I was on my way to Florida on my first business trip. I pictured nights at DisneyWorld, warm sunny weather and trips to the pool - after work, of course.

After getting settled on the plane, the captain announced that a hurricane was scheduled to hit Florida a few hours after our plane was scheduled to arrive. Full of fear, and having never been in a hurricane, I felt sheer panic. After being in the air for about three hours, the captain came on again: "Ladies and gentleman, Orlando is experiencing heavy rain, high winds and lightening. There's a chance we'll be landing in Atlanta and staying until the hurricane passes through Florida."

Hours later, we were able to safely land in Florida. My images of sunny weather and trips to the pool were squashed. We checked into the hotel and I spent the entire evening with the news on and listened to the wind and rain outside and tree limbs hitting my hotel window.

The next morning, my co-worker stopped by my hotel room to tell me the storm was supposed to hit within a few hours and our office was closed for the day. We sat panicked in front of the TV the entire morning - and then the storm hit. After being cooped up inside for hours, the storm had passed and the rain let up, we had a bit of cabin fever.

Then, we heard on the news "Disney World is now open." Since the office was closed, we spent the day at Disney World - not all the rides were working, because they were damaged in the storm. But, the business trip I had imagined partially came true - I was at Disney World. And, the rest of the week our office was open, so we were able to work.

Lessons learned: I will never travel to a hurricane-prone state during hurricane season - unless Disney World is involved, of course.

-- Annie D., Redmond