They made us laugh, cringe & some even made us roll our eyes. Wrap up your work week with fun travel news Friday #FTNF – a collection of weird stories that made headlines.
1. Some of the weirdest items hotel guests have left behind
A one-way first class ticket; prosthetic hand; a pug dog; a three-foot rubber duck; and a six-foot children’s bouncy castle.
They’re just some of the weirdest items Travelodge Hotels say holidaymakers have left behind last year across the group’s 500 properties across the UK.
The list of interesting items also includes a suitcase full of pound coins to the value of £3,000 (AU$5,616); a Feng Shui fish tank; and a golden Genie lamp (somebody call Major Nelson!).
A cleaner at Travelodge in Newcastle Central found a black book of exclusive cocktail recipes (not so exclusive anymore) and in Southampton a couple left behind their wedding certificate (no, it wasn’t intentional).
Somehow, someway, one person forgot to take his/her jukebox and a pinball machine.
Oh and don’t forget those storm trooper suits that would have racked up a pretty large postage bill when they were shipped back to the US.
The sweetest thing left behind was a love letter from 40 years ago – the gentleman that left it behind returned to the Aberdeen Central property from Kent to pick it up because he didn’t want it mailed out. Awww!
2. Ran out of toilet paper while travelling? Tweet for a solution
It was a fortunate yet slightly unfortunate situation for a 16-year-old traveller during a recent high-speed rail journey.
VBlogger Adam Greenwood was travelling from Euston to Glasglow via Virgin Trains when his bowels needed to make a movement.
After doin’ his thang [sic] he noticed he was missing one pretty important thing required to complete his business.
Luckily, the train company spotted the tweet and responded within two minutes asking which carriage he was in.
Adam told BuzzFeed News he peered out of the toilet room door and checked the carriage letter, which was J.
“I tweeted back the carriage number and shortly after I saw a guy looking quite worried in a full black suit carrying toilet roll.”
Adam Greenwood
Adam then completed his business and thanked the train line via Twitter.
Now that’s customer service.
3. Aww! See the cutest (and most epic) airport proposal
It took four songs, an airport, a speech, two costume changes, a mascot and around 30 dancers for this young man to propose to his girlfriend.
The 10 minute proposal (yes 10 minutes) was staged inside Changi Airport and saw the future bride led by a group of dancers from the cafe where she was enjoying her pre-flight coffee to the check-in counters.
There she was greeted by more dancers who kicked off a performance to One Direction’s hit ‘That’s What Makes You Beautiful’ before her now fiance strutted out and sand the second verse of the popular song.
After another two dance performances, the young man read a speech and eventually popped the big question.
Thankfully she said yes.
Think an airport is the best proposal spot? Let us know your ideal proposal location below.
4. What did this airline do to anger a monk?
He may not have raised his voice or thrown anything across the room, but a recent conversation with an airline customer service staff member did push a monk to ‘manifest anger’ in his tone of voice.
Brother Noah of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico told the New York Times he struggled to stay peaceful while dealing with United Airlines over the phone.
According to the monk, last year his friend Brother John Baptist flew to Malawi in Africa to visit his sick mother. Using monastery funds, he purchased a $2,500 round-trip ticket.
After arriving, Brother John needed to extend his trip and asked Brother Noah to reorganise his flight.
However, when Brother Noah spoke to United they told the monk his original purchase was fraudulent – even though Brother John had flown to the destination using the ticket.
The United customer service staff member reportedly suggested the monk drive three hours to a United desk in Albuquerque to fix the problem, to which Brother Noah responded by asking for a supervisor.
When speaking to the supervisor didn’t fix the problem, Brother John said he “struggled to remain calm and charitable”.
“I failed during this call.”
“I said to her something like: ‘Thank you for speaking. God bless you. I will pray for you. But you have not been helpful.’”
The monastery then used its website to set the record straight with an open letter. This prompted the airline to solve the issue with a return flight, apology and $350 credit toward future travel.
