Serendipitous adaptability

Well-made plans have a nasty tendency of not working out the way they’re supposed to, especially when you’re traveling. 

I’ve experienced both the joy of a plan working out perfectly, and the heartbreak of a plan being so thrown off that it has to be abandoned. I’ve been on trips that were planned out with a detailed schedule and printed itinerary (shout out to my best friend and best travel planner, Marissa), and trips where our group was completely winging it and it’s amazing anything worked out well (shout out to that crazy week in New York City). Generally, I like having a nice balance of structure and room for spontaneity, and I’m very happy when timing works out just right, and very stressed when it doesn’t. 

So when plans got derailed in a major way during my recent road trip with my brother, I was, initially, panicking. 

Two weeks ago, my brother Ryan and I set out on a roughly 1,500-mile road trip from his home in Nampa, Idaho over to Seattle, Washington; then up to Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada; then across to Vancouver, BC, Canada; then back down with a stop in Portland, Oregon before getting back to Nampa, Idaho. (Of course, I added another nearly 1,000 miles with my drive to and from Nampa.) 

Our trip was going smoothly and mostly according to plan when we set off for Port Angeles to catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island. We had plenty of time to make it to our ferry early – until we didn’t. The first time I realized something was wrong was when I glanced down at our GPS and noticed our ETA had gone up by 10 minutes, which I thought was weird, but not a huge concern. But then I noticed it jump up by 20 minutes. Then 30. Then 50. That’s when I started to worry, and when I found out that the two-lane highway we were on had been completely blocked by a crash.

We ran into the backed-up line of stopped traffic just 25 miles away from Port Angeles. We waited there until the absolute last moment when we knew that, even if the road was magically empty of cars right then, we still couldn’t make it before our ferry had already set sail. Then we turned around and started figuring out what to do and where to stay for the night. 

I started looking up Airbnbs in nearby Port Townsend, and only one good option stood out – a tiny home called “The Fox Den.” I booked it, and thought I plugged the address into the GPS, but somehow Google directed us to downtown Port Townsend instead of taking us right to our Airbnb. Since we needed dinner anyways, we decided we might as well stop there and see the town first. 

We ended up taking a walk, admiring the quaint buildings and colorful fall foliage, and even coming across a small parade for the hometown volleyball team. We strolled along the pier, watching a colorful sunset over the water. We noticed something swimming along, and realized it was several harbor seals that were ducking in and out of the water. I almost started crying – not because we missed our ferry, but because that moment, watching those seals, was so unexpected and beautiful. 

We got a delicious dinner at a small sushi restaurant by the water, and I got to try oysters for the first time – a goal I’d set for myself for the trip. After eating, we made our way to our Airbnb, and instantly fell in love with “The Fox Den.” The tiny home was not only adorable, clean, and cozy, but it instantly felt comforting and peaceful. I genuinely felt like we were meant to be there. 

As we were doodling foxes in the guest book at the Airbnb, my brother Ryan found information that said the fox often represents adaptability and the ability to navigate through tough situations with intelligence and resilience. 

We made it to Port Angeles to catch the earliest ferry the next morning, and we were able to get back on schedule for the rest of our trip, with only a few adjustments and no need to miss out on any of our major plans. Almost everything else went according to plan, or worked out in new ways that were even better than what we’d originally intended. 

Somehow, though, it was that moment of everything going wrong, and the ensuing little misadventures we hadn’t foreseen, that was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

That night at the “Fox Den,” Ryan used the term “serendipitous adaptability” to sum up our circumstances. And I believe that’s something that’s especially important while traveling, but also vital for all of life. It’s good to make plans and have goals, but at some point they will get derailed or become impossible. When that happens, we have to figure out how to adapt, and see how serendipity can lead to new and better things.