 Poster: A snowHead
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Just had a phonecall from one of our party (four of us are off on Saturday) A muppet can't find his passport?
Anyway, after a couple of hours of frantic searching on his part, we finally get the all-clear call - discovered under a pile of ski gloves.
So, 'fess up - how many of you out there have done anything similar?
I'll start up by owning up to getting the taxi I was in (on the way to LHR) to divert back to my house in London - THROUGH the London Marathon that was on at the time (lived at St Katherine's Docks) - to collect it and deposit me at the airport in time. Needless to say, the driver earnt a MASSIVE tip that day (was only a bloody business meeting too!)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Couchevel december just gone, driven 90 miles on way to Manchester when my mate announced he could not find passport in pocket. It had fallen out of pocket onto driveway when i picked him up. Urgent phone call to get his brother to pick up passport and meet us halfway. frantic drive back up M6 to collect and foot down back to Manchester (just as well it was middle of the night) and made flight with 20 mins to spare. Phew!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Masopa - you can't just label up new threads with "last minute panic...." shortly after a "I'm popping the question" thread!
I have lost my passport on the coach though - it was on the way back to the UK after a great weeks skiing - all very traumatic and with a hangover particularly unwelcome. I had no idea where I'd dropped it, but everyone at Geneva check in had to watch me unpack my rucksack of dirty washing to search for it. I then discovered that my bottle of perfume had broken and so along with shards of glass everywhere there was the most incredible aroma of Tommy. Within minutes I had 5 Mark Warner reps sprinting round the airport on mobiles trying to track it down.
Relief all round when found on the coach - which was by then round in arrivals.
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Not exactly a panic but .... On getting off the plane at Geneva Airport this year I managed to leave my house keys behind, luckily someone caught up with me just as I was about to go into th emain building having picked up my bags, was first or second person to grab their bag from the plane so they were lucky to get me. Suffice to say when I got back to Southampton this year I checked before getting off the plane that I had all my stuff 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Catriona wrote: |
Masopa - you can't just label up new threads with "last minute panic...." shortly after a "I'm popping the question" thread!
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That brings back happy memories of M3 on the morning of my wedding, stopping to fix a hydraulic suspension leak on a Citroen BX, all covered in green gunk.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Catriona, ha ha - didn't think of that!
Perhaps I should start another thread about my poorly fitting boots entitled, "cold feet - is it just me?" 
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Masopa - as your parting shot before you head to the fluffy stuff I would consider throwing in a one liner like that..... leaves us all on tenterhooks til you get back!
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4 years ago : summer 2000. One of my mates with whom I'm going skiing tomorrow, enroute for a two week mountain biking holiday in Utah
Halfway across the atlantic, he discovered that the passport he'd picked up and used to go through UK customs was in fact the one that had expired some four year previously, and not his current one...
luckily it passed through US customs un-noticed and his dad sent out the real passport in time for the return trip.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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nbt, I've done that - only it was with a passport I had 'lost' .... then found again. Trouble is when you get a replacement the old one is of course listed as "lost or stolen"! I drove through Austria, Switzerland (twice), Italy and Liechstenstein during that trip. Boy was I sweating each time they checked my papers (especially Switzerland and Leichstenstein - a morose-looking dragon spent a good thirty seconds staring at mine, then disappeared into her hut with it.) I thought I was done for, but no, think she was just trying to prove to me how important a place Leichstenstein is!
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Every year at every ski trip which is going to last at least one week I always have the last minute panic.
This year, while already on the coach, I realized I had forgotten my kids
ID cards and social security cards at home.
No ID cards= no proof that the children were under age and thus entitled to a discounted pass...and no discount in housing too.
No social security card= big bureaucratic troubles in case of injuries...
After wringing my hands for the whole journey, franctic cals to my father at home, reproaches from my mother on the coach...
I decided "whaterver will be, it will be"
Results:
The kid got their discount because:
-The landlady we were staying at knew us well (it wan't the first time we were sleeping there)
-The ticket office accepted my bona fide declaration that the children were under 14 y.o.
-No injuries whatsoever (only to pride) whew.
-Great fun anyway.
-The ID cards stayed home.
-I haven't found the social security cards yet (two full months after the trip)
I have the feeling that I have mailed them, by mistake, to a friend either in Oz or in the UK - I am still corresponding via snailmail with some friends, and during those days I needed to xerox the socsec cards and go to the shop and buy envelopes..I think I put the carss into one of theenvelopes.
I have asked, and obtained, duplicates, and am still waiting for my friends to write me back asking why the strange cards in the mail...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Matteo, The moral of the story being .... stay cool  ... life's too short!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You've reminded me Matteo, about a business trip I went on with a good friend some years ago (well, before 9/11 - which explains why he got away with it).
Checked in at Waterloo and noticed that my friend was taking a long time chatting to the security people. Anyway, he appeared so I didn't think anything of it. Arrived at Brussels and sure enough, again he was chatting to the customs people (being Italian, he was fluent in French/English/German/Italian/probably others) - couldn't understand what he was saying, but let it lie.
Returning back later that day, guess what - another long chat with customs/security. I decided enough was enough and asked him what was going on. Turned out he'd picked up his wife's passport. Obviously his wife doesn't look anything like him, and to make matters worse, she didn't take his name when they got married! Each time he went through customs, he was pulling out photos of her, trying to "prove" that he was married to her and just made an honest mistake. The most amazing thing was that he got away with it - four times (twice here and twice in Belgium). Clearly would be harder to get away with nowadays...
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Packing to go away on Boxing Day, and couldn't find driving licences needed for car hire. Took hours top find, as I hadn't looked before, cos I thought I knew where they were. Only they weren't .
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for all that, reminds me of the times years ago we used to go with package tours from the UK, there always seemed to be someone having some sort of crisis.
Personally, no, no panics or crisis. The closest I get is repeatedly forgetting to buy some cigars or something to light them with, mislaying my gloves and having to use a spare pair in the flat/trunk of the car/rucksack/flat. I left my poles in the flat a couple of weeks back and had to ski at home with some old heavy ones which was annoying.
I did drive a couple of hundred meters with the roof bars open the other week, does that count ?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Matteo wrote: |
| This year, while already on the coach, I realized I had forgotten my kids |
Had to read that one twice, Matteo!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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DavidS, That happened not so long ago in France, remember reading an article about a couple that set off from a motorway service station and had gone quite a distance before realisation dawned!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yeah pg that's soo true. Usually I tend to stay cool, these last 3-5 years have been a bit "special" though. Life goes on!
DavidS hahah! If that would had happened, my mother, my uncles and all of the other coach occupants would have skinned me alive.
OTOH with them being blondish and cute, no risk of that; 40 or so pair of eyes were keeping watch on them
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Never done it myself....I'm obsessive, checking "passport, tickets....passport, tickets....passport, tickets" every hour on the hour on the run up to going away. In fact, this post got me thinking "where are they" even though I'm in the office and not leaving til Sunday....I'll have to check when I get home...pehaps counselling would help?
Have been on the receiving end though.....on transfer bus from Andorra one year someone piped up from the back that they'd left passport, wallet, tickets etc tucked under the matress in their hotel room - put there for safe keeping. Had to sit on the side of the road for ages waiting for taxi to arrive with the stuff. How embarassing for them....bus load of grumbling depressed people who just wanted to get home!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Were they much embarrased though ? Strikes me some of these clowns have no shame at all, the Easyjet documentary has me alternating between laughter and shouting abuse at the screen. Some of the antics just beggar belief.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I cannot travel without panic. It is a part and parcel of the experience: together with not being able to sleep the night before an early departure because I know that that is the very night the alarm clock will decide to pack it in and not wake me.
Possibly my worst experience though was when I went to Australia for 6 month's work. I'd actually done everything right. I'd arranged to rent my house out. I'd notified all the utility companies to change the billing arrangements and I'd called for a taxi to pick me up and take me to the coach station in the morning, for the airport connection.
What happens?
No taxi. First panic.
Try to call taxi company. Phone dead - company has closed the line preparatory to starting tenant's account. Second panic (This was in the days BC - Before Cellphones).
Run down road to telephone box to call cab company. Phone box vandalised. Third panic.
Get in car and drive to coach station, leaving keys in National Express office so that friend can pick up car from car park and take it to place of safety. Try to call friend at work: not available so leave message with secretary. Not so much a panic as nagging worry (only alleviated 48 hours later when I manage to contact friend long-distance from Sydney to confirm that car has been collected).
Catch bus to airport and get to check-in desk. Stand in enormous queue as I approach desk, feeling in pocket for ticket and passport.
Hand meets void. Beyond panic. Near cardiac-arrest. Wave of cold sweat cascades along departure lounge drowning two children.
Desperate rummage through all available luggage finally reveals passport and ticket in zip-up compartment of hand-luggage, where I'd carefully placed it the night before in order to avoid last-minute panicked search for documents.
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I know of two people who have sat in the toilet of a coach to get through customs because they've forgotton their passport. I also remember a school trip (I wasn't on it), where they had collected everyone's passports in, the week previous, to avoid anyone forgetting it......only for the teacher to leave them all at home. doh!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
| I know of two people who have sat in the toilet of a coach to get through customs because they've forgotton their passport. |
Is that what they said they were doing? 
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| Quote: |
I cannot travel without panic. It is a part and parcel of the experience: together with not being able to sleep the night before an early departure because I know that that is the very night the alarm clock will decide to pack it in and not wake me.
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Acacia, you are a person after my own heart!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Two or three alarm clocks (a la Hugh Grant in Four Weddings) normally does the trick...!!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I have never actually left anything crucial behind but everytime I come up to a holiday oversees the week or two before I tend to dream that I have either left my passport at home or my luggage!!!!!!
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Catriona, it wouldn't make any difference!
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You know it makes sense.
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My X-wife, for reasons she’d never tell me was a complete psychotic when it came to traveling; But apart from the huge quantity of drugs required just to get her to the airport (she fell asleep at the check-in desk once, got her onto the plane, she snored for 5 straight hours and then wondered why I was a grouch!), she also needed to make sure she never forgot anything and I still follow her system.
Pack main bag, put in front of house door.
Pack carry-on, put behind main bag.
Put coat on the floor behind these.
Put all travel documents etc. on the coat and pick up everything in the mornin’ as you leave. . .
Or in my wife’s case . . . scream “I know we’ve forgotten something (despite the four page checklist) then unpack and repack twice . . . Oh and blame me for missing check-in – and her getting a speeding ticket (she’d take the pills when she got to the airport – on an empty stomach!)
The return journey, a re-run, tel est la guerre.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I left my 150 euro deposit behind yesterday- yep a whole little bundle of cash has now been donated to the cleaner of our apartment!
Felt like crying as had meant to buy huge quantities of duty free cigs and booze in the last shop in Andorra before we got over into Spain with said cash! And there was no cash point arrrggghh
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Poster: A snowHead
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MartinH, just noticed your comment  I hate to disappoint, but they were on separate trips.
Nadenoodlee, they say that you can judge a person by how they treat people they don't have to be nice to. I'm sure the cleaner is very grateful for your generosity. Ouch, though!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Did it once.
While skiing in Chamonix I had to go to Geneva in the evening to pick up my brother and his family flying from Norway to join us. As usual I spent the day skiing in Flaine, had dinner then drove to Geneva afterward.
Only on the road I suddenly realised I left the passport behind.
I was preparing to beg at the border checkpoint but the guard waved me to pass when he spotted my Swiss road tax on the windscreen.
Since then I learn the Swiss care more about their road tax disc than the passport as I have never stopped since as long I pay for the road disc.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Saikee not quite true about the motorway vignet, I once got stopped on my way into Switzerland with two friends in the car and a lot of luggage, had to produce all personal and vehicle documents insurance etc, when told we were going skiing even had to show the ski gear in the luggage, found out later that there was a big international conference going on in Davos and lots of people were trying to get there to disrupt it, I guess we looked the type, as soon as they saw the ski gear all interest was lost and they let us in.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Doesn't work at Basel at the moment though, the last two times my girlfriend went up to Germany she reports they were checking all passports entering Germany.
As you say, entering Switzerland they're really most concerned if you have a vignette or not though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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ise, Vignettes - my pet hate. Had no intention of visiting Switzerland at all this year, but had to pick up someone from Geneva airport few weeks back. Couldn't work out the route to avoid the motorway, got lost trying, ended up buying a year's vignette for - what - 10km to the airport and back? Moaned at the woman selling them roadside, but she had the stock reply prepared (no doubt oft repeated) "Sorry, I don't make the laws!"
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It'll last until Jan 31st 2005 if it's any consolation. I can understand for one trips it's annoying, for more regular use it's good value, cheaper than Austria by a long way.
And obviously, your one time trip's subsidising my vignette
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ise, True, but last time I was in Austria I got a 7 ? 10 ? day sticker, which wasn't too bad from what I remember. As for Switzerland, looks like I'm going to have to make a trip especially now!
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hairy incident no. 1: driving through Georgia in what was then the USSR, crossing the Caucasus on the Georgian Military Highway (one of the most spectacular mountain roads in the world imho) having indadvertently left all our passports in the hotel we had spent the previous night in (hotels in those days kept your passport overnight to stop you going anywhere). flagged down by not-so-friendly soviet cop. Lyubyanka looming but fortunately law-enforcer being unable to read anything but cyrillic alphabet was duped by timely production of UK driving licences.
hairy/infuriating incident no. 2: packing for Courchevel last week, thursday night, work all day friday then due to drive straight off friday night. No sign of children's passports - anywhere. Not with ours in the drawer where they belong. Chest of drawers dismantled, husband telephoned, denies all knowledge. Locate children's ID cards, heave sigh of relief (fail to realise as non- EC won't be much help). Hours later, husband returns, says nothing, but passports mysteriously appear. Under questioning, husband discloses that they were in the scanner - where HE put them to order lift passes on-line. Grrrr!
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FAQ
anyway that was the friends fault who loaned me his girlfriends for the pic, were it not for them I assure you I'd look haremless 