When Travel Gives You Lemons

You can’t travel as much as I do and not run into the occasional issue.  But for me, these issues usually fall into a few buckets:  1)  there is nothing you can do about it; 2) it comes up in advance before I depart which gives me time to solve it …

The delays on my recent trip to Guernsey were different because I almost predicted them and then once it came to fruition, I was almost paralyzed with options to fix it.

My flight from DC to Paris was delayed and resulted missing my follow-on flight by just minutes.  It was still on the screen when I finally got to Terminal 3 (2.7 miles and a train ride away from my arrival in terminal 2).  There were no flights from Paris for several days …  What do I do????

Do I just spend the weekend in Paris and give up on Guernsey?

Do I get to London in order to take a flight from there? 

Do I fly or take the train? 

If I hurry, I can cut it close and get out the same night or just miss another flight…. 

Or do I play it safe and spend the night in London and fly out the following day? 

It took me about an hour to research my options and make new plans.  I am ashamed to say it then took me longer than that to stop my pity party, to stop obsessing about my past decisions that I couldn’t change and to get off my butt and head into Paris. 

Now in my defense….  Even with a long layover, I had to find baggage storage, which cost 15E, pay 30E for the 90-minute round trip train.  So, I only had about two hours in a city that I’ve been to at least 8-9 times. 

But the Return on Investment on my mood and life lessons is priceless.  Here are some of those lessons and reminders! 

1. Don’t let your Points and Miles Strategy override common sense.  I booked KLM because it was a great deal on points.  I knew it had a short layover and if I missed my flight in Paris, I had limited options.  There was a British Airlines cash flight with a great connection and other options if delayed. 

This is for each traveler to decide, but for me, time is my most precious commodity.  I have a full-time job and family.  Both of whom are generous and indulge me with my need to see the world.  But I am almost always on a tight schedule.  If a points or miles option won’t work for me, I need to pivot to a cash option.    I have already followed through on the lesson and rebooked a trip this fall as a cash fare due to a similar situation. 

2. Trust my gut.  I have more than enough travel experience to trust my gut.  I thought about spending 24 hours in London or Paris to alleviate the stress of the tight connection.  I even booked an earlier flight to Paris but decided I needed the day at work and home.  But really if I was that concerned, I should have done additional research.  How often is that flight from IAD to CDG late?  How far is my arrival terminal from my departure terminal (turns out it is 2.7 miles and outside security requiring me to go through immigration twice).  If I can’t spend more time at my layover, then book the cash flight. 

3. Trip Insurance.  I almost always buy trip insurance.  I didn’t this time and it was a $700 mistake.  It was such a short and easy trip I figured it would be a waste of money.  But as I was reminded, “pivoting” can be expensive.  In my case it cost 70E for a few hours in Paris (which insurance would not have covered), a plane ticket to London, a fee to change my flight to Guernsey, one night hotel and one night missed hotel.  I keep hearing that Chase has the best trip protections around, but this is the second time it hasn’t worked for me.  I was reminded to stick with actual insurance. 

4. Take a breadth.  After a full day of work, an overnight flight, running through the airport, and missing my flight on a hot afternoon – I started to make poor decisions.  I was tired.  I was cranky.  I was hot.  It was a reminder to write things down, double check times, set alarms, and give myself some extra time and grace. 

5. Go with it.  It may not be what I planned but as a co-worker texted me “a bad day in Paris beats a good day in DC.”  I love DC so I don’t know about that – but come ‘on… it’s Paris!  Once I got myself together, I went to a bookstore that’s been on my list for years, saw the Seine, and had a glass of champagne with a tart.  Not a bad afternoon in the grand scheme of things.   

So, when travel gives you lemons – drink Champagne!