A combination of challenges made it difficult to take a surprise trip last week. But sometimes, it’s best to skip the trip and plan for the future instead.
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A Surprise Trip That Didn’t Happen
My wife wanted to surprise me for a milestone birthday with a trip to visit our friends in Manchester, England. She planned the whole thing out but when it was time to pull the trigger, she realized I would be alerted and the surprise would be ruined so she might as well just tell me first.
The timing was right, the route made sense, it was saver-level space in business class over the summer. Typically, that’s like finding a unicorn. She made the announcement, selflessly, at her own birthday dinner (our birthdays are separated by a month.) She pulled up the space on her phone only to discover it was gone.
We shopped for alternative dates, routes, and even destinations that would still get us to Manchester but none of them were the goldilocks fit that she initially found. We settled for something that didn’t quite work and 36 hours prior to departure, we cancelled because we knew it wasn’t a great option and we were kind of forcing the issue.
A Replacement Trip Would Have Been A Nightmare
We still wanted to get away and started shopping options.
The lowest hanging fruit was to go someplace close, familiar, and easy. We have spent a lot of time in Mérida, Mexico, in fact, we nearly bought a home there. We had an easy route using Alaska Airlines miles on American Airlines routes at a great rate, though the return date was a little later than we were hoping.
Our old Airbnb was taken off the market, and the owners decided to move into the property for themselves, but we found great alternative options. I was on the phone with Alaska Airlines (we have to call in due to our infant son on the redemption) but when they were ready to take our credit card information and secure the tickets, we paused for a moment to think about it. My sister-in-law is expecting a baby any day and ultimately we didn’t want to be abroad for too long.
We decided to book anyway, we would be back quickly enough but the Alaska Airlines call center closed for the night. We would be forced to sleep on it whether we liked it or not. Then I got an alert that Hurricane Beryl was charging right for Tulum, then Mérida and when it made landfall it would be a category 5 – possibly the first ever category 6.
Take The “L”, Regroup, Plan Again
We could have found a place to go and taken the time, but why force it? It felt clear that God, the universe, circumstance, or coincidence was conspiring against us.
While disappointing, it seemed better that we wait for a more ideal situation and take the loss rather than make something imperfect work. Travel is about flexibility and adaptation but the greatest gift of travel is the wisdom to avoid problematic situations rather than proceed and deal with the results.
Our unexpected time home allowed us to host our friends and family for the Fourth of July and finish some big projects around the house. Instead of taking the time to relax on a holiday, we found ourselves taking the week at home easy, and enjoying quality family time together.
Sometimes it’s best to skip the trip and stay home, save the miles and the money, and live to travel another day.
What do you think? Have you skipped a trip when circumstances dictated a challenging experience or did you forge ahead anyway?
My wife and I like Merida a fair bit. The category 1 Hyatt with a nice club lounge and breakfast until noon for Globalists is also exceedingly nice.
@Kyle … Is Mexico a Safe or Unsafe place to go ?
I have gnawing doubts about that .
Safe or unsafe it will depend on how you act there. Either way, Mexico won’t see my money. I don’t like the food, place is overpriced, full of scammers and you can get way better deals elsewhere.
@Santastico, that may be accurate for certain bits of Mexico, but it’s complete nonsense to claim that the entire country is like that. I have visited Mexico twice in the last 1.5 year travelling to 4-5 states, and Acapulco is the only place to which I would be reluctant to return. CDMX in particular has an amazing big city vibe, top notch gastronomy, very good hotels at sensible prices and is very safe indeed (assuming you aren’t in the mood for doing the Mexican equivalent of favela tours).
While I agree there are nicer areas, the overall vibe of the country does not appeal to me. I said I don’t like Mexican food, that alone is enough for me not to go.
@Sanbtastico … +1 . I usually eat at a Hilton or U.S. hotel when in the third world or a dump U.S. city , for a better chance at survival .
On mainland U.S. , I recently tried “The Shake Shack” , and it is quite good , with American cooks I was pleased to see .
It makes good headlines to paint all of Mexico as a cesspool of villainy and murder.
The reality is, as reality tends to be, different and more nuanced.
There are places you can get into a lot of trouble, for sure. There are places you shouldn’t go, things you shouldn’t do. But places like the developed tourist areas are not meaningfully more dangerous than any American city.
Keep your wits about you, don’t make yourself an obvious target, and keep abreast of local advice about where not go (much as you would anywhere).
Merida is the safest big city in Mexico and safer than most large US (or Canadian) cities. La ciudad blanca is amazing.
What a great article!
We live in a culture where we are always seeing what everyone else is doing…
But sometimes the best trip for us is to stay home.
Given the fact you are waiting for the baby to be born,a trip to Intercourse to get a hand made quilt would have been warranted.