I live in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and have for the past 30 years. From June til November we call it "Living in the Cone." Yes we here in the tropics have to deal with these types of storms all of the time.

I have been though more than I care to count. Have not had power for more days than I care to count. But if you want to live in Paradise, there is some price to pay.

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, while dangerous, do not creep up on you. They are not like Earth Quakes or Toradoes that just hit without warning. We usually have a good 4 days notice to get prepared. And with Technology getting better and better, we know where the storms will go most of the time.

So sitting in my living room last night watching the Olympics and hearing the rush of wind outside got me thinking about what to do if your on vacation or going on vacation and a storm hits.

First off do not panic. You have that wonderful Trip insurance that you bought when you payed for your cruise right? Right? Well I hope so, because this is where it might come in handy. So reread the policy and call your agent to see what exactly it covers.

Then go to one of these hands sights and see what this named storm is doing.
www.weather.com
www.weatherunderground.com
www.nooa.gov

These sites will have the most up to date information you need on the storms track.

Next, Contact the Airline and the Cruise line or Hotel or Tour Group. Everyone has some kind of Hurricane plan, ask them what it is.

Cruises, remember that the last thing that a cruise wants to do is go into a hurricane. The second to lat thing it wants to do is cancel an entire trip. So what Cruise Lines usually do is rerouting. They might skip a port, or go to an alternate port and then back to the other port once the storm leaves. Trust me these guys know what they are doing.

12-hours prior to a Storm hitting an area, most everything will be shut down. Stores, restaurants, bars, theaters. So if your in the area and are told to stay put, then turn on the tube abd watch a movie till it all blows over. If your forced to leave, then check with your host to see what options are avaliable, like early flights, or bus service, or hotel options.

Everything will get back to normal, depending on how bad the storm was. We got lucky with Tropical Storm Fay, so the following morning mot evetything was back up and running.

Just do not panic and keep all of those emergency options and number on hand in case you need them.

If you ever have any trouble or need advice, just email me and I will help. bonbontravel@bellsouth.net