So we decided to change our family vacation plans and not go to Turks & Caicos because of Hurricane (at the time Tropical Storm) Dorian. At first, I was upset. However, after thinking things through, I was able to deal with the last minute change, book our Turks & Caicos trip for a later date, and still salvage our family vacation for that same week. If a Hurricane strikes right before your trip, don’t despair, use these tips to salvage your vacation and make the most of it:

1. Don’t Pretend You’re Not Upset. Let it Out. Then Let it Go.

Let’s face it. You probably won’t be happy. But that’s okay. Just be honest with yourself and don’t try to pretend. The quicker you acknowledge how you really feel, the quicker you can deal with it. When my husband said we should cancel two days before we were supposed to leave for Turks & Caicos, I was upset. He knew it. We argued, and talked, and argued some more. I understood why he wanted to cancel, but I was still upset.

I vented to some of my friends that day. Some agreed with me and said we should go. Some said we should play it safe and not go. At the end of the day, it was really between my husband and I to make that decision. Venting helped me let it out and deal with it. It helped. Afterwards, I was able to think about it more clearly. We talked some more and I understood where he was coming from. We decided we wouldn’t go.

Once you acknowledge how you feel and deal with it, take a deep breath and let it go. Once you let it go, you will be able to think more clearly and pull it together to come up with a game plan.

2. Come up with a game plan

Once I had a chance to think things through and we made the final decision to not go on our trip, my husband and I agreed on two things and came up with a plan: (1) Instead of giving up on Turks & Caicos completely, we figured we’d look into going at a later date. It was worth a try. If we couldn’t, at least we knew we would get a full refund once we cancelled in time. (2) We also decided we would go somewhere else for the time we already took off that week.

3. Don’t Cancel … Rebook … if you Can

The first step in our game plan was to contact our hotel and airline. If we were simply canceling, it would’ve been easy because of the preliminary steps I took. *If your airline and/or hotel has a restrictive cancellation policy, you may want to purchase travel insurance when booking your trip, especially during hurricane season.

However, we wanted to rebook and I wasn’t sure if we could afford to. Southwest had issued a travel advisory for Turks & Caicos, which means (according to their policy), we could rebook within 14 days without having to pay any difference in fees. The problem with that was our hotel was going to close on September 1st for the entire month (low season). So stay in another hotel? I guess, except most (if not all) of the other hotels on Grace Bay beach were way out of our budget, and many were closing for the low season as well. We definitely couldn’t rebook to travel within 14 days.

So what then? I decided to bite the bullet and look up the prices during the high season, around November/December (at the end of hurricane season). Lo and behold! Our hotel was having another sale! and it worked out cheaper than our original booking (go figure). So I called the hotel, cancelled our August reservation, then booked the new reservation for a later time in the year.

The hard part was going to be rebooking our flight. Although Southwest allows you to cancel and get a full refund, rebooking was a little tricky. As with most airlines, if you want to rebook, you would have to pay the difference of the purchase price/points (unless you rebook within the 14-day travel-advisory period). Since we were traveling during the high season, the point requirement for a ticket to Turks & Caicos was high. Mind you, it’s always high, but even more so during high season. We were definitely lucky when we initially got our tickets during the sale. My husband and I simply didn’t have enough rapid rewards points to cover all three of us for a round-trip to Turks & Caicos during the high season.

I called the 800 number and told them my dilemma … the only reason I was trying to change our flight was because of Dorian, and that Southwest had issued a travel advisory but we couldn’t rebook within 14 days because our hotel (along with many other hotels on the island) would be closed. They gave me the number for the customer service office in Houston.

I called the Houston office, relayed my dilemma again, and the awesome Southwest representative honored our initial rapid reward points purchase for our travel dates in November. In other words, he basically transferred our reservation for August to our requested dates in November. We were going to Turks & Caicos (just not right now)! Another reason I love Southwest! Their Customer Service is on-point.

4. Go Somewhere Else Instead

So we still had four days of vacation time that last week in August. I guess we could’ve just gone to work (I actually went in on the Tuesday), but we were still in vacation mode. Plus we had a long weekend coming up (Labor Day). So what to do? Whatever it was, it had to be somewhere we could drive to because flight prices at this point, both international and domestic, were astronomical at such late notice.

So we narrowed it down to what we really wanted – for us, it was somewhere close enough to drive, that was family friendly, with a beach. On top of that, I really wanted to go somewhere we’ve never been. Destin? Been there, loved it, but wanted something different. Savannah? Same. Went there last year, loved it, but really wanted something different. Hmmm, Hilton Head South Carolina! Never been, always wanted to go. I searched online for a family-friendly hotel in Hilton Head that was right on the beach and found Beach Club – Hilton Head Island. Luckily enough I was able to get a discount with my IHG points. Booked. Done! Beach vacay here we come!

5. Relax and Enjoy Every Moment of Your New Adventure

Last but not least, relax and enjoy yourself. You just salvaged your vacation! The key here is not to remain upset when things don’t go your way. Yes you can get upset, but at some point deal with it and let it go. If I had remained upset and refused to understand my husband’s reasons for not going, I would probably have just cancelled our trip (or jumped on the plane myself) and be done with it. Instead, we didn’t cancel but rebooked for Turks & Caicos later on in the year, and had our vacation together as a family in Hilton Head that week. I also still got my beach.

There you have it, how to salvage your vacation when a hurricane strikes. Mind you, it may not always pan out like this. In most cases, you may have to choose between rebooking for a later date and going somewhere else at that moment. If we couldn’t drive anywhere we would’ve just stayed home (I’m telling you, those last minute flight prices were ridiculous).

When it comes to traveling (and life in general), try to be flexible and learn to deal with it when things don’t go as planned. There’s nothing a little brainstorming and creativity (along with refundable booking or travel insurance) can’t fix … that combination can turn what at first seems like a ruined vacation into the perfect getaway. Lemons to Lemonade my friends.

I had to laugh when I read a news report (the day we were leaving for Hilton Head) that Dorian could possibly be headed towards South Carolina (and it did). We were okay though because we had planned to leave Hilton Head during the weekend, long before Dorian reached the Carolinas.

Speaking of Dorian, what about Turks and Caicos? Well, as you know, Dorian turned into a hurricane and was initially headed to Puerto Rico, with Turks & Caicos in its path. However, Dorian changed course and veered to the right of Puerto Rico. It ended up barely grazing Puerto Rico and not affecting Turks and Caicos.

Am I upset? Nope. Not at all. I’m grateful that Turks & Caicos wasn’t hit. Not to mention I enjoyed every moment with my husband and son in Hilton Head. Our son especially had a blast! We had amazing family bonding time and I would do it all over again.

It just goes to show at the end of the day, it’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with.

*While I am beyond grateful that Hurricane Dorian did not hit the Turks & Caicos islands, and my family friends were safe, some of the islands of the Bahamas weren’t so fortunate. Hurricane Dorian turned into a Category 5 hurricane and plummeted parts of the Bahamas, including the Abacos islands, Marsh Harbor and Freeport. These islands suffered uncontrollable flooding. I can’t help but think that if Dorian had stayed it’s course that could have easily been Turks & Caicos (shows how unpredictable hurricanes are). Many people lost their lives. Many people lost everything. It’s a tragedy and my heart goes out to the people of the Bahamas. If you would like to help the people of the Bahamas who were victims of Hurricane Dorian, you can find more info here.