Deck the Halls with Holiday Travel

To celebrate the 2013 Holiday Season, we asked our EatSmart fans to share their craziest “travel experience” as part of our “Voyager Holiday Giveaway.” Their responses came from far and wide, the best of which we wanted to share with you. Perhaps, some of these stories will remind you of similar traveling fiascos that you have endured but the stress and aggravation fade as we spend time with family and friends during the holidays.

From our Fans… “I was traveling to England for the summer and my luggage was stuffed and it was over the weight limit. Then right there in the airport I scrambled to move some heavier items to my carry-on and even resorted to throwing out a bottle of my favorite shampoo so I would not have to pay extra fees.” –Daiva Baumgarten “Not crazy so much as frustrating. I was at the airport with my 4 year old and infant daughter. Going through security I had to put everything through the X-ray machine including the stroller. I had to try to do this while holding the hand of my 4 year old and holding my infant in one arm. To make matters worse I then had to take my belt and shoes off while still holding my daughters. Not once did anyone offer to help! I was in tears by the time I got through security.” –Marci “Years ago, I toured through parts of India. During my trip I had to take many smaller flights between the cities of India. The strangest thing I noticed was as soon as the locals saw a hint of land they would abruptly remove their seat belts and jump up and line up at the exit door so that they could get off the plane first. The flight attendant didn’t seem to mind at all!” –Pri Richards “As the plane pulled away from the terminal, my baby's stroller and car seat were sitting on the ground outside the plane...” –Michelle Goldberg “My luggage popped open halfway down the escalator at Heathrow, leaving a puddle of my clothes at the bottom!” –Sharon Goudeau “On a flight out of Beijing China, bound for Hong Kong, the airplane encountered a heavy thunder storm and the plane dropped hundreds of feet and people were screaming. We had to make an emergency landing in another Chinese city where the police held us in a security lock-up because none of the passengers had the correct travel documents for that city. After a 12 hour delay, we finally re-boarded the aircraft and flew on to Hong Kong. I will never forget that experience!” – Richard Harold “We were supposed to be flying out of Newark Airport and the flight was cancelled. They sent us by cab to LaGuardia Airport to catch the next flight, a 30 minute drive. As my family was running through the airport, we heard our name being announced to come to the gate -the flight was leaving. When we got there, they explained to us that the plane was already on the runway and that it would not be coming back for us. Needless to say, we waited in the airport for the next flight. While we waited, the cruise ship in Florida left without us. They flew us to Nassau and left us on the cruise ship dock with our luggage waiting for the ship to arrive. Considering it was only a 3 day cruise, we lost more than half of the cruise in a cab and the airport. (Just an interesting note, we missed the plane in LGA by 3 minutes!)” –Danielle Murgia