Sometimes, no matter how meticulously you plan, travel plans fall through.  Maybe something unavoidable came up, forcing you to cancel, maybe you’ve found that you’re in a little over your head financially and need to dial it back, or maybe you just lost interest in that particular destination.  Whatever the case may be, it’s okay to change plans.  It happens.  Heck, it’s happened twice to me in the past month.  I’ve rearranged travel plans to better fit my budget, and I’ve done the opposite and splurged on a trip I will need to save up some more money for.  They actually go hand in hand, really.

Back in December, Mike gave me a trip to Toronto for my birthday.  Over the past three months, this thoughtful gift turned into a little bit of stress for both of us.  First it was because we had to keep changing the date due to work conflicts (my fault), then we couldn’t decide whether we should drive or fly there; these little things kept nagging at us.  Plus it was starting to get more and more pricey.  It just wasn’t coming together.  It felt like a sign that this trip just wasn’t meant to be, so we cancelled it.  We still wanted to have a long weekend though, because we both had already taken the days off of work.  We needed somewhere closer, cheaper, and with enough points of interest to keep us busy, but not enough to overwhelm our short time there.  Enter: Grand Rapids, Michigan, home of Founder’s Brewery, Frederick Meijer Gardens, good food and antique stores galore!  You might think, “that is the most random place for a romantic weekend getaway,” but it fit the bill perfectly for us.  And to be honest, I’m actually a little more excited with this change because it came together so seamlessly.  The fact that it will be a cheaper long weekend is a big plus for me due to my second change of travel plans this month.  I’ve scrapped a budget friendly trip for the fall to splurge on a eurotrip to Iceland and Copenhagen (more on that later).

So the moral of this story is, someday, a trip that maybe you had been looking forward to will fall through, but that does not mean an equally great if not better situation might come up.  The great thing about travel is anywhere you go is bound to have at least one great attraction, restaurant, book store, or whatever interests you.  Every destination has it’s merits.