Travel tips from God

Have you ever wanted to do something or go somewhere and God said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”? And then you’re just like, “Don’t worry, I got this.” Then God is like, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

My wife, Megan, and I went on two vacations where this exact scenario took place.

The first was in 2015. We were celebrating our two-year wedding anniversary; we didn’t have any kids yet and wanted to go somewhere fun. Cancun was the choice, even though there was a voice in our heads saying, “Nope. Don’t do that. It’s a little expensive and you don’t need that right now.” We ignored that nonsense and planned the trip. We read up on the beautiful beaches and found an all-inclusive resort that fit what we decided our budget would be. We were ready!

When we arrived, we were tired and hungry, but the first thing the resort wanted to do was give us a time-share pitch before they would check us in. So, as you can imagine, we started the trip in a bad mood. But no matter! Once that ridiculousness was done, it was time to get our vacation on!

It was a large complex with several restaurants. The issue was that the only air conditioning that existed there was in the lobby of the hotel and our bedroom. None of the restaurants were air conditioned. It wouldn’t have been that big of an issue if it hadn’t been 900 degrees with 1,000 percent humidity. Well, we can just hang out in the pool then. Take that, voices in our heads!

We were planning to stay for a week, and the first couple days were a blast. Yes, it was hot, but we did all the things and ate all the food. The ocean was crystal clear and the pool was refreshing. We even remembered the golden rule of going to Mexico: don’t drink the water. So, we had bottled water and went about our merry way.

However, we didn’t take that to heart with everything. We were brushing our teeth with the tap water. By day three we started to notice a little tummy rumbling. Without going into great detail, things got much worse. We weren’t even able to enjoy our anniversary dinner because we were taking turns going back to our room to use the facilities.

We pretty much stayed in bed the rest of the week and when we got back, we had to go on antibiotics. Wow, what an experience. We definitely learned our lesson!

Fast forward one year. We were very excited to have planned a trip to Disney World for the two of us. We were still childless but wanted to go experience Disney as adults. As you can imagine, it was pretty pricey. That voice in the back of our heads was screaming at us. We promptly ignored it and strapped on our Mickey Magic Bands.

We once again planned a Saturday to Saturday, week-long trip. It was wonderful and everything we wanted it to be for the first several days. Then we started getting reports of a hurricane heading toward Florida. Being from the Midwest, we had exactly zero experience with hurricanes. The closest thing would be tornadoes, and those are basically the same, right? Well, not exactly, but not to worry. We asked around and were told Orlando is too far inland to be greatly affected by something like that. Oh good! Nothing to worry about! We continued on in Disney bliss!

The problem was that we kept hearing the storm was getting stronger and stronger. By the time we woke up early Thursday morning, we were getting a little nervous. I decided to go to the front desk to see what they were recommending and ran into a line that wrapped around the lobby and out the door. Uh oh.

We learned many were evacuating and the Disney parks were going to close for the first time in over a decade. I called Megan and she started packing our things while I waited in the monstrous front desk line. We successfully checked out and secured a ride to the airport. Well, as you can imagine, any flights that weren’t canceled were already booked. Thank goodness were able to rent a car and zoom out of Florida just in time before Hurricane Matthew came barreling through.

So, since then, we’ve been a lot more selective about our trips. We’ve tried to pick places where we won’t have to poop our pants from either the water or running from a storm.

The moral of the story is … When God plants a voice in the back of your head … LISTEN!!!

Tim Rathz can be reached at 40somethinginfishers@gmail.com. Follow on Facebook or Instagram.