I am imagining our planned 3 1/2 week Moroccan and European summer trip as a big Jenga tower right now. We had put together all the pieces by mid-January, except the car rentals, but those pieces can be added and removed and won’t compromise the tower. The foundation piece is the transAtlantic flight. Other key pieces are the flights from Morocco to Spain, and Spain to Lyon; and ideal places to stay in Portugal and a charming house on Lake Geneva to finish the trip. Other minor but fun pieces include a day trip up into the Atlas mountains from our riad in Morocco, including a camel ride and homemade lunch along the way.
We put these pieces together without the intention of removing them one by one. The virus has forced us to begin the process. Chris called the airline today; it looks like we’ll be able to get a refund if the travel ban continues long enough; at the very least, we’ll get a credit to use in the future. So for now, the foundation piece will remain until optimal removal time.
Almost all of our hotel and Airbnb reservations are fully refundable if we cancel by sometime in June, except for our two three-night stays in Portugal, though I assume this situation will call for a full refund. This morning, I awoke to find a message from the host of one of these stays: the owner needs to move into the Airbnb rental and they were so sorry. Could they offer a different rental? This was my chance to get a full refund, so I responded that we would need to cancel. The first Jenga piece has been removed.
Over the next month, I will grudgingly and strategically play this sad game. The goal is to actually let the tower come crashing down while causing the least amount of destruction.
My Corner of the Village 