Today I wanted to share some of the behind-the-scenes adventures that happened on our Mexico vacation. If this post scares you off of the idea of international travel, you can go back to this post and just stare at the beautiful photo of the ocean.

These are not the glamorous travel stories, rather, they are the stuff of nightmares, BUT I’m writing this post because everything turned out OK! I thought that sending these stories out into the universe could be helpful for a couple of reasons : 1. if something similar has happened to you, now you know you aren’t alone, and 2. if it hasn’t yet, maybe you’ll find some tips in this post that will help you on future travels.

Debacle #1 : The Passport

This may be common sense, but when leaving the country, you need a passport. If you forget it, they won’t let you on the plane.

One of our travel buddies forgot their passport, and there was no way to get it before their flight was going to leave. It can be a costly mistake, but not the end of the world. In our case, they went to the airport when they were supposed to and were able to reschedule their flight for the next day!

The only loss was one day of a vacation and a rebooking fee, but otherwise, the whole debacle was an easy fix.

If this happens to you (i.e. that you’re going to miss your flight because of forgotten documents), the best solution is to call your airline or speak to a representative at the counter as soon as possible. If you’re lucky, they will be able to put you on the next flight, no harm, no foul.

Debacle #2 : The Rental Car

This situation is the one that gave us all a moment of panic except for Calder’s dad, and I’m going to chalk that up to his 80 years of life experience.

the scene : Calder’s sister, her family, and his dad were driving from the airport to San Patricio in the dark.

road conditions : As I mentioned yesterday, for the most part, the road was really nice and in great condition. There was one long section under MAJOR construction – as in they were dynamiting the bedrock, flattening and widening the roadway. The only other problem was that there were some random potholes and there were speed bumps when going through small towns.

the rental car : When making travel arrangements, we reserved full-size cars from a major company, but you don’t pay for a car reservation until you actually return it. What does this mean? When you’re landing in a tourist destination, the rental car companies are lined up and ready to take your business. Your reservation ensures that you’ll have a car that you want waiting for you, but you’re welcome to go with another company in the airport.

In this case, Europcar whisked them away offering what sounded like a deal. The problem was, rather than getting a full-size car, they ended up with a cheaply built, smaller car.

the incident : They hit a major pothole – so big that their two front tires went flat! Not only that, but the car behind them also hit the hole and got one flat. This happened at 10pm. Ugg.

possible solutions : When they first called us, we were working through a few possible solutions :

• We could take the spares from the other rental cars at the hotel (we had two there already), and hopefully replace both flats letting them drive on to the hotel.
• We could send a rescue party and drive them to the hotel while getting a tow-truck to pick up the rental.
• They could try to get to a 24 hr gas station and hopefully an attendant there could help them.
• Rental companies have 24 hour hotlines. Europcar didn’t answer. Then called back 3 hours later… I’m linking to them because I want to call them out on their misdeeds. Petty, I know.

wait, there’s more : This turned into a bigger problem for a few reasons :

• They couldn’t get the lug nuts off the wheels.
• They were two+ hours away from us.
• They were traveling with a baby!
• They had to keep driving for a few miles on the two flats to reach a gas station, and by then their rims were toast.
• We tried calling tow-trucks and no one picked up.

*Throughout all of this, Calder’s dad wasn’t worried. His comment on the situation : “it’s happened before”. He was confident that this was now the rental car company’s problem and that they would know how to handle it. Once he said that (and everyone was safe and sound at the hotel), it was immediately calming and such a great bit of wisdom to remember for the future.*

final outcome : Calder picked them up. They left the rental car parked at the gas station, but before they left, they took photos of the car from all essential angles showing the flat tires and destroyed rims as well as the license plate for identification. The next morning, they spent about an hour on the phone with the rental company explaining the problem, providing all of the details, and making arrangements with someone from the company to come to our hotel to pick up the keys.

In the end, they were charged $72 for the whole debacle. We’re not sure what this charge was for, but no one’s going to call and question it.

Our Advice :

• Make sure you have comprehensive insurance when renting a car (something with $0 deductible). Know that if you’re renting in the US with a credit card, your card often has car insurance perks, BUT these may not apply if renting in another country (this was the case with Mexico).
• Even if you don’t need a larger car, it may be worthwhile to rent one because it’s likely to be of higher quality.
• If you’re stuck somewhere, but with cell service, send someone your location using a map app on your phone – then they can get directions to the exact point where you are.
• TAKE PICTURES – this is so essential if you have to discuss property with someone from a distance. While it may sound like overkill, it’s useful to take pictures both before and after using any rental property, whether it’s an Airbnb rental or a car rental. That way you’ll have some sort of proof showing what the state of the property was in when you got there, when you left, and in this case, when something goes wrong.

Debacle #3 : The Bat

This is just a joke, but there was a bat in our room on the last night!

If this happens to you and it’s behaving oddly, stay away and get help. If there’s nothing odd, just find a large towel, carefully pick it up, and take it outside.

We loved the bat incident because it turned Alex on to bats in a major way! They’ve become our “unit” for the month of October, and I can’t wait to start talking about some of the fun stuff we’ve been doing at home.

~

What crazy stories hidden behind the scenes of yesterday’s post, huh? And remember – If it’s happening to you, it’s likely happened before. Don’t worry.