Funny Travel Experiences

For many years we have nearly always used Manchester airport in preference to Gatwick and Heathrow. On a recent occasion, we simply just got in the car and set off for Manchester airport. We always use the same off airport car park and parked up the car and went to reception to check in and for them to take down our return flight details, I heard one of the reception staff say to my wife, you are at the wrong airport, these tickets are for Stansted airport.

At first I thought it was a joke until I saw the look on my wife's face which was a mixture of pure confusion and horror. The tickets were indeed for Stansted airport some 300 miles away.

We decided to travel onto Manchester airport and to see if we could arrange a flight to Rhodes. A flight was leaving in 3 hours, but was fully booked according to their records and we were advised that if someone did not turn up, we could for £100 each transfer to this flight and return from Rhodes via Stansted.

By this time my wife was an emotional mess and I had virtually resigned myself to returning home. We just sat there waiting, seeing the queue for this flight getting ever longer and then shorter as the last few people checked in.

With 5 minutes to go before the check in closed only 2 people had yet to turn up. By this time my wife was running up and down the airport asking any one coming through the doors where they were going and nearly kissing them if they said anywhere but Rhodes.

We eventually got on the flight and my wife much to my embarrassment relaid the story to anyone who would listen. I now check all tickets.

By the time we returned from holiday, everyone knew what we had done and my wife for a time was called Stan short of course for Stansted.

The author is the owner of Flypark http://www.flypark.co.uk who have been providing airport parking at all UK airports since 1989. Off airport car parks offer considerable savings and can cut the cost of parking by up to 50% and with more and more travellers opting for this option early booking is recommended to get the best price and avoid having to park on airport where prices are exorbitant.