimum and would be convoluted because it doesn't run in the direction I need from my location). My one paranoia is that an accident shuts down the access road -- which has occasionally happened. So I always go really early ahead of when I need to be there. I'm content to hang out in the terminal and people-watch.
Like Susan, I frequently fly out of IAD, and also worry about something major happening on the road there because at one point there are no options to get off and on to an alternate route. There have been accidents that have shut down the road for many hours, and there is a limit to how early one can go to an airport.
I was once on a Get-On Get-Off bus in Copenhagen. When I got off I realized I didn't have my phone. I freaked out and after checking everywhere I thought maybe I left it on the bus which was now gone. Fortunately the same bus came back 50 minutes later and sure enough I went up to the upper level and on the floor was my phone. It would have been a big problem because we usually travel alone and need it in addition to calling home for maps, language, various booked reservations etc. It became my biggest fear such that now when I travel I keep an older phone that uses a sim card as a backup and if I were to lose my phone (which is now with an esim) I can at least go to a store and buy a pre-loaded sim card with a phone number to get me through the trip. It's not a perfect solution of course but it doesnt become a completely devastating situation.
Before a trip I usually have a dream about something travel related, usually forgetting something. It sharpens me.
I saw a well known mystery writer interviewed about public transportation. She contended that no writer is not worth their salt if they are not on the bus. So much fodder.
I keep my passport in a slim RFID zip pouch. I put an elastic cord through the zipper, attach the cord to a pants loop, and tuck the pouch into my pocket. If someone tries to take my passport, they will probably pull me over, and I will notice that. I also have copies of my passport on my phone and in an email I sent to me.
On a separate note, pickpockets watch for people pattng their pockets, that tells them where the goods are.
So much of life is on our phones now that my main concern is losing my phone. I carry mine in a waist pack, so it is always on me, and I'm not going to forget it somewhere on the way, but what if it were stolen. I have an old phone, no SIM card, but it has all my files and pictures on it, and it will let me function where I have WiFi, so I take that with me as a back-up. I have a picture of my passport on my phone, which will make it easier to replace in case of emergency. Since I travel alone, I'm responsible for all the information I need on a trip.
You never know how long the lines are going to be at the airport, so you arrive absurdly early. If the lines are long, you angst about making your flight. If they’re short, you get thru check-in and TSA then twiddle your thumbs for 90 minutes at the gate. Will the flight be cancelled? (This week two of my flights were cancelled on the same day. Instead of arriving at 3pm, I rolled in at 11:30, having missed the family celebration.) Will your seatmate be a double-wide slob with a bad cold? The airline probably won’t lose your luggage. But there’s no longer a guard checking the tag on the bag you take from the carousel, so it’s easy for someone else to snag your bag. (Years ago, I got off a plane, bleary-eyed, accidentally took a bag that looked just like mine, got home and realized it wasn’t mine, called the airline, drove all the way back to the airport to turn it in and get the bag that did belong to me.)
My biggest fear--and it almost happened when I was in Norway--is losing my passport, the document I need to get home. I **ALMOST** left my backpack with my passport on the light rail in Bergen, Norway getting off at the train station. But some Supreme Being looks out for travelers and idiots, and a VERY kind woman yelled at me and handed it to me JUST as the doors were closing. I still have nightmares, and now I keep it on me when I carry it.
When we were at PHX yesterday, a guy left his cell phone on a bench. My son chased him down and returned it. He had six minutes left to board his flight to Honolulu.
I haven't traveled extensively but enough over a lifetime, with too many mishaps (from poor planning), that I'm obsessive about details and arriving early these days. Once I'm sitting on the plane, I can finally breathe. I lost my passport in Haiti on a medical mission trip (thankfully found on the hospital campus!) and my favorite warm hat on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow (I replaced it with an even more fabulous hat while in Scotland that looks like ridiculous overkill but is one of my favorite souvenirs). I've also read Christopher Elliott in the newspaper and online obsessively for years so I have every advantage while traveling!
Oh, that's interesting -- I'm working on a story about that right now. (The "when you can breathe easy" part.)
The passport concern is one for me too. Just like the article; always patting it. Make sure it’s still there.
I won’t even put it in the TSA tray—they usually just tell me to hold it out in the scanner.
Nobody is getting it.
I'm always obsessively reaching for it, too. No one is getting it. They'll pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
Mine is a missing a flight. It’s a rational cause we’re always there early and it only happened once in our lives because of a terrible rain storm. I don’t worry about the flights. I don’t worry about plane crashes or things like that. It’s just missing the first flight or the connections Which usually has me rushing through airports to make that connection to then sit and wait for two hours. The other is getting appendicitis and needing surgery in a strange country strange hospital, strange healthcare, and the risk of infection and death. must be age related.
Once my family, despite having "confirmed seating" on a flight, got bumped. I think every seat on the flight must have been sold twice. My biggest fear ever since then is of being bumped because of long lines. So I try to get to the airport early enough to avoid it.
Getting bumped is the worst. Fortunately, it doesn't happen that often. But when it does, and the airline doesn't do the right thing, you know who to call.
I actually have a recurring dream of being late; I've got all the plans, tickets, itinerary together, packing list with money, passports, reservations etc. at the top of the list; yet in my dream I am struggling to get dressed, get out of the house, get everyone else rounded up (or they are already out the door) and I am "paralyzed".
Thankfully this is not the case - just the opposite; I am hours early for flights and always at the ready for pickup rides, tours, etc. Whew !
I think I've had that dream, too.
There so many videos about pickpockets. That is my fear.
Yes. Do you have a favorite video?
I usually fly out of IAD, getting there by car (an easy straight shot half-hour drive. Metro would take more than double that at a minimum and would be convoluted because it doesn't run in the direction I need from my location). My one paranoia is that an accident shuts down the access road -- which has occasionally happened. So I always go really early ahead of when I need to be there. I'm content to hang out in the terminal and people-watch.
Like Susan, I frequently fly out of IAD, and also worry about something major happening on the road there because at one point there are no options to get off and on to an alternate route. There have been accidents that have shut down the road for many hours, and there is a limit to how early one can go to an airport.
I was once on a Get-On Get-Off bus in Copenhagen. When I got off I realized I didn't have my phone. I freaked out and after checking everywhere I thought maybe I left it on the bus which was now gone. Fortunately the same bus came back 50 minutes later and sure enough I went up to the upper level and on the floor was my phone. It would have been a big problem because we usually travel alone and need it in addition to calling home for maps, language, various booked reservations etc. It became my biggest fear such that now when I travel I keep an older phone that uses a sim card as a backup and if I were to lose my phone (which is now with an esim) I can at least go to a store and buy a pre-loaded sim card with a phone number to get me through the trip. It's not a perfect solution of course but it doesnt become a completely devastating situation.
Copenhagen is one of the safest cities in the world, and people are honest almost to a fault.
Before a trip I usually have a dream about something travel related, usually forgetting something. It sharpens me.
I saw a well known mystery writer interviewed about public transportation. She contended that no writer is not worth their salt if they are not on the bus. So much fodder.
Missing a connection! Too many near-misses due to flight delays have led me to insist on longer connection times on international flights.
I keep my passport in a slim RFID zip pouch. I put an elastic cord through the zipper, attach the cord to a pants loop, and tuck the pouch into my pocket. If someone tries to take my passport, they will probably pull me over, and I will notice that. I also have copies of my passport on my phone and in an email I sent to me.
On a separate note, pickpockets watch for people pattng their pockets, that tells them where the goods are.
So much of life is on our phones now that my main concern is losing my phone. I carry mine in a waist pack, so it is always on me, and I'm not going to forget it somewhere on the way, but what if it were stolen. I have an old phone, no SIM card, but it has all my files and pictures on it, and it will let me function where I have WiFi, so I take that with me as a back-up. I have a picture of my passport on my phone, which will make it easier to replace in case of emergency. Since I travel alone, I'm responsible for all the information I need on a trip.
You never know how long the lines are going to be at the airport, so you arrive absurdly early. If the lines are long, you angst about making your flight. If they’re short, you get thru check-in and TSA then twiddle your thumbs for 90 minutes at the gate. Will the flight be cancelled? (This week two of my flights were cancelled on the same day. Instead of arriving at 3pm, I rolled in at 11:30, having missed the family celebration.) Will your seatmate be a double-wide slob with a bad cold? The airline probably won’t lose your luggage. But there’s no longer a guard checking the tag on the bag you take from the carousel, so it’s easy for someone else to snag your bag. (Years ago, I got off a plane, bleary-eyed, accidentally took a bag that looked just like mine, got home and realized it wasn’t mine, called the airline, drove all the way back to the airport to turn it in and get the bag that did belong to me.)
Bedbugs. I suffered through an infestation in my home 6 years ago and have not slept in any bed other than my own since then.