Hello stampers. I am sitting at Raleigh-Durham airport waiting to fly home. I thought I would use this time to share some vacation wisdom. As you might know, this trip was planned to replace the Stampin’Up! incentive trip that was supposed to be a Caribbean cruise. Gerard has thus far NOT been able to go on an incentive trip because of COVID. I received a cash gift in lieu of the trip and I planned some stays in gorgeous cabins in the Smoky Mountains and then a few days in a romantic, historic bed and breakfast.
While there were many beautiful moments, there were also times of extreme frustration due to travel dilemmas. What wisdom did we glean from this?
Please note that I started writing this post more than a week ago, but I decided to publish it anyways. I hope you enjoy the travel adventures. I’m sure you will be able to relate to some of our experiences!
The Best Laid Plans…some vacation wisdom!
The best laid plans can indeed go awry. The Bible tells us that too. Another truth is that the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. On his flight out Gerard’s first airplane had a mechanical issue. After waiting for two and half hours on the tarmac, everyone was deplaned and the flight was canceled. Picture long lineups with only two agents working. Long story short, he could not get a flight out and had to get a hotel and fly out the next morning.
In the meantime, I was in Charlotte airport where I needed to book a last minute Airbnb or hotel as I would not be driving three and a half hours to the first cabin only to drive back to the airport the next day. I decided to pick up the rental car that Gerard had arranged. No luck. It was fully paid and in his name and even with him on the phone to the agent, they would not let me pick up the car. I had to rent another car for one day so that I could get around. This whole process took about one and a half hours!
It gets worse!! When Gerard arrives the next day the first place we have to go is to the lost luggage department. You see, NO luggage had arrived. Not his carryon, not his big suitcase. Then we had to pick up his rental car. By the time we got to our cabin it was 7pm. A lot of precious time wasted and the uncertainty of if and when the luggage would arrive.
It was indeed Almost Heaven to soak in a hot tub on the deck of this beautiful cabin that was totally secluded on the side of a densely wooded mountain. You can check it out here.
The next day was Sunday and it was so good to worship with the locals in a little church just down the mountain from us. It was our first time in a Missionary Baptist church. My friend Letha took this picture of it.
Lemons out of Lemonade
When I realized that we would not be able to stay in our gorgeous cabin the first night I messaged my friend Letha who lives in North Carolina. I knew she would be up for an adventure and she was!! She went with her friend Ann and spent the night there so that really helped me out. I no longer felt like the cabin was “wasted”. Letha helped me out by giving lots of great travel suggestions and helpful tips for finding the cabin.
If you want to see another blog post about sunshine and lemons, you can. check out this one here.
White Water Rafting
We went white water rafting in the morning which was truly breathtaking. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, with mostly level 2 and one level 3 rapids but that did let us enjoy the surroundings more instead of focusing on staying in the raft and out of the rapids! You can check out the website from this great company here.
In the back of Gerard’s mind was still his missing luggage. Would it get delivered to the one rental agency after we arrived at the second one? Would we have to retrace our steps and drive an extra three hours to track it down?
Cabin Number Two
On Tuesday afternoon we made our way to our second cabin which was closer to Asheville where we would go and visit the famous Biltmore Estates.
The drive to our second cabin was beautiful and at the end it was very steep with hairpin turns. I was so excited! This meant that our view was going to be beautiful!! It was!! The only trouble was, I couldn’t find the hot tub. Turns out there wasn’t one. This crazy squirrel was so enamoured with the view, with the cabin and with the wood burning fireplace that I had overlooked this important detail. You can check out the cabin here.
I think that my favourite thing about this cabin was the fact that Gerard taught me to play pool decently here. In the past I was so so bad at this game it was unbelievable. You see, after the first night here, the rain came and fog rolled in and there was no more view!!! We had a lot of fun playing pool and ping pong. Turns out that Gerard is a great ping-pong player . He used to play a lot as a teenager.
A Turn for the Worse
After an unremarkable afternoon in Asheville Gerard could no longer take the stress of the missing suitcases. After many calls to service agents from the airport and airline he was getting mixed messages. In fact, the lost luggage department at the airport only has voicemail. It is impossible to talk to a person and they do not answer their voicemail with either a phone call or an email. We spend four hours driving to Charlotte airport only to find out that there was still NO luggage. I was heartsick. All this hard earned SU money spend on beautiful cabins and we aren’t even in them to enjoy them. So what is the lesson here?
I kept telling myself, focus on the joy, focus on the joy. You are together. In a nice place. With fun games. We made a fire in the hearth, cooked some hot dogs and then played some games. The next day we would be up on time to explore Biltmore Estate!!
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate is a beautiful chateau built by George Washington Vanderbilt in the 1890’s. Not only is there a gorgeous chateau to explore, there are also beautiful, extensive grounds to discover, a rose garden and a winery. Despite the bad weather forecast we had an incredible day.
Grove Park Inn
The guide in the smaller museum in Antler Village recommended a visit to the famous Grove Park Inn. We followed her advice and had some drinks by the fire and enjoyed reading about the history there. If you are ever even a few hours away from here, I would highly recommend a visit at any time of the year. Start with Biltmore and then end here with a nice drink on the patio enjoying the view. Be sure to stroll the hallways and soak up the history!
The Best for Last
Our last stop was the best for the simple reason that we were finally able to totally relax. We now knew that Gerard’s luggage was NOT going to arrive and we were also ensconced in luxury and in the capable hands of our talented innkeeper who spoiled us each morning with phenomenal breakfasts on the verandah. I chose this place because Stampin’Up! had given a generous cash allowance in lieu of the Caribbean cruise that I had earned. It was worth every penny and came close to what we would have experienced on an incentive trip.
If you want to read more about the Elmwood Inn you can do so here.
Back in the Saddle
I realize that I haven’t blogged in almost a month!! That is shocking, but given my hectic schedule, something had to give. It feels good to get back into the swing of things and I hope that you too are getting back into stamping. If you live in Canada and need a catalog, please let me know. You can always shop online with me here and every blog post has links to the products that I used for the post. This one only has links to great vacation spots!! I should be a tour guide instead of a demonstrator. All kidding aside, I love what I do and I hope that you continue to support me with your orders.
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Thanks!
Thanks so much for joining me today, I really do appreciate you being here. If you order with me online you will receive at least one free tutorial as a gift. The Demo Design Dream Team has a summer theme to the tutorial this month, here is the sneak peek.
I hope you have a super day!!
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