The Best Laid Plans

As I mentioned in the previous blog, we decided to blow off the trip designed to lighten our wallets. Part of the day was intended to explore alternatives.

The weather forecasts have been very pessimistic. On the other hand, the daily forecasts have been sufficiently different from results obtained by visual inspection that we have been wondering about their precision. We had already developed backup plans in the event of a local washout. Plan Baker was in the form of my bringing flight schedules to cities in the interior of China. At this point, the afore mentioned forecasts predict that those cities will be worse off than we are. If so - too bad for Alex.

Plan Charlie was developed in the past 48 hours. It was an attempt to rent a corporate jet to take us above any weather. The plan was plausible enough that the owner of the local travel company spent the morning trying to arrange a charter. We were not surprised to find out that such a thing is not possible on short notice in China. Getting permission for a private flight requires layers of permissions requiring days, weeks or months of preplanning.

So, we are back to Plan Able, although the local guides will be visiting our beach in the morning to explore other 'break glass in case of emergency' options. Meanwhile, it is important to have the gear ready. We always preassemble it to make sure things are still in working order. Last year an important bolt had vibrated off the mount and was trapped in the wheel well of the suitcase. This year, all parts are present and accounted for.