Watch your homonyms and homophones when travelling
Ended up in the wrong town, city or country? Did you check the name and spelling of the place where you were suppose to go to? Did you board the wrong flight?
Well this can easily happen if you don’t research your travels as you should and check (possibly double check) your airticket/boarding pass. There have been many cases of travellers ending up at the wrong destination because placenames are either identical or sound the same but spelt differently. Sometimes at no fault of their own. Airlines and travel agents have also been known to make the mistake. In one case a couple ended up on the wrong continent over confusing airport codes. In other mix-ups people book same sounding place names like Guyana not Goiania by mistake.
An example of just a few places that can cause mix-ups:
- Guyana and Goiania, Brazil
- Grenada, Spain and Granada (Caribbean)
- Dakar, Senegal and Dhaka, Bangladesh
- San Jose, Costa Rica and San Jose, Puerto Rico
- Sydney, Canada and Sydney, Australia
- Lebanon, New Hampshire and Lebanon
- Oakland, California and Auckland, New Zealand
- La Paz, Bolivia and La Paz, Mexico
- Antigua, Guatemala and Antigua (Caribbean)
- Lisburn, Northern Ireland and Lisbon, Portugal
- Santiago, Chile and San Diego, USA
- Stratford-Upon-Avon and Stratford, London
- Turkey and Torquay, England
- Cartagena, Colombia and Cartagena, Spain
- Perth, Scotland and Perth, Australia
- Melbourne, USA and Melbourne, Australia
Mind you there are many, many more, and they are so easy to mix-up if you do not have a good knowledge of geography. Check your travel itinerary closely and if flying check your boarding pass and departure gate.
Cheers
