Sometimes, just sometimes, vacations aren’t ALL about baseball. I know–heresy! But it’s true; sometimes we take a vacation where we plan for little to no baseball.
Note the word “plan” and feel free to laugh.
Ah, plans. Beautiful things. Of course, sometimes plans don’t go as planned and you have to be flexible.
Plan #1: our entire family has a beach vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. All four of us fly down together on a Thursday, and I fly back with our kids the following Sunday. Not a huge vacation, but a good one, especially since we’d gotten an apartment that was right on the beach. Mr. Baseball fan (who had a lot of available vacation days) rents a car, travels around the state for a week, gets his fill of baseball, and flies home the Saturday after that.
Sounds good, right? Mother Nature didn’t think so.
Uh-Oh
Our flight was scheduled to leave quite early, so we got up and headed out before sunrise, glad that the rain had finally stopped. When we got to long-term parking, there was a small lake at one end–evidence of the previous night’s downpour (this is called foreshadowing). We got on the shuttle bus and set off for the terminal. Sitting near the front, I could hear dispatch talking to our driver. “Turn around.”
As it turned out, the rain had been really severe by the airport, to the point of overwhelmingly flooding the road. The terminal was closed. Nothing going in, nothing going out. Getting back to the parking lot, we chatted with a couple also on their way to Myrtle Beach, wondering how long it would take for us to get on our way. We waited through multiple texts announcing fairly short delays, but it was getting ominously late. “Road trip, anyone?” (this is called foreshadowing) Finally, the flight was cancelled and we drove home to figure out what to do.
The First Pivot
There were no more flights that day, and all flights the following day would have at least one layover, meaning that we wouldn’t arrive until late Friday afternoon. Extending the trip beyond Sunday wasn’t an option–one of our kids was starting a new semester at school, and the other was scheduled to work, as was I. We knew we had to at least consider driving.
Detroit to Myrtle Beach is about 800 miles. That’s a good 13 hours of driving, not counting stops for food, changing drivers, etc. By this time, it was noon. Whatever we were going to do, we had to do it immediately. Driving wasn’t going to be fun, but it would get us there more quickly than any other option.
We got in the car.
The Second Pivot
Plan #2: the whole family drives down, the kids and I drive back Sunday (they’re old enough to take turns at the wheel), Mr. BF rents a car for the week and then flies home the following Saturday. I’m not one of those people who really loves driving long distances, but it was the means to an end. When we finally arrived, it was 2:30 in the morning.
The next day, I was on the phone with my sister-in-law, both recounting our adventure so far and explaining the new plan. “Why do you guys have to be the ones to drive home? Why don’t you guys fly home and let him drive around in your car for the week?”
Cue brain lock from me, while Mr. BF starting looking on his phone, considering the possibilities. As it turned out, this plan would actually save a bit of money, due to the exorbitant cost of the rental car. We discussed it with the kids, who were understandably thrilled at the thought. But as we started to buy tickets home, I stopped.
I couldn’t in good conscience let Mr. BF drive all the way around the state and then home all by himself. Since my job is virtual, I can work from anyplace that has a decent Wi-Fi connection. For me to stay in South Carolina wouldn’t change the budget much, aside from my meals and a ticket for one of the baseball games, which would be offset by not needing that third plane ticket.
The Result
It wasn’t the vacation we originally planned, or even replanned, but it worked out really well.
- We all had a good time in Myrtle Beach
- Mr. BF & I got to drive around together for an extra week and see some amazing sights
- I got extra vacation!
Up next: Life at the Beach
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