Update on the 2026 eclipse viewing trip I was planning: it is now canceled! I was already feeling iffy about it, which is why I paid a little extra for full refunds on cancellation. The thing that finally convinced me not to go was learning that there was a 60% chance of cloud cover at the place that I'd booked. Between Iceland and Spain, I had read that the chance of clear skies in Spain was much better, but if I'd done better research I'd have found out that applies more to inland Spain rather than the coast. The accommodation I found was quite cheap compared to the going rate for properties in the path of the eclipse and given that the price of the flight didn't change substantially when I added a few extra days, it seemed like a waste not to enjoy it for a few more days. But the flight was close to double the cost of the accommodation even with those extra days so that was getting rather too painful in the pocketbook.
Instead, I'm going to go ahead and plan the 2027 eclipse viewing trip, which is also in Spain (or the north coast of Africa) and while the 2026 eclipse is going to be just above the horizon, close to sunset, with totality lasting a minute and 50 seconds, the 2027 eclipse will be in midday and last almost twice as long. Flights to Seville are very affordable and there is a very fast train connection to the south, which removes the need for renting a car. That by itself cost almost half as much as the accommodation on the trip that I just cancelled, so I'm glad to cross that off, especially as I wasn't looking forward to driving from the airport to the accommodation at night.
Only some accommodation booking services allow me to book more than about a year in advance, but neither of the two airlines that fly a direct route to Seville have booking options for that far in the future, so that's going to have a wait for a while.
