Conferences and Port Cancellations, Why I'm Skipping the Google Product Expert Summit

 As a Google Photos Product Expert I am part of a globe-spanning team of volunteers who answer people's questions about all sorts of Google Products on the official Google Support forums. Once each year Google gathers us all together for a conference - a PE Summit. They give us product updates, chances to get to know each other and our Google counterparts and a Party! I've attended every year since 2015 when we were called "Top Contributors." See some photos below.

This year the PE Summit is being held in Dublin. Google makes the travel arrangements and pays our way to these events, but only with one round trip ticket. Since I now live on a cruise ship I can't leave and come back to the same place and expect the ship to be waiting for me. When I registered for the conference, we were in Alaska. I looked at the itinerary and saw that the ship would be in the Philippines in October so I asked for round trip flights from Manila. Then I set about making my own flight arrangements to get from the ship to Manila at the beginning and back to the ship at the end. 

The Itinerary That Ate My Energy

The ship went thru several itinerary changes that required me to change my flights. The end result was 6 days of travel in order to attend the 3 day conference! Here's the timeline:

1. Event scheduled for Dublin Oct 8-10
2. Ship will be in the Philippines on those dates, so I requested round-trip from Manila, leaving Oct 6, return Oct 11 (roughly 19 hours of travel each way including layover in Abu Dhabi)
3. Oct 5 Ship is in Bohol (Tagbilaran City) I can fly from Bohol-Panglao Int'l airport to Manila MNL (about 8 hours including layover in Manila)
4. Oct 11 I can fly from Manila MNL to Guam GUM and get a hotel to wait for the ship to arrive in Guam on Oct 13. (overnight in Manila then about 4 hours to Guam and overnight in Guam)
5. Guam Cancelled: next port = Saipan. Flights from Manila to Saipan stopover in Guam, so keep the flight to Guam and add Saipan for 1 more hour
6.  Saipan cancelled: next port Yap. Once again, no direct flights from Manila to Yap so keep Guam and add Yap. Only 2 flights/week go to Yap so add another night in Guam then 2 hours to Yap. Ship doesn't get there till Oct 15 so add a night in Yap
7. Bohol port cancelled and replaced with Cebu. Cancelled the Bohol flight to Manila and added Cebu to Manila. Nice, shorter flight this time. Cool.

The Final Straw

And then, this week, fate delivered the final, chilling nudge. The news of the earthquake in Cebu, Philippines, where I was scheduled to fly from on Monday, sealed the deal. While the airport wasn't directly affected, the potential for lingering side effects—aftershocks, strained infrastructure, just general chaos—was the last weight that tipped the scales.

What had once seemed like a challenging but doable adventure now just felt reckless. The mental gymnastics and logistical juggling were simply not worth it. 

So, I officially threw in the towel. Registration canceled. Manila-Dublin flights canceled. Cebu-Manila flight canceled. And those labyrinthine flights and hotel stays for Guam and Yap? Canceled, canceled, canceled.

A huge wave of relief has washed over me. Instead of spending six days stressed out and stuck in airport purgatory, I now have ten unplanned, glorious days to simply enjoy my wonderful Odyssey at sea.

Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you cancel. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!