28 Jul 2009
Home Again
I’m home again after 3 weeks in Europe. The trip started in Madrid then on to Amsterdam and finally Milan and Verona. I had the opportunity to meet many new people and get new insights to other cultures.
The journey home proved to be a challenge. The night before my departure for home from Miilan I went to get traveling cash and discovered that my cash card wasn’t working. Bank of America’s fraud detection had blocked the card based on suspicious activity and I could not get any cash. After checking that the taxi would accept credit cards I headed to the airport the next morning with 10 Euros. Unfortunately I got confused about the times and arrived a few minutes late for my flight.
The only option was to take the next flight to Madrid and spend the night. I arranged to have cash wired to me but had to go to four locations before finding an available Western Union. Departing from Madrid the next day we arrived in Dallas late. Clearing customs and security plus some confusion on the gate caused me to miss my flight to San Francisco. American Airlines rebooked my flight home to San Jose which was delayed further by bad weather on the incoming flight.
I just uploaded the pictures Italy to Flickr and was reflecting on the lessons I learned on this journey.
-
I had great professional interactions and met great people.
I saw Juliet’s balcony and Picasso’s Guernica.
I had romantic dinners in Madrid and rode a bicycle in Amsterdam.
I extended my travel plans repeatedly and had my credit card number stolen.
I was ill prepared for unfortunate events and made poor decisions under stress.
I am home again and very happy to be here.
Click here for Verona pictures
Watch for future posts on the Milan and Verona trips.
Bon Voyage, Jay
Jay:
Finally saw the pictures of Milan and Verona. Looked like a great trip despite the credit card snafu.
I know what it feels like to be out of cash. My wallet was stolen on the Metro in Mexico City along with all my credit cards and about $400 in US and Pesos. I was getting ready for a trip to Guatemala the next day for several months of language study and had just come from the banks and the money exhange.
I think the theives spotted me at the money exchange and followed me to the Metro. Luckily I was staying with my dad’s wife’s family in Mexico City so wasn’t in danger of being homeless.
I had to delay my trip for a week while I waited for the banks to rush mail me new credit cards. I was able to cancel them before anything was charged on them. Citibank had a security service (I had enrolled in just prior to tip) whereby I had listed all my credit cards and numbers so once I got thru to Citibank in USA they were able to follow thru on cancelling all the cards.
My Lessons: While traveling, be discreet. Don’t dress like a tourist. Don’t carry too many credit cards. Take a cab from the bank or money exchange to hotel or place of stay.
This happened in 1998 so procedures are probably much better now for spotting credit card theft.
Regards,
Ron Maysenhalder
Ron
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 pmpermalink
Wow, I’ve heard a couple of stories about getting robbed while traveling and they all seem to stress situational awareness. I’m glad you were safe and everythingw worked out ok.
Bon Voyage, Jay
GreenWanderer
August 9th, 2009 at 5:46 pmpermalink