Lesson Learned

In my last post, I was gearing up for part two of my vacation to the Bahamas [to help my girlfriend celebrate her birthday]. Sadly, I didn't go. I left my passport [1: The Passport Story]. Shipping that sucker overnight would've been stupid expensive, not to mention the expense related to changing my flight reservation. To make matters worse, several hours after returning from the airport, I got sick. I don't know if it was something I ate or my distress over missing my girlfriend's birthday manifesting itself, but I was out of commission for 2.5 days. Fortunately, I've recovered, and my vacation is behind me :( 

Although I missed out being a Bahama Mama this past weekend and creating adventure-filled memories, I've managed to find a [financial] bright spot in the midst of it all. The money set aside for the trip went unspent. And once you consider that I was bed-ridden and in no mood to do any online shopping, that money has remained unspent. Previously, I mentioned the temptation to go above and beyond those funds, but considering all of the circumstances, it's safe to say that that's not an issue. 

Here is my question to you: what do I do with the unspent vacation funds?

So far this is what I've come up with: buy a gift for my girlfriend (had I attended the festivities, I would've footed the bill for something- dinner, drinks, souvenir, excursion, etc.), put the money back into savings, use it for another trip (I'll be in a winter wonderland of snowboarding this upcoming weekend), put it towards my car payment, or buy something nice for myself.  

What would YOU do with previously set aside funds that go unspent?

[1] The Passport Story: August 2008, my girlfriend (the same one whose birthday I missed :<) and I drove 8+ hours to Toronto. As we approached the US-Canada border, my friend asked me a very important question: "do you have your passport?" If you guessed my answer being "no", you guessed right. Despite a verbal reminder to pack that sucker, I left it behind and was faced with the possibility of turning around (no fun, if you've ever driven on New York's I-90 [the exits are 15 trillion miles apart from one another...I'm only exaggerating a little bit]). Luckily, we were allowed to pass through without issue. Perhaps I took that lesson for granted; this most recent incident hurt a lot (i.e. not being able to go). Undoubtedly, I consider this a major lesson learned!