Everything that went wrong on our European trip

No trip is perfect. Sure, social media makes it look like travel is all sunshine and rainbows. But, hiccups happen. Things go wrong. I always like to mention these things to keep it real and temper everyone’s travel expectations.

The other night as I started thinking about the hiccups on our trip, I had a hard time even remembering what went wrong. That’s the thing about these hiccups…we usually don’t remember them in the long-run.

ice cream cone on a concrete surface — Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

Stuff that didn’t go according to plan

Our first hiccup happened after we landed in Venice and I tried to get an international SIM card for my phone. I had just gotten a new phone with an e-SIM, and apparently I couldn’t add another SIM card for a certain number of days. I also couldn’t get a refund on the new SIM card. So, I wasted 40 Euros and I also had no cell service.
When we landed in Venice, there was a public transportation strike going on. Luckily, there was still one boat line running from Murano to Venice. We just had to walk an extra 15 minutes to the boat stop instead of catching it right outside of our hotel. And, only one stop in Venice was operating. It just meant that we had to do more walking than we would have in a normal day.
On our cruise, we didn’t realize we had “My Time Dining” instead of a regular dinner seating. We couldn’t get any dining reservations until 9 p.m. Since we were all starving the first night, we ate at a quick-serve restaurant on board and at the buffet on another night. By the last few nights of the cruise, we were able to eat in the main dining room at an earlier hour.
On the day we disembarked our cruise, there was an airport worker strike. Many people’s flights were canceled, including my flight from Rome to Athens. ITA Airways put me on an earlier flight that I couldn’t make because I was still on the cruise. I had to make an international call to get on a different flight (which cost me over $60). We landed in Athens around 2 a.m. instead of our scheduled early evening arrival.
At the airport in Athens, at 2 a.m., I couldn’t call an Uber due to no cell phone service. We had to take a taxi, and we followed the signs to a specific door that lead to the taxi stand. Well, apparently it didn’t and we ended up walking around like zombies for 20 minutes trying to get a taxi.
Before we left for our trip, I thought I bought tickets to the Acropolis. Turns out, I bought tickets for the Acropolis Museum and not the Acropolis.
Also in Athens, we got a bit lost a few times walking back to our hotel. I knew we were close to our hotel and that we’d get there eventually, but my daughter was a bit concerned. “Mom, are we lost? What if we never find our hotel?” In any new city, we typically fumble around a bit. And that’s ok.

What we will remember from our trip

I know for certain that these inconveniences will not be what I remember about our recent trip. I will remember how awesome it was to see the whitewashed buildings on Santorini for the first time. My kids will remember how there was a Gelateria around every corner in Italy and Greece. We will all remember the plethora of souvenirs dedicated to Dionysus, the God of Fertility, in the shops in Greece. And, I’ll cherish the extra time my kids spent with each other and us because they had no internet to distract them.

But most of all, I hope we remember how special it is to explore the world with our family members and just spend time together.