Travel Disasters Happen. Our New Columnist Is Here to Help.

you get what you pay for when you book those EasyJet and Ryan Air flights. I had a $25 Ryan Air flight from Stanstead to Pula, Croatia. Because it left so early in the morning there was no train so there was an $90 cab ride to get to Stanstead. I knew about the uncomfortable seats and luggage charges, so that was no surprise. I just learned that I didn't save that much money over flying a more conventional route with regular airline which would have been more comfortable and would have flown out of much more convenient LHR or LGW.

What were the issues in St. Kitts?

in the bad old times when Germany and especally Berlin was divided the family used Aeroflot which was always interesting this way or the other. we flew yearly to India to stay in a hotel on a wonderful beach( Orissa). for this we needed flights to Calcutta from where we had to take a train. but one time they had no seats for us to Calcutta and we had to fly with them to Dacca. from there we hoped to get return flights on Biman airlines back to Calcutta from where we could travel onwards to Berlin. but the Biman people in Dacca informed us that we could not fly becausethe because there were only 2 seats availible. What to do? I triggered my 10 year old daughter who could scream in desperation exactly when the crew passed us on their way to the aircraft. the captain came to the counter and asked what was going on. They eplained our predicment . AND here is the solution to the problem. the captain demanded that they l give us three boarding tickets. Our daughter would sit on his lap in the cockpit !!! Lucky we! ( I could write a novel of our travel experiences in Asia during the seventies which mostly had a happy ending )

The first paragraph reminded me of a near disaster. If you are traveling through a British airport on a connecting flight with electronic devises, make sure they are charged enough to turn on in order to show the security checkpoint that they are not bombs. They won’t let you through otherwise. You will have spend precious time charging them if you can find an outlet and have a British adapter (which are different than continental adapters). Why they even have a checkpoint when you went through one at the original airport, I don’t know.

Let’s be honest, if we didn’t have to get on a plane....those of us not flying business or first class...most trips are quite fun. The travel part inside airports, waiting gates and the tubes passing themselves off as pleasant adventure vehicles, make travel stressful, and quite frankly impediments to actually enjoying parts of your long planned and eagerly awaited vacation. When will we smarten up and realize that deregulation, terrorism, and shareholder profits have made flying impossibly awful. . Presently in Berlin, trying to wean myself off the jet lag, forgetting about being relegated to “ Zone 4” status, while boarding, and nearly passing out while waiting to deboard the tube while the real paying customers gather their duty free items and their 70 pound carry ones. Actually, having a really great time here, unfortunately in a few weeks will have to consider getting back in line, to wait, to line up, to ....well you know.

I’m looking forward to your column! A good way to avoid many disasters is to use a travel advisor. Experience and expertise help!

There should be a story on how the rest of us survive on a plane where a 14-month-old didn't sit still on a three hour flight and we couldn't possibly make any comments/suggestions for being told we're intolerant of children!

My husband and I learned early on when our second trip in 1978 brought us to Dakar, Senegal and the room had lizards crawling all over the walls, a frog in the toilet and volcanic rock all over the beach, that the more afraid we were in the first 24 hours means the more fun we are going to have.

Just a quick note on the effects of time on perception. Many of the trips that went as planned are now lost in the fog of time. Many of the disasters stand out as the very best, funniest, trip defining and joys of my life. Go figure, try to laugh and enjoy.

Welcome. You had me at resort fees. Notice how they’re changing the name to “ destination fee “ or “ amenity fee “ ? Must be because too many people are asking just where IS the actual resort. This infuriates me. For example, our favorite Hotel in downtown Seattle was the Red Lion Hotel on 5th Ave.. On 2014, it was sold and renamed the Motif, was a major renovation. Fine, wonderful. The new owners also instituted a “ resort fee “, starting out at about 12.00 nightly. We stayed many times. Great location, near everything I crave. However, the re-named amenity fee is now at 24.00 nightly. I refuse to pay that. It’s a Tax on the gullible, careless or stupid. Never, ever again, Hotels. I will NOT stay at ANY Hotel perpetuating this fraud. It’s a scam, and shame on them.

How does flying to 52 destinations in one year affect the climate change?

Can you tell me if there is a Climate section in the Times?

Don't ever lose your sense of humor. The ridiculous can become the joyous, just depends upon my attitude. Makes me smile about a recent trip to Buenos Aires. The front door to the high-rise condo was quirky, one of those magnetic latches and then a key, inserted promptly within 30 seconds of deactivating the magnetic latch. It never got easier the 2 weeks that I spent there. My girlfriend arrived while I was in Ushuaia, about 1300 miles south after a long trip from the United States. The AirBnB host gave her the keys and showed her how to open the door. She went out to dinner, returned at 11pm and could not get in. To boot her cellphone battery died and the charger was in the condo. She did well, laughed it off and checked into a hotel. That first night could not have been fun for her.

Um, I'm wondering why you, the expert on avoiding travel miseries, had such a multi-miserable trip. Just curious.

I'll take a pass on stories involving traveling with children to exotic locals. This may sound dated, but if we can'y get to Grandmother's in the family station wagon, maybe Grandmother should come to us.

Good. Even experienced travelers can learn from problems that could have been avoided (by them just thinking and checking and checking) and things totally out of their control and what to do and just who is responsible for sorting it out. Please don't let it become a list of stupid whines. I had a long airline carrier in customer service and have dealt with the mentally challenged through know-all 10 year old unaccompanied minors, to 16 year old girls demanding to be upgraded because my father said so and my classic encounter with a woman who arrived in the terminal an hour after her once a day flight had departed on time. She was apoplectic: "You KNEW I was coming". Next day I thought I should have replied; "We did a vote and the other 350 passengers said, "Let's go".

Ah the NY Times travel section at one time a great feature in the Times is now geared for the elitist New York crowd. Very few articles for the average traveler form other parts of the country it seem the Time travel section thinks the U.S.border ends 500 miles west of Manhattan.

Thank you for this new travel series! Every traveler has experienced a glitch somewhere along their journeys. I look forward to learning more in “Tripped Up” and applying the lessons learned to my own travel planning.

I just wanted to say, I can't wait! What a wonderful idea for a column! Already thanks for the perspective regarding what is inconvenience (I've had many in my travels) opposed to what counts as a true disaster (none so far!).