Guest post today by @phampants, our worst travel tweet winner. (He gets a Dozen of our Favorites! Yeah!)

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When the awesome @brandonzeman RT’d @foiledcupcakes‘ Worst Travel Tweet challenge, I asked myself, “What story should I pick from?”

When I backpacked Europe alone last summer, I had quite the adventure. The adventure also included many mishaps. From sleeping in the Brussels train station in 40 degree weather with bums to having my 4gb flash card go corrupt on me and losing 3 days worth of pictures in Rome. Let’s not also forget that I was only allowed to live 18 days on a TINY duffel bag containing all of my belongings that weighed no more than 22 lbs. Don’t believe me? Here’s photo evidence (sans a 6 pound laptop):

Yeah, it was an interesting trip. Just as interesting as learning how to drive stick while driving on the other side of the road while in Ireland. Oh wait! That’s right, I couldn’t drive because I lost my wallet (one of three) containing my driver’s license, student ID & my debit card on the morning of Day 3 of my trip in the Dublin airport. How did I lose it? It was in my jacket pocket which also contained my umbrella. Apparently, the umbrella looked like a huge knife in the X-Ray machine, so when they took it out to check, the wallet fell out. Sadly, I did not noticed until I was in the middle of the Brussels train station 2 hours later.

So what did I do? Being the seasoned & experienced traveler that I am, I had wallet #1 and #3 handy. Those two wallets contained 350 Euros, 60 British pounds and a credit card. Now before you go all, “Oh he cheated, he had a credit card,” remember this: Europe is a CASH continent. Finding a place that takes credit card is like trying to a hot dog place in Chicago that puts ketchup on your hot dog. It wasn’t easy, but I did survived 15 days with 350 Euros & 60 GBPs.

Want to read more about my trip & the day I lost my debit card? Read more here.
Want to know how you can survive cleverly when traveling and losing your debit card? Read more here.

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Congratulations, @phampants - your story touched the hearts of millions. Well, at least of the people who voted for you. And thanks to all who participated!

My flight was delayed on my way back from #SESNY. And I was bored. So I decided to give out a free dozen cupcakes to the person with the worst travel story.

Problem is, we got, like, 40 kajillion responses. I did my best to narrow them down, but now I’m too stressed/entertained/indecisive to pick a winner. So I’m delegating that decision out to you.

Please vote for your favorite (just submit a comment with A, B, C, or D) and that person will win FREE CUPCAKES, delivered to their Chicagoland office next week.

We’ll keep voting open through Tuesday, 3/30/10 until 12:00 noon, Central time.

A - @ShannaQuinn:

My suitcase was damaged. I had personal items strung out on the claim conveyor belt which I had to scoop up as they went by.

B - @jfhoff:

seeing two shoving matches break out as people boarded the 7:06 am train from Naperville to Chicago. Relax, people!

C - @debbieupper:

Not airplane-related, but once got barricaded into a state park in India, held up for moolah. #CUPCAKES

D - @Phampants:

worse was when i lost my debit card while backpacking europe. i had to survive 15 days w/ 350 euros & 60 pounds

Get voting! The one with the most votes wins!

The fine print resides here.

[By the way, I almost picked this one:

@antrants: SYD to LAX, pilot had to re-route half way, crashed, got lost on an island, had to time travel with some dude to get back.

But come on. That's so been done before. ]

A few weeks ago, the lovely Archana at Edelman sent an email to us asking us to think of ways we could use Chevy’s vehicles to do social good in our community.

Here’s our video proposal, which was shown at their kickoff event last night. Let us know what your thoughts are or what we could do to improve our proposal and make this really KICK BUTT!

Learn more here.

Thanks to all who watched and didn’t totally fall out of their chairs laughing. Yes, this means you Erin, MJ, Paige, Jill, Dwana, Kelly, Jenn, Keidra, Scott, Jeff, Lori, and Barb.

Hey. We’re looking for 6-8 business travelers to give feedback on a business development idea. Can meet in Chicago, Naperville, or anywhere in between - or even via Skype if it’s easier. It’ll take 20-30 minutes of your time.

And since we know you’re busy (obviously, if you’re traveling on business), we’ll personally deliver a box of our gourmet cupcakes anywhere within our delivery area to thank you for your time:

https://www.foiledcupcakes.com/delivery

We’ll deliver for a friend’s birthday, client gift, thank you gift, whatever.

Please respond if interested in comments with your name and number of business flights per month; we’ll reach out to selected respondents here. Last day to respond: Tuesday, 3/9/10.

Okay, ready? Go. And thanks in advance.

Here’s my recap of IDEA Conference 2009 from a non-UX perspective:

1. I met a lot of great people. UX people are shockingly fun. I say that with all the love in the world. I thought they’d all be uber nerdy. Lucky for me, I was TOTALLY wrong.

->1a. Everybody should hire a UX professional to review their website for usability, function, and beauty.

2. I discovered that there are lots of things about Toronto I haven’t experienced. But walking around for miles kilometers in 4″ heels? Yes, I’ve done that. (See photo of my feet wincing in pain, courtesy of @russu.)

3. The dollar store across the street from the nail place we went to on Yonge Street sells flip flops with the word “babe” (not “bebe”) embossed in rhinestones. They’re $1.49, so not an actual dollar, but worth every penny over the $1.00. (See #2.)

4. Apparently, bribing people with cupcakes from Miss Cora’s Kitchen (69 Kensington Avenue, Toronto, ON, CANADA) is enough for them to create their own cult Social Media Fan Club for Patrick Swayze.

Thanks for hosting us, Toronto, and thanks for inviting me, IDEA09! You’re a bunch of beavers.

-Mari

P.S. If you’re interested in a fo’ rizzle recap of #IDEA09, check out blogs by Whitney or Luke.

I know there’s an explanation needed, but I don’t have much time, and I wanted to get it out there before I forget:

A mani/pedi experience with a bunch of usability experts. Male : female ratio: 4:4. That’s right. Nails for males.

I’ll do a recap on the IDEA conference (from a novice’s point of view) in a few days. Once I’ve had a chance to recover.

- Mari