I didn’t sleep that night. I sat at my kitchen table with my laptop and went through every confirmation email from Coastline Travel, the agency in Lakewood where I’d booked everything. I read every receipt and every upgrade.
Every single booking had one name on the account: Millie Miller. It was my Visa, my email, my loyalty number.
That changed everything.
They thought I stopped mattering the moment the payment cleared. They forgot that the whole reservation still belonged to me.
At 8:01 the next morning, I called Coastline Travel. A cheerful woman named Brenda answered, and I read her the booking number.
“Oh, this looks like a wonderful family vacation,” she said.
I almost laughed. “It was supposed to be. I need to make some changes.”
“Of course. Are you the account holder?”
“I am.”
“Then what can I do for you?”
I started with the drink packages, six of them at $89 per person per day for seven days. Then the premium dining. Then the Wi-Fi. Then every excursion: the snorkeling catamaran in Nassau, the Dunn’s River Falls tour and ziplining in Jamaica, the private beach club in Cozumel.
“Those were all purchased within the cancellation window,” Brenda said, typing. “So they’re fully refundable to the original card.”
“Perfect.”
Then I asked about the cabins.
Brenda paused. “The four balcony cabins under Richard Miller, Susan Miller, Vanessa Miller, Brandon Smith, and Raymond Miller?”
“Those.”
“What would you like to do?”
“Move them to the cheapest cabins available.”
There was a long silence. “The interior cabins?”
“Yes.”
“The ones without windows?”
“Yes.”
“On deck two? Those are right above the engine room. Some guests find them a little noisy.”
“They sound perfect.”
The fare difference between a balcony cabin and an interior cabin on that sailing was $1,140 per cabin. Brenda downgraded all four and refunded the difference to my card.
Then she hesitated. “And your penthouse suite? Do you still want to cancel your own travel? You’re within the window, so you’d get most of it back.”
I looked out my condo window at the sun coming up over the Denver skyline.
“No,” I said. “Leave mine exactly as it is. I’ll be going after all.”
The total refund to my Visa was $9,416. The rest was non-refundable port fees, taxes, and base fares already locked in for five people who had decided I wasn’t family. I let it go. It was the last money I’d ever spend on people who used me.
Before I hung up, Brenda asked something I didn’t expect.
“Ms. Miller, I’m sorry to ask. Is everything okay?”
My throat tightened. “It will be.”
“Well,” she said kindly, “I hope you have the best week of your life.”
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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