My semi-regular blogging about dinosaurs and writing fiction will resume later this month. For now, I’ll be blogging about travel. I’m spending about ten days in several UNDISCLOSED LOCATIONS in the Caribbean with a travel buddy of mine.

Actually, I had no idea a week in advance that I would be visiting these islands, almost all of which are new to me. You see, we had arranged to spend New Years Eve in Panama City, then board a cruise ship and travel through the Panama Canal and visit various places in Panama and Costa Rica. However, the cruise ship we were going to board managed to run into some submerged rocks three days before Christmas, resulting in a flooded engine compartment and not so much fun for the passengers aboard. To say nothing of the coral reefs that are part of a World Heritage Site. The cruise line canceled our Jan. 2 excursion, but didn’t tell us until Dec. 28. So we ended trying to figure out whether to visit Costa Rica and Panama on our own on very short notice or whether to take a different trip on a different ship that had space, or postponing our trip until later. We ended up opting for a different cruise, particularly since the cruise line did offer various forms of compensation, including for re-booking airline flights. If nothing else, this is a reminder that one truly does need to be flexible when traveling. Also, it helps to have several different frequent flyer accounts with different airlines.

For anyone wanting to follow our travel, check out Mighty Din Travel Blog.