Travel - the things that will go wrong

Hi there, thanks for tuning in. If you find Uta doesn't sound her usual self, you're right. One of our mics went on a bit of a holiday while we recorded four episodes. This is one of them. This podcast is brought to you by Intrepid Travel. the global leaders in immersive, sustainable, small group travel experiences. Take yourself away from the world you know and be open, curious, fearless and challenged. Be intrepid.

Visit IntrepidTravel.com to book your next trip today. Something will go wrong on your next holiday. I guarantee it. I'm not trying to be a doomsayer here, just a realist. Things will always go wrong when you travel. Flights will be late, hotels overbooked, things will get lost, children will lose the plot, the weather will suck. One of these things will happen to you. Probably several of them.

The secret to a successful holiday is knowing how to deal with these inevitabilities. It's in being able to roll with the punches, in dealing with looming disasters, in smiling and keeping your sanity when everything else comes crashing down around you. It's also in the acceptance that no whole day is perfect and disasters are just part of the deal.

Hi, I'm Ben Groundwater and you're listening to Flight of Fancy, the traveller.com.au podcast. Today we're talking about all the things that are likely to go wrong on your next holiday and the best ways to deal with them.

We're going to plot all the typical hiccups and snafus and then come up with ways to make them as easy to sort out as possible. We're not going to give you a disaster-free holiday. We're just going to help you deal with it. And joining me to do that are two highly experienced travelers who have had more than their share of stuff-ups. First up, she's a writer from traveller.com.au and one of our most frequent guests on Flight of Fantasy, Uta Yonker. Hi, Uta. Hi, Ben. How are you?

Very well, thank you. Great to have you on board. Also with us, she's a writer and adventurer who once had to be airlifted off Mont Blanc after eating too many baguettes. Flip Burns. Hi, Flip. Ben, that was actually Greenland. The baguettes at Mont Blanc actually just put me in the hospital. Oh, okay. So you weren't actually airlifted from Mont Blanc. No, I watched the hospital, yeah.

But you did eat too many baguettes. I did eat too many baguettes and that did land me in hospital. Yeah, it was something to do with the ratio of cheese to the amount of times I went to the bathroom, which was cheese, 10 days, bathroom zero. So that's where that problem was.

I mean, that's probably not one of the common problems that we're going to encounter in this episode. No, we probably shouldn't start with that. I think we just lost half of our listeners. Quite possibly. Do you guys agree, though, that things just go wrong on holidays? This is just a fact of life?

Yeah, it's life. Something's going to go wrong with us. Travelling life as well. You're opening yourself up to all these possibilities. You just keep your passport close. Yeah, and your glass half full. Because after that intro, I'm always staying home. Yeah, that's true. With all those things you listed. Actually, in the intro, I probably should have...

told a different story about you, which is losing your credit card in the supermarket a couple of days ago. But, you know, obviously that is a problem that you've had to deal with. And so that'll help you in your traveling life. Yeah. You know, luckily I have never lost a credit card only once, but it was fixable.

visa were amazing but I think that's almost the worst thing that can happen to you when you're travelling if you don't have a backup card or whatever what have been your most spectacular disasters on the road I have had to once be flown home because I broke my foot Oh, okay. And, you know, all I could say to myself, and it was probably week four of a three-month trip.

And, you know, I just went, okay, you've been paying travel insurance for 20 years. Here it is. Time to cash in. Here it is. Here it is. Yeah. Yeah. Mine was, I also broke a bone. I broke my collarbone about. three or four weeks into a four-month trip to the US to work in a ski resort. And so I just got treated over there basically and stayed and flipped burgers with one arm while I had the other one in a sling. Oh, talent. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was horrendous. Yeah.

It's not fun at all. Yeah, no, it's not fun. How about you, Flip? Mine was probably that $20,000 helicopter ride off the middle of the Greenland ice cap when I was attempting to kite ski across it. But I don't think that's probably relevant to most people's experiences. Yeah, we're doing relatable stuff here. Yeah, so going back to that. credit card thing i was at the dead sea i was reviewing the hotel but the lady who had organized it was away so muhammad

greeted me at the desk and I discovered that I had my credit card but it had lost its contact. You know how sometimes they desensitise the back of the thing. So suddenly it's midnight, I'm at the Dead Sea, which is actually in the middle of nowhere if you've been around there. No money. And that's why I was trying to use my credit card to withdraw some money from the ATM and pay for incidentals. They wouldn't let me check in.

in the end for an hour because how was I going to pay for the room with my, I couldn't prove I had funds. And eventually they did. I spoke to Visa and in the States, they tried the entire night to figure out how they were going to get this Visa card to me. Could I drive back to it?

airport, no, because I was running out of petrol. I didn't have enough to go back. Anyway, he told me what was happening. They had in their room a big whiteboard with all these strategies and all these people working on how to get me my visa card. And in the end, about... four o'clock in the morning um the guy just let me you know

tap the numbers in, you know, as you can do from the credit card and pay that way. And I was like, Mohammed, why didn't we do this? That seems like a very simple solution. You would think, but this is the stuff that happens. And I was female by myself in the very early hours in a very deserted... play with no money on me and that was not

a good situation. So luckily I had enough battery in my phone to call Visa because yeah, they were amazing. They were amazing. Okay, there you go. Now I would have thought one of the most common things that goes wrong on holidays is flights, missing flights, cancelled flights.

I've had some of the most stressful times when I've been traveling has been missing flights or I was flying out of Buenos Aires to try to get home and you have to fly Buenos Aires to Santiago. And because of fog, that flight was canceled.

had to try and get myself on another flight, pretty much speaking my terrible Spanish, and try and get to Santiago in time to make my connecting flight, to then make it over to Auckland, to then make it to Sydney. It'd be a great TV show, flight dramas. Why has no one thought of that? Yeah, I don't know.

But yeah, it was, I mean, there's no easy way out of this stuff, is there? I mean, sometimes you have to negotiate on the ground and try and get yourself onto another flight. Sometimes, you know, some airlines are better than others at helping you out with that. If you miss a flight, then you're really screwed. and this is why like i always say just book that if you're doing multiple legs

book it on the one ticket. It may cost you three times as much, but you know what? Then it's their problem if it's not your problem. Just had that conversation with someone as well. Because then it becomes, like you said, the airline's problem and they need to book you through. Whereas if you've just missed another flight, buying another...

flight at the last moment is going to cost you so much money and then you still might not make it and then your suitcase has to be manual thing and it's and the other thing is if you're in that situation And, you know, it's not just that you've missed a flight and you're now getting somewhere a day later, but you're missing connecting flights. Tell them that. Yes. Because, you know, they're just kind of like going,

oh, yeah, you'll be there a day later. But you go, no, I have to do this and this and this. And then they do take it more seriously. And then their airline level of care, if they've got you, often they will put you or look after you to some extent, whether it be an overnight hotel. If not, you're sleeping.

with me by the side of the Dead Sea, waiting for rescue. Another thing I was going to mention actually, I'm not the world's biggest user of travel agents. I actually haven't used a travel agent in a long time.

But that can actually really help you if you have a flight cancelled particularly. You can just call up your travel agent and it's someone else's problem then. I mean, that's their job is to help you out and get you on another flight. Twofold on that. Tell me what you think too, Ute, on this one.

But sometimes you have to change your ticket through the travel agent. If it's three o'clock in the morning. Yeah. And there's no one in the office. Yes. You cannot change your ticket. So even if I find other tickets and even though I've worked with amazing. travel agents, I am still tempted to...

go directly through the airline because they're there at the checking counter and they can do everything with my ticket. Whereas you're about to say, Ute, you've had a similar... Yeah, where you are somewhere in a reasonable hour and for whatever reason the flight has to be changed and it's 3am Sydney time and no one is...

there to change the price and you actually cannot do it. Yeah, the airline won't override it, so sayonara ticket. Okay, there you go. Which is like, what thinking is that? You know, the passenger wants to do something, but no, the person who booked you has to override it. Or a second party website.

Or travel website. That's where it's, again, like you said, it pays literally that extra $50 to pay whatever it is with the original airline that you want to go with. Yeah. I think another thing to think about when it comes to airline cancellations is that if you...

really need to be in your destination at a certain time on a certain day give yourself a window well like not a literal window like i'll see window i mean like yes you're right but also i was going to say maybe oh maybe A full service airline might be the way to go rather than a budget airline because I have had some dramas with budget airlines. I'm a user of budget airlines. They really have their place. It's amazing to pay such a small amount of money to fly across the world.

At the same time, I've had dealings with an Australian airline that resembles an animal. And they bumped me off a flight. They just cancelled a flight from Melbourne to Sydney and put me on another flight two days later. And just said, that's what we've done. There's no other flight. So that's what we've put you on. And because unlike with a full service airline where they would put you up. Yeah. I ended up having to book with a different airline.

Because I had to get home. And two days later, that's just not feasible. That's just not feasible. Especially because, my friend, you don't have travel insurance. If this happened to you internationally, you can claim your hotel. You can claim all these other things. Because it happened to you in Australia, you're claiming nothing.

Yeah, calling up your friend in Melbourne. Yeah, so I think, you know, if you have to be in a place, if you really want to be in a place, you've got to pay for the privilege, really. What you're paying for is when things go wrong with a reputable airline. And like we said, that full-cost airline, you've got your hotel covered.

get forwarded through you know onto another flight at some point whereas there's no recourse with those other budget ones right now i can tell you they don't actually have um a contact phone number like you actually can't call them so unless you unless you Anyway, it's a long story, but you could call the building that you know is next to them, thanks to Google maps and ask them how, what's the best way in Dublin. You'll pay someone to walk across.

If you are going to go budget, for whatever reason. read the conditions before you click confirm. You know, because it is that classic thing of, you know, maybe you can only take 10 kilos of luggage and you've already got 15. Maybe you have to print out your boarding pass at home and you'll get charged if you try to do it.

at the airport that's a good thing to know before you get to the airport you don't want to be the person who gets to the airport and then has a meltdown because okay the conditions sound weird

But they're all on the screen. What's one of the strangest conditions, just for my own education, that you've seen on one of these? Obviously, it's beyond the normal things. That one is Ryanair, where you have to print out your boarding pass at home. And if you try to do it at the airport, you get charged. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I think it's like 50 pounds.

It's not Ryanair, it's the name of a boy's airline air. Brianair. Brianair. There's also the ones you... Some of them say you can bring... I'm just making up the figures now, but some of them say you can bring... one bag on board with 15 kilos. So you can bring two bags but only with six kilos each. And they will not budge. And, you know, you may have...

6.4 kilos and just have everything in there that is essential and they're going to go well you leave your passport behind or your I don't know your shoes yes Well, how do you feel about this? Like just say, for example, between yourself and me, Ben, there's probably a couple of pairs of shoes and a few jumpers weight difference. So hypothetically, if you're getting on a plane with like 10 extra kilos.

Can I wear those extra 10 kilos out of my bags? Because then we'll have the same amount of baggage weight and the same amount of personal body weight. Because I feel as a smaller lady, I get a bit ripped off with the luggage allowance. I should have body allowance.

I do. Uh-oh, Tall Ute is about to come back. Now, what I'm going to say, and I'm not picking on you personally. No, go. I've witnessed one in particular spectacular meltdown in an airport. Oh, it sounds good. And it was just... If you travel

You have to accept they're not your rules, they're the airline's rules. Yes, they are. And I was in Johannesburg Airport and I had like 10 hours delay and I was trying to get my seat changed and I had nothing better to do. I just stood at the checkout counter. Hanging out.

great because I've got to witness this meltdown of this guy and they weren't frequent fires they were gold or whatever they were fairly basic rule in most airlines there's a check-in bag limit of like 25 kilos sometimes 30 whatever These guys had one bag that had 40 kilos, and they were trying to get it through on the basis that there were five of them when you averaged out all their bags. But a bag handler won't accept over 32, and that's an aviation rule, yeah. There is a...

There is a reason for the rule. But even if there weren't, it is the rule. Yeah. Okay? There was screaming. There was tears. There were hissy fits of I'm never flying with your airline again. Did they say fine? Please, please. Please, please don't fly with us. Sorry for these poor baggage people, poor check-in people. Yep.

What was lovely was after they left and there was silence for five minutes and then the check-in people were just cracking up and imitating them to each other. They were clearly like, I could handle this. That's good, that's good. It just pays to be nice to airline staff, doesn't it, when something... goes wrong um to be that hissy fit person or to the person

politely asking. That is very true. Those guys have a lot of power and can do a lot to help you if they feel that you're worth helping. I'm actually the coda of my story where I was trying to get a secret extra leg room and I just... I was at that check-in for two hours and not being aggro, but just, you know, waiting until something was done and laughing with them about these stupid other people. I got upgraded to business class.

Hey, I'm hanging with you. Yeah. Yes. Well, another one I was going to say is strikes. Strikes can happen. Paris. Yeah, I mean, obviously, yeah, France is going to pop to mind. I mean, the whole of Western Europe, though, I found I've run into a lot of problems with strikes in Italy as well. You know, one day the people who operate the funicular up to...

which is sort of mountaintop village in Umbria. Amazing. But they were on strike. And so I turned up there with a busload of passengers to take them to this amazing destination that we've been talking up for the last couple of hours. And we get there and it's just no go.

And really, I don't think there's any good way to deal with this except to roll with the punches because strikes happen, particularly in Western Europe for some reason. And sometimes they almost seem deliberate, le grave, in France, you know, the strike. And it wasn't necessarily the planes that were striking. Everything else that was stopping you getting to the airport, so the buses, the underwear. Yeah, and it happened to be also on the eve of the Rugby World Cup 2000 and whatever.

it was um and it was england versus france so magically all the english can get into into paris but they can't get from the airport to the game that's quite brilliant you have to ask yourself is this deliberate

Well, I mean, strikes are usually timed for the worst possible interruptions. Yes. But I don't know if they would necessarily try to take down English fans like that. Yeah, I'm sure. It's quite amazing. Surely not. Now, what about, I mean, it's not always strikes that are problems. Sometimes you...

get to attractions and they're closed they're being renovated you know there's the scaffolding all over it right i know right now the taj mahal is is covered in scaffolding big ben is currently covered in scaffolding or you get to venice and it's all false facades and prada signs yeah

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, really, the only way around that is to do your research beforehand, because there is information out there, particularly now with social media as well. If you want to see what Big Ben looks like right now.

jump on Instagram and search for hashtag Big Ben and there'll be a photo of it, what it looks like today. Yes. And you learn. I mean, I went to see the Alhambra, deliberately went to see the Alhambra in Spain and my parents had been there and spoke highly of it. So, yeah, I wanted to go. go and see it and then of course figured out this is many years ago probably 15 but even then you had to book tickets days in advance and there was no chance of getting in without

You know, when you're backpacking, you're not planning three or four days in advance. So I bought an Alhambra book from the foyer and sat on a hilltop nearby and took photos of my book of the Alhambra with the Alhambra in the distance. And that was as close as I got. So, you know, there is always a plan B. Nice. It's the unexpected moments that we remember most from our travels, like getting lost and accidentally finding a hidden bar or tasting new cuisines you haven't tried before.

On a small group adventure with Intrepid Travel, your local leader will be there to help you find the best local experiences and help you manage any mishaps along the way. With transport and logistics taken care of, all you need to do is kick back, relax, and enjoy the adventure. Visit IntrepidTravel.com to learn more. Now, Flip, I feel like you're going to be a good one for this. Losing things.

Having recently lost your credit card. I mean, I think the most, obviously the thing that people dread and the thing that does happen sometimes, losing your passport. Don't look at me. Okay. I've never lost mine, but I, you know, I know plenty of people who have. Sure, sure. So in Ecuador, again, back in the day, it ended up good. It ended up okay. So I literally just arrived.

taking the bus to somewhere else, I think up to Quito, and was sitting on my backpack and a couple of surfboards. Someone asked me for a lighter. I stood up, gave them a lighter, sat down on nothing. Nothing. Gone. How are they managed to take off with my backpack and two circles? There might have even been a set of skis from Shinborazu there as well. I was just like, I was just looking around going, what just happened?

But I had my passport, I had my credit card and two minties. And as far as I was concerned, the important things... You know, we're intact. It was a moment of crisis. Yeah, I did. Especially when I got on the bus. So what did you do having lost all that stuff?

Oh, well, we had to get on the bus. So I had, you know, a good 10 hours to think about, are you going to like this? I had a good 10 hours to think about all the things that were in it. And when I got on, someone had said to me, you do know that 80%, you know, of this country are unemployed. So when I got on the bus, I said, as for all you...

employed people. And that's when I thought, have a minty, have a minty. Just have a minty. And then we stopped halfway and I was eating this soup to cheer myself up with my travel companion. Got halfway through and there's little, what do you call those things on the top of a, the feather of a chicken?

their head they have that little yellow comb the comb thank you a rooster comb and that was attached that was attached to the head which was cleaved in half in my soup i thought well this is you know what else could happen today got into into keto and

Our hotel burnt down. And then I was sitting on, I was sitting, yeah, I was in the internet cafe. This was the most incredible day I've ever had traveling, I have to say, because what, you know, it's just otherworldly. And I was in the internet cafe, everything was blacked out and some of my travel...

and came around the street going flip flip our hotel's bringing down I was just like whoa and that started running and then I thought what have i got in there nothing and my stuff's way back down the road so i just sat there just you know having a dream with their stuff or anything

Oh, you know, bystanders that could have, you know, everyone was safe. But, yeah, that was one of the better days. But I kept my passport because if that's your Willy Wonka ticket, once your passport's gone, you are in also.

sorts of troubles so you have to go to an embassy basically you have to find an Australian embassy or consulate yeah but also and apply for an emergency you're also stateless look it's a disaster it's not a great thing at all but there are steps to be taken and that is going to an embassy or a consulate if there isn't an Australian one usually

Australia is connected to say Canada or the UK, someone else who has an embassy there and that's who you go and visit to try and get you. And that's why you always carry back up cash because you've got to get to that consulate is the other thing. And the consulates aren't everywhere. You've got to get yourself into a capital C.

And also it's a good idea to take a scan or a photo of your passport and email it to yourself so that no matter what you lose, it's always out there in the cloud so that you can show people who you are. You know what was the most amazing thing about that amazing story you just told? What is that? The chicken head. No, is that when Vincent tells you a passport story, that's the one you told? The one about losing everything.

Everything but your passport. I mean, we're going to go on to the losing all your things stories later on. I thought it was the fact that I forgot the word for a chicken comb. No, that was like the one day when, because I had my passport, everything was okay. You know, you can lose everything. everything except for your passport but I actually think losing everything even

Not having money for being on your own and not having access to money, that is probably the worst thing that can happen. That's a pretty frightening thing. Yeah, it's quite scary. Do you guys take any steps to try and... plan for that in case it happens you know do you keep some some money in your sock or do you have some some stashed away in another part of your luggage do you have two cars i have with most things that i really need and this is stuff like money underwear

and an eye mask because i'm a problem sleeper is i have an extra little bag somewhere in my hand luggage that has extras of that. That's my emergency. Okay, the emergency, yes. So you actually travel with two eye masks? I sometimes travel with four. I've got them pretty much in any of my pouches. I have lots of little travel pouches. But I think that spare cash secreted somewhere within your luggage is an excellent idea.

Because there will be times when, well, I mean, fortunately it hasn't happened to me recently, but you're going to lose your cards. You're going to lose your cash. You're going to be stuck. And, you know, there's usually family that you can get in touch with to wire you more money somehow. But for that very short term. That overnight experience when you're sleeping on the park bench. Yeah, yeah. At the very least, you want to get into a youth hostel. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

$100 can make all the difference. Oh, yeah. $50 can save you on those prices. Well, I do have that $50 usually tucked in my passport cover, but I end up spending it. Here's my problem. But yours, Ute, sounds like you've got...

a mini panic room inside your own hand luggage. Can we get to my favourite flip and her passport story? Oh. Um, no, that was it. Didn't lose it. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. Oh yes. I mean, this is again, probably another niche issue that, that most people won't run into. I love the story so much. All right, Flip.

Tell us what happened. Okay. So I did lose my passport once. Okay. You can totally edit out that other story. Okay. So I was flying from, we'd been on a holiday and I was flying from Zurich to Japan. In the meantime, my husband dropped me off after our holiday and was driving with our two children up towards Frankfurt. Yep.

So I said, see you later, alligator, and handed over my passport to the guy at the check-in. And he looked at it and went, this was taken a few years ago. And I said, it was. It was, but still me. It was only just a few years ago. And he just raised one eyebrow.

and flipped it around and there is my nine-month-old daughter who looks a lot like the Fat Controller at that time. Just all face. Just a big moon face. And we both looked at each other because it's a really funny photo anyway. We both looked at each other and just had a bit of a giggle.

until I realized that I'm in Zurich and my passport's somewhere on the way to Frankfurt. So you had taken your very young daughter's passport. Baby photo. Instead of your own. Yeah, baby passport. Yeah. Look, they're all blue. And so that was like, began the amazing race.

for which I would be an excellent contestant because I then had to track down where the car was, what was the coast railway station that I could then go and buy a ticket to and intercept them on my way up to Frankfurt and I could get my flight from...

Zurich for $300 converted to a flight from Frankfurt that would be leaving at 8pm that night. So I had nine hours in which to, well, seven hours because I had to check in to fulfill this. So I made it and all I missed of this media trip was actually the first dinner. So I got into Tokyo.

Extremely impressive. Slept in a cube and just arrived at breakfast like nothing had happened. That is very impressive and hilarious. Yeah, but that was a real sinking heart moment when, you know. When he flipped it around and there's a picture. Yeah, I loved him. daughter anytime so i was like hi lenny and then i was like shouldn't be here i think another passport issue that people run into is a lot of countries won't let you in if you have less than six month validity on your passport i know

Malaysia is one. There's a whole bunch of countries. And I'm sure you know other people who've, I haven't personally, but people in our industry do run. I know millions of people. And it's crazy. It seems to me like if you've got a flight booked within the validity.

of your passport, you should be allowed in, but you're not. And it catches a lot of people out. A lot of people lose a lot of money through this because they'll get turned away at the airport. If you're trying to fly to Bali from Australia and you've got only four months validity left on your passport, they'll turn you away. You'll lose your accommodation. And I don't think you can count that on...

Travel insurance, can't you? I don't think stupidity is a thing that they... No, because as I was trying to change my flight from Zurich to Frankfurt, I did call my travel insurance company and said, if I picked up the wrong passport, is that covered? And they just said no. No, it is not.

It's not covered. I should have thought of something else. That's a good point, because I think even travel professionals make that mistake. Yeah, for sure. How about getting sick? That's the thing that... you know, unfortunately does happen to a lot of people when they're traveling. I've been really sick. In Peru, I got really sick. Didn't take myself off to hospital, but probably should have. And I mean, basically the only thing to do, I would say...

Make sure you go to a doctor before you leave, particularly for a long trip or if you're going to developing countries to have a general checkup. Make sure you get all your vaccinations that you need to have. And also make sure you know sort of what the emergency procedure is in some countries because it's not... really it's not as intuitive as you might think it is in some places you need to know what phone number to call or what place to go to if something goes wrong and have travel insurance

Because that gets you out of some serious, serious dramas. Yeah, but like Otay said, raid the conditions of their travel insurance. Because, you know, like action sports or, you know, snowboarding, things like that aren't covered. But also another colleague of ours just recently tripped on a board, had a tooth problem. The people at the resort said...

Doctor at the resort said you should be fine. They flew out the next day and then came back and was told that it was a big problem and also that the problem wasn't covered by Medicare. So she's going to be up for a lot of money to fix this tooth problem. Over Christmas and New Year's, what less, trying to find someone. But it wasn't covered by travel insurance because she had left the country. Yeah.

Once you get home, you're cut off. You're not covered by travel insurance. They're assuming that you're under private health insurance or Medicare. That's quite often you'll hear about travel insurance companies will fly you home in business class and do all this stuff to get you back to your home.

country which is great for you but it also relieves them of responsibility because you're under their costs while you're in while you're overseas and in that country so yes they will do everything they can to get you home yeah i mean still worth having still worth paying for but just know that if you come home and suddenly decide that you need

need some treatment, you're not going to be covered for that. That's right. And you know, that's a tricky one because I don't know the ins and outs of it, but when you're advised that the problems, you know, so that'll be a lengthy, you know, back and forth, I can imagine. But yeah, hopefully you don't have to use it, but you know, the day that you...

Another thing is a lot of people seem to get caught out with this, wanting to hire mopeds or scooters when they're away and having an accident. And if you're not licensed to ride a motorbike at home, then you're not covered by travel insurance to ride a motorbike overseas.

You're also not covered by travel insurance. Lots of loopholes. Yeah. And even if you do have a license, some travel insurance policies won't cover you for that. It has to be an international motorbike license. Right, yeah. In the same way that it may not cover you for skiing and snowboarding or it may not cover you for mountain biking. These are things that you have to look into.

when you book a policy. Basically, if your mother wouldn't like you doing it, your travel insurance isn't going to like it either. That's right. A lot of the time. Yeah.

Another thing I was going to mention, which is very hard to control, is weather. Sometimes weather can really affect your holiday. I mean, sometimes it's going skiing and there's no snow. But also, I was in Tekapo in central New Zealand once, and it snowed.

And it's like a freakish time of year to snow and it snowed and snowed and snowed. And I was stuck there for about three days just with nothing to do in this tiny little town. Oh, I was there by myself. There was no internet access. There was no phone. All I could do was like wade through like chest heist.

know to get to the to get to the corner store and buy some pasta and sauce and that's not going to feed me unfortunately um but but have you guys ever has that ever happened has weather been a total disaster for you because you know people get stuck in cyclones and mudslides. Because some weather activity is not covered.

Yeah, volcanoes. Yeah, some acts of God. I think it's what it's termed. So that's another thing that I'm almost too scared to even talk about. Some people believe everything's an act of God. It's a very hard thing to define. I know, who's defining that? Yeah, what's your experience? Do you know the answer to that? Look, is there an answer?

Touch wood, I've been really lucky. I've had the classic, you know, you go to a tropical resort and it rains for the whole week. I've had that. On the other hand, I had the rather joyous experience of getting stuck in New York. a snowstorm yeah and I was on a famil and so a there was an organizer

it wasn't me trying to work things out. So I rang them and I said, is my flight going to leave? And they said, yeah, yeah, sure, no problems. And they rang back half an hour later and said, actually, flight's just been cancelled. And I said, so what am I going to do now? Alas. And then they rang me back in a couple of hours and said, Okay, so it looks like you'll probably fly out in about three days' time because there'll be a backlog. But the hotel has said you can stay where you are.

Three extra days in New York. And you're in New York in the snow. Yeah, that's pretty brilliant. But what if you weren't being looked after? I guess the question is, would travel insurance cover that? Yeah, I mean, I guess some policies will, some policies possibly won't. Yeah, I don't know. The thing about it is... If your policy doesn't cover it, they don't guarantee the level of accommodation. Ah. Where I was staying was rather nice. Yeah. And if they'd put me up somewhere.

Less nice. I would have been. Yeah. If I was there, I would have been calling you and saying, roll over, Jay. Me and my laptop are coming for some quiet work time with you. It's your tiny twin coming along. Flip, one of the things you mentioned can go wrong on trips.

is a relationship breakdown. That's an interesting one. Possibly when you're hitting up your friends for free accommodation. I don't know. Maybe they can just be too much flip. No, I'm actually not talking about myself specifically, but you know, you've been, we've all done it.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I've been, I know, in beautiful places, had the most beautiful day, and you see it. It's that couple, all those two friends, and they're having a massive argument. Are you looking at the blue sky and the golden star? Are you thinking, how could anyone be arguing in this location?

until it's you. And then you realize they've probably just got off a flight, they're jet-lagged as hell, there's nowhere to eat. And you find yourself bickering about the smallest little thing. Yeah, and you're looking around and just going, I think being in paradise is as much a state of mind as it is a state of location. Absolutely. Two things come together. It's a blissful holiday, you know? And you have to choose your travel companions wisely, I think.

Yes, but, you know, it can utterly destroy you. Who doesn't have memories of being in an amazing place? But they don't remember any of that place. They just remember what happened there. Guys, we are running out of time, unfortunately. So let's finish off with your one piece of golden advice.

people who are going on holidays, knowing that things are going to go wrong, what do you have to bear in mind? It could be worse. It could be worse. Excellent. Oh, that's good. Think about what the worst thing is. like you're lost you're stranded but you've got your passport yeah yeah and that i've actually found that can cheer you up no end okay that's good yeah flip

As per what you say, I don't know if I can plagiarize you on a podcast. Is that what you said earlier was how important is this? Like, is this a crucial thing? Should you save up your, you know? Devastation for something bigger that's going to happen. And I think the other thing, if I can have two, because I'm being greedy, would be keep that glass of chi half full. Because a good attitude can make a lot of situations a lot more pleasant.

Very nicely put. And mine is going to be much blander than yours. What's yours? I have travel insurance. Mine's going to say I have travel insurance. Your glass can be three quarters full and if you don't have travel insurance, you're fairly screwed. Especially when you say to them,

I had this holiday and it rained and they say, you're just unlucky. And you'd be like, I have three, half of a glass full. And they're like, your glass is worth nothing here. Yeah, travel insurance is extremely important. It's kind of dull and not that exciting to talk about. But yeah, I would never... live home without it. Yes. Good slogan.

Yes, indeed. Udrin Flip, thank you so much for your time. Really much appreciated as always. If you would like to read some great travel stories, you can find them on traveller.com.au. And to subscribe to Flight of Fancy, you can check us out on iTunes or your favourite podcasting app. And we'll see you next time on Flight Offense. Thanks for listening to this podcast brought to you by Intrepid Travel.

Sign up to the Intrepid e-newsletter for more travel inspiration and to be the first to hear about great deals and competitions. Visit IntrepidTravel.com to subscribe today. Flutter Fancy, thetraveller.com.au podcast is hosted by Ben Groundwater, produced by me, Annie Dane, recorded by Shannon Browning, and mixed by Lap Fam. Our digital editor is Craig Platt.