I started 2020 busy and full of energy. First of all, I was getting married on the 2nd week of the year. Then naturally, I was also moving to a new home immediately afterwards. After all the stress of planning the wedding, the actual festivities, packing up and moving house, while still working (I didn’t take a break, I should have but ah well), I could not have been more excited for my honeymoon. Ah, sis! That dream honeymoon was definitely going to be the highlight of my year. My husband and I planned to go on a five island tour of Cape Verde. Whoosh!
So imagine how I felt when this anticipated highlight of my year was taken away from me. No thanks to the novel Coronavirus outbreak. The thing is, my husband and I had planned our dream honeymoon sometime around Easter. Our reason for doing this was so we could add the public holidays to our time away.
I can never forget how I felt when I got the news. I was at a friend’s wedding ceremony and I decided to quickly check my phone when I saw an email from the airline. My heart started beating faster because somewhere deep down, I already suspected the worst. The airline was grounding all flights for the next few months. I showed my husband and he nodded and squeezed my shoulder. He had already gotten the email earlier but didn’t want to show me so he wouldn’t spoil my day.
Sigh.
I know the outbreak has halted a lot of plans for many people. Small businesses appear the worst hit. I have since made my peace with it because it was definitely for the best. If we had gone, we would have definitely been stuck there and that would’ve brought about another set of troubles.
Thankfully the airline planned to refund our money. We were disappointed because we really REALLY needed the break but we figured we wouldn’t let our travel dream die. So we put the money in a short term investment which would give us some good returns. And fingers crossed when everything is back to normal(whatever this new normal will look like) and we get our money back with some extra cash on it, then we’ll travel.
So for those that are going through similar, maybe you started your year with a clear plan, and Covid19 has disrupted that. Don’t give up just yet. Look for ways to salvage what you can from the dreams you have. You may have to pivot or be a bit creative but like they say, where there’s a will there’s a way!