What was your pre-trip calamity?

[cteddiesgirl]

When I took my niece several years back, she thought she ended up with a case of head lice the night before we had to be up at 5 am to catch our flight. We were up until almost 2 am combing out her hair and making sure everything was lice free before we left. Luckily, we never found anything.

We still got up and made our flight to WDW and still had fun.

 

[IDoDis]

We took our first family trip to Disneyland in October 2001 which happened to be exactly a month after 9/11, but had booked everything months before. As we were getting ready to walk out the door to leave for the airport, I asked DH if he had his driver's license because of the high alert for air travel. It used to not matter if you had a state issued ID prior to 9/11. So DH checks his wallet to make sure his license is in there. He looks at it and then realizes that his license expired two months earlier! He would not have made it past security with an expired driver's license. So we high-tailed it to a DMV location that we knew was less crowded. This was before any Rapid DMV's were around in our area. It took about 30 minutes. We raced to the airport and barely made the flight.

On a different trip we were leaving the house to drop the dogs off at the boarding kennel and then we were driving right to the airport to catch a flight to Orlando. I had set out a few ant bait traps in the kitchen because ants would suddenly show up every year about this time and I was worried about coming home to an ant infestation after being gone for 10 days. Well, one of the dogs immediately found one of the baits and ate it! I was worried that it would be really harmful or deadly to our dog. I called poison control and was told the dog would be fine, so we left as planned. Our trip would have been off had that ant poison been something really bad for the dog.

 

[tennisfan]

We were going on a family trip to Disneyland Paris for my dad's 60th birthday and retirement. He paid for everything. Put the dog in the kennels and I get a call 10 mins after being dropped off that he had had a fit (this happened 3 months prior when he last stayed but had nothing since) went to check him over and he was fine.

Went out for a meal that afternoon, we were travelling the next day. Got a call from kennels saying he had had another fit and to collect him. It ended up with my mum staying at home with the dog as there was no one else to look after him as we were all going on the trip.

 

[winterman]

I have 2 stories:

Several years ago, DH and I were booked to fly to WDW on a Saturday. On Wed. we noticed that our 17 year old cat was not doing well and looked as though she would not be alive when we got back. We didn't want her dying alone and we didn't want our friend to find her gone when he came to check on her. I called the vet but she couldn't take care of Smokey until Friday. But, Friday came and our vet kindly and gently put Smokey out of her pain. It was very hard for us but WDW was good therapy.

Another time we were booked to fly to WDW on Sunday morning at 6:00. At 5:00 Saturday evening DH bit into a peanut butter cracker and broke a tooth. When we realized what had happened, we called our dentists. (As long time patients, it was ok for us to call in an emergency.) We caught him just as he was getting ready to go out, but he agreed to meet DH at his office within the hour. He pulled the tooth and gave DH a Rx for pain. Trip was saved!

 

[TifffanyD]

My husband got called for and seated on Jury Duty the Monday before our cruise. Case lasted all week. I was so nervous

 

[piperdown]

OP, I just have an idea for your poor little Westie. Have you tried giving him Linatone? It's an oil that really helps with all kinds of skin problems. You just put it in their food. My dog loved it. He was a Samoyd (sp?) He would bite his paws until the bled. Once I started the Linatone he stopped and he never had a skin problem again. It works with cats too.

She takes a fatty acid supplement every day and she's on a maintenance dose of Atopica, which is an immunosuppressant. I think with the rain we've been having, the pollens have multiplied, thus the allergies have flared. We need to have her allergy tested, and that's the plan when we get back from vacation. We've had her on a special diet for several months, so we're pretty sure it's not food related.

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. Mine is minor compared to the various illnesses and emergencies. Wishing everyone luck on their next vacations. In just over 24 hours, we should be boarding our plane to WDW!!!

Edited to add: Small panic this morning. I've scheduled to rent an EVC while in WDW due an ongoing knee issue. I originally made a reservation with Apple Scooter, but then cancelled (over a month ago) after reading reports of poor customer service. This morning, I was reviewing my credit card activity online and I see an authorization for Apple Scooter!! I called immediately. They did have a record of my cancellation, they apologized and said they would reverse the charge.

PSA: Review your credit card activity regularly!!

 

[wgeo]

We were going on a cruise- Magic's first cruise after dry dock. Cruise left on a Sunday, ended up that we would fly down on Thursday so my DH could interview for a new job. On Wednesday I was out for a run and almost got hit by a car, almost because I jumped out of the way but I hit the ground hard and was pretty bruised and scratched up. Limped home and tried to make my sons birthday treat for school. Thursday was his birthday and we were letting the kids do a half day so he could celebrate. The treats bombed think I was kinda in shock from almost getting hit, had to buy treats for the class. Picked up the kids from school and are asked to wait so DS's teacher can come tell us how poorly son is doing because he's not putting in any effort. Great and now he's missing 5 days. Leave for the airport with just enough time and get stuck behind a car accident. Made the plane ok because the flight was delayed. As we are boarding get an email that Disney canceled the cruise! Fly down anyways because of the interview. Interview went well . We are offered a place to stay for the time we would have been on the cruise, all is good until Sunday night get call that mother in law is not doing well. Monday late afternoon get call that she is on life support, start trying frantically to change flights home. Spent over an hour on the phone with Southwest who manage to change our flights with no cost to us, first flight out on Tuesday. Get call on way to airport that she passed away.

In hindsight it was better for us to have the cruise canceled so that we could make it home to be with family, but at the time it was an incredible roller coaster of emotions.

 

[NotUrsula]

Florida trips? That would be Spring Break back when DD was 18 mos old. We were due to leave for a beach trip the day after Easter, the flight was at about 1 pm on Monday. Tickets were on SWA, thank goodness (that made it a lot less stressful).

On Easter Sunday morning, DS and DD were playing at a playground after church, and he took her down a slide on his lap. She started crying at the bottom, and we thought it was because she was frightened. Wrong. It was because she had a broken leg. (A "toddler's fracture". It was caused by her shoe scraping along the side of the slide, causing her lower leg to twist and crack her tibia.) We didn't realize how bad it was for hours after, because she was fine and completely quiet as long as she was held or seated; she only fussed if she put weight on it. So, at about 6 pm we took her to an urgent care to have it looked at; we thought maybe it was a sprained ankle, but of course, it wasn't. They gave us the films, told us to ice it overnight, and gave us the name of a good ped. orthopedist who might be able to see us first thing the next morning. Amazingly, he did, and DH took her while I finished the packing just in case.

They casted the break in a waterproof cast, so she could swim, but was not allowed to get sand in it. Kind of a problem for a week at the beach. Luckily, we are the sort of folks who buy non-expire WDW tickets and use them bit by bit, so we had some. OK, change of plans; we are going to WDW instead of the beach. The hotel at the beach let us cancel with no penalty, we had to stay offsite since it was last-minute, but we had a lot of fun, anyway. The CM's spoiled DS rotten with the cast on her leg, getting her special character time, etc.

 

[Flamingeaux]

Before our first WDW trip DS broke his arm.. What a mess getting through airport security. One trip DW was doing some last minute shopping for our trip when a rock from a lawn mower shattered a window in our car. Luckily she got it fixed in record time. Another trip we were on the home stretch (I-75) when we had a blowout. Last trip DD's good friend was supposed to go with us but had to cancel at the last minute. I still have a 6 day ticket.

 

[John VN]

Leaving for WDW Friday morning I decided to brush down the sides of our in ground pool Thursday evening before dinner. After completing 3/4 of the pool I managed to slip off the side and fell into shallow end hitting my back on the edge resulting in breaking 2 ribs.

Trip in ambulance vehicle #13 to ER and no Disney vacation.

 

[aprilchem]

On our last DCL cruise I opened the safe the day before we left to find all the passports BUT mine in there. DH had taken them from me on the last cruise because he was "afraid I would lose them," and somehow all of them had made it in the safe except for mine. I don't have a birth certificate and by that time it was too late to get one. Spent an entire afternoon frantically tearing apart the whole house only to finally find it in the center console of my van. We never did figure out how mine had gotten separated from the rest of them, but now DH is not allowed to be in charge of the passports anymore