A grandfather and grandson are the latest wayward travellers who found themselves in Sydney, N.S., while on a journey Down Under.
Joannes Rutten and 15-year-old Nick Rutten of Amsterdam booked a two-day flight through a Dutch travel agency to visit family in Sydney, Australia.
On Saturday, as the pair landed in Halifax, they realized their flight had taken them in the wrong direction.
The elder Rutten, who speaks German, Dutch and some English, said they didn’t know there was another Sydney.
“We had 24 hours with no sleep,” he said Sunday from the Delta Sydney. “It’s not good, not good.”
Clare MacDougall, an Air Canada customer service representative, was working at Sydney’s J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport when she heard about the pair’s predicament.
“I met the aircraft. When the aircraft door opened, the flight attendant said ‘You’re not going to believe it but we have two people who thought they were en route to Sydney, Australia,’” said MacDougall. “They arrived with no Canadian money — they had all Australian money.”
MacDougall said attempts were made to fly the travellers back to Halifax but the next outbound plane was full. Air Canada later contacted the Delta Sydney and asked if they could provide the pair with a free accommodation.
The two were scheduled to begin travelling back Amsterdam yesterday. Once back home, Rutten said he would sort out the flight mix-up.
