Vacation Preparations . . .

I'm in list-mode. You know the kind:

~arrange for house-sitter
~get pedicure and spray-on tan
~do laundry
~pick up cute new sandals (on sale)
~decide which books to take
~print out mapquest from airport to hotel
~print out boarding passes
~check the National Hurricane Center for 5-day (less reliable than 3-day) forecasts. Repeat as needed every few hours.

What? That last weather related item isn't on your get-ready-for-vacation list? Yeah, me neither. Until now. Until I happened to notice last week an item on my google homepage about "hurricane activity picking up in the Atlantic and heading to Florida."

Whoops. So, the first trip my husband and I have been able to take in two years, that doesn't involve work or family obligations, just the two of us, nothing but sun and sand and wine and good food. And, well perhaps a hurricane evacuation plan.



So, on the positive side, it would certainly be an adventure ("Something for the Christmas card" my husband commented), but I'm really not looking for a "roughing it" vacation. I never am. I'm not a camper. I like electricity. I also like not worrying about being swept out to sea. Although, should I survive such an ordeal I might finally have a topic for a memoir.

Yesterday afternoon, perhaps tiring from my frequent updates about Bill (and Ana which is no longer an issue and Claudette, which never was), my husband suggested that I call our hotel. I needed to make dinner reservations (and clarify if our room came with a fridge. It does.), so he said that I could ask them about the impending storm. Good idea, I thought, make sure they have an up-to-date evacuation plan. (Yeah, like they need me, a born and bred midwesterner, double-checking their hurricane preparedness.)

So, that's what I did. I called this morning. A delightful young man named Robert took my call. I started with the dinner reservation. "No problem, ma'am." Then asked about the fridge. "Yes, ma'am." Okay, I said, what about Hurricane Bill, I asked. "Bill? A hurricane? That hasn't even made the news here." Huh, I thought? How can that be? So, I said, I guess I don't need to be worrying about that. "No, ma'am."

Whew.

I guess.

But I'm still checking. Every few hours.

I'll file a full report upon my return.