Change of plans

It was about 11 PM on a Friday night. I was packed and ready to head to the airport in about 5 hours to take off for Belize. As I'm reviewing my itinerary and paperwork, I decide to take a look at my passport. And there it was, clear as day. The expiration date had come and gone. 

I was not going to Belize. 

So what would you do in this situation? Panic? Cry? Laugh? Delay your trip for a month or two until the passport was sorted out? Cancel it all together and give up on the destination? 

So what did I do? I grabbed my packed bags and expired passport and I went to the aiport the next morning at about 4:30 AM with my incredibly understanding travel companion. We explained the situation at the ticket counter. We asked her "Where else can we go?" She reviewed a quick list of places that had planes taking off in the next hour or two, and within minutes we decided on St. Croix, a US Virgin Island. 

I was on the plane, sitting in my seat and I took out my phone. I sent a text to my Dad and explained what happened. Despite it being incredibly early in the morning he was awake, because he was always awake. He responded almost immediately. He couldn't believe I had been such a bonehead about my passport, but he knew that I would make the best of it. 

And we did. We landed safely, found a car and a hotel and proceeded to have an unbelievable vacation exploring an island that neither of us knew a single thing about. 

This is probably my most fun example of my plans going totally awry. We all know that disruption to our plans is not always this fun or light in nature. Change can be really hard. It can be heartbreaking. It can turn a vacation upside down or maybe your whole world will be turned upside down.

In these moments, we have two choices. We can choose to crumble and go home, or we can choose to go back to the drawing board and pick out a new destination...

Making the most of the unexpected location