Finding our Travel Flow in Adelaide

My husband and I decided to travel to Adelaide for the weekend a few years back. Chris had always wanted to see his AFL football team, the Hawks, play interstate so we booked in a weekend to Adelaide to fulfill one of his travel dreams.

On the morning of our departure, Chris realised that he had lost his wallet. “Yikes!” My mind started to spin. “How on Earth are we going to get on the plane without Chris having any ID? How are we going to hire the car waiting for us in Adelaide without a credit card? How will we be able to leave a security credit card swipe with the hotel?” Worry immediately set in. Yet, like any trip, we breathed in deep, accepted our predicament and headed for the airport to try our luck.

When we arrived at the airport, we realised that we had pre-booked our e-tickets under a carry-on luggage classification. We sped to the self-check-in stands and checked in as fast as we could. No ID needed here! We breezed through security and boarded the plane flawlessly. Phew.

Once we landed in Adelaide, we discovered that it’s a city bursting with possibilities, whether it be sport, culture or the arts. What would our possibilities be with only a limited supply of cash? Our question was answered early on when we tried to pick up the hire car. No credit card to swipe for security, no car hire we were told; company policy. We were left with no other choice but to cancel our booking and we were sent on our way with an apology. We checked my wallet and dug out a small amount of cash that was just enough to catch a taxi to our hotel in the city.

Upon arriving at our hotel, we hit another snag in our course. Without a credit card, we needed to provide a $200 cash security deposit. I still had cash in my savings account and handed over my EFTPOS card. “How are we going to eat this weekend?” I started to panic. We thought quickly then made a deal with the hotel. If we pay the security upfront we can ask for $50 back after each day of our stay, so we could cover the basic expenses. They obliged willingly, given our circumstances. “Hooray! We can eat!” We checked in to our room after another sigh of relief.

We started exploring the city by foot and calculated a few things that would go our way during our weekend away. After wandering through the city’s relaxing, and free, public parklands and admiring the city’s gorgeous colonial architecture in neighbouring backstreets, we located a few spots for a cheap eat to get us through our main meals of each day. One such find was at the unassuming Adelaide Casino across the road from our hotel. For around $11 each we scored a cooked lunch that kept us going for the rest of the day. This still left us with cash leftover to take us on a tram ride to the front beaches of Glenelg. Such a lovely daytrip that was within a hop, skip and jump from our lodgings. We wandered in the sunshine along Jetty Road and learnt more about the history of this seaside suburb at the Bay Discovery Centre; a free museum for visitors to Adelaide.

We also found out that we could catch a free public bus outside our hotel on North Terrace that could take us straight to the game the next day. Luckily, we paid for our footy tickets in advance!

By the Monday, we checked out with memories of Chris fulfilling a travel wish, despite the Hawks losing to Port Adelaide, a fun weekend away with plenty to eat and do, and enough cash leftover to get us to the airport then home.

Our little trip to this beautiful Australian city taught us a few lessons in travel. Anything can go wrong when you do travel and almost every mishap can be overcome with a little ingenuity. You just have to find your flow and accept to go with it. If the mishaps keep surfacing and you can’t overcome them, then it may be time to change course for a new destination.

Thankfully, for us, Adelaide remained our destination for the weekend and rewarded us with more travel memories to last a lifetime. And as for Chris’ wallet? It was eventually found…under the driver’s seat in his car once we arrived home.

Have you experienced a travel mishap or some not-so-fun travel bad luck? I’d love to hear about your brush with travel bad luck and how you managed to bounce back from it.
Leave your stories and thoughts in the comments section below!

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