Our flight has been tentatively re-scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. If the fog comes back then the flight will be cancelled and our trip will have to be re-scheduled. Never a dull moment!
We are traveling with our buddy Peter this time around. He has LD and is being treated by DR H too. We all set off at 10 am this morning for our flight which was departing Bellingham, WA at 2:10pm. Bellingham, is about a 45 minute drive from our home + however long it takes to get through the border line-up. The border thing can be dicey and adds a lot of extra travel time but it is worth the trouble as flights out of Bellingham are by far the cheapest we have ever found. Leaving at 10 am meant that I had to run my IV en route.
We did not learn that all flights out of the Bellingham airport had been canceled until we got to the terminal. We were just unloading our luggage in front of the terminal when we encoutered a steady stream of slightly perturbed passengers exiting and muttering how the flights had all been canceled. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. We DIDN'T believe what we were hearing! We were totally dumbstruck when airport staff confirmed the rumor.
Yikes! Now what?
We decided to spend the night in Bellingham. It's stressful and tiring getting across the border as we have to leave early as it is difficult to anticipate what the border line-ups will be like. Doing that 2 days in a row would take a lot out of me. Additionally our leaving has been really hard on Avery and we decided that it would be extra hard on her for us to say goodbye two days in a row.
Thankfully we were able to cancel our hotel booking for tonight in SF with full refund. This confirmed our decision to stay overnight in Bellingham as we weren't going to incur any extra charges. I got on the lap top in the airport and tried to find a hotel for the same rate we pay for our creepy old hotel in SF.
I located a couple of prospects that looked promising, so we set off to investigate these various cheapy hotels in the Bellingham area. The pickings were pretty slim and really grim. Even Peter and Graham were alarmed! We finally found one hotel that was doable however it smelled pretty bad. We're not hotel snobs but it's a stretch to be sick in a smelly environment! We hemmed and hawed and then Peter suggested we try Priceline.com. The travel website that is endorsed by William Shatner! How can you lose with Willy on your side!
The premise of priceline is that you choose the price that you are willing to pay and then bid for a hotel at that price. Priceline then tries to find you a hotel at that price. If one is found at your said price than your bid is accepted. The catch is that you are not told which hotel you are booked at until AFTER you have paid for it. Slightly dicey and risky but somehow curiously enticing. Carpe Diem! Live on the edge! (Seriously, that is living on the edge for me!)
I totally got on board with the idea when I learned that you can specify your price PLUS choose the class rating of the hotel. You know like 1* rating is budget, 3-5* rating is upscale.
We are 1* hotel people all the way, all the time however I decided we should bid for an upscale hotel for the same rate as what we pay at our schizoid hotels in SF. Why not? We had nothing to lose! GO BIG OR GO HOME!
We placed our ridiculously cheap bid, crossed our fingers and breathlessly stared at Willy while we waited to see if our bid would be accepted or rejected!
Bid... ACCEPTED!
Way to go, Willy!
Way to go, Willy!
Instant Jubilation and Total Glee!
We were totally impressed with ourselves!
We were totally impressed with ourselves!
We were pretty excited when we checked into our upscale at bargain basement priced hotel! Even better when we discovered the roomy rooms contained the most deliciously, luxurious beds ever! Wow! They were even decorated with bolster cushions and decorative blankets draped over the foot of the bed! Totally appeals to my inner interior designer! We are living the good life in Bellingham tonight.
Please pray for our flight to be a go tomorrow.
At this point we're not sure what to do about our Plan B if our flight tomorrow is once again cancelled. From where we sit right now, the alternatives are not overly appealing. One option would be to fly out of Seattle. Flights out of Seattle are very expensive.
Our other option would be for us to cancel our appointments with DR H and try to go again in the next couple weeks. However, DR H's office policy clearly states that patients are charged if you cancel without 48 hrs notice. I am sure that DR H would be very sympathetic to our plight but we cannot get in touch with his office until Monday morning. The clincher is that Peter's appointment is scheduled for first thing Monday morning at 9am and mine is for 10am. Our appointments are an HOUR long and are extremely expensive.
Either way Plan B appears to be pretty sucky...but we are Trusting for God to make a way!
We are praying that Plan B will be a no go and that our flight tomorrow will be a go!
Even though we seem to be in a bit of a predicament, I can't help but have a little chuckle. After all, it's pretty funny how my call to TRUST prevades every aspect of this journey!
I got another migraine as we were heading out to dinner tonight but a handful of meds have brought it down to a dull roar. So, I'm hanging in okay. It's been a long and crazy day. But we've had a lot of fun too!
Now, I'm off to bed...in my great big fluffy, deliciously luxurious bed!!
1 comment:
try hotwire.com for hotels (like priceline, but with explicit prices rather than bids)
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