Have you ever changed your vacation destination at the last minute?

My first trip to Europe I had a Eurail Pass that was good for several weeks and changed my itinerary frequently. Best switch was leaving Spain, crossing into France, and deciding to visit Switzerland instead of Italy and Greece (I was on my first TEE and wanted to continue the ride). Haven't visited the other countries yet and even though Switzerland wasn't on my self imposed travel plans, I had a life altering visit and still think I've time to see Greece and Italy.

During the same trip I met 3 strangers traveling in Barcelona (wuv that city!): a woman from San Francisco, a man from western Canada, and a citizen of Sweden. We've remained in touch for the past 40 odd years and progressed from callow youth, to panicky midnight calls asking for child care advice, to attending the same kiddos' college graduations and an empty nesters' cruise where we all drank too much and showed up for breakfast bleary eyed. Oh right and as far as the topic goes-I wouldn't have met any of them if I hadn't decided to visit the Musee des Augustins, thus delaying my train ride by a day.

Thank you, Craig, Ada, and Rolf, for helping me to be who I am now; it's alllll yer fault.
 
Twice, three times if you count visiting FIL as a “vacation.”

We were all packed up and ready to drive to Idaho when our water heater went out and flooded the garage. We were young and poor back then so the choice was go see FIL or get it fixed. He insisted we come anyway but declined to help us get there so we stayed home.

About 16-17 years ago we were supposed to go to Hawaii to stand up for BFF and her fiancé. We decided while we were there to renew our wedding vows. I had cakes, flowers, someone to perform the ceremonies, photos, rooms etc. all set up. We bought dresses for us and khakis for the guys. DH and I ordered new wedding bands. All that was left was booking the flight. Then she backed out saying they couldn’t afford it. Fortunately back then it wasn’t a big deal to cancel things. I often wonder why DH and I didn’t just go anyway. I think I thought we’d all go eventually. Never happened and the backing out/making promises thing became a pattern that eventually tanked our friendship.

Seven years ago we had plans to go to San Diego when my dad ended up in the hospital. I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving the state with him being so sick so we did a staycation and did all the touristy Vegas things. It was exhausting, I don’t know how you people vacation here! :rotfl2: That one did cost me some money to cancel but I would do it again. My kids still talk about that “vacation.” For the longest time they thought The Strip was another city.

We have one couple that we only make plans with if it's a trip to somewhere that we would like to be with or without them. They are notorious for canceling. We made that rule after a rotten long weekend in Oklahoma. We only went as a mid-point meet up with them. They cancelled after we were already almost there. After that we've always planned expecting them to cancel. They showed up in Seattle a few years ago but Vegas for NYE is up next and I fully expect them to cancel as they are already really noncommittal with definite plans while DH and I are already fully booked with flight and hotel.
 
We have one couple that we only make plans with if it's a trip to somewhere that we would like to be with or without them. They are notorious for canceling. We made that rule after a rotten long weekend in Oklahoma. We only went as a mid-point meet up with them. They cancelled after we were already almost there. After that we've always planned expecting them to cancel. They showed up in Seattle a few years ago but Vegas for NYE is up next and I fully expect them to cancel as they are already really noncommittal with definite plans while DH and I are already fully booked with flight and hotel.
She was actually one of the most dependable people you could ever meet before getting together with this guy. When she did it to my daughter (who had adored her since she was a toddler) it was game over. I just quit believing after that.
 
A few years ago, we were just planning on spending a quiet week at home during Christmas break. My daughter suggested we go to Disney. It was the Saturday before Christmas. I thought if we are going to go to Disney, why not see if we can go on a cruise. We found a great deal on an 11 night Holiday Panama canal cruise . We booked the cruise at noon on Saturday. We were in the car by 5 pm to drive from Detroit to Miami for the cruise leaving on Monday.

We called my son to come home and pack, dropped of the dogs to my mom, etc. totally spur of the moment.
 


We did a major pivot 9 weeks ago changing a Seattle trip to Great Britain. Flights were SW so we cancelled for credit-flights to London were half the price. Hotels are cancelable, as was the rental car. We lost nothing by deciding to change the trip 10 days out. Instead of 7 days in the Pacific NW, we did 10 in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. We also came back with nearly $700 still in the budget.
 
Well - once I planned a family vacation where the completion was open-ended. I didn't make a reservation for Las Vegas but figured that I should have a problem, and when I got there I got a $49 hotel room at one of the big Strip hotels. We then passed through Death Valley (in the summer) and looked for another hotel room around Mammoth Lakes. We could have changed the plans and headed to LA, then drive home, but it was kind of fun having flexibility. I'd planned for extra vacation days to decompress.

Some of our lodging wasn't even planned. I mapped out several locations where we might be able to find lodging and didn't book ahead of time. I also had some candidate locations and made one reservation on my cell phone when we decided that would be the place. We also had Yellowstone in that trip, where we had already planned about 5 nights at various places in the park, but managed to snag an available night where I ended up cancelling our motel night in West Yellowstone.
 
Last summer, 3 days before a trip to Glacier National Park, we decided to switch to Yellowstone due to wildfires. Yellowstone was pretty darned smokey too.
Had a great trip anyway!
 


I wanted to, but couldn't unless I was willing to lose a lot of money. We planned a cruise out of Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria hit about a month before we were scheduled to depart. We were spending a week prior to the cruise in Grenada. Our flight from Grenada to Puerto Rico was cancelled as they weren't letting small planes land at the airport yet. Our hotel on PR cancelled and we were unable find another room. We asked if we could just get on at the first stop (St. Kitts - ship left PR at 8:00 pm on Sat. night and got into St. Kitts at 8 am Sun morning) and were told no. We ended up having to fly from Grenada to JFK, spend the night, and then fly to San Juan the next morning. Luckily we were able to get a room at the Comfort Inn or we would have ended up spending the night at the airport. While we were there our hotel lost both power and water. They were able to get the generator going again, but not the water. Luckily we were on the 1st floor and had some water with gravity feed. Island was a mess and there wasn't much open.
 
Not exactly last minute but 6 days out. In March 2014 we planned a Southern Swing, drive to Savannah for a 2 day stay then back up to Myrtle Beach for 4 days of golf. The Sunday prior the long term forecast for those cities was every bit as bad as North East PA, even St Augustine was to be cold. So.. wifey said, 'Let's go to Disney'. I called for a WDW resort ressie, no Moderates were available, only All Star Mu had vacancies so I booked. We drove down that Fri, first night at Marriott Grande Vista, All Star the next morning. Had a great time and I actually did quite well with Past Passes.

Bill From PA
 
Yes, 11 years ago in August. We live in Ohio and had planned an East coast trip, Philly, AC & NYC. The day before we were supposed to leave my niece 13, was admitted to the hospital with a really bad lung infection. She had Cystic Fibrosis so it was nothing to mess around with and we knew it was serious. My sister called & said the Dr. said the family should gather to say good-bye. We were already packed for the trip so jumped in the van with the 3 kids and drove to Cincinnati (about 4 hours from where we live). We got a hotel there and stayed until my niece passed about 3 or 4 days later. I was so glad we were all able to be together, I wouldn't have forgiven myself if we'd have gone on vacation instead. We did do some things like movies, museums, zoo in between hospital visits, kids can only visit for so long. Since we were driving we weren't out any plane tickets and everything else we were able to cancel except for Broadway tickets, but it was minor compared to what our family was going through.
 
We JUST did this in July! We were originally booked to fly to Savannah and spend 10 days in Georgia and South Carolina visiting Tybee Island, Savannah, and Charleston. Had the flights, rental car, hotels all booked. TWO DAYS before we were leaving, DH and DD16 both decided that it would be way too hot to be in the South in July (I believe I had brought that point up in Jan when we made the plans!!) and wanted to go someplace a little cooler...and with waterparks. :crazy:

I changed all of our flights (thankfully on Southwest), canceled the hotels and rebooked for one in Wisconson Dells, and changed car rental 1 day before our scheduled departure. We actually ended up saving money and having a fabulous and relaxing time. Although, as a mega planner, I was quite bummed about all of the planning I had done for the south- but I will get to do that trip someday- just not in July!
 
We JUST did this in July! We were originally booked to fly to Savannah and spend 10 days in Georgia and South Carolina visiting Tybee Island, Savannah, and Charleston. Had the flights, rental car, hotels all booked. TWO DAYS before we were leaving, DH and DD16 both decided that it would be way too hot to be in the South in July (I believe I had brought that point up in Jan when we made the plans!!) and wanted to go someplace a little cooler...and with waterparks. :crazy:

I changed all of our flights (thankfully on Southwest), canceled the hotels and rebooked for one in Wisconson Dells, and changed car rental 1 day before our scheduled departure. We actually ended up saving money and having a fabulous and relaxing time. Although, as a mega planner, I was quite bummed about all of the planning I had done for the south- but I will get to do that trip someday- just not in July!

I did that trip last October and it was great! Still pretty hot as we walked around Tybee on the beach, but not July hot! Evenings were very pleasant.
 
Twice, both due to hurricanes.

First time we were due to go to Cancun in November 2005 and a hurricane whipped through just a few days before. Our travel agent managed to get us changed to Manzanillo (on the West Coast) within hours.

Second time was also due to a hurricane, also to Cancun in August 2007. The trip was cancelled the night before we were due to leave so we got a full refund (ended up going to Cancun 6 months later, where I ended up being 3 months pregnant with our first child). So instead of going to Cancun that August, the next day we went on a camping trip to Banff and Lake Louise!
 
After watching the weather this morning I have decided to book a rental car for our trip. I got it through Costco so it doesn't cost me to rent it, or cancel. I am in NC and this Hurricane is just too close for comfort. I am worried our flight will be canceled. So we might have to drive down. Other than that...we are headed south!!!
 
In May 2013 we canceled our trip to WDW due to in-laws poor health. Then in August, they had seemingly plateaued so we went to the beach for a quick trip. While we were there, MIL passed away. FIL passed 3 days later.

We took our WDW trip in December that year.
 
I do a lot of my trips last minute now. Work and weather are the deciding factors. If there is a storm coming or wildfire smoke in the area, I'm not going.

While I may miss out of discounts, I save on cancellation insurance.
 
Only once. I had scheduled a trip to New Orleans to an AARP convention and just a couple of weeks before I was supposed to go a big wind named Katrina blew in cancelling everyone's plans. Since I had paid for the flight already I managed to change it (with an extra charge, of course) and went to Disneyland instead. I was looking forward to being in N.O. single for the first time. (my daughter graduated from Tulane so I had been there before) But, crap happens and I made the best of it. As it happened that was also the year of the 50 Anniversary of Disneyland. So, for me, at least it was a win - win situation.
 
Back in 2004 there were four hurricanes in Florida in about seven weeks. We were scheduled to visit during the last one in late September. Two days before departure we decided to not to go. No flights involved, only hotel reservations, which were easily cancelled.

We went to Boston and Springfield, MA (Big E, Six Flags) instead.
 
Two thanksgivings ago we went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and had a blast. So much fun that we planned the exact same vacation for last Thanksgiving. At the last minute though we changed our trip because the reports of danger were just too much for us since we have a son. If it had just been us adults we may have gone. Thankfully we were using Southwest and the resort that we stayed at in playa the Carmen had a sister resort in the Dominican republic so it was fairly easy to change trips. But I have to admit we loved Playa Del Carmen much more than we enjoyed the Dominican republic.
 

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