I woke up early this morning thinking about the phone call I would be making at 9 a.m. to Jane at a travel agency in Reno, getting underway with the preparations for a Caribbean cruise next Christmas with the FS, FDIL, FGKs, and other family members. Naturally, my foggy brain could only think of the hazards of making such a trip: traveling at Christmas, traveling during snow season, the financial outlay, the need to find Max a bunk at a kitty storage unit so he doesn't punish me while I'm gone, the need to give our Christmas Eve service to someone else to prepare, so that I can fly out to meet the others in Ft. Lauderdale in time to sail on the 26th. Yikes and double yikes!
I am not a miser and I am no longer a spendthrift; I am pretty good with money these days, thanks to hard lessons learned in an earlier stage of life. So it was reassuring to talk with Jane about costs, deadlines for meeting payment schedules, travel insurance, and decide that "yes, I can manage this". And it means a week in the sunshine with people I love and people I am coming to love.
The pure pleasure of spending a week with the FS and his family is worth every penny to me. I would be traveling to Reno anyhow to spend time with them and this opportunity will be even more fun, I think. I'll have a single room which will give me a place to find some solitude. I haven't thought of a way to make it tax deductible and I probably won't even try----God knows I need to take an actual vacation without trying to figure out how to take advantage of it tax-wise.
I find myself poring over the cruisewear catalogs and wondering about how you pack for 70-80 degree temps for the week onboard and 30 and below temps for travel to and from Ft. L. What a delicious dilemma! I'm sure I'll figure it out!
Thanks to the FS and family for making this possible!
4 comments:
How TERRIFIC! My family did a few tropical Christmases. I highly recommend it!
As for cold/warm -- layer up. And just accept a few minutes of suffering -- better than lugging a big heavy coat. Better yet -- have a friend be your airport person. Leave your coat in their car, and request they bring it when they pick you up.
And since I'm just full of advice ... plan something fun about a month after your trip, to help with the post-vacation depression.
Thanks, LE, I'm getting more and more excited about it!
That should be great! I spent Christmas and New Years in San Felipe, Baja California last year and although it wasn't really tropical, it was fantastic just the same. Enjoy!
That is great news! You'll treasure the memories of this trip for years to come. HOORAY! :-)
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