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This month I decided to take my very first girls’ trip with a friend. I’ve done day trips with friends, but before this trip, I’d never gone away on a vacation with a friend. It’s always been with family or my boyfriend. I used to feel really guilty at the thought of leaving my ex alone while I went out with my friends, so I just never did it.
This trip was pretty spontaneous. My friend was telling me about how she wanted to go somewhere in the time off she had between jobs. She mentioned Charleston, South Carolina and I told her that’s been on my list for a while. She jokingly told me to take some PTO and go down with her. I was like “okay, what days?” and that’s how the plan started. I had a lot of PTO to use and I figured it could be fun. The very next day I booked an Airbnb and the girls’ trip to Charleston was a go.
I’m not going to lie, financially it was a stretch for me. We ended up flying down because it was the most cost effective. By flying down we avoided having to pay for gas and tolls on the drive down and the drive back. It also helped that I had a $250 gift card I could put towards a flight.
The week before the trip, news of Hurricane Debby was popping up in my feed. I didn’t really think much about it. Days before the trip, my brother started telling me that Charleston was in the path and that it was probably going to effect my trip. The radar did not look promising. I just had to laugh because what are the odds that a hurricane would be coming through the few days I planned a trip to Charleston?
We decided to go on the trip despite the impending doom. We already had everything booked and we decided we would just make the best out of it. A little rain doesn’t bother me. I packed an umbrella and a rain jacket and determined I was prepared. The flights down were super easy and smooth. The connecting flight was the most convenient that I’ve ever had – no running across the airport to get to the next gate…no shuttles or trains to get to another terminal. We got off two gates down from where we needed to get on to our next plane.
The issues started when we got to Charleston. We decided to go with a rental car company that required a shuttle to get to from the airport. Why? Because it was cheaper. We asked an airport employee where the shuttle would get us and we were directed to a spot.
However, after waiting for 15 minutes, we asked again to make sure we were in the right spot. It turned out we needed to call the rental company to tell them to come get us. After that, I checked if any of my emails from the company said to do that. Confirmed the instructions didn’t tell me I needed to call.
When we finally got to the rental company, there was a colony of cats out front. That I kind of liked, because who doesn’t like cute cats? But, unfortunately the first car we were offered was in horrendous shape (dents, scratches, etc). But, we didn’t even end up getting that initial car because it had a flat tire, which the worker noticed.
After the flat tire was noticed, we were then offered a different car that they had available. This car was equally beat up. The rental company took pictures of the car before we took it, but we low-key did not trust them so we inspected it ourselves and took LOTS of pictures. We then took the car to our first destination, which was Cypress Gardens.
After driving the 30 minutes to the gardens, I went to lock the car and didn’t hear it lock. So, I decided to just double check to see if I was just crazy. I was not just crazy. The car was not locking.
I tried using the fob to lock it, but no luck. Then I tried locking it manually with the key, but that also didn’t work. This was a huge issue because all of our stuff was in the car (like my laptop, which was my biggest concern). Since we had already made the drive, I threw my laptop into my backpack and decided to just keep it on me.
Our plan for Cypress Gardens was to do the row boat ride. There was a long line, but since we got the tickets, we got into the line. It was clear that the line was not really moving at all because we had to wait for people to get back before the line could move. Not only was the line not moving, but it was also thundering.
We decided to just walk the loop around the pond. It was pretty and we saw some reptiles, including a gator. However, it did eventually downpour on us. And of course… I had my laptop and no rain jacket. It was so muggy that the rain really did feel nice. But, it was not nice that I had my camera, camera lenses, and my laptop. My bag was water resistant, but it can only do so much when it’s heavily raining.
After this, we went right back to the car rental place to demand a car that locked. Thankfully, it was no issue and we ended up getting another car that did indeed lock. THANK GOODNESS. However, this car was banged up just like the others. AND it was named “Hotboiii” – you really cannot make this stuff up.
After this, we decided to head to historic downtown Charleston to try and enjoy it before the rain came the next day. We started at the Instagramable Rainbow Row and then made our way to the iconic Pineapple Fountain. I liked Rainbow Row for the historical aspect, but it was not the bee’s knees. The Pineapple Fountain was beautiful, but I didn’t realize they encourage people to swim and wade in it. I had to be very patient to not get children swimming in my photos of the fountain.
We continued to wander around downtown and we got some delicious gelato. As we wandered, I saw so many beautiful historic buildings. These historic buildings were the main reason I wanted to go to Charleston. I’ve been super into historic areas and buildings lately. Charleston definitely did not disappoint.
We then made our way to the water and walked the path towards White Point Garden. As we made our way towards the park, we watched lots of pelicans flying over the harbor and we saw beautiful houses that overlooked the ocean.
In the garden, we saw LOTS of birds, which was awesome. However, while we were enjoying the park, everyone’s phone went off with an alarm because of an emergency alert. That was quite the experience LOL.
After we had gotten our fill of the downtown area, we checked in to our Airbnb. At this point, we knew we had to make a decision about what to do about the upcoming storm. It was Sunday and our flight home was Tuesday night, which was when the storm was supposed to arrive and bring heavy rain and wind.
We decided that it would be best to leave mostly because I absolutely needed to get back. My last day of my job was that Thursday and I needed to return my work equipment. I couldn’t put it off because I was set to start a new job the following week. The other reason we wanted to leave was because we didn’t want to be responsible for any damage to the car due to flooding, which seemed to be a certainty.
We made lots of calls about canceling the flights and seeing if we could get refunds for the Airbnb and the rental car, and getting another rental car to drive back to Connecticut. The rental car company didn’t want to give us a refund for returning the car early. The flight cancellation was pretty simple as there was already an alert from the weather and an offer of a voucher towards a future flight. Airbnb gave us our money for the night we wouldn’t use since it was due to the coming storm. Lastly, we were able to get a pretty reasonably priced car with unlimited miles to drive back to Connecticut, which was great.
That night, we ran out of water and I refused to drink tap water at the Airbnb. It was late when I realized this and I decided I wanted to get water. I ended up going by myself because my friend was super tired (we had been up since like 2am). Since it was late, the only places open nearby were gas stations. Having not ever lived in a city and being someone who avoids them, I didn’t really think it would be unsafe. But, this is not a mistake I will ever make again.
The gas station I went to seemed safe enough. But as I was going in, a man who was clearly not well (not sure if it was mental health issues or drugs) starts yelling at me “I told you to stay out of my life” and then kept repeating “Stay out of my life!” aggressively in my face. I tried not to acknowledge him to not feed into the situation and I rushed to the spot where the waters were. The man then entered the store and came right back to where I was and started repeating “Stay out of my life!” in my face again.
I rushed to the cashier and quickly paid with Apple Pay to get out as soon as possible. The nice guy at the register was going to bag my bottles of water, but since I was in a rush, I said oh that’s okay and rushed out because the man was starting to approach me again saying “Stay out of my life!” I bolted to the rental car and threw myself inside. I locked the doors and pretty much immediately took off because I was so afraid he was going to follow me out and do something to me. I didn’t even know if I was going in the right direction, I just needed to get out of that parking lot.
Thankfully I made it back to the Airbnb safely. But, I was terrified walking from the car to the door. I was really shaken up by the entire experience. I was on high alert and I was physically shaking. At that point, I didn’t feel safe anymore even inside the Airbnb because this happened not even a mile from the Airbnb.
I quickly showered and then locked myself in my room. The Airbnb was right by a hospital so there were constant sirens, which didn’t help my anxiety. I was so anxious that I was afraid to go to sleep. I ended up falling asleep with the lights on when I got tired enough that I couldn’t stay up anymore.
I didn’t really sleep much because of the stress. I got up at 5am and my friend got up shortly after. By 6am, we were getting ready and packing our bags to leave. Since it wasn’t down pouring or anything, we drove to a lighthouse and beach. It was the weirdest lighthouse I’ve ever seen, but it was something to see and do. The beach was really pretty though.
Then as we were heading back towards Charleston, I saw a sign for a boardwalk so I whipped into the lot. I’m so glad that I did because the boardwalk was beautiful and there were so many birds. We walked the whole thing and I saw some birds that I’d never seen before. I originally didn’t have my big zoom lens, so I had to go back to my car and then go back to get photographs of the birds. I’m glad I was able to get pictures despite not being prepared initially.
After the boardwalk, we went back to Charleston to grab breakfast before touring some historic houses. I was still feeling so stressed out from the night before that I didn’t really have an appetite. So, I didn’t actually eat the breakfast that I bought. I kind of just picked at it before throwing it away.
After breakfast, we went to tour the first historic house, which was the Nathaniel Russell House. This house is a gorgeous 1808 house that has been restored as nearly as possible to 1808. We learned a lot about the history of the house on the tour. The defining architectural feature of this house is a three-story free-flying staircase.
By the time we finished the tour, the rain from Tropical Storm Debby began. It was down pouring so we sprinted to the car. Of course I didn’t have my rain jacket or umbrella because it wasn’t raining when we arrived at the house. I was glad I didn’t bring my camera with me.
Next we toured the Aiken-Rhett House. This house was MUCH different than the previous house in the fact that it had not been restored to its former glory. Instead, it has been preserved as it was found. Due to the house being preserved and conserved as they found it, it was honestly a bit eerie to walk through. I’m sure the creepiness was heightened due to the storm going on outside.
When one of the workers asked me how I liked the house, I replied “It was kind of scary.” She laughed and said it’s much less scary on a sunny day. But, I’ll be honest, while it was cool to be walking into history, I also kind of felt like I shouldn’t be there. I tour a lot of historic houses, but it was quite a different experience being inside one that hasn’t been restored to its glory days.
After we finished the tour of the second house, we decided it was time to start making our way back to Connecticut. We dropped our rental car off (which was an ordeal in itself because the office was so busy due to the storm). Then, we had the shuttle take us back to the airport to pick up the rental car we planned to drive back to Connecticut.
I was the one who started the drive. It started raining so badly that I really couldn’t see the road. Thankfully once I was close to the North Carolina border, the weather really cleared up. The weather the rest of the ride was totally fine. We left at a really good time because not long after we left Charleston, there were tornados in the area on top of the heavy rains.
The drive home was long. We really only stopped to get gas a handful of times and we grabbed Starbucks during one of those stops for gas. At Starbucks, I made sure I got myself some food with protein since I hadn’t really eaten and I still had a long day ahead of me. I also got myself an emotional support hot chocolate lol.
I drove for ten and a half hours before I tapped out due to being tired. Thankfully my friend took over and made the rest of the drive to the airport. The drive was probably 14 hours total. We got back to the airport where my car was at 4am. Then I had to make the hour drive home, which sucked because to get to the airport we had to drive an hour north of my house. I finally got home around 5am and then took a shower to wash off the last 24 hours. I say 24 hours because by that point I had been up for that long.
As much as it sucked to have a tropical storm wreak havoc on my first girls’ trip and my first trip to Charleston, I’m glad that I was at least able to get a nice taste of the area in my very short time there. I probably won’t go back during hurricane season again. But, at least now I know it is an area that I would like to visit again.
Additionally, it was a good learning experience. It forced me to learn how to deal with a situation like that if it were to happen again on vacation. I’m glad that we did leave because Charleston did end up having some pretty serious flooding and I’m glad the rental car wasn’t in our possession when that happened LOL. Footage below of the flooding that happened after we left:
@emily.danielski Just another Thursday at work😃 #charleston #downtown #flooding #rain #summer #dayinmylife #escaperoom #tourism #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ Pure Imagination (from "Wonka") – Timothée Chalamet
I can’t say that I’d choose to go on vacation during a hurricane again, but if I had to, I at least have the experience to deal with it.
-Kailey
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