canyonwalker | Grand Cayman Trip Retrospective. 5 Things. (Reply)

It's only what, 9 days since we actually finished our trip to Grand Cayman? And I've just finishing catching up on my blog backlog. I would've caught up sooner, maybe only 2 days late, except that I've had two other trips in the meantime. And now one of them, the San Antonio trip, is getting backlogged. At least that one should only finish 36 hours behind. But now that I'm caught up on travelogs from Grand Cayman it's time to do a trip retrospective. Here are Five Things:

Our choice to extend the trip 2 days was a good one. Yes, it was expensive. Those extra 2 days on our dime cost over $1,200. That's a lot of dimes. But much as we expected, the 3 nights paid for by Club would have been too brief of a stay on the island, especially considering the travel time there and back.

Our choice to book flights that allowed an overnight in a hotel on the outbound trip was a good one. It turned out that with a flight delayed 2 hours we didn't get much sleep. But that was better than flying a redeye— or worse, missing a redeye connection, which happened to a few of my colleagues.

I've said many times before that every trip I forget one thing. That's not a hard-and-fast rule, of course, Some trips I don't forget anything. This trip I almost forgot one biggie: the hotel overnight in Houston on the outbound leg. The day before the trip I was reviewing plans for Sunday and tried finding which hotel I'd booked to see what dinner options would be available at/near the hotel. That's when I realized that I hadn't booked a hotel. 😱 I'd looked at options and more or less picked one... but I didn't actually make the booking. 😧 Well, I did get around to it... one day ahead of time. 😅 Lesson: always recheck your plans 24 hours before you leave.

Our choice to travel with only carry-on luggage was the right one. It meant not taking dressier clothes (e.g., trousers and loafers for me) but we absolutely didn't miss dressing up. We also considered checking a bag just to not have to lug carry-ons around the airports, but the time we'd have lost checking and reclaiming that bag 4 times would've made every airport more of a hassle.

Finally, the good experiences we had with guided tours on this trip, particularly swimming with the manta rays and snorkeling (even though it was a bust for me), make me more interested in looking for guides on future trips. One of the reasons I've been reluctant is that outfitters are hit-or-miss. We've had a few flops when we've hired tours. I feel more comfortable traveling by my own wits than outsourcing it to someone who may take my money, a lot of money, and give me a shit experience and not care— wasting, at that point, not only my money but also my opportunity. Maybe I need to be more willing to take that risk.