Saturday, January 30, 2010

Another advantage of retirement: Flexibility about travel dates




I’ve been following the horror stories coming from Peru re. the floods and mudslides at Macchu Picchu. According to our tour group, the Peruvian government said it will take 7 weeks to rebuild the railway to Macchu Picchu. It's clear we will not be going to Macchu Picchu in early March.

As all my friends have been telling me when I’ve bemoaned the cancelled trip, “you’re lucky you’re not there now.”

It apparently was pretty brutal: tourists were trapped for days with no place to sleep and food and water supplies were running dangerously low. (Of course, considering the destruction of the homes of so many Peruvians, the temporary suffering of tourists is relatively inconsequential.)

A representative of our tour agency said their travelers who are in Peru now have all been evacuated and they all decided to continue the trip. They are a lot more adventurous than I would have been. After an experience like that, I think I would just want to go home and crawl into bed for a few days.

So we are now in the process of rescheduling the trip. If my husband and I were still working and had planned to travel to Peru over our Spring break, we would have had a major problem. But as retirees we are flexible about rescheduling.

I had wanted to do take this trip in early March so it wouldn’t interfere with the beginning of the gardening season. I had thought that for the first time in my life, I would have time to do a real Spring clean-up. Also, once my little beauties start popping up, I just don’t want to travel. But as my husband says, you can’t forego travel anytime between early March and late September because you might miss the bloom period of a plant or two. He has a point.

The travel agency said we have to be aware that the trip date could change once again, if the Peruvian government finds the damage is more extensive than they thought. It’s fortunate we can be flexible. We might have to reschedule this trip once again.

3 comments:

  1. Good luck with your trip. Yes, flexibility is good with retirement.
    Mary

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  2. When you do go, your memories of this particular trip will be the more meaningful for your heightened awareness of the fragility of your destination. As we age, we grow more aware of fragility in all things.

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  3. Nance, like you I have become increasingly aware of fragility. It can add a bittersweet edge to experience, but most times I try to suppress such thoughts.

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