I can add add a couple of fun vacation tales:
First, my parents always talked about going to see Yellowstone. We were pretty poor so taking time off and scrounging up gas/car money was always an issue. Plus we drove a beat up VW van so breakdowns where just a matter of where, for how long and how much. My dad decided to beat the break downs and just replace the motor in the bus. And off we set for a 2 week Yellowstone dream trip. It was a good idea for the first day of the trip. By the second day and just outside of Elko Nevada, something failed in the newly rebuilt motor and we had to be towed to town. The mechanic worked out a deal with a local guy to ship him a different motor by train and have the local guy install. We had planned on camping in the van so we did not have a tent with us. Once the van was at the shop, we got to take what we could carry and held to a KOA campground. Dad got a rope and several feet of black plastic for a tent for them. I got to sleep on the ground or on top of the camp table. I was about 12 or 13 at the time. For 10 days we waited for that new motor. Finally it was installed and we got to take a whirlwind 2 day drive to Yellowstone and get back home. Fun
Second, my honeymoon....
We took a cheap flight from LA to London where we were going to spend a few days before traveling to Copenhagen for a few more days....then some time visiting my family. The real honeymoon was the week free of family, the rest of the time was a family vacation.
Our cheap flight was delayed by 6 hours. The airline did not comp anyfood or even have enough seats for all the people waiting, so we got to sit on the floor in the terminal and wait. The flight had a lay over in Bangor Maine. As we got closer and closer to the airport the plane made a very slow decent it seemed like we were buzzing people back yards and going to hit the trees before they finally landed the plane. Because it was international and everyone had been screened, they were not letting anyone off the plane. It was August, hot, sweaty and they shut off the power to the plane while they made repairs to it. Turns out there was a problem with a door! After several hours in the heat with people demanding fresh air and the use of a restroom, we were allowed in the terminal for a few minutes.
By the time our flight finally reached London, we were many hours late. We got to our hotel with booking info in hand, the hotel said they had never heard of us, had only a shared bathroom room on the 3rd floor for 2x the price. At that point we said fine, we hauled all of our heavy luggage up all 3 flights of stairs that had a serious lean to them (probably ww2 damage) Our room had a bed with the foot higher than the head, a leaky faucet, a leaking and shut off heater and rattling windows. The toilet was down half a flight of stairs and we had to share the tub with the owners of the inn...I think ww2 was the last time the tub was cleaned too.
On the visit, we hit place after place either at "nap" time or they were closed for the season (in August??) Which of course was MY fault, I was ready to take my passport and tear up my new husbands Denmark ticket and get divorced while still on the honeymoon.
We did make it to Copenhagen, where the next hotel our fabulous travel agent forgot to book also...(gee thanks) They were booked but my aunt had checked after hearing the troubles we had in London and put us up. In twin beds in a room off the living room...lol
So much for our romantic honeymoon.
And yes I should have divorced him on the honeymoon!
After those two vacations, I figure all the rest have to be better!
