The vacation that was

As we were home on Saturday watching and digesting all the news about Egypt, we realized we were safe, but won't be going anywhere for our fifth anniversary. I took a picture of the suitcases that were packed before unpacking them. I was starting a new job after a week, so I did not have anything to do. It was a little depressing.

Wife joked that there were only three countries we could go to - India, Egypt and UK. But we had visited India just two months ago, Egypt is ruled out and there is nowhere to go in UK at this time of year. If only UK was part of the Schengen agreement. Then, without us realizing it, we were trying to find a place to go at short notice. There were three conditions to be met:

• It has to be a warm place, since we had packed for warm weather.
• The vacation should cost approximately what our Egypt trip would have cost.
• They should let us in without requiring a visa.

I stumbled on a site http://www.visahq.co.uk/visas.php where I could check at the visa requirements for all the countries for an Indian national residing in UK.
There were a few islands in the Caribbean, Maldives, Mauritius and then there was Thailand.

We went to local branches of two tour companies and asked them to prepare a package for us with these constraints. Apparently, it was an unusual request, but the lady at one of the places put together a 6 day tour package for Thailand, with two nights in Hua Hin, a beach resort and three nights in Bangkok. We will leave Monday and come back Sunday. We were a little hesitant about it because of the long flight (10 hours onward and 13 hours return) even though they were direct flights, but nothing was coming up for Caribbean. So we decided to book it.

We picked up a couple of travel books on Bangkok from the library and headed home. The package included flight, hotel stay and transfers between airport and hotels. We had to plan our activities there. Wife spent an hour reading those books and came up with an approximate itinerary. The next day we stopped at the tour company to pick up the tickets, bought a couple of things and we were all set.


Thailand turned out to be a great vacation - with a good mix of relaxing at the beach and visiting tourist attractions in Bangkok. The highlights included:

• Stay at Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, with its ultra friendly staff, picturesque location and relaxed people.
• A drive through the Thai countryside and a short hike by a waterfall.
• A visit to an animal park and a short trek on elephant.
• Visits to Bangkok's famous Buddhist temples and the royal palace.
• A trip to floating market near Bangkok where you are taken on a boat in a canal with shops lined up on both sides.
• Tasting Thai street food, jackfruit, papaya and drinking lots of coconut water.

We were back to London by Sunday evening and were greeted with cold and light drizzle. Felt a little happy that we did not spend an entire week complaining how it could have been.

The vacation that wasn't

Political turmoil in Egypt has finally come to an end. Hundreds of thousands of people on the street. Situation was very volatile. The president has finally resigned and the army has taken over. We could have been right there in the middle of it all. Thankfully we were not.

Of all the places we could have gone to for our fifth anniversary, we had picked Egypt. We were supposed to land on Cairo exactly four days after it all started, when you don't know how it will all pan out. Of course we did not know this two months ago when we actually planned the trip. Dreaming of the pyramids, the mummies, the old temples, a cruise in the Nile, delicious middle eastern food and warm weather, we had booked an eight day vacation in Egypt through a tour company. Borrowed the Lonely Planet Guide on Egypt from the library and read all about the places we were going to see. Packed all our clothes and ready to leave on Saturday 29 Jan.

Then the reports started trickling in. The demonstrations started on Tuesday. "Not a big deal, these things happen all the time" I thought. They continued on Wednesday. A friend texted me to enquire if we are still going. "Yes, of course" I thought. Feeling a little bit queasy, called the tour company, who assured me things are just fine in Egypt. I blamed it all on the 24 hour news channels and their sensationalism and went on with my life.

Thursday was relatively calm, but on Friday all hell broke loose. Things looked rather bleak on TV. The tour company still planned to go ahead with it. Wife was not very sure. I called our bank with whom we had the travel insurance to find out if there is any way to get the money back. Unsurprisingly political turmoil is not covered by the insurance. If the tour company cancels the tour, they are liable to give us the money back. "That explains it all" I thought. But still the British Foreign Office's travel advisory did not stop travel to Egypt. For me, that's a strong enough reason to go. If the Americans and Brits are so cool, why does a desi bother?

The few friends we talked to all were against us going ahead. Family was worried and they were calling and texting us. Wife and I had a long discussion on Friday night. Wife argued that if things take a turn for the worse, we will be stuck in the hotel for days or weeks before we can get out. Plus there will be thugs on the street trying to make the most of the situation and foreigners are an easy target. There is a slim chance that it will all die down and things will be back to normal in a couple of days and we will look like idiots with all our packed suitcases laughing at us. But that ain't going to happen. She convinced me and we made the call not to go.

As we were watching TV, curfew was announced all over Egypt and the Foreign office announced not to travel to Egypt. That's great news! There is no way the tour company can go ahead with the tour. We talked to them the next day and they offered to refund our money, which we gladly accepted.

It's been two weeks since and things have just calmed down. The protesters have won and there is a new government out there. In hindsight, I think I should have been more ready to swallow the loss and decide not to go much much earlier. That's fine - it's just one more lesson learnt. Dumb as I am, I've got friends and family who care and a wise, far sighted wife who will not let it happen. As for Egypt, that has to wait for another anniversary.