What can you do when family vacation plans cancel or are changed — illness, flight delays and cancellations, car breakdowns, crappy weather, worker strikes, pandemics? Unfortunately, it feels like there are more and more opportunities to mess up plans than ever before.
I remember when I was six and my sister got hives the day before we were supposed to leave for the traditional Florida vacation – amusement parks and beach — and our first and only trip to Disney World. Turns out, it was just her excitement and they dissipated in a day, but we missed out on Busch Gardens. Know what? It was still one of our best trips ever and 40+ years later, I still have priceless memories from it.
My family of four has had flights cancelled, and we’ve spent more time in an airport than our actual destination, but somehow, we’ve made the best of it and have journals worth of stories from those vacation woes. One of the most memorable was when we were stuck in Detroit for 20 hours on our way to Copenhagen. We looked for things to do in the area and ended up at the Detroit Institute of Arts to see their beautiful collection and a traveling Star Wars memorabilia exhibit that was in town (we are huge Star Wars geeks, so this was as good as Disney World for my husband and me).
I’ve had a lot of time (20 ish months now, unfortunately) to consider what happens when family vacation plans cancel or don’t go the way you expect. We were just nine days away from a trip to Switzerland and Greece for spring break when things started shutting down in the U.S. in 2020. The COVID-19 vaccine has been a beacon of hope, and last summer offered a short reprieve for some safe travel, but with people not vaccinating, variants cropping up, and hospitals overwhelmed, we could still be facing months of limited trips to stay safe.
What can you do to make up for disappointment when your trip plans go awry? How can you salvage family vacation plans that don’t work out? Here are some practical and desperation-created ideas to help.
Buy trip insurance.
This is the most important tip during these days of the pandemic. I have been purchasing medical evacuation and repatriation insurance for years, particularly for overseas trips. Depending on the policy, med evac insurance provides transportation to the nearest medical facility. Repatriation riders are equally important as they will allow for transportation back to your home residence, even if you need an air ambulance or specialized medical transportation. Someone I know broke her leg in Italy, and it was almost $30,000 to fly back to the States on a medical jet. The alternative was staying in Italy for a minimum of six weeks until her leg healed enough that she could fly in a regular airline seat.
I am also hearing several stories of folks testing positive for COVID while on vacation, and they have to wait out a positive test to travel back to the U.S., incurring flight change fees, extra nights at hotels, and an extraordinary amount of stress. Honestly, I don’t really recommend traveling much at all right now beyond a road trip, but if you must go, get trip insurance and make sure there is a COVID-19 rider on it.
If you end up needing to use your insurance, get in touch with the insurer as soon as possible. Some of the policies have time limits for submitting claims.
How do you find travel insurance? I’m a big fan of SquareMouth. They have a ton of information on types of insurance, definitions of benefits, and reviews. And they have a directory of providers and levels of insurance that you can compare. Once you decide on a plan right for you, you can also purchase it directly via their site.
I broke my wrist in Iceland
Depending on where you are going, and what kind of plan you choose, we have paid anywhere from $60 to $300 for a medical evacuation policy for four, some of which also include cancellation coverage which will reimburse the cost of your trip, should it be called off.
Consider a back-up plan or pivot to something entirely different.
If you had to cancel an entire trip, is there an alternate location you could head to? Could you change the dates just a little to salvage a getaway? Could you do a staycation and find outdoor activities and day trips to still have some fun and get a little of that vacation feeling?
Even a night or two in a hotel or AirBNB in your hometown can be a good break away, especially if it has a pool or a cool game room (bringing a supply of Pop Tarts and Doritos goes a long way, too). Have you ever been a tourist in your own city? There are bound to be some obscure and unique spots you can seek out.
Make your bucket trip list.
Keeping a list of places you want to visit whether close to home or far away can come in handy in the event a family trip cancels or is changed. Plus, doing research on locations, hotels, excursions, etc. can help scratch the travel itch while you’re not-so-patiently waiting to get the heck out of Dodge. For me, dreaming up and planning trips is half of the fun.
Sometimes salvaging a cancelled or changed family vacation can end up creating a whole new set of memories. I still hear about the night we spent sleeping in a train car at a hotel in our hometown, even though our big spring break plans had been cancelled. Your expectations might not match the ones you anticipated, but I bet you can still find some adventures.
