In which I get all hippie dippie on ya

So. Hubs and I were supposed to go to Panama. We bought the plane tickets on a whim and all was well. We were set to scurry to a land of ex-pats and yogis and snorkeling.
Until I started reading some travel forums. It seemed like every reviewer of our intended destination had a horror story – drugged drinks, hotel break-ins, near attacks, muggings, a gol-dang serial killer on the loose. Not to mention the other sad posts about how environmentally irresponsible a lot of the tourism and development is down there. Not a freaking word about the peaceful yoga on the beach or sweet hippie freaks I'd read about two months ago.

These were bad vibes, man. I could tell that this was not going to be the relaxing trip we had wanted. Who could relax when there is constantly that one story about that one couple in the back of your mind? How can you enjoy a snorkel excursion when people are standing on living reefs and ruining them? The short answer is that we cannot. The vibes would not allow it.

Now, obviously, I’m not the most green gal in these parts, but I don’t really want to pay hundreds of dollars and travel for 24 hours to watch nature be blatantly destroyed by a tourism industry that seems to be growing too fast for itself. And I’m not a huge freaking travel chicken, either. I've traveled alone and wandered through cities at night, but this felt different. I don’t want to test my theory that Panama was giving Hubs and I some seriously bad juju.
So, the tickets have all been cancelled and we are back to square one. We lost a few hundred on this deal, which sweetholybuckets, hurt my soul and my cheapness, but as my husband so wisely put it, “If we went and were robbed/injured/worse, I would rather watch the money burn.”

Have you ever cancelled a trip because of bad vibes? Or, on a lighter note – where should we go now? We’re thinking Napa or the Keys because we seem to be incredibly yuppie this year. Next thing you know I'll be wearing sweaters around my shoulders and buying a poodle. Isn't that what happens after you check in to a Sandals?