Pretty much everybody loves to travel. Pretty much nobody loves to make mistakes. However, sometimes people who love to travel make mistakes.
For example, once when I took the train from Lusaka to Dar es Salaam, I slept through the border crossing. It was only hundreds of miles later — as Tanzanian immigration officials plodded through the train checking passports — that I discovered my error. Fortunately, rather than being forced to disembark and return to the border (hundreds of miles away), I was able to negotiate a “small fine,” and secure the necessary stamps.
In an effort to help our readers make fewer travel-related mistakes, Gadling has 10 copies of the excellent The Smart Traveler’s Passport: 399 Tips from Seasoned Travelers to give away. If you want to win a copy of the book — which we reviewed recently and which will undoubtedly help you travel smarter in the future — all you have to do is share your dumbest travel mistakes with us.
Entering the contest is stupid-easy: all you have to do is leave your dumbest travel mistake in the comments below. You’ve got one week to submit your stories, so the deadline is June 6, 2007, at 8 pm. After the deadline passes, 10 winners will be selected at random; each winner will receive one copy of The Smart Traveler’s Passport. Bragging about being stupid has never been such a smart idea!
Please note that we reserve the right to use any of the stories left in the comments in any way we like. How would we like to use them? Simple! We’ll spotlight the best* dumb mistakes here on Gadling, so your dummy move(s) will serve to help other travelers avoid said dummy moves. Don’t be shy! By sharing your travel mistakes, you might save someone else the headaches you suffered. Questions? Check out the official rules.
* What makes a “good” dumb mistake? Set the stage. Explain the mistake. Tell us how you worked around it. Add a car chase. Car chases always make travel writing come alive.