Traveling For Adventure

Traveling is an adventure and not always for the reasons you may think. Sometimes it’s because you are in a new place or even culture, but other times it is because of the people you encounter or the accommodations are not exactly what you expected. Allow me to spin you a tale or two about my more interesting adventures.

When I was growing up we used to go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina at least once a month. My parents had a beach house in Duck and we enjoyed going whenever we could. We also had a few favorite restaurants that we frequented; some were normal family-friendly places and some were nicer for more special occasions. While dining at one of the latter, we experienced a family one table over that was, to say the least, memorable. They complained about everything, managed to eat all but one bite of all three meals, then complained about seeing a hair or being undercooked and asked that their entire meal be comped. They were loud and obnoxious enough throughout the meal to be memorable but not quite enough to ruin our meal.

Windmill Point – one of our favorite restaurants in OBX until it closed down. [Photo curtesy of the Virginian-Pilot]

Cut to a few months later and we had gone down to Orlando and were staying at a hotel off Disney property. We were just sitting down to breakfast, ready to fill our bellies before our big Disney adventure. Hollywood Studios was on the docket and we were super excited to ride the brand-new Twilight Zone – Tower of Terror. While digging into our bacon and waffles, we hear an annoyingly familiar sound from the table next door. It was, of course, that same family from a few months back in North Carolina and they were just as obnoxious at this breakfast table as they were back in that nice restaurant. They also played the same game of eating most of their mal then ‘sending back’ the last bite or two from all three plates. We remarked at the coincidence and rolled our eyes at their audacity, then left thinking that would be the last we’d see them. After all, with all there is to do in Orlando, what are the odds that we would actually run into them again?

Tickets in hand, we approach the entrance of the park and pass by a billboard for the new Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror – the very ride we were excited to ride- and who did we see but that delightful family standing directly below the sign. It really was starting to feel like the Twilight Zone with these folks! That was the last time we saw these folks. The universe had its little joke on us and was ready to move on. And that ride we were so excited about? That was memorable as well. When the doors opened at the top before the big drop, a repairman was fixing the lights on the sign. He just looked at us with a big grin and waved as we fell.

[Picture courtesy of AllEars.net. Please contact me for removal]

Another fun adventure was traveling for work to Michigan. I was staying in a hotel that was part of a college campus. I was prepared for a limited-service hotel, but I was not prepared for the limited utilities in the room. I walked into the bathroom and looked around- sink, toilet….shower? Wh…where’s the shower?

Well, this was going to be interesting. Luckily it was only for one night, but it was certainly an adventure for me, who has never camped or been in an RV or anything where you would normally see a shower like this. I’m nothing if not flexible (in life if not in body) so I rolled with it, prayed I wouldn’t flood the floor, and gained a funny story from it.

That’s the beauty of traveling. All the planning in the world, and you will always be surprised by something. Most of the time, you just have to find the humor in it, roll with the punches, and come home with an amusing story.