Almost had a costly mistake on my hands

Well, as I said recently, the booking of vacations is taking its toll. I love to travel. I love to plan for my travels. But, I'm booking so much so close together. And tonight, I learned my lesson! I nearly had a thousands (yes, with an s) of dollars mistake.

I enjoyed being in Australia this past Christmas and New Year's so much, that I decided I wanted to do a warm spot again. Well, I am meeting my mom in Prague for an early Christmas with her. And it'll be a great vacation (Vienna as well) with her, but then, I was off to sun bathe. I found good flights from Prague to Male, Maldives and then from there back to Hong Kong. I thought it was a decent enough deal for the holidays, so I booked the flights. THEN, I started looking for a hotel.  Man, oh man. I had that all wrong! I obviously do not travel to islands much, especially during peak seasons. The cheapest place I could find, with any sort of decent rating, was going to cost me $1700 for 12 days. Now, last year, I spent Christmas and New Year's in Paris and my hotel there for 11 days cost me $1500. But, that was PARIS - my FAVORITE place in the world. For me to pay that much to work on a tan...not happening. I began to panic, as my flights were non-refundable. What the hell was I thinking?

But, just out of curiosity, I decided to try and cancel the flights anyway, to see if it were even an option, and if possible, how much it would cost me. I was SO fortunate that I decided to try that soon after booking. It seems you have a few hours to "be sure" of your decision. I was informed that I could cancel up until midnight tonight for a full refund of both flights. So, I cancelled. Then, I cancelled my hotel (no worries on that one). I figured if I am going to spend that much money, it better be on someplace I know I will love beyond a doubt, not some place I hope will be spectacular. And while I love the beach and everything it represents, that's still a pricey one. I can do Thailand for half that price.

For now, I'm back to deciding what to do for two weeks and where to do it at. I may rethink my visits to Bulgaria, etc. I prefer to travel Europe in the summer, but since I'll already be there, I may as well look into it.