Travel plan idea blog

Living in Texas and close to Mexico, I’ve been following hurricane Dean from the beginning. Reading about the remote, small villages along its path after making landfall reminded me of one vacation I spent in Acapulco. We decided to visit Taxco, a colonial silver mining village about 6000 ft high in the Sierra Madre Mountains. The 4-hour drive there was uneventful and unbelievably scenic, although the winding, narrow road beside steep cliffs and sharp drop-offs was a bit intimidating. There are no such things (or were) as highway markers, signs, guard rails, and such. After exploring the village (which is fascinating), the 18th century Santa Prisca church (a World Heritage site), lunch, shopping, etc., we reluctantly decided to return. Our driver kept telling us that the weather was getting bad, and the road would be dangerous at night. Well, it was indeed… raining heavily, and mud, boulders, trees, and cattle were sliding down the mountainsides onto the road. It was more than intimidating!! I know we said a prayer or two all the way down. When we finally arrived in the city below, we found major street flooding, stalled vehicles, people stranded, and a real mess. As you might suppose, we welcomed the sight of our hotel, after a return trip that took well over 6 hours. The hotel itself was intact, other than palm trees down, water in the open lobby, and the wind and rain of the hurricane just outside. Needless to say, we tipped the driver generously and thanked him profusely…an experience and an adventure. I understand now that there are buses and even a cable car that can take you to Taxco…not sure…but wouldn’t advise it in hurricane season!

I was once flying from London to Mumbai and mid-flight a monsoon hit Mumbai. British Airlines diverted us to Dubai, where they put us up in a nice hotel for two days while we waited for the three feet of water on the runway to go down. When we finally got to Mumbai the airport had no power, so they had no record of our electronic tickets. There was also only one functioning phone line, so it took me 4 1/2 hours of standing in line to get through to our contact to get information about the tickets he had already purchased. We spent two more days sleeping on the airport floor of the domestic terminal before we finally got on a plane. Then we sat on the runway until late afternoon because the runway was such a mess that planes were skidding. Once we were finally in the air to Vizag, the pilot informed us that they couldn't land in Vizag in the dark, so they dropped us all off in Hyderabad and put us on a 14-hour bus. We finally got there, but loosing five days of a two-week trip is fairly significant. It was quite the experience.

Wow! Sharon and Amy - you've had some scary experiences! I don't think I envy you those types of travel stories.

My wife and I were married on September 3 1960, and planned to spend the first week of our honeymoon at the Caneel Bay Plantation on St. John, USVI. When we arrived, we were told to place our luggage on the top shelf of the closet of our beach front room, because of an approaching hurricane [can't remember the name of it]. I hadn't told my wife about the storm in advance.
After dinner, we were moved to the Manager's apartment to wait out the storm in the only concrete building on the property. We spent that night sleeping on the floor with a bunch of other people [imagine their reactions when they found out it was our honeymoon].
Looking out the window the next morning, we could see a boat had sunk in the bay and there were coconuts all over the ground. Our feelings were brightened when a group of waiters in spotless white uniforms marched in bearing breakfast on silver trays.
We were back in our room that night with relatively minor water and wind damage, and were not charged for that day [$18 per person per day, all inclusive].
The rest of the week was perfect, but we have a honeymoon story [with some pictures] to tell our grandchildren.

We were in Disney World when Tropical storm Bonnie hit Florida , then 22 hours later or so came Hurricane Charley - in 2004 . Honestly we were impressed with the fact that Disney is so well built to withstand such a storm . Other than blown trees - signs and shingles , it stood up like a champ . The resort didn't even lose power . Yet we ventured into Kissimmee the next day , and it looked like a bomb hit it . What a big difference.

Disney also went out of their way to keep you up to date and safe with constant voice messages to your room phone . The drawback was them packing the resorts with evacuated guests and their RV's from their campground . This caused a lack of parking due to the size of the RV's taking 4 parking spaces . Also you are stuck at the resort , because everything outside the Maingate turns to a ghost town with everything closed . So food at the resorts , which are now overcrowded causes shortages . We had a car , so fuel became an issue for at least 48 hours after the storm . But Disney is Back in business the following day , with maybe just a little bump in the road . The Animal Kingdom was the only Park to stay closed the next day & probably for safety issues of the animals . Disney also gave us free passes with no expiration dates for our inconvenience .

We even were able to make our flight out on time and on schedule 4 days later . So what that windows were missing at the airport and it was raining inside the airport terminal . Which is more than I could say about getting back into O'Hare this past June from Florida , without a hurricane disruption . It's sad that a huricane disrupted my travel less then the havoc caused by this years overall travel woes . But those complaints are already in other posts .

Thats my story . A bad situation that wasn't all that bad . But it could have been worse . I guess as a traveler , I was more fortunate than the Florida residents who had much to lose . It was cool for me to experience a hurricane once in my life . I can't believe I admit to that though , considering Charley was a terrible storm .

I moved to Cancun from Dallas 2 and a half years ago. I have stayed in my condo on the beach for Emily,Wilma, and Dean. We dodged a bullet on Dean. I have great video of Wilma and don´t plan on being stuck here for another one.