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My worst 'abroad' mistake was discovered whilst packing my suitcase ready for my flight to San Francisco the next day.  I wasn't the most organised person then (hence packing my case the night before) so I wasn't that worried when I couldn't find my passport at first. Once I'd turned my house upside down (tiny 2 up, 2 down cottage) resulting in no passport, I began to feel serious palpitations ... where was the bl**dy thing???   Slowlyit dawned on me that 3 days previously I'd had a good clearout of some paperwork which was ages old and I'd made 2 piles - stuff to go out on 1 pile, stuff to file & keep on another pile.  I remember seeing my passport whilst doing this job .... surely, surely, surely I hadn't put it on the wrong pile by mistake?!!

By 2am I was going through the wheelie-bin and then I remembered that the bin-men had only been the day before ...   Those were the days when you could turn up at a passport office and be issued with an emergency one, so after several phone calls (including one to a very annoyed boyfriend in SF and one to a very amused boss about taking more time off), I'd rebooked my flight and was there on the door at Newport Passport office as it opened, having run around the day before collecting the necessary signatures for my application.

I didn't marry the annoyed boyfriend, I married the very amused boss a few years later and he still reminds me to this day about my thrown-out passport, especially now that I can't be relied upon to pack the tent poles!  

Quote: I didn't marry the annoyed boyfriend, I married the very amused boss a few years later and he still reminds me to this day about my thrown-out passport, especially now that I can't be relied upon to pack the tent poles!  

 

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Quote: Originally posted by PigletandTigger on 29/5/2009

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LOL
Angie you should have rung, our camping collection is at Dad's and we have any number of tents you could have borrowed!

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Do you know, that didn't even occur to me!  We were trying to remember if there was a Millets/Blacks in Dorchester as we knew the shop in Charmouth only does bits & caravans.  We did think about you & your Dad when we were in Lyme, wondered if you'd made a good start on the extension and how different Mimi probably looks inside!

OH did graciously say that he should have checked in the loft too, but he took me at my word.  We've just put everything back in the loft and found the bag of poles, buried under some sleeping-bags.  This wouldn't have happened last year, but this year we've all treated ourselves to some sooper-dooper new 3 season bags that are really easy to pack, so of course there was no need to lift the other sleeping-bags and see the poles. I can only plead that it was a new tent last year and I'm not that familiar yet with the different bags . 

Main thing is we had a good time and will be back in the summer, trying out one of the CSs this time.  We've found a couple, do you know any good ones down there yet Anita?

Quote: Originally posted by AngieGL on 30/5/2009

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Do you know, that didn't even occur to me!  We were trying to remember if there was a Millets/Blacks in Dorchester as we knew the shop in Charmouth only does bits & caravans. 

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I have the number for Yellow Pages in my mobile for just that sort of emergency!

Quote: Originally posted by The Doozers on 30/5/2009

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We were on the same site as you. Why didn't you pop in - had left a UK Campsite label in the window of our tent.  We really enjoyed the stay and thought the Site and Staff were lovely. The rain didn't spoil Wednesday for us - stayed an extra night.

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Oooh, I saw the sign!  I was quite thrilled because it was the first time I've seen the logo displayed, although I look every time. It was in the window of a Sunncamp Grange, there was no-one there when I spotted it.  So I wandered past the next day and the tent had gone -  a belated "Hello" to you!

I can't remember how many times I unravelled the tent and felt through it all, hoping the poles would just appear - our very nice neighbours were looking at me a bit curiously, obviously thinking this was a ritual I had to go through before pitching!

Buying another tent was initially foremost in my list of options, although I hadn't got as far as where from. We'd just camped at Easter in our smaller weekend tent and with 4 of us plus 2 dogs, we'd remarked then about how cramped it felt even for 2 nights, so my heart was sinking with the thought of:-

a) buying another tent anyway  - we are happy with the 2 tents we have, we don't need to offload another tent.

b) the potential cost of a good-sized one for 5 nights that would mean us all still on speaking terms at the end of the break!

I'm pleased to say we didn't consider for one minute going home, as we'd all really looked forward to this break and I couldn't have found the words to tell that to our 8 & 6 yr olds!