Am I the only idiot to get this wrong?

Memories of idyllic beaches, sun, sea and Sangria are beginning to fade. The kids are back at school and the daily trudge into work has once again begun. And like me you are only just realising how much you spent on your annual 
vacation – but what the hell, it was worth it, wasn’t it?

I have travelled all over the world jumping on and off airlines most of my adult life but a few weeks ago I made the biggest blunder of my globe-trotting career.

And, like it or not, I am going to share my story with you, partly as a tonic to heal my dented pride but also as a warning to others. To be clear here, my faux pas was at no time life threatening, so on the crisis meter it receives a low rating. However marks out of 10 for being stupid – well I will let you decide that...

So what went wrong? I had bought flights through EasyJet some eight months before, travelling from Luton Airport to the sunny Isle of Ibiza, getting a great deal.

Four people travelling to Spain at £100 a head. Nice one Roger. OK, we were flying overnight and into the early hours. No real heartache for a jet setting family like mine, or so I thought. Apartment booked, car booked, return home overnight Friday September 5, gate closes 23.50. That’s what it said in big bold writing at the top of the ticket. Flight time 00.15. Those of you paying attention may well have already spotted the schoolboy error. Yes flight departure may well have been 20 minutes after the gate closed but it was a ‘whole’ day later (September 6). Our flight was on the 5th and we had turned up (you guessed it) 24 hours too late.

My saving grace was we were not the only ones to make the mistake and it is for this reason that I have written to and received a reply from the CEO of EasyJet Carolyn McCall and secured her reassurance the airline will look again at the way it presents its tickets in cases where flights bridge two dates.

So fellow travellers be warned even the most experienced of us can get caught.

If you are wondering how we all got home, well it was a case of paying £700 to British Airways one way to Gatwick. At least back in blighty we were able to call on friends to help. Oh such a happy holiday...

Do you have any holiday stories to share with readers? Email Roger at [email protected]