Sometimes no matter how perfect the planning is, life moves in a different direction then one plans for.
On Tuesday, the boys and I were to fly to San Diego for a few days of visiting family. I also wanted to take the kids to the waterfront and see the big ships. It would be my first time traveling with them through airplane layovers and big city traffic. I felt excited and up for the challenge. The trip was meant to be a great start to a lifetime of traveling that I wanted to expose my kids to.
But after perfect packing ( I didn't forget a THING, and I even ironed!), we were blocked by the hazards of airplane travel.
Or should I say, flying out of Arcata and into SFO. Both very foggy airports.
Our flight out was delayed because of foggy conditions in SFO, thus causing my connecting flight to be missed. All afternoon flights into S.D were full. The United check-in person offered to re-book our connecting flight through Carlsbad (Northern San Diego county) by 6:00pm. I decided to take that option even though it meant another connecting flight through LA.
However, when I went over to the car rental counter to change my rental time/pick-up location I was told that dropping the car off at the different location of San Diego Airport (where my departing flight was) wouldn't work.
After calling my cousin, I decided to cancel the whole trip.
Kim could have picked us up in Northern San Diego and driven us to the main airport to pick up the car rental. But the breaking straw for me was the amount of time we would be in traffic. I could have managed the long layovers. But to ask the kids to be in the car for hours afterward: I couldn't do that.
So we went home. I was trying to be really positive and so the remaining part of the day was great. While the kids took a nap I called the airline and negotiated the return of the cancellation fee. The total amount spent on our tickets will now be spent on a trip to Hawaii in February to see our friends get married, so no money will be lost in the long run.
But, bummer! I was really looking forward to this!