Sometimes plans don’t worked out as planned. Like right now I should be in Dublin sharing a pint with Irish John. Instead I’m getting my daily steps in at Heathrow in London.

Yesterday around 12:30 I got a text message that said my Seattle to Dublin flight had been canceled and I needed to call a number to get rescheduled. “No no no no no” I think I said out loud in my office. Despite mildly freaking out, I instantly went into fixit mode. I got on a very long hold with Aer Lingus, but at the same time I looked through flights on Expedia to see if there were any other options for getting to Lisbon. Booking through there would have been a minimum of $1100 for a one way flight. I was prepared to pay that much but then I remembered that I have a lot of miles saved up with Alaska Airlines.

So I cached in a bunch of miles and $100 and had a flight to Heathrow. At the same time of booking that I was looking up TAP airlines from London to Lisbon. Another $400 later I was all set. From freak out to solved travel issue in about 45 minutes. Phew!

While the flights get me into Lisbon around the same time this evening I am pretty bummed about not getting to meet up with John in Ireland.

I actually think I have my first Camino to thank for staying relatively calm when learning the news of the flight cancellation. A lot of times you see first time pilgrims worried about how they’ll find a bed each night. I too had that same anxiety in planning for my first Camino. But I soon realized that it was easy to find beds and if for some reason I ever couldn’t, I could easily call a taxi to head to another town that might have a bed. If you stay calm and take a few minutes to think of a solution to a problem you often can solve it.