The Crawfish Festival planned for Governor’s Island, New York looked special because of the combination of music, food and people who love the Big Easy. Held on an exotic, picturesque island complete with a real palm tree, it was just a 5 minutes ferry ride from the tip of Manhattan.

When I travel on my own, glitches happen and I try to deal with them and move on. But when joining up with other solo travelers, I recently experienced compounded "things went wrong" like never before.

Like what? Unexpected subway closures, ticket unavailability, being bitten on the nose by a live crawfish and a number of situations needing event manager attention.  

Throughout the group remained positive and committed to adventure. As the list of mishaps grew, so did our laughter.

The experience drew us together and made us appreciate the journey more.  We became  giddy predicting what was next and then it started to rain! 

It was a great, quirky adventure.

When things do not proceed as planned, how do you turn the experience into a positive one?.