A Different Kind of Souvenir

I've come to accept that there's such a thing as travel karma. I'm one of those lucky souls who is fortunate enough to explore the Caribbean pretty regularly, checking out boutique hotels, indulging in heavenly spa treatments, sampling delicious local cuisine and venturing out on a slew of exotic day trips and island activities...and I get paid to do this. With so many of these work-cations, I'll admit it's easy to lose perspective. But lest I start to feel too pampered, the trusty travel gods seem always to be patiently waiting in the wings, looking for just the right time to balance the scales of fairness.

I wrote in an old post about my excellent travel mojo, as I've spent much of my life journeying to this destination or that, usually on schedule and without any problems. Those days appear to be over for me. Returning from an incredible week in Curaçao yesterday, my neatly scheduled itinerary began to unravel at the tender hour of 6:30 AM, when I learned that my first flight was delayed beyond the point of my connecting flight in Miami...and there would be no other flights home for another 8 hours. Arriving on the mainland, I decided that since I live just three hours north of Miami, a rental car was a no-brainer. Funny. In fact it took me six hours, punctuated by so many ridiculous mishaps that I dare not list them all here. But the highlights included a torrential Florida-summer rainstorm that backed up I-95 traffic for miles, and then later cruising on fumes into a lone - and very much needed - gas station that had managed to somehow run out of gas.

My favorite part of all, though, was finally reaching home (at the time I would have landed on the late connection anyway) and finding that a forgotten bag of chocolate truffles from the previous night's turn-down service had found its way into my carry-on, then had melted its way into all of the techie and presumably important crevices of my laptop. Despite my best efforts to clean the chocolate-coated computer with baby wipes and q-tips, I was forced to bring it to the IT department this morning and explain the entire story. Three hours of careful repairs later, I'm now blogging from that very laptop - but with the caveat from IT to "watch for any unusual electrical sparks" today.

I'm finding that travel isn't always the glossy two-page spread of an idyllic Caribbean location. It isn't always the story of finding tranquility and relaxation on a secluded beach. It isn't always romantic, or even on schedule. But for all of its many surprises, travel is always an adventure, and I haven't found a Caribbean destination yet that isn't worth it all. As for me and my chocolate laptop, we'll be heading off on another journey next week - and I can't wait.

A Different Kind of Souvenir