Contingency Plans
Travel isn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be. Looking back on it, I don’t really remember a time when it was fun. It may have been less stressful but getting from point A to point B is the worst part of any cruise for me. With the current state of air travel these days, my travel anxiety is at an all time high. We are flying to Seattle on Delta Airlines and lately, they have had many cancellations and delays. We are flying in a day early and hoping to spend some time with our Lil Cruise Warriors and their parents. They live just a few miles from Royal Caribbean’s terminal. Hopefully, we won’t experience any delays or cancellations. I want to spend every minute possible with my Cruise Babies (they would die if they heard me refer to them as babies as they are 8 and 10).
Of course, getting to the airport could be stressful as well. Our car has been in the shop four or five times over the last couple of months. Their fancy computer code readers can’t seem to figure out what is wrong with my Tucson. Denver International Airport (DIA) is about 90 minutes from our house, and I am having nightmares about the vehicle breaking down halfway between here and there. I hate flying out of DIA but the cost of flying out of the Colorado Springs airport was prohibitively expensive.
Then there is our dog, D’Argo. (Bonus points if you can tell me where we got his name.) We have a Rover host scheduled to take care of him while we are away but it’s a new host. Our old host was great but they PCS’d (military jargon for moved). The nerve! We usually drop off our dog the night before, but we forgot this time and my mind fills with ‘what ifs?’. What if this host flakes out on us? What if they have an emergency? We did not leave enough time to find a replacement if something goes awry. Update: We were able to change plans and will now be dropping off the evening before!!
But the biggest stressor, the one every cruiser is faced with, is the dreaded Covid-19 test. 
We got our tests mailed to us from e-Med and we have used them before. The testing part isn’t what is so nerve wracking; it’s the possibility that one of us would test positive. We have done everything possible to prevent that outcome. I have barely left my house for the past week and when I do, I wear a KN95 mask everywhere I go. I even order my groceries online and have a worker put them in my trunk. Warrior One Brad) still has to work but he wears a mask anytime he is around other people. We are both vaccinated and double boosted. I don’t see what more we could do to avoid this plague.
In the grand scheme of things, I think we will be fine…I just can’t help worrying a little about things that are out of our control. We’ve done what we can to prepare and create contingency plans but for now…
The car seems to be running just fine. Sure, it needs a new engine, but we will cross that bridge when we return.
Rover hosts are thoroughly vetted, and Rover has contingencies for cancellations. We arranged an extra day at the beginning of our vacation just to add a cushion in case something goes wrong.
We are flying out on a Thursday, and I believe that the airlines are having less trouble during the week. We really can’t do anything to keep our flight from being cancelled, we can just plan to get to the airport in plenty of time and eat lunch after we get there.
As for Covid, I described above everything we have done to assure a positive outcome and a negative test result.
Everything else is in the hands of the Universe. We’ve made it 40 years, so I expect we’ll make it through this.
We are 8 days out, so…
Let’s Cruise!