Last year we went for our yearly vacation to St Martin. When we got there we heard the news about Haiti’s earthquake. This year we went to St Martin again. On arrival we learned about the earthquake in New Zealand.
Coincidence, of course. But, channeling Steven King, I wondered; what if we were the cause?
We love our two weeks each year in the Caribbean. We’ve made some great friends there. But if it could be proven that our vacation caused massive death/destruction?
I don’t know…howzabout you?
When I was six, my family took a vacation to Hawaii where so many things went wildly wrong (including: two cases of chicken pox, a broken foot, and a tropical storm) that we never returned. None of us have ever been to Hawaii again, despite the fact that the majority of the problems cannot rationally be blamed on Hawaii.
Magical thinking at work.
Kyla, did you find an ancient tiki on that trip, by any chance?
I got chicken pox in Hawaii too!
It didn’t show up until I was in California though.
OK I’m taking the bizzare premise as fact. You going on holiday is causing these things.
YOU DON’T KNOW? Really? Don’t spend a week or two on a beach, in bars and sightseeing etc and save thousands upon thousands of people from suffering loss of property, jobs and loved ones. Is there really a choice here. Of course I wouldn’t go.
Just have a staycation 
Yes, this happens to me on a regular basis. But in reverse.
Typically it will rain non-stop in the weeks leading up to my vacation. And it will rain more when I leave. But while I’m there, it will be beautiful the entire time. This has been consistant over the past, say, 20 vacations with only one exception.
Great weather in the places I vacation will draw day trippers, and restaurants and gift shops do a booming business. I should really start charging for this service.
I don’t think that $5000 a day is too much to ask.
Every time my husband leaves the country alone some disaster strikes here. Mostly blizzards, but he was also away on 9/11/01. It doesn’t happen when I travel with him, just when he does a solo trip.
I am!
It was funny, the last time I went to the Vineyard, it was sprinking the entire way there. By the time I got off the ferry, it was pouring and I got soaked to the skin in about 3 seconds. I waited under a shelter for about 20 minutes and it stopped. I stepped off of the curb into the street and went up to my knees in water. By the time I finished checking into my room, the streets were dry and the sun was out. It stayed like that until the day I left.
I dunno, it’d take a lot to keep me away from Orient Beach.
For me, bad things happen around my birthday in years when I get excited about potentially having a nice party or dinner or something. Tianenmen Square, the Los Angeles riots after the King beating trial, Columbine, Waco, the Bishopsgate bombing, the Murrah (OKC) bombing, the Zambian football air disaster, a shooting at NASA (where I had friend working), the Tasmanian mass shooting spree, the breaking of the Abu Grahib scandal, the Deepwater Horizon explosion and New Coke all happened in the days surrounding my birthday, in different years, of course.
I think this year I won’t plan to do anything except sit at home and eat a cupcake or something, and see what happens.
I’m getting on a plane on April 15th. Put down the cupcake and just sit still.
Heh. Orient is one beach we have only gone to once. Too crowded. Friars, Pinel, and Dawn are my favorite beaches.
You see, we REALLY love it there. We have made many friends there. We’ve thought about not coming home. Seriously. That was what made the “what if” scenario so interesting.
Go to the east end. 
April 15th is outside of the window of Tumbleddown’s Birthday Doom. I think you’ll be fine.
OK, good. What about the 18th?
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The window is April 20 - 30.
Third time’s a charm. I say go for it. If it happens a third time, the USGS might want to have a bit of a chat with you.