Have you ever thought "What else can go wrong?" or "What's going to happen next?" or "Something else bad is going to happen." Generally speaking, we are a happy, positive bunch. We usually have good luck in our endeavors but this time... well maybe it was just our turn for some "interesting" adventures.
I will write our experiences on our annual Florida vacation soon but this blog post is going to be dedicated to our misadventures so far this winter. I am assuming our bad luck has ended but you just never know... trying to tell myself to stay positive. We are due for some good luck!
Looking at the picture above, can you tell we are in sunny, beautiful Florida? No, I didn't think so.
After a Christmas and New Year filled with upset tummies, cold-filled heads and just plain exhaustion, we began to plan for our winter vacation. This year we decided to head off to Florida a little earlier than usual and this seemed like a great idea considering this has been a very cold winter.
I always begin packing and making a list at least a week before we leave and luckily I was finished much of the packing two days before we left because I had a nasty fall outside and ended up with a slight concussion. I slept the day away before we left and was not feeling myself for a couple of days after. It reminded me of when we travelled to Florida a few years ago and a had strep throat on our travels. Not fun. This is the beginning of some bad luck.
On our last day of driving, we only had 4 hours of travel that day, which was very exciting! We would get into the resort with quite a bit of the day left to explore and go for a swim. About an hour away from our destination I was driving and needed to find a washroom. We were driving through Jacksonville so we decided to wait until we got out of the city to find a place to stop and then we encountered quite a long stretch of highway construction. Great. Then, amidst tight lanes, quite a bit of traffic and no exits in sight, we hit something and our back left tire blew. I was able to pull us off the very busy highway but the space was very tight on the side of the road. Scary. Ian didn't feel he could change the tire safely since there was so much traffic and the flat tire was on the traffic side. This just gives me shivers thinking about it. He took the spare out of the van and I pulled the van over as far as I could and then he felt he could change the tire with a little more space but I was still really nervous AND had to pee!!! I called CAA (AAA in the USA) and they dispatched a tow truck but we didn't know how long that would take. Luckily some very nice road construction crew came to our rescue. They parked their big rig behind us and tried their best to make the traffic move over to the far lane so Ian could change the tire... he can change a tire pretty darn fast! Thank goodness. I, on the other hand, was going to pee my pants so Ian told the guys what I needed to do and I went and squatted on the side of the road (Trisha Armstrong-Clarke - you would have been so proud!). Now you can all laugh! We were then on our way to the next exit to get our tire fixed and have some lunch. We were already losing precious pool time but so thankful that it didn't take longer. We found a good tire place and while they put on a new tire we went and had lunch.
Lunch was not good. Appleby's is usually a great place to go - fast, lots of choices and good. We ordered and then waited and waited and waited. Seriously? We had places to go... our vacation was just beginning and the warm sun was out! After even more waiting and apologies we found out someone had gotten hurt in the kitchen so they were in turmoil. Our food came out to us finally but we had no appetite. Afterwards, Ian and Alex walked back to where our van was and the girls and I went shopping for new flip flops and groceries. Once the boys returned to us, Ian informed me that our credit card was not working. Where are we at now? Bad luck #3. Oh boy. I called the credit card company ahead of time and told them where we were travelling to but I guess no one got the memo. In the end, the tires were paid for and we were on our way.
As luck would have it, that day was the nicest, warmest day we had for almost a week. We checked into our resort, went through a whirlwind sales pitch, got suckered into a "TimeShare Presentation" and finally made it to our room to change and explore the beautiful pool area. Ahhhh... it is a beautiful spot and we were looking forward to having so much fun!
The next day was another beauty (for the morning) so we spent it at the pool but had an appointment at the resort's office for a presentation. As we were checking in, they told us they had a great deal for us so we could use all of the resort facilities for a great price... waterslides, lazy river tubes, mini-put etc. We like a good deal and we thought we were just in for a nice tour of the resort and a bit of a sales chat BUT low and behold, it was going to be hours (and I mean at least 2 hours) of a sales presentation with no tour of the resort until afterwards. We decided that wasn't how we wanted to spend out day, on vacation with our kids, so we were able to get out of it... but it wasn't easy and no deal for us! We then headed back to the pool and lazy river but we were rained out. On a positive note, there is always happy hour and it was almost that time anyways.
Wednesday morning (the next day) Ian woke up with a horrible case of the flu. He spent the day in bed and in the bathroom. Poor guy. It was a very cold day so much more difficult to find things to do with the kids while I could still check on Ian. Guess what I did? I took them shopping. Again, not fun! We were all a bit grumpy and walking through a crowded outlet mall (all Florida vacationers go shopping when it is cold) was a challenge. There were many ultimatums from me to the kids but we ended up with some new shoes and finally left. Happy hour was coming up anyways and I could always try to enjoy it on my own.
The next few days proved to be much better but the weather in Florida was very cold (home was much colder though) so we didn't get to enjoy the pools as much as we would have liked and we had to wear our warm clothing those days - jeans, hoodies, running shoes. After our stay at the Orange Lake Resort we headed off to Grandma and Grandpa's and really hoped the weather was going to change. We had some good pool days there but yet again, it became cool and rained for two days.
We headed home on Friday morning and had clear roads all the way up north. On the last day of driving, we got in the van, happy to be almost home - just 6 hours of driving left... we realized then that we did not have our passports. Our luck had not changed. We looked at each other in horror and we just knew that we didn't have them in our suitcases or my purse, we had left them in the safety lock box in our room at the resort. To keep them safe. Oh boy! I spent the next couple hours texting both Ian's parents and Aunt Janie to find some information on what we could do at the border but there wasn't anything we could do until we got there. No Border Control offices were open due to it being Sunday but it probably wouldn't have mattered anyways. My stomach was in knots, I had a headache and we couldn't eat until we got through the border. The kids knew something was up so we told them that at the border we would probably have to get out of our vehicle and that the officers there will most likely want to talk to them and to just tell them what you know. We have nothing to hide. We tried to make sure they were not worried but I knew Grace was... I certainly was worried but knew eventually we would get through. Things like this happened frequently but the issue was that it was an unknown to us what would happen and how late we could be on our way.
When I pack for our trips, I try to be very thorough. I packed my wallet and purse with everything I thought we might need including health cards. I wasn't sure if we would need them but thought it might be a good thing to have and I am so thankful I did. The border officer took both of our driver's licences and the kid's health cards. He looked them over, put information in his computer and told us to have a nice day and we were on our way. Not 5 minutes at the border! We were so happy and so relieved! We were home by late afternoon and had a great evening unpacking and relaxing after a stressful day.
After having our tire blow, I kept wondering what might happen next. I thought after three times, it might be over and we could get on with our trip. This is a true story and I hope we don't have to repeat these events again. Some day we will laugh over our misadventures but I'm not ready yet. I am thankful that nothing was too serious, no one got hurt and we are all safe at home with some great memories.
The End
