# Do idiots travel to Austria expecting Australia, and vice-versa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795 "2011-12-30T04:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/141 "2015-11-06T22:49:40Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Yes, really. I think **TriPolar** was saying that he’d already mentioned the Oakland/Auckland guy 100 posts and four years ago. 🙂 The incident really did happen. The story went viral (or whatever they called “going viral” back in '85) – “Wrong Way Mike” appeared on talk shows all over the country, got a bunch of movie offers, and [ultimately had a nervous breakdown](http://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-11/local/me-11793_1_auckland) from all the attention. For what it’s worth, his mistake came at the tail end of a long Air New Zealand flight from London to L.A., where he was supposed to change planes, but he said that “Auckland” spoken in a New Zealand accent sounds exactly like “Oakland” spoken in an American accent. I think he also said his ticket stub was smudged, so you could only clearly read the “-kland” part. Couldn’t find a YouTube link, but I did watch his Tonight Show interview way back in the day. As I recall, Mike came across as not the brightest bulb in the box. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/142 "2015-11-06T22:57:18Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I went to college at Washington State University. English 101 was a required course for everyone. My class was taught by a grad student who came from back east somewhere (NYC, I think) who apparently took the position thinking it’d be in Seattle. WSU is in Pullman, on the far side of the state and very rural. He was unhappy with the whole situation and was sort of taking it out on us. Yeah, but have you ever met a grad student in English who wasn’t miserable? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/143 "2015-11-07T00:09:57Z")
Not quite the same thing but an elderly Australian who lived here in Thailand told me a young Thai whippersnapper once said to him, _very_ slowly: “Your English is very good.” He figures the guy mistook him for Austrian. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/144 "2015-11-07T00:40:21Z")
To the OP, I’ll bet that happens a lot more than reported. People try to cover up when they’ve been immensely ignorant. When my wife and I went to Puerto Rico flying into San Juan, my niece (39 at the time) said we absolutely should visit San Juan Hill where Franklin Roosevelt rode up with the Tough Riders. :rolleyes: _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/145 "2015-11-07T00:52:02Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > When my wife and I went to Puerto Rico flying into San Juan, my niece (39 at the time) said we absolutely should visit San Juan Hill where Franklin Roosevelt rode up with the Tough Riders. > > :rolleyes: _sigh_ Assuming she had the capacity to be embarrassed, she would have been even more so upon learning it ended up being a foot charge, because Teddy was too impatient to wait for the horses to be unloaded (one story I’ve read) or the boat the horses were on hadn’t arrived yet (another story). ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/146 "2015-11-07T01:46:54Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Assuming she had the capacity to be embarrassed, she would have been even more so upon learning it ended up being a foot charge, because Teddy was too impatient to wait for the horses to be unloaded (one story I’ve read) or the boat the horses were on hadn’t arrived yet (another story). The most embarrassing part is that San Juan Hill isn’t in San Juan, or even in Puerto Rico. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/147 "2015-11-07T03:09:30Z")
At least she had the right hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/148 "2015-11-07T05:13:21Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > The most embarrassing part is that San Juan Hill isn’t in San Juan, or even in Puerto Rico. Thus my saying she would have been even more embarrassed, assuming she was in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/149 "2015-11-07T07:13:23Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > There is an (apocryphal?) story about a young man who booked a flight to Auckland, New Zealand, thinking he was going to Oakland, California. > [@TriPolar](#): > > [Really?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14615291&postcount=17) I was living in Auckland when that happened. I can vouch that it was quite authentic. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/150 "2015-11-07T17:54:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Thus my saying she would have been even more embarrassed, assuming she was in the first place. I didn’t even know where to start with her. This is an educated girl. Like, WTH? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/151 "2015-11-08T23:17:08Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14613575&postcount=91) post by **panache45** , which blew my mind - obviously idiots can easily confuse Austria and Australia in general usage, but to actually travel to one expecting the other is absolutely hilarious - morons wondering where all the kangaroos are in Vienna, or searching for the Schönbrunn in Sydney. Unfortunately it twigs my “too funny to be true” alarm - I’m guessing some knucklehead did it once and it’s since entered into legend. > > Does this really happen? How common is it to see this sort of confusion in the respective countries? Yes; and the Little Idiot once threw his clock out the window because he wanted to see time fly. True story. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/152 "2016-04-29T16:55:48Z")
[Here you go.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/travel/missed-destinations-birmingham/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/153 "2016-04-29T17:09:03Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > [Here you go.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/travel/missed-destinations-birmingham/index.html) And they didn’t! I hear zombies get places mixed up too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/154 "2016-04-29T17:31:42Z")
There’s a Wyoming Correctional Facility in western New York (it’s named after Wyoming County). I knew prisoners who thought they were in the state of Wyoming. They couldn’t believe they were still in New York after a six hour drive from New York City. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/155 "2016-04-29T18:07:22Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > And they didn’t! Yeah, it’s definitely better to get the departure wrong than the destination. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/156 "2016-04-29T20:28:43Z")
Dominica and the Dominican Republic have vaguely similar names, and are both in the Caribbean. They have virtually nothing else in common. I have seen it mentioned on a couple of TV shows that people have booked trips to Dominica thinking they were headed for DR. You don’t want to do that. The former is not your typical Caribbean destination. When I was in international logistics, having documents mailed to Dominica from our various offices around the world was at least a monthly occurrence. Our office was in the DR. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/157 "2016-04-29T21:13:25Z")
I once took a letter to the post office addressed to: name and street] Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 8DX UK and got in an argument with the clerk over why I didn’t include a Cyrillic-alphabet version of the address. UK = Ukraine, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795/158 "2016-04-29T21:45:17Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Presumably because the location was called Liverpool Street long before the station was ever built. In Virginia, it’s common for roads to be named after a place that they go _to_. For example, Columbia Pike goes to the District of Columbia, Leesburg Pike goes to Leesburg, and Richmond Highway goes to Richmond. In most of these cases, the road changes names once it arrives at the destination, and sometimes will even be reverse-named for the place on the other end of the road! Confusing at first, perhaps, but it’s actually a neat way to tell people how to get places. Need to get to Bumtown? Just look for signs for a Bumtown Road. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-idiots-travel-to-austria-expecting-australia-and-vice-versa/607795.md?page=7)