Do you cancel your plans?

Last minute trip to Przemysl.

I believe the hardest part of any weekend is deciding to get in the car or hop on a train, as opposed to just hanging low and staying home. To say there have been instances over the years where a trip has been canceled last minute, is an understatement. Truly, I can count the number of times I decided to not fly off to a foreign country or drive across state lines for an experience.

I do know one cancellation was due to writing reasons. 

True story - I was supposed to fly to Latvia for a five day vacation, exploring Riga and some outlying cities. There was a breakup with my long distance girlfriend back in the USA which added to the equation. And yet, part of me really wanted to visit Riga. I had the perfect hotel next to a park that I knew would be ideal for running. I also knew the ambiance with winter in full force would be a good motivator for the writing mood I wanted to embrace.

School vacation began and I went home to my apartment in Casale. My flights weren’t until Monday so I had the weekend to just chill. After an amazing long run along the Adriatic coast, I settled in for three hours of writing. Before I knew it three hours became five. 

I think I wrote close to 5000 words on Saturday for Valo, the third book in the Luza series. Then Sunday came and after a morning writing session I was close to 8500 words. Then it hit me, could I continue the same momentum in Riga or was it going to jar me completely? Talk about a dilemma. 

Always one to be very firm on limiting distractions, I next deleted my Facebook account and then I made sure the demise of my relationship was finalized. I think I shut off my phone to add to the cocoon effect, not necessarily to increase the drama ten-fold. Sunday evening came and I was in a groove. I was over 13,000 words at this point and torn. 

You won’t be shocked to learn that in the evening I canceled my hotel and just ate the plane tickets to Riga. Thankfully, Ryanair tickets were not some economic hardship. Sure, $45 is $45, but how many of you burn that on a Sunday brunch? The hotel was another matter. They gave me a partial refund, but I was willing to conceptualize the cost as a donation to the hotel. Good mentality, right? I even went so far as to rationalize that I was paying myself to stay home for the week.


Instead of exploring the historic old town of Riga, I dove into the shape shifting and teenage drama of Valo. Aside from My Shenandoah Love, I think this was the fastest first draft written to date. By the end of vacation the novel was complete and I was prepping the final part, Lane. 

Last year this happened again, not the writing part, but shifting gears last minute. I was supposed to go to Montenegro for five days, but felt worn out and for that matter ill. I had come down with a cold and decided the entire exercise of flying and then driving to the Montenegro coast was not going to be ideal in this late February weather. 

I committed myself to staying home - again to eat the costs of canceling my trip at the last minute. This time though I woke up on Sunday morning, feeling substantially better. Maybe it was also a relief that I didn’t have to cram onto another plane. By the afternoon, relief became remorse and then my travel bug bit me again as my body felt more recovered.

I told myself if I was feeling even better come Monday morning, I would catch a train to Lublin. This was a part of Poland I had yet to visit. On the fly, I decided it would be a two day trip and then we were going to add Chełm as a random third night.

Lublin was amazing for me. The weather was wicked - rain and wind made life interesting. The Georgian food was mediocre, but I found the best pizza to date in Poland. I also discovered a street lined with wedding dress shops that rivaled Bialystok. More importantly, I retraced parts of the Jewish experience from the Jewish gate to the old town, onto the old and new cemeteries and onwards to the train tracks where they met their unfortunate demise. 

I had intentions to carry on to Chełm, but again at the last minute, the morning of, I canceled and went back to Krakow. It was a bit of a detour with six hours of travel, but I wanted to be in my bed for the night. Another day of recovery ensued. 

True to form, I thought that would be it for the week and I would be staying home, a true staycation for the remainder of my winter vacation. I was, after all, still paying for the Montenegro trip. But when my buddy reached out saying he was flying into Warsaw and then heading onto Ukraine, I felt pulled to catch up in person and help in whatever way I could to get him across the border. 

We decided Thursday morning about a Friday meetup. I didn’t know what was going to happen, save I had to hop on an early train to Warsaw. I was out of sorts, doing everything spur of the moment, where the train I booked happened to be the Warsaw to Krakow one. Unbeknownst to me, I arrived at 04:00 to the train station and then caught my mistake. Not only did I pay for a ticket I couldn’t use, the bloody train was heading south, not north which just added salt to the wounds.

With the rain coming down in buckets, I was at a loss as to whether to return to my apartment or to buy the next ticket to Poland’s capital city. The first train to depart was at 06:15. I didn’t want to just sit and wait with the other travelers in the train station. They were sprawled out on benches and chairs in one big slumber party that was not inviting to say the least. 

Even with the rain in force, I turned on my video camera and filmed a vlog on what it was like at four in the morning in historic Krakow. I walked from the station to the Rynek and onwards to the river. Even with the crazy drunks making more noise than one would think possible, I made the best of the situation, despite the elements and the fact I knew I just paid another $40 for the correct train ride. 

Fast forward to meeting up with my friend and another adventure began that entailed a Bla Bla car ride and a late night arrival to a hostel in Lviv, Ukraine. 

I couldn’t have planned this trip in advance had I tried. And yet, by being flexible and present, this was one of the most entertaining and rewarding weeks that I can remember. It wasn’t just traveling to new places, but listening to where I felt I was better served and needed. 

I know if I had gone to Montenegro there would have been no meetup and trip to Ukraine. Furthermore, the warm memories I got from Lublin would be nothing but dreams and possibilities. Both trips, the Riga one that left me home in Italy focused on my latest book and this menagerie of cities and countries at the end of February while living in Poland, left lasting impressions. 

This trip flip flopping continues here in Maine. Even last weekend the trip to Lubec was almost an afterthought. I’m still glad I went even though it was underwhelming. I'm thankful I booked the room for last weekend as opposed to this Saturday. With twenty inches of fresh snow, I would have eaten another non refundable fare and all because I couldn’t check the ten day forecast. 

I’m curious, are you a trip flip flopper? Do you cancel plans at the last minute to stay home or do you go out regardless even if you don’t feel up to doing so?

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