This might be painfully obvious to everyone else, but apparently I needed to learn it the expensive way.
Before you travel anywhere and plan on renting a car, actually take your driving licence out of your wallet and check the expiry date.

Not just your passport. Not just your travel insurance. Your driving licence.

I planned a whole trip around northern Italy and Switzerland around having a rental car. Booked accommodation based on being able to drive to more remote places, paid for the rental, insurance, flights etc.

Got to Italy after a massively delayed flight, exhausted, went to the rental desk and handed over my licence.

Expired.

The worst part is I genuinely had no idea. I drive regularly at home and it just never crossed my mind to check it.

Obviously they wouldn’t give me the car.
Cue me standing at the rental desk with that horrible sinking feeling as I realised the entire itinerary I’d spent months thinking about wasn’t really possible anymore.

I’ve since spent a ridiculous amount on trains, changed plans multiple times, lost money on bookings and eventually booked an early flight home. Easily hundreds of pounds wasted, all because of the date printed on one little plastic card.
And yes, I know. Completely my own fault 😂
So here’s your incredibly boring travel hack:

Before an international trip, check the expiry dates on:
Passport ✅
Driving licence ✅
Travel cards/documents ✅
Anything else you’re relying on to actually make the trip work ✅

And check them weeks before you leave, not while standing at a car rental counter in Italy like me.
Hopefully my expensive stupidity saves at least one person from doing the same thing 😭

Hi all,

Something terrible happened.

I’m currently in Italy and was meant to be here until the 27th, travelling around northern Italy and Switzerland with my mum, my sister and her three year old.

I’d planned this whole road trip and spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds on it. Flights, accommodation, rental car, insurance, everything.

Then our Ryanair flight was massively delayed, we finally arrived exhausted, got to the rental desk and I realised my driving licence had expired.
Obviously they wouldn’t give me the car.

I can’t even explain how gutted I was. I genuinely had that horrible hole in my chest feeling. I’d spent so much money and put so much effort into planning everything, and suddenly the entire trip I’d imagined was basically gone.

We ended up dragging ourselves and all our luggage around on trains, then I checked the weather and everywhere around northern Italy and Switzerland was forecasting rain and thunderstorms.

tbh I was DONE 😭

I was so exhausted and frustrated that I thought fuck it, let’s cut our losses, and booked flights back to London for the 20th. More money gone 😂
Then obviously today Italy decided to be lovely. We went to Stresa, swam in Lake Maggiore and had such a nice day that now I’m sitting here wondering why tf I booked the flight home tomorrow 😭
Anyway, I refuse to spend the rest of my annual leave sitting at home feeling sorry for myself 😂

Anyone free from around the 22nd and fancy going somewhere?

I’m thinking Lake District, hiking and camping for a few days. I’ll probably car camp because I did it in Exmoor and absolutely loved it, but I’d be up for tent camping or wild camping too. If camping isn’t your thing you could stay in a hostel nearby. I’ll be driving from London anyway so you’re welcome to come with me and we can split fuel costs.

I’m flexible with location tbh. Lake District is just my first thought. After this experience I’m quite happy to just look at the weather and go wherever looks nicest 😂 Wales, Peaks, Scotland, wherever. Somewhere beautiful, hike worthy and camp worthy.
You don’t need to be free for the whole week either.

Even a few days would be nice.

Basically I need a holiday to recover from my holiday 😭😂

Anyone wanna join?

Currently sitting near this beautiful lake writing this post.

A few days ago I posted about taking my mum to Italy, seeing Lake Como and hopefully doing a road trip through Switzerland. I ended up bringing my sister and her three year old too, so there are four of us.

Anyway, it all went wrong pretty much immediately lol.

First our Ryanair flight was massively delayed. Like really delayed. By the time we finally got to Italy I was already exhausted.

Then we went to collect the rental car and I found out my driving licence had expired. Completely my mistake. idk how I managed not to notice it before coming here, but obviously they wouldn’t give me the car.

I was genuinely so upset. I’d spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds on this trip and the whole plan revolved around having a car and driving through northern Italy and Switzerland.

My mum also likes a very particular type of holiday. She loves quiet places, remote houses in the mountains, nice views, that sort of thing. She’s not really into little city apartments where you open the balcony and you’re surrounded by other buildings. Hotels aren’t really her thing either. So without a car, staying in the sort of places she actually enjoys suddenly became really difficult.

We ended up getting the train to Domodossola with all our luggage and a three year old. It felt like the longest journey ever. By the time we arrived everyone was tired and I was honestly just completely disheartened.

Then I checked the weather.

Rain. Thunderstorms. More rain. Pretty much everywhere around us and across the parts of Switzerland I was looking at.

tbh that finished me off 😂

I spoke to my mum about trying to carry on using trains, but between the weather, not having the car, struggling to find accommodation we actually liked and moving around with luggage and a three year old, it just didn’t feel like the holiday we’d planned anymore.

So last night I was completely fed up and thought screw it, let’s just cut our losses. I booked flights back to London for tomorrow.

And then today happened.

We decided to come to Stresa on Lake Maggiore and omg, it’s actually lovely.

And yes, everyone who warned me on my original post that Italy would be HOT in August was completely right. It is HOT 😂

But we went swimming in the lake and it was honestly one of the nicest parts of the trip. I came out feeling completely cool and refreshed and suddenly didn’t care about the heat anymore. My mum went swimming too and absolutely loved it.
And now I’m sitting here thinking why tf did I book those flights home 😭

For the first time since we got here, today actually felt like the holiday I imagined.

Now I keep checking the weather forecast and, ridiculously, I’m actually hoping it rains after we leave so I can convince myself I made the right decision 😂

If northern Italy and Switzerland suddenly get a week of glorious sunshine after I fly home tomorrow, I genuinely don’t want to know.

Anyway, lesson learned. Check your bloody driving licence before going on a road trip. And maybe don’t book flights home when you’re exhausted, angry and sitting in Domodossola thinking your entire holiday is ruined.

Just saw u/Chemical_Pipe_3937’s post about making a WhatsApp group for people in London to meet and socialise and the amount of “I’m interested!” comments is kinda mad 😂

But I’m curious… what actually happens once everyone gets added?

I helped set up a smaller group recently for people supposedly looking for the exact same thing and it’s basically dormant 😭 Everyone wants to join, but getting people to actually talk, suggest something or turn up is another story.

IDK if London has a lack of people wanting friends or just a lack of people willing to do the awkward bit of actually making them 😂

Has anyone joined one of these groups and genuinely made friends from it? Or are we all just collecting WhatsApp groups?

Just saw u/Chemical_Pipe_3937’s post about making a WhatsApp group for people in London to meet and socialise and the amount of “I’m interested!” comments is kinda mad 😂

But I’m curious… what actually happens once everyone gets added?

I helped set up a smaller group recently for people supposedly looking for the exact same thing and it’s basically dormant 😭 Everyone wants to join, but getting people to actually talk, suggest something or turn up is another story.

IDK if London has a lack of people wanting friends or just a lack of people willing to do the awkward bit of actually making them 😂

Has anyone joined one of these groups and genuinely made friends from it? Or are we all just collecting WhatsApp groups?

I’ve booked tickets to take my mum on one of her dream trips next week: Lake Como, followed by a road trip through Switzerland.

She’s around 70 and doesn’t cope particularly well with extreme heat, so naturally I booked everything first and started worrying afterwards 😂

For anyone who’s in Northern Italy or Switzerland right now, or has been very recently, how is it actually feeling? Particularly around Lake Como?
I’m also wondering how everything is looking after the hot weather. Are the waterfalls and rivers still flowing properly? Are the lakes noticeably lower? A huge part of this trip is the scenery, and I’d hate to promise my mum beautiful waterfalls only to present her with an impressive collection of rocks 😭

Would also love any tips for doing Como and Switzerland with an older parent in summer.

Places that stay cooler, scenic drives, easy walks, quieter spots, anything you think is genuinely worth doing.

And please tell me I’m overthinking this 😂

Let’s get the ball rolling to get to know each other in our little community.

Gives a little detail about yourself :)

In the spirit of fairness, I made one for the male teachers of London too 😂

Maybe you’re looking for other guys to travel with, go hiking, plan trips or just meet people outside your usual school circle.

I’m not entirely sure whether the men were waiting for their own flair, but you have one now. Use it wisely 😂

I’ve made a little flair specifically for women teachers in London.

Sometimes women just feel more comfortable connecting with other women, especially when it comes to meeting new people online, travelling together or making plans in real life.
So if you’d rather connect with other female teachers for trips, hikes, days out or just new friendships, this one’s for you 😊

What would you actually want to find other London teacher girlies for? 🥾✈️☕️

Just a rant/warning for anyone thinking of booking airport parking through Ryanair.

I booked and PAID for parking at Stansted through Ryanair after booking my flights. Then I went looking for the parking confirmation and… nothing. It wasn’t showing anywhere on the Ryanair website and I couldn’t find any useful booking details.

So began my little tour of customer service hell.
Contacted Ryanair. Ryanair told me to contact Stansted.

Contacted Stansted. Stansted told me to contact Ryanair.

Brilliant. Love that for me.

I spent so much time just trying to get confirmation for parking I’d ALREADY PAID FOR.

Eventually, of all places, I found a Reddit post suggesting I contact Ryanair through Instagram DMs. So I did.

At first they basically told me they had no record of me. No booking information, no details, nothing they could find relating to the parking.

I kept pushing because… where exactly had my money gone then? And miraculously, after a bit more back and forth: “Oh, we’ve found it.”

Suddenly my details existed! 😂

They then sent me the confirmation email that I’d been trying to get this entire time.

So thank you to the random Redditor who was more useful than Ryanair customer service, Stansted customer service and Ryanair’s own website combined.

If anyone else is stuck in the Ryanair Stansted Ryanair loop trying to find parking you’ve already paid for, try DMing Stansted on Instagram and KEEP PUSHING even if they initially tell you they can’t find your details.

Got there in the end, but what an unnecessary headache just to prove that the parking I paid for actually exists.

10/10 sightseeing tour of customer service departments. Would not recommend. I’m

One of the weird things about teaching is having decent chunks of time off, but always at exactly the same time 😂

I’m curious what other London teachers actually do with it.

Do you travel? Go hiking? Visit family? Spend six weeks recovering from the term? Or do you have loads of things you’d like to do but your friends can never get the same time off?

Part of the reason I made this sub was because surely there are thousands of us across London looking at the exact same school holiday dates and thinking “I’d go somewhere if I had someone free to go with.”

So whether you’ve joined the sub or this has just randomly appeared on your feed, what do you usually do with your school holidays?

I’ve done quite a bit of solo travelling around Europe and feel like it’s finally time to venture a little further.
Southeast Asia has been on my mind for the end of December. I was originally meant to go with a friend, but she has other commitments now, so those plans have fallen through.

I’m 31F, London based, pretty active and happiest when a trip involves nature, hiking, exploring and actually seeing the place. I still appreciate good food, beaches and doing absolutely nothing occasionally 😂

I can travel alone, but I’ve realised some trips are just more fun when you have someone to share the ridiculous moments with.

Would be lovely to connect with another woman around my age who travels similarly and see if our plans line up. If you’re in London, even better as we could meet beforehand and figure out whether spending several weeks together would be a brilliant idea or an absolute disaster 😂

I’m still very open on where in Southeast Asia, so recommendations are welcome too.

I recently started a subreddit for London teachers because I genuinely think there’s a gap for it on Reddit.

I’m not trying to make money from it, promote anything or turn it into some big project. I just thought it would be useful to have one place where teachers across London can talk, share advice, ask questions and maybe even make connections outside their own schools.

The slight problem is that a community isn’t much of a community when hardly anyone knows it exists 😂
I’ve shared it in a few relevant places, but I also don’t want to become that annoying person spamming their subreddit everywhere.

So even if you’re not a teacher, I’m curious. How do small Reddit communities actually get off the ground? What makes you join a new sub and actually come back to it?

R/londonteacherstravel