SYDNEY, WHERE?
Sydney, where? - Luxury Travel Magazine
| Did you know there’s a London in Ontario, Canada? Or a Moscow in India? Or a Paris in both Idaho and Texas? Every year a few unlucky travellers end up at the wrong destination. |
| Sydney, Australia vs Sydney, Canada |
| In July 2010 Italian couple Valerio Torresi and Serena Tavoloni boarded a plane in Rome bound, they thought, for Sydney, Australia. When they landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia they assumed they were changing planes for the final leg of the journey. They were partly right – it was the final leg, but their destination was Sydney, Nova Scotia, rather than its more famous antipodean sister. Their travel agent had mistakenly booked them on a flight to the wrong city on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, population 23,000. But the hapless travellers were treated to a warm welcome – they were given free accommodation and a lobster dinner and a local Italian speaking resident showed them the sights before they continued on to their intended destination. (from CBC News Canada, July 7, 2010) It’s not the first time tourists have ended up in the wrong Sydney. In 2008 Argentine traveller Monique Rozanes booked a ticket online with Air Canada and ended up in the small seaside village by mistake. She decided to stay on Cape Breton for the duration of her trip and was given free accommodation and a local woman she met at the airport acted as her tour guide for the week. (from CBC News Nova Scotia, September 19, 2008)) In 2002 19 year old British couple Raeoul Sebastian and Emma Nunn realised their same Sydney mistake when they were directed to a very small plane departing Halifax, wondering how it would make it all the way to Australia. They too had mistakenly booked a ticket to the wrong Sydney through an internet travel agent. The couple spent a long weekend exploring the area before returning home, their Australian adventure postponed until the next year. (from CBC News Canada, August 6, 2002) |
| Manchester, England vs Manchester, USA |
| In 2006 British man Jim Hourihan booked a flight from Los Angeles home to Manchester with a Continental Airlines reservation agent. After a stopover in Cleveland he realised there was a something wrong. The plane for his onward flight had only 50 seats. He was headed instead to Manchester, New Hampshire, less than two hours from Cleveland. He contacted Continental once he landed and was rebooked on flights to the correct Manchester at no extra charge and the airline supplied hotel and meal vouchers. Hourihan finally arrived in Manchester England 24 hours later than expected. (from BBC News, June 9, 2006) |
| Knoxville, Tennessee vs Nashville, Tennessee |
| In 2010 three Florida children, 15-year-old Brigit, 13-year-old Bobby and Brigit’s 11-year-old brother, decided they needed a holiday and chose Dollywood (Dolly Parton’s theme park) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Using Brigit’s babysitting money they mistakenly bought tickets to Nashville, Tennessee. Once the trio landed and realised their mistake they panicked and called their parents, who flew them home. (from CBS News, August 14, 2010) |
| Wellington, New Zealand vs Wellington, England |
| South African couple Michael and Sunette Adendorf managed to fly to the right country when they were going to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, but were surprised when they couldn’t find the hotel they had booked online - the Majestic Hotel in Eastbourne, Wellington. Unfortunately for them the Majestic is in Eastbourne, south England, rather than Eastbourne, New Zealand. They discovered their mistake after asking local Linda Burke to point them in the direction of Royal Parade and the Majestic. With every hotel in the city full because of the rugby, Bourke put the couple up in her own house for the night and even took them to the pub for dinner. (from the Daily Mail, September 13, 2011) |