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Are you America's "most frustrated traveler"?
Does the saying, "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all," describe you perfectly?
Are you a traveler who can't get his or her preferred flights booked because of all your credit card's black-out dates?
Do you invariably wind up next to the guy on the airplane who talks non-stop and dribbles food on his shirt the entire flight?
Well, wipe that sad face off your sour mug, Faithful Traveler! Gadling and Capital One Venture are teaming up to make five lucky winners a lot less frustrated. If you're America's "most frustrated traveler," you could win one of these great prizes:
- One Grand Prize Winner will receive a free 3 day/2 night trip to the destination of their choosing for two, including roundtrip airfare (within the continental United States) and hotel* – valued at $3,000.
- One Second Prize Winner will receive a hassle-free travel essentials pack consisting of items such as a Garmin GPS and Bose noise canceling headphones – valued at $1,500.
- Three Runner-up Winners will each receive a Marriott TravelCard – valued at $100 each.
What's the catch? Well... you have to relive your experience one more time. To be eligible for the fantastic, frustration-reducing prizes in this contest, head to the comments and describe in 250 words or less your most frustrating travel moment, and why you deserve to win a free (and frustration- and hassle-free) trip courtesy of Gadling and Capital One Venture.
Before we get to the legal bits, let us remind you of some of the travel-friendly features of Capital One's Venture card:
- You can earn 2 miles per dollar on all purchases, every day;
- There are NO foreign transaction fees;
- You can receive 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 in the first three months;
- You can enjoy the freedom to redeem your miles on any airline, any time, with no blackout dates;
- Your rewards don't expire; plus there's no limit on how many miles you can accumulate, no special spending categories and no separate rewards enrollment requirements;
- You can have the flexibility to redeem for any travel purchase – air fare, hotel room, rental car, you name it!
- To enter, describe in 250 words or less your most frustrating travel moment, and why you deserve to win a free (and frustration- and hassle-free) trip. Leave your story in the comments section below. Be creative and descriptive!
- The comment must be left before Friday, November 5, 2010 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
- You may enter only once. Winners will be selected at random.
- One Grand Prize Winner will receive a free 3 day/2 night trip to the destination of their choosing for two, including roundtrip airfare (within the continental United States) and hotel* – valued at $3,000. One Second Prize Winner will receive a hassle-free travel essentials pack consisting of items such as a Garmin GPS and Bose noise canceling headphones – valued at $1,500. Three Runner-up Winners will each receive a Marriott TravelCard – valued at $100 each.
- Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- Click here for the complete official rules of this giveaway.
Happy travels and good luck!
The Gadling Team
* The total cost of airfare and hotel can not exceed $3,000, but you can stay at a more expensive hotel, if you choose cheaper flight options. Alternatively, you can choose a more expensive flight, if you stay at a cheaper hotel.
[Photo: Flickr | rudlavibizon]
Filed under: Stories, Hotels and Accommodations, Airlines, Transportation
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 18)
Paula Oct 25th 2010 10:21PM
I've never had good luck when I travel, inevitably something crappy always happens to me.
This trip was my latest travel disaster:
I had planned a cruise to Bermuda with 3 other friends on board an NCL cruise ship, we were leaving out of Boston. The weather on the day we were to leave was cold, chilly and rainy but little did we know it was to get worse. We ended up hitting a hurricane somewhere sailing through south carolina (i believe), well needless to say, I ended up having the worst seasickness of us all. I threw up for hours and hours, the ship was rocking so hard that people were thrown into walls and injured. You had to hold onto everything and anything whether you were walking or laying in bed, you could feel the ship tipping onto it's side. I had never been so sick in my life. My poor shipmates had to listen to me getting sick and nurse me through 2 days of awful bad weather. I had saved every nickel, dime and penny to go on that cruise and it was ruined. By the time we got to Bermuda where the weather was alot better, I was a mess, I could barely function and it took all in me to go anywhere. I couldn't even enjoy myself at the beautiful beaches. The smell of the food on the ship would make me gag, I pretty much survived on crackers and gingerale. I felt so bad for my roommates like I was ruining their time and I pretty much couldn't wait to come home. Needless to say I haven't been anywhere since because that trip and the other bad ones have left such a bad taste in my mouth.
patrickbgawne Oct 25th 2010 10:18PM
My wife and I planned to go to the Grand Canyon for our honeymoon. At the beginning of our trip, she became violently ill, but bravely insisted that I keep driving. 300 miles into the journey a connecting rod broke and we had to limp back home.
8 years later we were seperated by misfortune for 4 months. Upon our reunion, I proposed we try to see the Canyon again. 150 miles into the trip, the filler neck weld on the radiator failed and it took us 3 days to get home.
The last time we thought about going to the canyon, a tire blew out as we were leaving our driveway. : )
Brad Oct 25th 2010 10:23PM
Nov. 2008. Departed JFK to fly to Madeira Island, Portugal via Paris and Lisbon, Portugal where I was to catch a transatlantic cruise back to FL and fly back up. Flt. was delayed at gate and taxi delays. Had 2 hour connection in Paris but this dwindled away. Arrived at Paris (DeGaulle) with 30 minutes to spare. Purser on Air France told me "It is not possible monsieur!" and AF wouldn't even try to help me. Somehow I managed to make a dash for immigration/passport control and "OJ" through DeGaulle to ithe Intra-European concourse. Within sight of connecting gate had to again pass through security, got stopped, groped and asked to remove my wallet and put it through X-ray. Gathering "everything" I bolted to gate to find door closed, jetway still on plane and another unhelpful AF employee and 4 of us trying to get on. After shouting match we were allowed to board and headed for Lisbon. Arriving Lisbon for connection had time to spare so decided to pick up some sundries as I knew my luggage certainly wasn't going to make it. Reached for wallet, gulp!, back at security in Paris. Again it "was not possible" for AF to be of help. Well, with Passport, air ticket on to Madeira, cruise ticket, and air ticket home may as well press on. Arrived at ship (Regent Seven Seas Voyager) a bit worse for wear, a few clothes in carryon and penniless. Ship's staff were most obliging and tried to assist in locating baggage and wallet and kindlly arranged credit to replace some essentials on board...but..a day out into the Atlantic Ocean we were advised by the Captain that we would arrive a day late into Ft. Lauderdale due to mechanical problems, and I was wired by my dogsitter who had a family emergency and had to leave. Thankfully the cruise line waived phone charges as I spent much time rearranging flights, getting another dogsitter, arranging cash advances, trying to find wallet and luggage and get them back. Well, the upshot; I returned safe and sound albeit a day late, and, yes, got both wallet and luggage back intact and have made similar trips since with better luck.
lauren Oct 25th 2010 10:23PM
I was going to Minneapolis in January (my first mistake?) to visit my sister, with my four children, ages 2, 6, 8, and 10, in tow. I had packed a fully stocked diaper bag for the youngest, with the older kids carrying their own carry-ons. My husband dropped us off at the airport, and DROVE AWAY WITH THE DIAPER BAG!! The flight from Seattle to Chicago SHOULD have taken a little over 3 hours. Ten minutes into the flight, my youngest spilled a cup of orange juice into my shoe. There was an ice storm in CHI. We circled for about and two hours, then the pilot announced that we had to divert to St. Louis for refueling. They claimed there was no jetway large enough to accommodate the DC10, so we couldn't get off the plane. After sitting on the ground in St. Louis for over FIVE HOURS WITH NO DIAPERS, I bummed a newborn size diaper off of some other weary travelers and put the bikini diaper on my two year old daughter. We finally took off and landed in Chicago, 12 hours after leaving Seattle. When we de-planed, virtually EVERYONE sitting in coach with us said "those are the best behaved children I have ever seen!" (They really were great). We ran to a connecting flight to Minneapolis, and just barely made it. I was so frazzled I had 3 amarettos on ice, one right after the other (I rarely drink even one of anything!) The next day I had the worst headache ever, it lasted for 3 days. I haven't drank amaretto since.
Nick Oct 25th 2010 10:20PM
My most frustrating travel experience was when an airline lost my checked bag full of newly-purchased photography gear. This was on hopping flight from East Coast to West Coast about a month ago. You might find this hard to believe - but they still haven't found my bag! As a young, amateur photographer hoping to be a successful travel photographer (some day), I had used my 2-years' worth of savings to buy this stuff. More frustrating than the actual loss itself has been the time and effort I put in to get any kind of information/update about my situation from the airline. No compensation, no accountability, no cordial customer service - nothing at all from their side. It would be easy to say I'd never fly them again - but as someone without a lot of money, where else would I go to if this airline has the cheapest tickets? Being pretty down right now, a paid vacation from Gadling will certainly help lift my spirits up! Thanks!
Kasey Oct 27th 2010 9:27AM
I was flying back to school in Buffalo, NY from Seattle, WA. Due to traffic I walked up to the terminal as the airport staff was closing the door to the plane. She refused to let me on and while finding me a new flight told me it isn't that important for me to get to school for the first day of classes anyways. The new flight left 10 hours later, leaving me wandering around the airport for hours. I land in Detroit finally and wait on my layover for 4 hours. The layover then got extended because of problems with the plane. When I went to get on my second flight they bumped me and told me I had to wait another 5 hours. Instead of getting in Sunday at 3 P.M. I got to school Monday at 4 P.M. spending about 30 hours on a trip that should have taken 8.
Gerry Oct 25th 2010 10:29PM
We were meeting friends in Ireland who had been there for two weeks and were going to spend last two weeks of their month vacation with them. Friend was two hours late meeting us (after our 14 hour overseas flight) When we arrived the rental car they had was very small and we could not even fit our luggage let alone the luggage they would be returning with. I finally convinced him into getting larger car. House we were sharing was approximately an hour out of Shannon airport. My friend was driving and got lost. He ran off the road and blew out tire and bent rim. I walked to nearest town (about 2 miles) to find help. When I got into town, I had asthma attack and need to seek help for that. When my medical situation settled down, I began looking for repair shop that could help us. It was now 5pm and the only repair shop in village had closed. I sought help from local fire station and they found owner of repair shop who thankfully drove me out to repair car. By the time we got to house we were to stay, it was 10;30 pm. Upon arrival, my friend discovered he had left his identification at the car rental facility at Shannon airport. Next day the drive back to airport had to be accomplished. On the way back to airport, he ran of road and damaged rental car to point where it was not driveable. I was ready to fly back home......Instead, we decided to fly to London for remainder of trip. Upon arrival in London, we were advised the the underground employees had gone on strike.....it took us 3 hours to find ride to hotel in London. Whew.....hurts to recall the trip again...:(
michaela Oct 30th 2010 2:00PM
WELL, THIS IS A TRUE STORY, JUST MARRIED, DECIDED TO FOLLOW IN MY GRANDPARENTS FOOTSTEPS AND GO ON A CRUISE. FIRST DAY MY HUSBAND HAD NO LUGGAGE AND THE STEWARD RENTED HIM A PAIR OF SHOES AND THEN TOOK OUR CHAMPAGNE WE, ASKED FOR IT BACK AND HE GAVE US THE SAME BOTTLE, JUST A LITTLE LESS IN IT WE WERE THE YOUNGEST PEOPLE ON THE SHIP, THERE WAS A SPECIAL GROUP ON THAT CONSTANTLY HOUNDED US TO JOIN IN THEIR FESTIVITIES NEED I SAY MORE. I SPENT THE ENTIRE TRIP ALONE BECAUSE HUSBAND WAS SEA SICK, OUR ROOM FLOODED AND I CRIED. ON THE LAST DAY OF THIS HELLACIOUS TRIP WE SAW A SUITCASE ON A DOCK WITH A MAN USING IT AS A SEAT, IT WAS ED'S MISSING LUGGAGE. THE MAN WOULD NOT GET OFF UNTIL WE PAID HIM. ALSO GOT HIT WITH A BOAT WHILE SNORKLELING. THAT WAS PAINFUL BUT NOT AS BAD AS OUR HONEYMOON. WE KISSED THE GROUND WHEN WE GOT HOME. NO ONE BELIEVED HOW BAD OUR TRIP WAS. OH , FORGOT SOMEONE STOLE OUR FLOWERS THAT I RECIEVED FROM MY FAMILY. PLEASE HELP. THERE ISNOT ENOUGH THERAPY IN THE WORLD FOR THIS ONE. THANKS.
RJ Oct 26th 2010 12:10PM
My "dream trip turned into a nightmare" making me the "Most Frustrated Traveler." Having one son and just having given birth to twins, we left on a much needed vacation to my parent's home in South Carolina. The visit was all that we had anticipated, but we knew not what was about to come. I dressed that morning in a newly purchased heavy knit outfit, and as we dined in the airport restaurant air sick twins "lost their cookies" in a direct hit to my new fashion. Our second leg of the trip was detoured due to the plane's windshield having froze over, so after several miles out of our way and several delays, we found 24 hours passing, no diapers available, and the twin's overflow saturating the heavy knit that grew heavier, and heavier. Oh, but that's not enough. We then arrived in Denver where all flights were grounded due to a snowstorm, but a cab was available to transport us to the bus taking us to our destination; Larmaie, Wyoming. In 19 below temperatures and no coats, we traveled by cab who's window was stuck down! Already saturated, snow blew in the window, but even worse was the bus ride home without coats in a bus with a broken heater. Of course our luggage was lost with all that detouring, but we were home!
Dan Oct 25th 2010 10:36PM
This article comes at the perfect time. Just got back yesterday from a resort on the beach with the kids and in-laws. The first night we had an ant infestation in the room and all housekeeping did was come in and sprinke boric acid all over the perimeter of the room. Took the Kids to the beach the next day and wasn't able to go in the water because of sharks. Then to top off the trip. Apon landing at the airport coming home my son jumps up, stretches forward toward the isle and vomits in my wifes hair and down her back. One of those moments where if you didn't laugh you would undoubtably cry.
Karen Oct 26th 2010 11:27AM
Well, there was the time I was on my way back from NY on Delta Flight 1041 and was hijacked to Cuba. Hmmm...then there was the time we flew to Nassau and that was a disaster...or when I flew home from London on a 747 that had to make an emergency landing....or the guy who tried to open the door of the plane coming back from Vegas at 36,000 feet. That was two weeks after 9/11. Let me see...lets talk about Nassau...Well, we got to the airport at 7:30 a.m., leaving the kids with the babysitter for a three day stay in Nassau.. We were flying Mackey airlines (now defunct) out of Ft. Lauderdale, prop jet. After a half hour out I noticed a thick black sludge coming out of one of the engines. Hubby said, whoops, it looks like hydraulic problems. The pilot came on the speaker and said we were turning back to Ft. Lauderdale. When we got to the runway I noticed no other planes around and a LOT of Fire Engines lining the runway. We landed safely, no hydraulics....no brakes, no flaps...just stopped where we could. Then they told us they would fix the plane and take us back out...No way....Eastern flight leaving at 11:00 a.m. to Nassau. All Aboard!! We got to Nassau finally, whereupon we got into a taxi to our hotel. I had to get on my hands and knees to pull the gas pedal up from the floor, because it got stuck. Well, you would think that was the end of the story...but, noooooooo...We got to the hotel, checked into our room and found a sign in the bathroom that said water turned off at 11:00 P.m. to 8:00 A.M. and if that wasn't enough when we went out on the balcony to see our fantastic oceanfront view, lo and behold, the water in the pool had been drained and they were fixing it. Needless to say, we have never been back to Nassau.
Mike Menchaca Oct 25th 2010 10:37PM
In Europe, we rented a car in Switzerland and drove to France. In the French Alps, the right, rear tire went flat. We replaced it with the so-called temporary tire and drove to the next town. A generous innkeeper let me call Hertz. Hertz told me I had to drive 100km to the nearest location as they would not send anyone out because we were so remote. That location was a small, independent contractor with no cars available. We were directed to a local garage to have the tire replaced at our own cost. There we were told they didn't sell single tires; instead we would have to buy four. I refused. I called Hertz corporate and related our story. We were told to drive to another town to swap cars. After 2 days and 200km of dangerous driving (try the alps at any speed with a useless tire), we received a replacement car. At the Swiss border, we had to pay for an Autobahn sticker to enter since our replacement vehicle didn't have one. The final insult came when returning our car. At a gas station just minutes from the airport, the security system enabled and the car would not restart. After begging with Hertz, the company sent a tow and a van to get us. We made the flight at final boarding call. My sister-in-law joked: Pop a pneu and Hertz'll screw you.
I deserve to win because this is true. Ask my travel partners!
Kel Oct 25th 2010 10:39PM
You may enter only once. Winners will be selected at random.
I was going to tell a great story but why bother?
Cynthia Oct 25th 2010 10:41PM
We were going to Florida but Hurricaine Dennis hit our hotel so we couldn't stay. Instead my teenage daughters and I went to Cancun for a once in a lifetime vacation. We were supposed to leave Mexico the day before Hurricaine Emily hit. When we got to the airport the airline had lost our reservation and we were unable to leave. We had to return to our hotel in Mexico and spend the hurricaine in a shelter. We had to buy new tickets to get back to the US the day after the storm. We got the last tickets on that flight and had to run to catch it before the plane door closed. We had 2 hurricanes for one vacation. We couldn't contact my husband so he waited at the airport for 3 days until we showed up. I will never use that travel agency ever again.
Cesar Oct 25th 2010 10:47PM
My brother and I decided to surprise our parents celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. We live in NJ, they live in Jacksonville, FL. Normally, we would have flown Newark to Atlanta to Jacksonville. But because it was spring break, we were forced to fly Newark to Cincinatti, Cincinatti to Lexington, Lexington to Atlanta. In Atlanta, there were so seats available to Jacksonville until Monday. Problem was Mom & Pop's party was on Sunday. We decided to rent a car one-way and drive the 300+ miles to Jacksonville. Got there Saturday midnight. We realized that if we wanted to make it back to work in NJ Tuesday morning, we would have to find an alternative flight to Newark. Found two exorbitantly priced one way seats to Newark through Tampa. At check-in in Jacksonville Monday morning, guess who was waiting for us.... Homeland Security! They went through our things with a fine tooth comb. Satisfied we were harmless, they let us board the puddle-jumper to Tampa. Had the misfortune of having to sit next to a super nervous young lady who wouldn't stop talking and grabbing my arm during take-off and landing and every bump in between. The flight from Tampa to Newark was overbooked by ten seats, but we made it back in time for work Tuesday. The lesson here is go ahead and surprise your parents in Florida; they'd love it. Just try not to do it during spring break.
Karin Schaller Oct 25th 2010 10:47PM
I was visiting my husband who was in Toulouse for our 26th Wedding Anniversary. I started off in Phoenix, landed in Denver after a very turbulent flight. I then waited 3 hours to board my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. To my surprise, business class was full, so I ended up in Row 51D. After an 11 hour flight, I landed in the morning in Frankfurt. My flight to Toulouse was scheduled for 5PM. When I checked in, the staff told me there was a transportation strike in France and my flight got canceled. I spent the night in Frankfurt and on my way to the hotel, the cab driver tried to convince me to drive me there. The next flight I could get was not until 10PM the next day. I finally boarded, and they had a missing pilot, I was definitely going to miss my anniversary. I finally landed around midnight and ran to see my husband. He was on the phone. I tapped him to say I'm here and he just looked at me and said his Mother had just died. My eye is still twitching from that harrowing travel experience. Thanks for listening!
Lisa Oct 26th 2010 9:36PM
My husband and I had a 10 year anniversary cruise from hell. We were suppose to be going to the Bahamas but got rerouted to Key West because of a hurricane... It was the first time we had left our son at home for more than 24 hours with a babysitter and I promised to call him everynight and tell him good night....our phones in the cabins didn't work throughout the cruise and we didn't have cell phone service until we docked.... I left one of my husbands dress shoes to go with his suit at home so he had to wear loafers to the formal dinner. We had to return to Ft lauderdale instead of Port Canaveral and ride a bus back to Orlando airport (at 5am!!) but the ship was sooo rocky because of rough seas I was just glad to reach land. 11 years later we still haven't tried a cruise again!
Scott Settlemire Oct 25th 2010 10:48PM
I was on a business trip that was to hit several cities - the last two being Indianapolis and San Diego.......
I was in Detroit and they kept cancelling trips into Indianapolis due to weather - and because I had an appointment with media in San Diego, I said to the Northwest Agent "...forget Indianapolis - just get me to San Diego!!..."
Well - she did - very late flight - and of course they lost my luggage - had to hit an all-night store at 1am to buy contact lens solution and toiletries --
They DID find my luggage -
They delivered it JUST AFTER the earthquake........
..........and JUST BEFORE the hotel caught on fire.
.........did I mention that the suitcase sat on the tarmac and got drenched?
Elle Oct 25th 2010 10:55PM
Soon after September 11th 2001, and with the Columbine school shootings still in the back of everyones' minds, I was attempting to board an international flight as a young "goth" woman with flourescent pink hair. Needless to say, I attracted attention. The day I was flying was also the same day where the new post 9/11 security measures were implemented. After having my car "randomly" searched by military personnel, complete with AK-47s, upon entering the airport grounds, I arrived just in time to wait in a three hour line and have my luggage "randomly" selected to be searched. I then stepped through the metal detectors, which went off due to my unique, and unremovable, nipple rings. Try explaining that one. This led to my being pulled aside to a private area where security attempted to find a female TSA officer to view said jewlery. This took quite a while and I missed my flight. The next flight was primarily carrying a large (and I mean LARGE) group of geriatric women. For the comfort of the rest of the passengers, I was seated in the last row of seats on the plane. There were several empty rows between me and the rest of the passengers.
I deserve a new trip because if complying with all of that was in the name of security for travelers, then darn it, next time I want to be a traveler and someone else can get strip-searched!
Shawn Oct 25th 2010 10:53PM
I had just finished Boot Camp and got my first leave in the middle of a frozen Chicago winter. The nearest relative I could afford to visit was just a quick AMTRAK ride away in Boulder, CO. After getting my ticket for an Eight PM departure, I watched anxiously with fellow passengers as our train approached the station. From out of nowhere, a pick-up truck leapt across the tracks and got nailed by the slow moving train. Two hours, three fire trucks and one ambulance later, we were able to board trackside and got out of there around 11:30. The cars were frigid at best and the bar car was closed. To make matters worse, for every degree drop in temperature, the train had to slow by 10mph. Just as we thought it could not get worse, the toilets froze. It was a loooong, sloooow ride to Denver and I haven’t ridden the train since. ‘Course, my next big trip was flying to meet a ship in the Red Sea for Desert Storm and we landed hard enough to break the gear in the Azores. Yep...I’m that guy. Never get behind me in the grocery store.