Plan B

Great!  The day we were supposed to go home (Jan 10th) was the day that CDC warned against traveling to Canada and elevated the country to Level 4 travel advisory!  Well, instead of a quick exodus, our stay had to be prolonged due to a positive antigen test the day before.  We gave ourselves one week to recover.  However, on day-9, the home test kit indicated that I still remained positive.  Much improved symptoms, but still positive?  By now, calling Expedia to rebook is becoming familiar and setting up another Covid testing appointment at the pharmacy was on autopilot.  We gave ourselves another 2 days to recover.  

Scripture reading on the morning of January 17 included this verse, "My child, don't lose sight of common sense and discernment.  Hang on to them."  Proverbs 3:21.  After reading this verse, God gave me a revelation.  How about looking into traveling by land?  A quick Googling of the Covid requirements for crossing the Canada-U.S. border signaled a green light!  We do not need negative Covid test result to cross the border by car.  That was an open door, but did God opened it?  Let's be cautious to see if this actually was a divine Plan B. 

Logistically, it was a yes!  Booking a flight from Edmonton to Vancouver was very affordable.  Booking a flight from Seattle to Honolulu was also affordable.  Picking up a rental car at YVR and dropping it off at SEA-TAC did not break the bank either.  The required 3 hours to travel between the two airports fit perfectly between the flight times!  But one more thing, how busy are the Port of Entries?  According to Google, the Canada to U.S. Border wait times showed zero minutes at all POE!  This was very exciting!

Missionally, it was a yes!  Thankfully, all the heavy lifting that mom and dad needed was accomplished between day-1 and day-7 of our isolation.  P ran out of medicine long ago and it might affect his heart condition.  Last but not least, we should really set a departure date before our gracious host suffer from hospitality fatigue.

After performing these logistics and missional validations, God through the Holy Spirit led us to the decision that whether our home test was positive or negative, our departure date would be January 19.  If we were negative, we would fly home as originally planned.  If we were positive, we would execute Plan B, that is to re-enter the U.S. by land.  The moment of truth came in the morning of January 18.  It was a liberating moment even though my antigen test was still positive.  We did the final plan change through Expedia to abort Plan A and take up Plan B.  The icing on the cake came when we were told that there was no additional charge for rescheduling our Edmonton-Honolulu trip to September 2022.  There you go, who would have thought that our ticket was not a total loss even after we spent hundreds of dollars making flight changes!

Never regard Plan B as inferior to Plan A.  Hang on to common sense and discernment like how Daemon works on your computer.  Scan and monitor for abnormalities, threats and opportunities.  Always be flexible to change, and always seek after God's guidance.  Pray and invite prayer support.  Our Plan B has many transitions and many more potential points of failure than Plan A.  However, not one thing that could have gone wrong went wrong!  We even had time to do the only touristy thing on this 20-day trip!  On our way to SEA-TAC, we stopped by Pike Place Market to enjoy a bowl of chowder and a lobster roll at the award-winning Pike Place Chowder!  That was an extravagant bonus! We were zapped back to Honolulu 45 minutes ahead of schedule.  The next morning, our first order of business was to go to Nomi Health for an antigen test.  We both tested negative!  What a perfect closure to this amazing journey.  Everything was in God's perfect time.

Day 0: 1/7/22

Day 2: tested positive

Day 3: abandoned departure plan

Day 9: tested positive

Day 10: abandoned departure plan

Day 11: tested positive

Day 12: came home on Plan B

Day 13: tested negative