I decided a few months ago that l was going to treat myself to a 4-day getaway from Los Angeles and visit Chicago. I turned in some long-saved frequent flier miles  for the airplane ticket, but had to shell out cash I really couldn't afford for the hotel. I found a travel website where a discounted promotional 3-night stay was purchased from a recently opened hotel. About three weeks before the trip, I had to regretfully cancel and only then realized the room, while transferable to another person, couldn't be changed to a later date and wasn't refundable .For the next two weeks, I tried selling it on Craig's list with no success. Five days before the "big weekend" I gave up trying to spend any money and decided I'd contact some friends who live in Chicago and offer someone a free "staycation". After trying a handful of people all of whom already had their own plans, I was determined to have the room not go to waste. That's when it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at the rooms in the wrong way. Instead of viewing them for vacation purposes, surely there must be a way to put them to good use, and that was when the idea that some sort of shelter might be able to use it hit me. I finally found one whose focus is aiding victims of domestic violence. This particular one was willing to listen to my out-of-left-field story and facilitated the transfer of the rooms. The shelter was working with a desperate woman and her young daughter, who were fortunately able to make use of the room. The room the author booked could only be  _  .
cancelled within 24 hours changed to a later date transferred to another person refunded half of the money