Like usual, when there is a big occasion the Wolfson clan begins planning in advance. It was mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, which meant that it was an all-hands-on deck affair, which means planning around school holidays, doctor’s rotation schedules, and seasonal context (the warmer the better). Running through all the permutations, we decided that the Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Southern Florida in October was a good fit. Good mix of activities for kids and adults, functional transportation logistics (there was even direct flights from Berlin to Miami), and then of course there was the unlimited food and drinks which came along with it.

While planning was good — we had locked down everything in February — the universe wasn’t always cooperating. A Hurricane Irma was heading to Florida in late August, which could have wiped out the whole resort. Luckily things moved further west and we never really noticed much impact. Around the same time Air Berlin (our carrier to Miami) filed for insolvency. What made matters even worse is that given that the whole of Berlin was off on school break that week, the remaining flights were scarce and extremely expensive. To hedge our bets, I cashed in the bulk of my United Miles but still could only get flights from Munich. While it was definitely an unpleasant episode to lose our flights, at least we were able to add on a few extra days of holiday in Miami and have a chance to visit Uncle Lenny and Aunt Rose.

When the trip finally came, it seemed that all the bad luck had passed. We had a fantastic time with relatively smooth travels, pleasant weather, lot of eating (maybe too much), and quality time to spend together.

While it has only been a couple of months, I feel I am ready for round 2!