With everything going on in right now, I thought there would be a very real possibility that ABD may decide to cancel Egypt trips. Obviously this would be dependent on safety. Therefore, I thought it prudent to book a back up trip just in case. My priorities were easy to book and cancel and I have the points in place for accommodations. Next, easy to book flights on miles.
Now those of you who have "known" me since the inception of this thread know that I pretty much plan 2 years out and book everything about a year out or as soon as availability drops. I've always given this advice to the newcomers here and I know many others on this thread use the same strategy. Planning something for a little over 2 months out was an interesting experience. I found myself quite limited. Initially I wanted a safari but didn't find anything in business class to Kenya or Tanzania from London (I'm keeping the pre trip regardless of ABD canceling or not). The doesn't mean I won't stop checking because that would be my preference. NZ looked like the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze which was my second choice. Plus I'd want a LOTR group trip and didn't want to deal with canceling that if ABD did not cancel Egypt.
I eventually settled on Costa Rica as a back up. Finding 3 consecutive nights at a Hyatt property in multiple locations was like playing sudoku with a booking platform. But I managed it. So we have 3 nights at Secrets Papagayo, 3 at Tabacon resort and Spa and 3 in Los Altos. I'm quite certain my dates and logistical proximity of properties would make a venn diagram LOL but whatever. I can always play a little more with dates and availability. There enough flights out of Miami that I can pull the trigger last minute. The flights are also short enough that DH aka The Plane Princess won't have an apoplexy flying in coach
Plan A, B, C, D, E came in quite handy for booking flights on this trip to begin with. I didn't think I'd have to implement potential alternate plans for the trip itself, but here we are.