On March 16th, 2020 we were sitting in a hotel room at the Flamingo in Las Vegas as we began the process of cancelling our vacation. What led us to this? When we had made our plans a few months earlier, the Covid-19 virus was in China, South Korea, and Italy. There were only a very few cases in the United States. So our initial decision as to whether or not to go on the trip seemed a rather simple decision to make. Little did we know that 4 days into our trip, we would have to make a tough decision to cancel the rest of our trip.
Original Trip Plan (Pre covid-19)
Our granddaughter’s first birthday is on March 14th and we were headed to the celebration. We have made multiple trips to Portland, Oregon, and so we decided that we would only stay there for the weekend. From there, we would fly to Las Vegas, spend the day, rent a car, and head to northern Arizona and southern Utah. We had it all mapped out:
- Stay at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and attend a performance of Cirque du Soleil
- Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon National Park
- Winslow, Arizona and Petrified Forest National Park
- Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods
- Lower Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Zion National Park
- Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada
Making plans is enjoyable for us and with few exceptions, we had made all the reservations, bought some tickets ahead of time, and reserved a vehicle. We do this because we don’t want the possibility of missing out because of sold out events or no vacancy at the hotels where we wish to stay. On this trip, we expected to take full advantage of our Lifetime National Parks Senior Pass ($10 when we got it, now $80 – still a bargain).
Las Vegas – Now what?
Flying from St. Louis to Portland and then Portland to Las Vegas, our planes were only 2/3 full which is unusual. On the plane, people cautiously wiped down their own trays and arm rests as they took their seats. Upon arriving in Las Vegas the car rental agency gave us an upgrade, because they could not get to our reserved car. The lot was too full. We headed to the Flamingo Hotel to check in. There we noticed all the buffets were closed. There did still seem to be a good number of people. However, since this was our first trip to Las Vegas we had little basis for comparison. There were a small number of people at the Neon Museum. But was that normal? My daughter texted conveying the news that the President had announced that people should not congregate in groups of more than ten. She expressed her concern and stated perhaps we should cancel our trip and go home. I told her that we would seriously consider it.
Tough Decisions
We decided to grab a bite to eat and start the process of determining what to do next. We found a crowded In and Out Burger joint where we it was difficult to maintain social distancing. So I stood at the counter and ordered our food and Naomi, fortunately, found a table outside. After eating, we went for a walk along the strip, trying to maintain our distance from others. As we weighed the pros and cons of continuing our trip, much to our dismay, it soon became apparent that the cons were winning. We considered the following:
- Cirque du Soleil had already cancelled their performance
- The Navajo nation had shut down their tours and admittance into their parks
- MGM properties in Las Vegas had closed and others were following suit
- The National Park Service may choose to close some parks.
- Restaurants may close causing difficulty finding places to eat.
- Hotels may begin cancelling reservations.
- The airlines might shut down or limit flights and we could become stranded.
Decision Made
So we decided to begin the process of cancelling our trip. We reasoned that it was for the best with more and more places shutting down. We concluded that even if we decided to stick it out and not cancel, it would not be a very enjoyable trip. Naomi and I needed to ease our minds that we would be safe. Our first step was to check Southwest Airlines to cancel our flight and see how soon we could get a flight home. To our surprise, we were able to book a flight from Las Vegas to St. Louis late the next morning at a slightly lower cost.
Cancelling the Trip
So, Naomi and I sat in our hotel room with our iPads and cell phones to began cancelling our trip.
- Four of our hotels were with Choice Privileges. Two were were refundable and two were non-refundable. With the two that were refundable, we simply went to their website and cancelled. We called the two that were non-refundable. After being on hold for two hours, we finally were able to get through and cancel there reservations. The chain had made a special policy because of the pandemic to allow refunds even for the non-refundable reservations.
- From the hotel room of the Flamingo, we used the room phone and called down to the desk to cancel the reservation we had there for the last day of the trip.
- We called three other hotels to cancel reservations. Everyone was very kind and very understanding.
- At the airport, Naomi called the boat tour company at Lake Powell to cancel. Within an hour, Kevin received a call saying they were cancelling the entire tour due to all the cancellations.
- When returning the rental car 8 days ahead of time, Budget Rental prorated for only one day of use.
Safely Back Home
We made it back home 8 days ahead of time. We cancelled all of our reservations and got all our money back. It was more than we expected. The travel businesses treated us kindly and with understanding, even though they would be really hurt by the circumstances. In retrospect, we made the right decision to cancel the trip and get back home safely. It was very disappointing that we were not able to complete our vacation. However, we will revive the plans for another time. We know this will be a wonderful trip.