As we speak, I should be on my way home from a ten-night stay at Cairn’s Trinity Beach. Unfortunately, we had to cancel. Our reasons for cancelling were sound, but… I haven’t been able to get the vision of palm-fringed white sands, turquoise seas, and cocktails by the pool out of my mind.
What’s a girl to do, you ask?
Here are five things I did to try and shake away the holiday blues. If you ever find yourself having to cancel a tropical holiday, these might work for you too.
#1: I wrote a Christmas novella set at Trinity Beach*. I might not have been able to get there physically, but there was absolutely nothing stopping me from lapping up all of that tropical holiday goodness through the pages of my book, giving my hero and heroine some of the adventures I wished I were having. Obviously not everyone is a writer, but I figure reading a book set in a tropical location could work just as well—armchair travel at it’s best!
#2: Spending the day at a local beach. One day next week, Mr Douglas and I are heading an hour north to one of our favourite beaches. We’re going to dig our toes in the sand, go paddling (and maybe even swimming if it’s warm enough) and have lunch at a quaint little golf club. As far as consolation prizes go, it’s not too bad. :)
#3: Reading good books. I’ve always got a book or two on the go, but I’ve deliberately made more time for reading because…heck, I was supposed to be on holiday! And what does one do on holiday, huh? Here’s what I’ve been dipping into…and I’ve been having rather a grand time of it, I must say.
#4: Doing something out of the ordinary. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but I LOVE going to open house inspections. Last Saturday we spent a few hours doing exactly that. It wasn’t pure voyeurism. We checked out houses in a couple of suburbs we’d like to eventually relocate to (maybe). We saw amazing houses that have price tags that made our jaws drop. We saw fixer-uppers that we thought had potential…but our jaws dropped at how much fixer-uppering needed to be done. It was fun to imagine our lives if we lived in these houses. We then came home and said, “You know, we love where we live. If we did a bit of work we could probably make our house perfect and…” ;-)
#5: Cocktails. My catch cry had been “Cocktails in Cairns!” Now, Mr Douglas did promise to take me for Cocktails in Newcastle (I know, it doesn’t have the same ring) and on Sunday we went out for lunch to a local club. The plan was lunch and then cocktails. Alas, we were too early. The club refused to serve cocktails before 4 pm. Obviously we’re illiterate when it comes to cocktail etiquette. So this is Plan B.
And as far as plans go, I’ve had worse ones. ;-)
I’ve also been playing lots of Beach Boys music—belting along to Surfin’ Safari, Kokomo and Fun, Fun, Fun. And the louder I play it the better it makes me feel. ;-) So…this coming Friday night it’s mojitos and the Beach Boys at my house. All are welcome! :-)
Have you ever had to cancel a holiday? What did you do to help you over the holiday blues?
* It’s called Christmas Wishes, New Year Kisses, and will be part of the LoveCat's Hot Christmas Nights box set (released Dec 2015)
