Boy did i ever blow the budget right off its hinges on my last few trips !!! First mistake and i am never doing this again is ... i didn't get phone packages for my stupid iPhone . Yeah i also fell for the mighty bs sales person when i was told the phone was unlocked . Unfortunately i found that out in Johannesburg the day i arrived in South Africa . Before that i spent about $100 in phone charges sitting around in Munich killing the 11 hours i had to wait for my next flight . Yeah i made mistakes there too :( While killing time the brilliant idea of exchanging money hit my wallet .... went to this scam artist bank called ReiseBank hahaha they exchanged my money to Euros then to Rands and charge me for 2 transactions taking , when i realized they had taken roughly $180 i wanted to reverse the transfer only to find out that it says in German that i have only 15 minutes to reverse transactions ... thanks ReiseBank you f*$king bastards :P 
My next big mistake was when i was trying to book some tourist stuff to do at my hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg at the Balalaika . Going to concierge and trusting him was my mistake because i booked a trip to the Apartheid Museum that cost me 900 Rands which is like $100 , there was a driver to pick me up with a tour guide ....well a driver picked me up with a mini bus and i was the only person ? we get to the Apartheid Museum and i find out that its only 70 Rands entry fee ? when we get in the "guide" did absolutely nothing and in fact even fell asleep during the introduction movie ? so wtf did i pay for ? Obviously the red flag went up when i got into the empty bus but surely why wouldn't Hotel Balalaika know of this ???? i told the concierge the next day and he was surprised and i asked if they could get me some money back but here is the reality ... the racket is that they are probably in on it and making a few hundred Rands off this deal and they are probably not willing to give it back ... i will email them this blog and see what happens :) 
The biggest mistake of my trip happened in Barcelona,Spain ... oh boy i am still pissed off about this one . The night before the World Cup my German friends were tricked into booking a table at this overpriced restaurant that claimed to be the German bar to watch the game at and there would be tons of Germans with a huge screen . I knew it was a scam but went along with the group . We showed up and there were no other Germans and a small sized TV . Now if it weren't for us going there i would have never ended up in this area and that is really not what i blame ... my mistake was getting totally drunk and getting pick pocketed by some prick in the morning when were about to leave . Those pics that went missing will haunt me for the rest of my life . I was warned to be safe in Barcelona as it is pick pocket heaven and i didn't listen and got obliterated .... my fault but i wish we never went to that stupid restaurant :( 
Going to Dallas as i thought we were going to Dallas we ended up in Frisco ... in the middle of absolutely nothing . This was one of my worst decisions for my Texas trip . Why did i book this hotel , well of course because everyone else did :) but who's idea was it for us to book this place ? There was no bar or restaurant in the Wingate by Wyndham Frisco and there was nothing aside from a gas station within walking distance as we were stuck next to a highway . WOW this sucked . Taxis from airport and to Dallas to do some actual sightseeing was murder ... that broke the bank on our first day ! Dallas itself is no gem of a town , its a ghost town as you can see the picture of the American Airlines Arena which is downtown ... do you see anyone walking around ?
Overall the mistakes make for interesting stories that i can laugh about after i finish paying my phone and credit card bills and yes of course i am in the mood to write about this all just after coming back from the bank to pay these bills and no i am not finished paying :( I hope you all can learn something from my mistakes and i hope it makes all of your trips better . My liver needs a rest so i am not sure when my next trip is but i would say it won't be long :)
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