Travel plans change a lot: sometimes you have to change your itinerary, sometimes certain locations don’t work out, and sometimes you have to cancel your trip entirely. I have had a lot of travel plans fail in the past. (And even some more current plans – I was considering Beijing before the whole coronavirus situation started). But here are the five main trips I was planning on taking that didn’t work out for various reasons.
1. Yellowstone National Park (2016)
As someone who loves national parks, I have only been to three of them so far, and as of 2016 I had only been to two. So when I heard about the possibility of getting a summer job at a national park, I was excited! I applied right away for a position at Yellowstone National Park, the park at the top of my list. The position was perfect for me: it was a floor maintenance job for the resorts throughout Yellowstone, and I had all the experience necessary because that’s what I did at the time for work during college. I had experience on all of the machines they used and would’ve been able to fit right in. It wasn’t much longer before I heard back from them and had a phone interview about the position. They loved my experience and offered me the job at the end of the interview. This was a dream summer job for me, so I was certain I would accept it but asked them to give me a week to make a decision. They told me that they had an apartment for me to rent that was right next to Old Faithful and planned my schedule for the summer. Then I had another opportunity come up that I had been praying about: a mission trip to Nicaragua at the end of the summer. I still could’ve taken the job and left early to go to Nicaragua, but there was another problem that would’ve created… This was the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and there was a special promotion going out to summer employees that year that offered an additional $2 per hour on top of what you already made if you stayed your entire contract. This would’ve made the job worth it compared to just working my normal summer job at the college. But if I left early to go to Nicaragua, I would have had to forfeit that $2 an hour promotion making it more profitable to stay home. I would’ve loved to work at Yellowstone that summer, but I believe I made the right choice as that Nicaragua trip was life changing for me.
2. South Sudan (2017)
After my mission trip to Nicaragua, I realized that I wanted to be more involved in missions. But I didn’t want to go just anywhere- I’m a fan of visiting unusual locations that few others ever visit. I found a medical mission trip to South Sudan that was exactly what I was looking for. I told friends and family that I was planning to go to South Sudan, but then violence broke out across the country. There had been a window of peace in the country, but that unfortunately didn’t last. Due to everything going on and health complications with the missionary, the trip had to be moved to Kenya instead. I do kinda wish I could’ve gone to South Sudan, but I’m also thankful I got to go to Kenya. It’s a beautiful country that I’d like to return to someday.
3. Philippines (2018)
I really wanted to go to the Philippines for my next mission trip. Mostly because my only Asian country so far is Israel, and many people don’t consider that Asia (even though it is in the continent of Asia). I prayed about it and honestly never felt peace about it, but I didn’t really care. I wanted to go, so I decided to sign up. I filled out the application and was about to click Submit when I felt that I was possibly making a mistake. I minimized that page and started scrolling Facebook, telling myself that if nothing else came up by that night, I would submit my application and make the nonrefundable down payment. Almost immediately after I started scrolling through Facebook, I came across an ad for a mission trip to the Amazon, and I knew the second I saw it that this was the trip I was meant to sign up for. I canceled my Philippines application and signed up to go to the Amazon, and that was one of the best decisions I ever made. That was (and still is) my favorite trip I’ve taken, and it almost didn’t happen because I wanted to go to the Philippines instead.
4. Chernobyl (2019)
This one kinda hurts… Ever since learning about Chernobyl I have wanted to visit it. There’s something about it that draws me in. So when I found out I was going to have a layover in Ukraine on the way to and from Moldova, I knew I had to extend that layover so I could visit Chernobyl. I called the organization planning the trip and requested to have an extended layover on the way back home. I guess I wasn’t specific enough on which layover I wanted to have extended because when I got my flight itinerary, my long layover was scheduled for New York… I decided I wouldn’t fight it because I knew it was stressful trying to schedule all these flights. Plus I had never had a good experience in New York, and I had wanted to give the city another chance so I went with it (see below). Well, my hopes were lifted when I got a message from Bradley, our trip leader, talking about our Ukraine layover on the way to Moldova and how he had made arrangements with a tour company for us to tour Chernobyl. I was excited because I thought I wouldn’t have a chance to visit and now it seems like a possibility again! That’s where things went wrong again. Unfortunately, the day we got to Ukraine, the sarcophagus was showing signs of wear, and there was concern that it might fall apart which would be a major health risk for anyone in the area. Our permits to enter the exclusion zone were denied, and nothing ever happened to the sarcophagus, so we would’ve been fine. So now, I have made 2 attempts to visit Chernobyl, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever get a chance again.
5. New York City (2019)
I already mentioned that my long layover was scheduled for New York City on the way back from Moldova. Obviously that never happened or I wouldn’t have brought it up here. As I mentioned, I have never had a good experience in New York so I was determined to enjoy it this time. I booked a nice Airbnb and even bought an open-door helicopter ride over the city that flies over well-known landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and Central Park. And then, I’m not completely sure what happened after that. My flight schedule had me leaving at the same time as the rest of the group on Saturday morning, but after making it all the way through customs and security and to my gate, the airline wouldn’t let me on the plane saying my flight was actually for Sunday, the day after it was originally scheduled. Everyone else boarded the plane without an issue, but I was stuck in Chisinau alone for 24 hours and missed 100% of that New York layover I had planned. Of course, everything was nonrefundable so I lost a lot of money there. And I still don’t have a good opinion of New York. But I did get a day to explore Chisinau, the capital of Moldova and really enjoyed that time, so that was nice!
I’m not writing this article to complain about things that have gone wrong. I’m not bitter about any of these and have learned a lot through each of these experiences. You just have to understand that things can and do go wrong when traveling, and you very rarely stick to your plans. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a trip where everything went according to plan. It’s just part of it. And if you let yourself become bitter about things like this, you’ll never be able to fully enjoy traveling. Accept it when things go wrong, and don’t let it affect you too badly. I still love traveling even after all that and just try to keep a positive attitude about it.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be sharing the story of my trip to the Amazon next week, so look out for that. It’s one of my best travel stories, so I’m excited to be able to share it.
Tyler's Travels 