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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Today's Idiot
2006-12-31
A tale of two cities for confused tourist

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.

Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany Saturday for a four-week holiday. Instead of arriving "down under," Gutt 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."
Well, you CAN fly anywhere via anywhere, can't you Top Job? Now, why would you WANT to?
Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.
Bit slow on the uptake, aren't we?
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 euros 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.
Posted by:Free Radical

#14  I have CICO going on, on a regular basis--Cats In Cats Out--usually at the same time.

There is this an on-going joke in Austria that American tourists want to see kangaroos in the wild. Based in this dude geographical prowess, I have to surmise that they made it up to cover up their deficiencies. ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-12-31 16:21  

#13  There was one more in the '80's...GOGEGarbage Out, Garbage Explained I think it was the start of feel goodness. ie: He meant well.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger   2006-12-31 15:14  

#12  Why thank you, Free Radical, dear. I most certainly will -- and a happy New Year to you and yours, and to all Rantburgers far and near!
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-12-31 14:17  

#11  "I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.

Geography and spelling, now, never could pass those subjects. But computers - real good.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412   2006-12-31 14:15  

#10  Oh, and thank you too TW- please give the TH and all of your family a very happy New Year from here in NYC!
Posted by: Free Radical   2006-12-31 12:56  

#9  Lol Shipman,

Please tell the Rantburg ladies that I am a very spry 38 years young.

And I *am* smacking myself on the head for not recognizing what GIGO is... I just didn't recognize it in the present context. I guess Alaska Paul's sense of humor was a bit abstract for me this morning.

Or maybe it was the whiskey? Who knows? :-D
Posted by: Free Radical   2006-12-31 12:50  

#8  Back in 92 I was supposed to fly from Birmingham, Alabama to Portland, Maine. The Travel Agent said I would have to change planes in Dallas and again in Salt Lake City. She didn't know there was a Portland, Maine even though I had written it down. I could have wound up on the wrong side of the US.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2006-12-31 12:40  

#7  Our Bud Free Radical's gotta be under 25.
Posted by: Shipman   2006-12-31 10:55  

#6  True story - my brother-in-law and I were coming back from a fishing trip in Alberta province and our bags got sent to Austin instead of Boston.

Got the bags eventually, but I always wonder if the ticket counter agent got the hearing aid they needed.
Posted by: no mo uro   2006-12-31 10:14  

#5  Or a domestic argument I saw on a sitcom: "You knew my mother wanted a ticket to Boston and you heard her say Bosnia and you never said a word!"
Posted by: Grunter   2006-12-31 08:46  

#4  Reminds me of the guy flying from LA to Oakland and got on a flight to Aukland, NZ.
Posted by: phil_b   2006-12-31 08:35  

#3  Garbage In, Garbage Out. It goes back to the earliest days of computing machines, Free Radical, about which I have read in story books. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-12-31 08:19  

#2  Sorry Alaska Paul,

What is GIGO?
(I know what PIMF is, I have had to use it too many times already!)

~FR~
Posted by: Free Radical   2006-12-31 08:06  

#1  GIGO. PIMF.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2006-12-31 01:13  

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