Inspired by this 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?
I doubt anyone has ever travelled to Sydney expecting Vienna, or vice versa. But I gather from Austrians I have met that when they are travelling and tell people where they are from, they are often met with “Austria? Oh, I just adore koalas!”, just as Australians get “Wow! Your English is really good”.
It’s the sort of mistake that could not survive even the most rudimentary investigation into actual international travel.
New Mexico Magazine has a long running column in which residents of the state share their experiences interacting with other Americans who think they live in a foreign country.
Some years ago there were a couple of cases of confused travelers ending up in Auckland, New Zealand, when they thought they were going to Oakland, California, but that was because they mis-heard the boarding announcement.
Wait, not that long. But I think it was some guy on Johnny Carson that told his story of taking a long flight to somewhere in California. His end destination was Oakland. When they landed after many hours in flight, he heard an announcement that passengers who wanted to continue on to Oakland should stay on the plane, so he did. That’s what he heard, but what they said was passengers who wanted to continue on to Aukland should stay on the plane. The next stop was New Zealand. He didn’t realize it until they were way out over the Pacific.
So not exactly the same thing, but this thread reminded me of it.
I’ve also heard of cases of people wanting to go to Portland, Maine and ending up in Portland, Oregon instead (or vice versa). Sydney Nova Scotia and Sidney B.C. are also occasionally mixed up.
Strikes me as unlikely, when a domestic flight becomes an international international after a stop, IME the passengers are disembarked and issued new boarding passes and their passports checked.
The article Tripolar linked to describes how the mix-up happened. This was in 1985, when procedures were much less stringent than they are today. I was living in Auckland at the time and remember the incident being discussed on the news with much hilarity. I believe it has happened at least one other time.