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What to Do When Things Go Wrong on a Trip
On any trip, it’s nearly a given that something with go wrong.
It might be minor (like you get lost or your hotel reservation is messed up), or something major, like a snowstorm or hurricane. There’s nothing you can do to stop a storm, so changing your attitude is the best way to combat an act of god. Here’s a few ways bad weather has messed up a perfectly good travel show.
While shooting in Rio we had perfect weather and gorgeous views of Sugar Loaf.
That is until we had to shoot on the top of it. I can’t tell you how disappointing it is when what we’ve planned is essentially scrapped because of weather. Months have been spent getting shooting permits that usually only allow us to be there on a certain day and during certain times. If we try to move it to another day then that completely disrupts all the other segments that have been tightly scheduled in an effort to create a great travel show. So all we can do is shrug and go with it (and hope Rio Tourism will lend us their B-roll).
Our first morning waking up to Cannes, it snowed. We were in the south of France and we couldn’t shoot until the snow melted off the palm trees.
“The Med” is a dream destination for everyone, but not in February!
While in Prague we were stuck in a downpour of miserable freezing rain. In this picture we are getting ready to shoot the castle but all we really want to do is to hole up in some cafe somewhere, read and take naps.
We all knew the problem: we were shooting the majority of Europe during November through May. Europe just is not a sunny place in the winter. My cameraman Stan nicknamed our series, “Passport to Off-Season Travel: We take you where you want to go when you don’t want to be there.”
My best advice to overcoming disappointing weather? Laugh. What else can you do?
When did you have your travel plans set, only to be interrupted by crazy weather?
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Weather-related woes seem par for the course when traveling in Europe. We missed the tulips in Holland by two weeks thanks to a freak heatwave that caused them to peak early and we were treated to driving rain instead. We also had to rearrange our plans when the volcano in Iceland erupted. The airlines and hotels were accommodating, but once again we were met with pouring rain. That was the last time we tried to go to Europe in the spring!
I went to Ireland in April once. Coming from Australia I had NO IDEA how cold it would be. We just aren’t used to it! Next time it will be the height of summer, I don’t care how much it costs!
I am visiting there next year and i am very much excited. thanks for sharing informative post.
The last time we visited family in the Northwest , the power went out – in the middle of a heatwave. It was around 90 degrees in our room at night. I was never so happy to get back down south to my air conditioning.
We also spent a week at Disneyworld during tropical storm Faye years ago. That actually wasn’t bad–WDW drains very well. Our child loved splashing in the puddles, and it cooled things down to a lovely 70 degrees!
My wife and I took a cog train up to the top of the Alps one year. It was beautiful when we left at the bottom of the town. We could see the top of the Alps. When we got there the clouds rolled in and we could not see more that 10 feet in front of us at the top
Months in advance bought tickets to an open air performance of La Traviata while in Paris in 2015. Woke up that day to nothing but clouds and rain that didn’t stop literally all day. Disappointed as we were, went to the venue early in the day to pick up the tickets…just in case. I asked if the show was being canceled. Got a funny look and a definitive “non, the rain will stop at 8pm”. I walked away thinking, yeah…ok, sure. Miraculously, the rain did stop precisely at 8pm and we enjoyed opera under the stars at Esplanade des Invalides.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do – they don’t like winter either, they just deal with it. I spent a whole winter in Germany 2014-15 and enjoyed every minute of it, hail – fog – snow or ice. And NO tourists! Planned my trips and just went. What’s wrong with you people? But I live in New England so I am prepared for almost anything, earthquakes, and volcanos excluded. Oh, and I avoided 9 ft of snow in Boston that winter!