Mistakes happen

Regarding the Jan. 5 On the Spot column (“Learn From the Stupid Mistakes I Made,” by Catharine Hamm): I’ve been a tour director for more than 30 years, so when I book my own vacation, I am meticulous about details. At least until I booked my flight to India.

I’ll never forget landing in New Delhi to connect with our flight to Haridwar. The Indian official looked at my tickets and said, “This flight was yesterday.” I emphatically said it wasn’t.

Then I realized I hadn’t paid attention to the arrival date when booking. It actually landed two days after departing LAX, with the time change.

I had to buy new tickets. Worse, we lost our prepaid hotel and time we wanted to spend in Haridwar. Linda Perez Mission Viejo

After reading Hamm’s column, I reviewed my recent monthlong trip to France: All went as planned. Maybe I have learned from my mistakes. I missed a cruise ship in the Greek Isles not once but twice, 10 years apart. I left my purse in a London Tube station; another year, another purse at the British Museum. (Both were returned.) On bus tours, I missed a day trip to a monastery in Greece. I lost a sweater on the way to Jordan; another at a hotel in Paris

Not one incident has dampened my desire to travel. Most make a story to recount; the banal ones, of course, I keep to myself. Carol Clark Los Feliz

I loved reading the travel mistakes. I consistently find myself adding to my own catalog of errors. Here’s one of mine:

If you’re going to walk, make sure your shoes are up to the task. Everyone knows to travel with comfortable shoes, but waterproof and comfortable are other things altogether. I have thick, all-weather rubber boots that I hardly ever wear because they’re heavy, and there isn’t much need for them in day-to-day life. I’ve walked in them, but not much.

I pack these boots only when I travel in winter, which is what I encountered on a recent trip to Vancouver. After getting soaked in my comfy leather boots the first day, I opted on the second day for the waterproof backups. I was just beginning a full day of wandering when I realized that despite thick socks, my little toes were being pulverized by the stiff rubber.

By the time I returned to my hotel in the evening, my little toes had been reduced to bloody nubs. Instead of giving in and buying a new pair of comfortable waterproof shoes, I spent the rest of the trip alternating between inadequate footwear, one day getting soaked, the next day bandaging my abused appendages and hobbling through the pain. Phoebe Millerwhite

Claremont