Want To Know About My Worst Travel Blunder?

I think everyone has made a travel blunder at one time or another. You do something that seems straightforward but you don’t realise the error you are making until after the fact.

No-one is immune and certainly not me. There is one thing I remember doing that stands out as the biggest travel fail in all the time I’ve been travelling.

Setting The Scene

My first arrival in Europe is memorable, mostly because I had to wait two hours to be seen at Passport control at London Heathrow Terminal 4. I was travelling with about 38 kilos of luggage and next I had to schlep it all over to Terminal 2.

This is the old Terminal 2 I am talking about, an absolutely horrible building all round. After waiting quite some time, I boarded my Icelandair flight to Keflavik Airport for Reykjavik.

Here Comes My Blunder

At some point I had decided to get some Icelandic money, so I was travelling with about 18,000 Icelandic Kroner. At the time, this was £165 worth and I figured this would cover most of my expenses for my time in Iceland.

On arrival, I was pretty tired from all the travelling and once I passed muster at Keflavik Airport, I collected my bags and sauntered out into the chilly April afternoon. Spotting two taxis at the rank, I jumped in one and off we went.

Driving along, I chatted to the pleasant driver and kept an eye on the meter. While awed by the landscape, I soon became concerned that the price was rising and there was no sign of any kind of civilisation coming up.

I asked the driver how much the taxi should roughly cost and when he told me my heart sank. It was going to be a lot and there was obviously no way I was going to be able to stop this from happening. He looked sympathetic at the wild look in my eyes, but kept on driving of course.

Signs And Costs

If I had been thinking straight, several things would have stood out. First, there were exactly two taxis at the airport and space for only two taxis. The takeaway here is that people don’t usually get a taxi from the airport.

Keflavik Airport is also about 50 kilometres from Reykjavik, something I knew, but for some reason in my tired state it didn’t cross my mind that this was far and therefore expensive in a taxi. In my head was get taxi, get to hotel, sleep. Silly me!

This blunder ended up costing me the princely sum of 8,200 Icelandic Kroner. At the time it converted to a hefty $172 Australian dollars which is one extremely expensive taxi ride.

Needless to say, for the return journey I got the bus transfer which was 1,000 Kroner. That is the way everyone would usually get to and from the airport in Iceland.

Overall Thoughts

You learn from experiences like this and needless to say I have never made that kind of blunder again. When I am unsure about prices I ask for an estimation and I usually do a little research before I leave.

Iceland is utterly fantastic in every way and is one of those places I’d love to go back to. Next time I’ll know to get the bus of course!

Have you ever had a particular travel fail like I have? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for reading and please leave any comments or questions below.

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Featured image by Ian Gratton via Wikimedia Commons.
Iceland road image by Moyan Brenn via Wikimedia Commons.
Blue Lagoon image by McKay Savage via Wikimedia Commons.