April showers bring May…thundershowers?  Bad weather today in the midwest and east coast has led to some significant delays with a domino effect on many other airports. Given my habit of booking evening flights, that means I’m stuck with compounded delays, something I’m used to dealing with. I wasn’t particularly surprised when I logged on at lunchtime to check my flight status and saw that my incoming aircraft was delayed and that my flight would likely also end up delayed. Over the course of the afternoon, I watched the delays pile up, then grow significantly as the flight was diverted, and then eventually the flight was so far delayed that they stopped bothering to update the estimated departure time.

When Exactly Will It Depart? (I apologize for the poor quality as I took the picture with an iPad)

A misconnect was looking more and more likely (especially given my recent luck), but luckily I had followed solid advice from Rapid Travel Chai: Connect where you shall be happily stuck. In my case, being stuck in Chicago was the next best thing to actually being in Portland.

Actually, I had half a thought that spending a night in Chicago might actually be better than getting to Portland. It’s one of my favorite cities and an evening of upscale cocktails, late night snacks, and a room with a view sounds darn good to me.

theWit Chicago: "My" Hotel in Chicago

If all goes to plan, I should have just enough time to make my connection given my new itinerary, which should be great news. I’m a little disappointed I won’t spend the night in the Windy City unexpectedly, but missing out on a stopover I never had planned is about the ultimate first world problem.

Hope the rest of you traveling today make it to your final destination without any delays.

I’m always looking for great weekend getaways, and I’ve got a stockpile of bookmarked websites for inspiration.  Often, these bookmarks get buried under more recent findings, but I brushed off my plans for Fallingwater after I saw Travel Bug Diary mention it in her 2012 travel highlights.  The trip started to piece itself together further after Budget Travel highlighted a few nearby state parks to complete my weekend.

I had grand intentions for this trip, some of which will have to wait for later.  My original plan was to leave Friday at 5pm for the drive up to Ohiopyle, PA so I’d have time to bike part of the Great Allegheny Passage.  Unfortunately, a combination of being stuck at work late, rainstorms, and a tornado watch delayed my departure by about 12 hours.  No bike ride for me this time, but it did look fantastic if you’re in the area.  Instead, my first stop was into the Laurel Highlands, still a bit dark and gloomy.

From there, just a bit south was the grand attraction of the weekend: Fallingwater.  This Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece is one of his most famous, and rightly so.  The building itself is genius and the setting is beautiful, even on an ugly spring day.

Entry into the home is only allowed with a guided tour.  I debated for awhile whether to choose the standard tour (about an hour) or the in-depth tour (two hours) and in the end, chose a standard tour.  I had hoped to use the time saved for additional hiking in the area, though in the end would have had time for either one.  Still, the standard tour covered a lot of information and for first-time FLW tourists, I think you’ll still be impressed.  The surrounding grounds are also quite scenic, and most visitors don’t bother to take the 10-15 minute walk (one-way) up to a scenic viewpoint.

While Fallingwater itself appears to be isolated, the town of Ohiopyle is an easy drive away and is quaint.  The town was pretty sleepy in April, though locals told me it springs to life in the summer when bikers, whitewater rafters, and hikers come through.  Based on the number of ice cream shops in town, I believed them.  You won’t find chain hotels without driving at least 30 minutes out of your way, but there are ample B&Bs and campgrounds.  I unfortunately didn’t have time to stay overnight.

Ohiopyle Town is Enveloped by State Park Land, Including these Small Falls

I enjoyed strolling on the easy trails in the state park and picnicking on my own before heading out of town.  Despite being a short visit, it was a nice corner of Pennsylvania and one that could easily fill a weekend on its own in a different time of year.  This time, though, my destination was in West Virginia.

As much as I love the outdoors, I decided to spent the evening in Thomas, WV.  There’s not much to do there, but there’s just enough to make it a great base for the many parks in the area and the locals are friendly, making it a gem of a town.  The pour over coffees at TipTop were surprisingly upscale and the music at the Purple Fiddle was entertaining, even if it wasn’t world-class.  With Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley, Seneca Rocks, and Dolly Sods all nearby, I’d highly recommend Thomas as a town to stay.  Again, don’t expect any chain hotels, so consider a local guesthouse instead.

West Virginia is actually one of my favorite states these days because of it’s wide variety of natural beauty and outdoor activity.  The state is full of adrenaline-packed adventure, but for a quiet afternoon, Blackwater Falls State Park is a good choice.  Like many other West Virginia state parks, this one houses a lodge and other helpful facilities, making it a family-friendly destination.  The real attraction here are the namesake falls, which unfortunately were blocked off at the time of my visit after trees had destroyed some of the trail (stairs) down to the base of the falls.  I got as close as I was able and even still they were beautiful.

Luckily, there was still more to do in the state park, including hiking to Lindy Point and watching the abundant deer.

My last stop for the weekend was further south, at Nelsons Rock Outdoor Center.  Nelsons Rock is home to the only American-made via ferrata, an engineering feat that allows you to rock climb using a long series of iron rungs that were installed directly into the rock face that you can use as hand holds or foot rests.  You clip yourself into an attached cable using carabiners and use the rungs for support.  They tell me its safe, but you’ll definitely want to stay focused for the trip.

Nelson's Rock Via Ferrata

Frankly, the course wasn’t as fun as I expected it to be.  With morning temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, it took all my brainpower not to dwell on how numb my fingers were from working with metal carabiners and rungs.  Additionally, it’s hard to enjoy the views when you’re trying not to think about how precariously perched you are!  I have to give tremendous kudos to the staff for keeping the group safe and under different circumstances, I think it could be a blast.

All in all, my weekend getaway really transported me to an entirely different set of places, without even stepping foot on an airplane to get there.  These parks and attractions were in my own backyard and had been overlooked (even by me!) for a year or more while they sat dusty in my bookmarks.  Maybe I didn’t leave the time zone, but I definitely experienced something new.

What’s in your backyard?

Do you remember last week when I thought I got a good deal by using Priceline to lock in a low price on a hotel in Colorado Springs?  Well, paying $45 for a hotel is only a good deal if you actually stay at the hotel.  If instead your flight is canceled, you’re stuck with a prepaid, non-refundable reservation that you can’t use.

Picture this: I’m sitting in the Richmond airport, thrilled that I finally have a flight reservation that looks like it will take off.  I’d managed to switch my car reservations last minute for pick-up in Denver instead of Colorado Springs.  Finally, I could breathe a sigh of my relief, pull out my Kindle, and settle into vacation mode.

…Until I realized that my flight was scheduled to land at 11:59pm and it was still a 90-minute drive down to the Springs.  And physically, I’d be on east coast time.  Oops!  Well, my options were to nap on the flight and then buy a Red Bull upon landing so I could make the drive, forfeit the $45, or resort to Cancelon (which most likely meant forfeiting the $45).  Any sane person would say, “It’s only $45.”  Any travel-maniac would say, “But it was such a good deal!  I can still make it work!”.  Guess which category I fell into?

That is, until I landed in Dulles and found my flight was delayed and would now be landing at 1:15am.  Suddenly, even my travel-maniac self figured that driving to Colorado Springs would be a nightmare.  That extra hour made all the difference.

Remember, I’m a stubborn girl by nature and a cheapskate at heart, so I wasn’t ready to give in yet.  I called the hotel and asked them if they’d consider refunding my room – or switching me to their Denver location – but despite having the world’s friendliest stafff, there was nothing they could do a third party booking.  Oh, well.

A 1-800 phone call later, I was talking to a very pleasant representative at Priceline.  I reminded myself the two key rules to any customer service phone call: 1) Always be polite and 2) Keep all emotions (i.e. frustrations) out of the call.  Sure enough, my just-the-facts approach that my flight had been cancelled was enough for Priceline to consider refunding my nonrefundable purchase.  They asked a few questions about my original flight reservation and told me that I’d receive a response via email after my information had been verified.  Sure enough, I received a confirmation of a full refund shortly thereafter.  Success!  The refund has already been processed to my credit card.

This tactic won’t work (and I wouldn’t suggest it anyway) unless you have proof of a change outside of your control.  Frankly, I didn’t even expect a refund in my case, though I knew even if they said no I’d feel better that I had tried.  Good insurance would likely do the trick, but I self-insure, meaning I’d take the loss this time around and figure in the long-run I’d be money ahead on saved premiums.  I’m grateful that Priceline stepped up anyway and I’ll certainly remember that the next time I need a hotel.  Hopefully, I’ll actually be able to use it as planned next time!

While I hope that none of you have to deal with flight cancellations, it’s an unfortunate reality that with the amount of flying most of you do, you’ll likely be faced with a cancellation sooner or later.  If you’re also trapped in a nonrefundable hotel reservation (whether Priceline or otherwise), remember it’s always worth a phone call.  The worst they can do is say no, but you might be pleasantly surprised.

I included a quote in one of my Twitter posts yesterday as I was simultaneously planning three of my upcoming trips:

“A schedule defends from chaos and whim.” – Annie Dillard

I love that quote because it reminds me that scheduling is necessary to keep me sane but also a constrictor.  The last thing I want to do on vacation is defend from whim!  With each trip, I’m getting better at finding the balance.  I used to pack every minute in to see two days worth of attractions in one in that stereotypical if it’s Monday, it must be Barcelona syndrome (sorry Mom!).  My trips lately have been more serendipitous, with open time that sometimes means stumbling upon a soccer game in Fes or stopping to watch a moose courting ritual in Denali.

My balance these days has been to schedule one thing that I don’t want to miss for every day of vacation.  That gives me something I look forward to and a slight structure to my day while still leaving plenty of wiggle room.  And I try to make just-in-case hotel reservations (or throw my camping gear in the car) so that I’m not wandering around looking for a place to stay in the middle of the night.  It just doesn’t seem safe to me, especially when traveling solo, and especially because I’m batting a 0 when it comes to finding acceptable options on the night of arrival.

In the meantime, I still research the heck out of my destination.  Some of it is logistical: things like gathering train schedules, maps, and average costs.  I do that so I don’t stress while I’m actually traveling and in fact, being armed with that kind of information makes it easier to change plans on a whim.  Some of the research is “armchair travel” with reading on the attractions, restaurants, and unique accomodations at my destination (anyone else want to sleep in a Slovenian wine barrel village?).  And more recently, I’ve been researching the local history and culture of my destination to better understand where I’m headed.

In the end, sometimes I feel like I know more about my upcoming destinations than some locals do (it works both ways: I’ll admit to not knowing everything about Richmond, either!).  Maybe that takes the mystery out of things, but I have so much fun in the reading and anticipation that I’d never give it up.  I can get months worth of enjoyment leading up to a single week-long trip.  The only problem with that is that a week to explore somewhere new ends up seeming less and less adequate since there’s more and more I want to see and understand.  It’s a great problem to have and amazing inspiration to realize I’ll likely be returning and thus can just enjoy the time I do have.

Are you a planner or do you prefer to go with the flow?