Tag: Adventure

Yes, sometimes even the best-planned trips go sideways! So what do you do? Take a deep breath, create a new plan and then go with it.

For our annual Girls Getaway trip, my daughter and I put together an itinerary that included visiting some key family members as well as a short stay on the Island of Nantucket. We had less than a week for this trip, and 3 separate stops on our itinerary.

Our Planned Itinerary

• Monday: Fly Detroit to Nantucket with a plane change at JFK. That would put us directly on the island by 2:40 p.m. and give us time to do some exploring. We booked one night at The Nantucket Inn.
• Tuesday: Early sightseeing, then a Delta flight from Nantucket to Washington Dulles (connecting through JFK) at 3:20 p.m. We booked 2 nights at the Hyatt Place Herndon/Dulles.
• Wednesday: We would have all day to visit with our DC family that lived near the hotel.
• Thursday: I booked a one-way car rental from Dulles at 11:00 a.m., which we would drop off on Saturday in Charlotte, NC, when we flew home. We planned Thursday to be a fun road trip day as we drove the 6 hours from DC to North Carolina to visit my Mom and Brother. I booked 2 nights at the Embassy Suites Charlotte Concord Golf Resort & Spa.
• Friday: We would have all day to visit with our NC family.
• Saturday: Early visit with family before dropping off the car at 11:00 a.m. in Charlotte. We booked a nonstop Delta flight at 1:32 p.m. from Charlotte, which would arrive in Detroit by 3:20 p.m. Plenty of time to drive home and recover before going back to work on Monday.

What Really Happened

They call Nantucket the Gray Lady because of the thick fog that often rolls in and envelopes the island, giving it a mystical feeling. Most of the buildings have weathered grey shingled exteriors, which adds to the gray vibe.

“Being stranded either on Nantucket or trying to get to Nantucket is considered part of life for Nantucketers, so make sure your plans are flexible.”

Elin Hildebrand from The Blue Book

Unfortunately, our trip didn’t have much room for flexibility. We found out the hard way how complicated it can be to get off the island on a foggy day. Temps early last week were in the low to mid 60s with misty showers, creating the perfect climate for a blanket of fog to move in.

We were scheduled to fly Delta from Nantucket to Washington Dulles on Tuesday at 3:20 p.m. We spent the morning sightseeing in town, then headed to the airport. On the way there, we learned that our flight had been delayed due to the fog. I began to worry about making our tight connection at JFK.

Not long afterwards, they cancelled the flight. Everyone bombarded the flight desk at the tiny airport, trying to find new flights. We headed back to the hotel, where we set up a war room in the lobby and got on the phone with Delta. We made new arrangements to take a 9-person Cape Air flight later that day. It would get us off the island and connect in Boston to DC. Our next problem was that the Boston to DC leg would land at Ronald Reagan Airport instead of Dulles. Oy!

After waiting through more delays at the airport that evening, all flights were eventually cancelled. Pilots couldn’t see the end of the runway through the fog. If it hadn’t been so late, we could have tried to grab the last ferry to Hyannis. But we would still have needed a way to get from Hyannis to Boston, which is about 90 minutes away. After a lot of calculating, we realised that we would just need to stay on the island for another night.

The Delta agent at Nantucket airport was great. Somehow, she nabbed us the last 2 seats on a Cape Air flight to Boston for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. This time was not ideal, but it was our best hope, and unfortunately, we would still be landing at Ronald Reagan airport instead of Dulles (sigh). I was bummed out we would miss the whole day we had planned with our family in DC.

Our next problem was figuring out where we would sleep that night and how to deal with the hotel we had already booked in DC. With every flight being cancelled, a lot of people had to quickly find lodging. While I was rebooking our flights, my daughter called the hotel we had stayed at the night before. They had 2 rooms left, and they were not cheap. One room was $500, and the other was a suite, which cost over $1,000. She asked the desk agent to please hold the room for us, and he did!

Being stranded on the Island meant $500 that I hadn’t planned on for the last-minute hotel room. Because fog is a weather delay which is not within the airline’s control, Delta does not provide compensation for lodging. After the trip, I filed a claim with the American Express Trip Delay coverage that is on the card I used to pay for the flights. The benefit has a $300 cap for all expenses, but at least it’s something. It’s a slow process that requires a lot of paperwork to file, but fingers crossed, it gets approved.

Once we were checked back in at The Nantucket Inn, I called the Hyatt in DC to let them know there was no way for us to get there. Hyatt has a terrible cancellation policy. They wanted to keep my points and charge me the full cash price for the room too. Whaaaat???

By this time, I was starting to unravel from several hours of chaos. I told the Hyatt Rep that I didn’t find this to be a fair way of dealing with loyal customers who just found themselves in a bad situation. He put me on hold and spoke to the hotel Manager. When he came back on the line, he informed me that the Manager approved for them not to charge me the cash rate for the night. Shew! I am not ashamed to say that dinner that night consisted of Sauvignon Blanc at the hotel bar!

Plan B or is it C?

Early the next morning, I walked over to the airport to see if any earlier flights had opened up. I was hoping that someone might have found another way off the island and cancelled their Cape Air flights. No such luck.

Since we wouldn’t be flying out til 3:30 pm, we packed up, checked out of our room, and dropped our bags in the hotel lock-up before grabbing the first shuttle downtown. The sky was clear, and the sun was burning off the last remnants of the fog from the day before. It looked like it would be a gorgeous day. We decided to lean into having another day on Nantucket and were determined to make the most of it.

Our first stop was Mitchell’s Book Corner. Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., Author Elin Hilderbrand does a book signing there for 1 hour. My daughter and I have read many of her books set in Nantucket, and they ultimately led us to explore the island. Since our original itinerary didn’t allow us to make this stop, we were very excited that our flight delay meant we would now have a chance to meet her and get our books signed.

After the bookstore, we did some more shopping and walked to the Sandbar at Jettie’s Beach for a wonderful lunch. The fish tacos were yummy. It was great to see clear skies and the sun shining over the beach. Our timing was good, so we got lucky enough to catch the Wave (a free shuttle in Nantucket) back downtown. From there, we took the hotel shuttle to the Nantucket Inn to retrieve our suitcases before walking across the street to the airport.

Because I had never been on a plane that small, I was a little nervous boarding Cape Air’s 9-seat Cessna. My daughter was seated right behind the pilot, and I was next to her. Once we began moving down the runway, I started to relax. Our flight to Boston was pleasant, and the views were amazing. Even the landing was much smoother than I had imagined it would be. It was actually pretty cool.

It got crazy when we landed on the tarmac near Gate C at Boston’s Logan airport. We had less than 45 minutes to navigate to the far side of Gate A. That meant sprinting through the airport with our bags, out of the terminal, crossing the road, going back through security, and then sprinting some more to reach our gate. Thank God for TSA Precheck! We made it to the gate just as they began boarding!

Because Delta had squeezed us in on the flight to DC, my daughter and I were not seated together, which was a bummer. Thank goodness it wasn’t a long flight. When we landed at Ronald Reagan Airport, we called a Lyft, which drove us the 34 minutes across DC to our hotel. Every part of this trip had become more expensive and a little more complicated.

By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was after 8:30 p.m., and we were starving. Wouldn’t you know that the cook had called in sick at the Hyatt, so the bar/restaurant was closed for the night. We just couldn’t seem to catch a break, so we ended up having dinner at the Marriott next door.

On Thursday morning, we took a quick Uber ride to visit our family and stayed as long as we could. It was a nice visit, albeit a little shorter than we had planned. Thankfully, once we picked up the rental car, we were back on track for the remainder of the trip.

Final Thoughts

I feel pretty lucky that most of my travels are uneventful. This trip had a lot of carefully layered logistics that toppled like Jenga blocks once things got off track. Although it was stressful, we worked together to get through all the crazy stuff and salvage our vacation. We made the most of our extra day in Nantucket and still got to spend some quality time with our family in DC and North Carolina.

I have to give a big shout-out to all the great people in Nantucket who helped us get through this situation. The nice ladies at Cape Air and Delta were sweet and helpful as they did their best to rebook our flights. Frantz and the gang at The Nantucket Inn (some of whom also work at Cape Air during the day) were genuinely warm and friendly. They held the last room for us as we scurried over from the airport and let us camp out in the Lobby while we made plans when we were in limbo. By the time we finally left, they felt like old friends.

Even with all the delays, it was still a good trip. We really enjoyed our time on Nantucket, and plan to visit again someday. I love to travel, but I am seriously looking forward to my next few vacations, which are relaxing road trips!

TIP: When we were planning this short trip, I thought it would save us time by flying directly to Nantucket instead of taking the ferry. In hindsight, although the ferry would have been slower, it would have provided more flexibility. So if you plan to visit Nantucket before mid-July, consider taking the ferry instead of flying or be prepared to be flexible if you encounter weather delays.

Coming Soon: The Nantucket Inn: Hotel Review, and posts about visiting Nantucket