Irene Landed Me In Cali
We made our reservation for the BEST VACATION EVER to go to Beaches Turks and Caicos. Those reservations were made September of 2010. Before we even left the resort last year, they had our money for this August 2011. I was ready for another week of relaxing in the sun sans kids. I mean they would be there with me...but would be having fun of their own with Big Bird and Elmo. My kind of vacation!
And then that wench Irene showed up with her big personality and enough hot air to knock down a tree. Yes, I mean that darn hurricane. And as I called down to Beaches while getting my toes done, the "gentleman" from Beaches began to explain that the airport was closed and they weren't sure when it would open again. HUH?! How quickly a nice little pedicure can go south....
So as the days progressed with Irene wreaking havoc on the east coast and Caribbean we soon found out that Beaches (the greatest resort in the entire world...did I mention that childcare is included in the price of admission?) was going to be CLOSED till the middle of September. Noooo...damn you Irene...
Ok, now I know that in this hurricane people lost their lives, homes, belongings, etc. but I am giving you my experience, so work with me....
So during the last week before this planned vacation I have been forcing my family to eat all the food in the house. Every last drop. No trips to the grocery store. Eat the rice and the this and the that. All the food that we have been pushing to the back of the pantry...NO NEW FOOD!! But now we have a problem. There is a hurricane about to hit New Jersey and we have ZERO food in the house. Are we going to try and plan a new trip? Are we going to try and go somewhere else? Do I NEED TO GO TO THE DAMN STORE AND BUY GROCERIES TO LAST THE NEXT MONTH DURING THE ARMAGHEDON ABOUT TO HIT US?!?!
My head is now killing me from the options, the decisions that need to be made and the money that Beaches and USAir now has of ours. Did we buy the insurance? Will the flight get canceled? Jim called USAir and sat on hold for 2 hours before reaching customer service. "What... we have to wait till Saturday morning to see if they cancel the flight, to see if we can get our money back, to see if we can go somewhere else or we HAVE to get on that flight or lose our money even though we have nowhere to stay...HUH!!!!!"
So long story sort of condenced down.... Jim talked to the manager's manager's manager and we got every cent back from Beaches. I don't know how..but he did it. (A good lesson in sales and not talking to the first person that answers the phone...I guess). We knew we needed to get out of town on Friday as the Philly airport is famous for not flying in even the slightest bit of bad weather. We went on http://www.homeaway.com and found a last-minute rental on the ocean in San Diego!
That morning I bought tickets to San Diego. Because there was a weather advisory for the Allentown airport we were able to skip that part of the flight (which is wayyy better because we were only going via Allentown to save money!) and we flew non-stop to San Diego on Friday!
My sister lives in San Diego, we got a house ON the ocean and we flew non-stop and missed a hurricane. We got all our money back from Beaches and we are waiting to hear from USAir if we can get our money back from them. If not, we can use those tickets for another 12 months.
We didn't end up going on THE GREATEST VACATION IN THE WORLD but I'll take a visit with my sister any day of the week! Oh, that and missing a hurricane!
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And then that wench Irene showed up with her big personality and enough hot air to knock down a tree. Yes, I mean that darn hurricane. And as I called down to Beaches while getting my toes done, the "gentleman" from Beaches began to explain that the airport was closed and they weren't sure when it would open again. HUH?! How quickly a nice little pedicure can go south....
So as the days progressed with Irene wreaking havoc on the east coast and Caribbean we soon found out that Beaches (the greatest resort in the entire world...did I mention that childcare is included in the price of admission?) was going to be CLOSED till the middle of September. Noooo...damn you Irene...
Ok, now I know that in this hurricane people lost their lives, homes, belongings, etc. but I am giving you my experience, so work with me....
So during the last week before this planned vacation I have been forcing my family to eat all the food in the house. Every last drop. No trips to the grocery store. Eat the rice and the this and the that. All the food that we have been pushing to the back of the pantry...NO NEW FOOD!! But now we have a problem. There is a hurricane about to hit New Jersey and we have ZERO food in the house. Are we going to try and plan a new trip? Are we going to try and go somewhere else? Do I NEED TO GO TO THE DAMN STORE AND BUY GROCERIES TO LAST THE NEXT MONTH DURING THE ARMAGHEDON ABOUT TO HIT US?!?!
My head is now killing me from the options, the decisions that need to be made and the money that Beaches and USAir now has of ours. Did we buy the insurance? Will the flight get canceled? Jim called USAir and sat on hold for 2 hours before reaching customer service. "What... we have to wait till Saturday morning to see if they cancel the flight, to see if we can get our money back, to see if we can go somewhere else or we HAVE to get on that flight or lose our money even though we have nowhere to stay...HUH!!!!!"
So long story sort of condenced down.... Jim talked to the manager's manager's manager and we got every cent back from Beaches. I don't know how..but he did it. (A good lesson in sales and not talking to the first person that answers the phone...I guess). We knew we needed to get out of town on Friday as the Philly airport is famous for not flying in even the slightest bit of bad weather. We went on http://www.homeaway.com and found a last-minute rental on the ocean in San Diego!
That morning I bought tickets to San Diego. Because there was a weather advisory for the Allentown airport we were able to skip that part of the flight (which is wayyy better because we were only going via Allentown to save money!) and we flew non-stop to San Diego on Friday!
My sister lives in San Diego, we got a house ON the ocean and we flew non-stop and missed a hurricane. We got all our money back from Beaches and we are waiting to hear from USAir if we can get our money back from them. If not, we can use those tickets for another 12 months.
We didn't end up going on THE GREATEST VACATION IN THE WORLD but I'll take a visit with my sister any day of the week! Oh, that and missing a hurricane!
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