German tourists ends up in Sidney instead of Sydney!
A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia, landed 13,000 kilometres away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking website.
Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday, but instead of arriving “down under,” he found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.
“I did wonder but I didn’t want to say anything,” Gutt told the Bild newspaper. “I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States.”
Gutt’s airline ticket routed him via the city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana and only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney, an oil town of about 5,000 people, did he realise his mistake.
The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with €600 in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.
“I didn’t notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers,” his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports
All eyes on Qatar as Qatar Airways leads a season of global events