There are free walking tours (usually at 10am) in many major cities. As you walk around for a couple of hours, you have a chance to meet and talk with others, and possibly continue from there.

The biggest problem for me is going into a pharmacy to get them. I hope I don’t have to go near all of the people standing in line to get their prescriptions filled. No way my immunocompromised daughter is going to do *that*!

On the rare occasions when I miss a connection, it’s because of weather or because the originating flight has been cancelled or subject to a lengthy delay, perhaps for mechanical or staffing reasons. In those cases, there’s not much that you can do in your advance travel planning.

Not all of them were abandoned. Here’s one passing from East to West Berlin on November 15, 1989, 6 days after the Wall came down.