Latest / Travel Mug Podcast / Plans Won’t Always Work Out...and That Is Okay! Travel Tip Tuesday
Transcript
- 0:00Hey everyone and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday.
- 0:02I am, of course, Meggan joined, as always by my partner.
- 0:05Jenn, how are you doing today?
- 0:06Lovely.
- 0:07I am good.
- 0:09I am excited to hear about what went sort of wrong on your trip.
- 0:15I know, I know.
- 0:16you teased us at the end of the last episode, I did Now I must know.
- 0:21well, here we are.
- 0:22You won't have to wait much longer at all.
- 0:25So as you know, we just returned from Barcelona and I wanted to talk about one thing that did not work out that we had planned and why that happened to be okay.
- 0:33So on the first Monday.
- 0:35Like I said in the episode about Barcelona, we were there and we had booked the Sagrada Familia in the morning, which went great.
- 0:43And then through the Facebook group I was a part of, I learned of a nearby hotel Sercotel Rosellon, uh, where they had a rooftop patio that overlooked the Sagrada Familia.
- 0:54You had to book it a few weeks out, and we had to pay what was the equivalent of about 23 Canadian to reserve a table.
- 1:01So based on what people were saying and the thought that after we visited the church, it would be a great idea to then grab a bite to eat and a drink and just sort of gaze at her a while longer, since we were already in the neighborhood, which was not our neighborhood.
- 1:16So it all seemed good in theory that we could take care of those things while we were there.
- 1:21Yeah, that, that makes sense to me.
- 1:23So far, so good.
- 1:25So we do get to the hotel and we check in, and of course it is a hot and sunny day, and by this time it was probably 1:00 PM so mid Okay.
- 1:34midday.
- 1:35The, the hottest part of the day Of course.
- 1:38And of course when we arrived I asked for a table with an umbrella, and I did know in advance that one was not guaranteed.
- 1:44So I'm not being a Complainy pants, I'm, I did know.
- 1:49So we were seated at what turned out to be like a bar style metal table.
- 1:55In the back, but without an umbrella.
- 1:57And like we immediately started sweating.
- 2:00We then started looking at the menu and we figured in advance, you know, prices would be elevated because of the location and the view.
- 2:08So it wasn't a huge surprise, but one drink was about 15 to 18 euros.
- 2:14A glass of wine was like 20 euros.
- 2:17So we were like, I know it was a bit steep.
- 2:21So we were like, okay, what do we do here?
- 2:24And like, so we weren't cranky at each other, but by this point we were a little, both like a little hot, and we were both like, this is, what is this?
- 2:33So we could have had really costly drinks and food, which honestly wasn't the biggest deal, but that on top of literally melting in the sun for the next 30 to 40 minutes.
- 2:44It didn't sound great.
- 2:46Or we could get some rooftop pictures, which is why people go there.
- 2:50Uh, leave and grab something to eat somewhere else cheaper in the shade, Mm-hmm.
- 2:56you know?
- 2:57So this is the traveler's dilemma.
- 2:59When you have something pre-booked and it wasn't what you envisioned, what are you willing to do to say that you did it?
- 3:07mm-hmm.
- 3:07And this was what faced me in this moment.
- 3:10'cause of course, in my mind, it all seems like it made sense.
- 3:14Mm-hmm.
- 3:15In the end, we took a few pictures and we left.
- 3:19It would not have been enjoyable in the blazing sun, first and foremost, which we realized was the risk we took.
- 3:24But then the expensive food and drink on top of that, which again, wasn't a shock, but overall it wasn't worth staying for us.
- 3:31And at first I felt like, but this was planned.
- 3:35We have to do it.
- 3:36Or could we just scrap it?
- 3:38And then Peter was like, do you wanna just leave?
- 3:40And I was like.
- 3:42Of course we could like, it was like the dawned on me like, yes, we can leave.
- 3:47It was our $23 and it's our vacation.
- 3:50And we, I guess get to do what we want.
- 3:53So all of this to say, there are times when you have something envisioned and planned and potentially booked, and when you get there, it's not what you want.
- 4:00And this can be disappointing, but unless you are out a ton of money, you get to make the choice to do what feels best for you at the time.
- 4:08And for us, that was getting out of the hot sun.
- 4:10Heading out for cheaper eats.
- 4:12And honestly, you can see this Sagrada Familia from many points all over the city, including your plane for God's sakes when you're landing and from this hotel, you were kind of looking at the back of it anyway.
- 4:23So yes, for some it could be worth it still.
- 4:25And I'm not, I'm not saying it isn't, but for us in that moment, it wasn't.
- 4:29And we made the choice to forego it.
- 4:31So Jenn, has anything like this ever happened to you on vacation and what would you, or what would you do in a similar situation?
- 4:38Hmm.
- 4:39I don't, this is so interesting.
- 4:43I honestly think that I probably would've stuck it out, but now I'm like asking myself why, like, our time is so limited and we should spend it, how we wanna spend it.
- 4:53And just because you paid $23 or 23 euros or whatever amount of money to do something, if, if the vibes are off, the vibes are off and you don't have to do it.
- 5:03Well, that's exactly it.
- 5:04And like, did I want third degree burns from this metal table?
- 5:07Yeah.
- 5:08I mean, brutal.
- 5:10are the, these are the, these are the, these are the deep questions and I think, I think it is a good question.
- 5:14Like some people, and maybe even old me might have stuck it out, but you're exactly right.
- 5:20You then should go, was it worth it?
- 5:22Like why am I, why am I forcing myself to do it for 23 Canadian dollars?
- 5:26I've wasted that at Starbucks on a Saturday morning like.
- 5:30I mean, for real, like I think I definitely would have the mindset or past me would have the mindset that like, oh, I already like paid money for this.
- 5:38I should stick it out.
- 5:40But like, is it worth then paying more money onto, you know, you don't need to throw good money on top of bad, That's That's right.
- 5:48That's what the old folks would say, and I think it's true.
- 5:52Well, that is it for this week's travel tip Tuesday.
- 5:54Let us know if you've ever had anything like this happen and what you chose to do.
- 5:58We'd love to sort of hear some feedback on that, and you of course.
- 6:01You can follow us to interact on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube at Travel Mug Podcast.
- 6:06You can find us on our website travel mug podcast.com.
- 6:09And if you like what we're doing here, you can click the link in the show notes to financially support the show by buying us a coffee or leave us a review.
- 6:16That always helps as well.
- 6:17And until next time, bye.
- 6:20Bye