Have you ever not been able to find your reserved accomodation?

No that never happened to me. What did you do?

Did you try to find a pay phone?

I've found the accommodation, showed up at the appointed time, and no one was there.

I go on MapQuest.com or GoogleMaps.com and print a map out for everywhere I go.

Seldom will I not go directly to my accommodations armed with the proper information.

I too have been left with a missing B&B host in Bacharach. They were out feeding their cattle up on the mountainside.

Nigel--went back to town and checked into a hotel. Lucky there was one room left, albeit expensive. I had a printed map, printed directions, but with few route signs in the vineyards, impossible to find for me that night.

Huh.

Have you ever gotten tickets and a visa for a country and found out that wasn't where you really had planned on going until you stepped off the plane?

I've not been able to reach my booked hotel because a snowstorm made the narrow Alpine road leading to it impassible. But never had trouble finding a place.

In Sorrento we tried to call the apartment owner from a pay phone at the train station -- no luck. So we started to walk since the address was only blocks away. Found the number below and a number above, but not the exact address. Locked gate -- got in when someone went out. Nobody around to let us in or tell us where the address was -- and now we realize we're locked behind the gate. Luckily the owner came up on his motorcycle ... but another ten minutes and we would have been checking the local hotels too. (Turns out it was a little building in the back -- very cute but hidden. )
Evelyn, hope the rest of your trip is less eventful.

I once could not find the place. I got help and learned it was not in the town, but in an outlying district. I decided to stay elsewhere.

Years ago our travel agent booked us in a hotel in Zurich rather than the one we wanted (same name) in Geneva.

I usually try to get as good of directions as I can, and even look up a visual on Google Street View when possible, which has helped several times. But once in Brussels I couldn't find my hotel and finally got in a taxi and asked to be taken to the address. The taxi driver gave us a strange look and we realized why when he pretty much drove around the block to get us to our hotel. Another time in a smaller town I stopped at a shop and asked for directions. I have never not been able to find the place eventually.

While technology can be great, I truly recommend printing out copies of your flight itinerary, your lodging confirmations (incl street addresses and phone/email), theatre ticket confirmations, rail reservations, you name it, and a google map of where the places are. Fold them up and put them in a ziploc bag with a ballpoint pen.

No, have always found the lodging but have had to sometimes call or cancel due to flight cancellation.

Blockquote Have you ever gotten tickets and a visa for a country and found out that wasn't where you really had planned on going until you stepped off the plane?

Every so often, there's a news story of a person who was aiming for Glasgow, Scotland, and accidentally wound up in Glasgow, Montana. See also: Melbourne, Australia, and Melbourne, Florida, Panama City, Panama and Panama City Florida.

And I remember the news story of the person who was going to Oakland CA and wound up in Auckland NZ....

And then there was the young British couple who fund they were in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada instead of Sydney, Australia.

I was kind of thinking back to winding up in Tajikistan when Uzbekistan was on the menu.

In a story on the country Georgia, the Arizona Republic showed a map of Georgia, USA.

In a story in our local newspaper about the town of Marquartstein in Germany, it was stated that the town was just a few kilometers from the Australian border.

I usually do a screen print of google maps to save on my ipod so we know the route from the train/parking lot to hotel. If driving, I program in all destinations in advance into Garmin and save to favorites. Lastly, if Google street view is available, I find the exact location and know what the building looks like/what side of the street our destination is on, etc.