While many travelers relish at the thought of embarking on life-changing experiences abroad, some wanderlust trips may not go according to plan. Our team of high-flying travelers here at STA Travel have experienced a fair share of doom and gloom abroad – which is why we know first-hand that you should not keep those travel fail tales to yourself. Share them with us!

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We want to hear every devastating nugget of information as part of our Worst. Trip. Ever. series. Hey, a bad experience only provides the plot for one amazing story.

This is your opportunity to share your story with the world about how an airline lost your luggage or how you fell asleep on a train and found yourself in another European country. We could go on, but we won’t. It’s your turn to share your travel fail tales. And, in return, we’ll provide tips on how to avert disastrous trips.

Our first installment features two friends who were so close, yet so far from each other, at an airport in Spain where they were scheduled to meet up:

shutterstock_116926462My friend and I were meeting in Spain to spend a two-day layover after being in Morocco for a few weeks on our way back to the States.

We were booked on different flights into Madrid, but landing around the same time.

Neither of us bought an international plan for our phones, but we were told that the airport we were flying into shouldn’t be that large.

After a canceled flight for her, and a delayed flight for me- all communicated on a precious 10 minutes of free Internet over 3 hours, we were both on our way to Madrid! Except when I landed, she was nowhere to be seen.

Logging into my 10 min of Wi-Fi, I see she told me she would be by baggage claim 3, about 30 minutes ago. She was not a baggage claim 3.

I emailed her, and hopefully waited for a response. After an hour and a half (9 p.m. local time at this point) we finally realized we were in different terminals. I took a shuttle to her terminal realizing that we were both out of Internet time, I knew I had to get into the baggage area… guarded by security. So, I bribed a guard to let me sneak past.

After a Hollywoodesque running hug toward each other, we thought our day was finally over as we were ready for our hotel. Only to find out that our transfer service we had pre-paid for was closed for the night. We gave in to our exhaustion, split a cab to the hotel and slept for HOURS.

This situation is not uncommon. So, we’ve drafted three tips on what to do to prevent missed connections.

Tip 1: Research! Before you land at your designated airport, make sure you do a bit of airport research prior to hoping on a plane. Online airport plans are available, so you can check the airport layout beforehand. This will alleviate any potential missed connections if you plan on meeting someone. Don’t wait until your flight lands before you figure out where It will also make for speedy airport exits.

Tip 2: It may be wise to purchase a global cell phone. If you do not want to incur the added expense for an international data plan, just grab an STA Travel cell phone starting at $30. It may save you time and will be handy during emergencies.

Tip 3:  Make sure your trip is protected with travel insurance and don’t let unexpected missed connections ruin your trip.

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