Ever have one of those “I can’t believe I did that moments?”
I can relate. Big time.
For the past two months, my parents’ and I have been planning a day trip to the West Side Market in Cleveland. My dad loves to cook, but hates to drive in Cleveland so this was something he was really looking forward to.
Monday I grabbed my Entertainment Book to cut a few coupons for the market and my laptop to plan our day and realized that the market is closed on Tuesday.
Tuesday.
Closed.
When we had planned to go. Sigh.
So I called my mom and dad and delivered the bad news. Surprisingly, my mom laughed. You see, the same thing happened when we planned our first multi-generational trip to The Wilds. One would think I would learn, right?My mom broke the news to my dad and I tossed out a few more ideas of places we could go.
Tuesday rolled around and I ran to their house to pick them up and they told me they had settled on one of those suggestions. They wanted to go to the Hartville Marketplace. I think I’d sold them on the peach pie I’d eaten at Hartville Kitchen on my visit.
I thought I knew how to get there, but just to be safe I looked up the address so I could put it in the GPS. And that’s when I realized that the Hartville Flea Market, that I had not only suggested, but highly recommended, is also closed on Tuesday!
It’s a good thing my parents’ are good sports.
And I’m thankful that we didn’t drive to Cleveland or Hartville to find the attractions closed. We put our heads together and decided we’d go to Amish Country, which IS open on Tuesday.
So before you plan your next trip, double check the days and hours of any attraction that you want to visit. Even if you’ve checked before and even if you are POSITIVE that you know the hours.
It could save you a bit of frustration.
What travel mistakes have you made?
© 2014, Tonya Prater. All rights reserved.
debra p says
So many things are closed on Mondays but I didn’t know Tuesday as well. Some traveling mistakes are definitely forgetting things or actually leaving my cell phone at home. Not a good mistake.
Singapore Mum Blog says
oh yes. this has happened to us. And one tip I learnt. ALWAYS find out the public holidays of the new foreign places you are going to. The attractions would either be very crowded or closed!
Jessica says
I’ve done that exact same thing! More times than I would like to admit.
Angela says
I’ve done it before. Got all psyched about going and they were closed when I got there. Best to call ahead!
Anna says
Great post, so relatable! It happens to the best of us! 🙂
Elaina says
Oh boy! I can see that dampening a trip, but good thing everyone handled it well!
Tammy Litke (@threedifferent) says
Aww, I feel your pain! We were in the San Antonio area in January and were so looking forward to going to Sea World only to find out they were closed in January! And then the one shop we wanted to see in Fredricksburg was closed the Sunday we were there too.. sheesh!
Jennifer H says
We booked a trip to Paris and Rome and the one day we had open to visit the Louvre, it was closed. It was such a bummer!
Joanna @way2gomom says
Hmm… To be honest, I don’t do much traveling. I suppose my rookie traveling mistake is always packing way too much. Or not planning meals in advance – when you’re gluten-free, it gets to be tricky!
Jennifer says
One Thanksgiving we decided to do something different. We decided NOT to cook at home and NOT to spend the day with extended family. Instead, we chose to spend the day on the Oregon Coast. It was great! We went to the Aquarium, walked on the beach, let the kids play and had planned to eat at a local seafood restaurant that I have been going to since I was born. Well, the restaurant was closed as was just about every decent restaurant in the city! We ended up at a casino buffet! This was before Oregon banned all smoking indoors, so we had to swim through clouds of smoke to get to the buffet–with our hungry and somewhat grumpy young children!
We laugh about it every Thanksgiving!
Tonya says
Well, at least it’s an experience you’ll never forget, right? 🙂 It sounds like just the thing I would do!
Dianna @ Oy Vey a Day says
It drives me nuts when things are closed on “odd” days like that. I mean, Tuesday?
Glad you caught the mistakes before you went. Checking up on hours and closures is definitely a good tip whether your are taking a long trip or just a day trip.
Jesica H says
Haha! I hate when stuff like that happens. My husband is so not a last minute person either so he would probably be freaking out.
trisha says
This happened to us last easter..we went for a HUGE easter egg hunt…and it was the weekend before. Damn I was upset.
Jen - Life With Levi says
I do stuff like that all the time. I’m especially bad with dates – the last time I bought plane tickets I purchase the wrong departure date – whoops!
Anne-Marie @ This Mama Cooks! On a Diet says
I’m just the opposite! I assume that everything is closed at 5 pm and was recently surprised to find out when I was out antiquing (trying to kill time when my son was playing golf) that the stores were open until 7 or 8 pm!
Tonya says
That’s probably the approach I should take from now on! I definitely learned that I need to check and double check days and hours of operation from now on.
Angela S says
You just would never think that something would be closed on a Tuesday of all days. I guess it is a good idea to always check first, just in case.
Hanan says
I’m a crazy over packer, when traveling! I always worry that we won’t have something that we’ll need, and then some how always end up coming home with more.
Robin {Mom Foodie} says
Mine usually inviolve forgetting something, or over-packing in fear of forgetting something.