Travel Angst

Y’all, it’s hard to plan a vacation. And I do it with more than a little bitching and moaning about why am I always the one who has to spend hours, days and weeks on this, with little input from Jake except the few things I can’t possible accommodate like a shuttle launch in Florida when those get scrapped the very morning they are set to happen. I go on to whine about how I need a vacation just as much as he does, I work just as hard as he does, why do I have to shoulder this burden when he gets to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Really, it’s an awesome temper tantrum. You’d all be impressed if you got to witness it.

Then I realize I’m a control freak and if he tried to take it on all by himself, I would not be happy about that.

Then I realize too that if I just asked him for input he’d give it to me.

So really I’m just a shrew.

Anyway…. we knew we wanted to go to the beach and just sit, read, drink, eat and sleep. And that other thing couples sometimes do on vacation that we must not speak of here. We also knew that taking Bridget along was not conducive that sort of vacation. We had originally thought of flying to California where Jake’s parents live and dropping her off with them for a few days while we got away, then swinging back through to get her. Not as easy as it sounds. So we had to scrap that plan. Then Jake’s mom  oh-so kindly agreed to come here to watch Bridget for us. Game on again.

So where to go? Hawaii sounds fun, but I’m not all that interested in being an eight-hour plane ride away from my child. Plus it’s expensive, and while we have enough frequent flier miles to go there, we have not planned far enough in advance to go when we want to go with our miles. So if we have to pay for a flight, I’m not all that eager to spend $400 per night for a hotel.

OK, scrap Hawaii. One day, we will get there. Just not this year.

What’s next? Mexico. I mean, we live in Texas so it’s close, it’s fairly cheap to get there and our hotel dollar goes much farther there than in Hawaii. But where in Mexico?  I’ve always wanted to go to Cabo San Lucas. Until I did my research for this trip and discovered that the beaches there are not for wading or swimming, the surf is too rough. And I don’t go to a beach if I can’t get in the water. That’s why California holds no appeal to me. Sure you have an entire coastline. Of water that’s too cold to get in. No thank you. I prefer the east coast where the water is warm. So scratch Cabo. That leaves Cancun, Puerta Vallarta and the Riviera Maya. So many options. I bought a guide book and I still am not 100% sure of my decision.

We want a nice hotel. Some people don’t care about their hotels when the travel. “Oh we’ll never be in the room except to sleep. Who cares what it’s like?” Well, you’ll also be there to wake up, brush your teeth, poop and shower. (And those other things we don’t mention)  I care about where I do those things. Also we aren’t go-go vacationers. We are lazy vacationers. We do spend a lot of time in our room. So it matters to me. We always try to stay at the nicest place we can afford reasonably.

We also don’t want crazy hustle and bustle. But we’ll have to pass on that requirement because that’s all Mexico is. We really just want a nice calm beach where we can lay around, get a drink or two brought to us, and play in the waves. I’m not sure we’d even venture off the property. Based on these requirements, and the shorter flight time, I decided on Cancun.

A friend gave us a great recommendation on an adults-only spa type hotel in Cancun that sounds and looks amazing. But it’s all inclusive, which is a rip-off for us. We simply don’t drink or eat enough to come close to making it worth the money. At the same time, the convenience factor is great. You don’t have to ever worry about spending another dime on food once you arrive. So that was a big contender and Jake really liked the idea of that place. But pricing it out, for our four-day trip, it would be $1,500 more than staying at the Ritz-Carlton. I just can’t wrap my mind around that added cost for four days. There is no way that we could spend that much money on food for four days. We don’t even plan to be up in time to eat breakfast so that knocks off eight meals right there.

Add to this the consideration that Shelly and the Overlook clan are currently considering a fall trip to Disney with Casa del Spud, and it seems foolish to spend that $1500 when I can bank that for September to help celebrate Parker’s birthday (and maybe Bridget’s just a little early!) at the Magic Kingdom.

To make a long story short (too late!) I think I have finally made my choice. It was available for the price I want to pay a few days ago when I last looked. Now I am waiting on final confirmation from Jake’s mom on the dates, which I hope to have today, and I’m booking that bitch. It better still be available when I go back to book. Or there will be hell to pay, I tell you.

Now I have a month to unwind from the stresses of vacation planning so that I can enjoy my vacation.

Oh, and please don’t tell me anything more about traveling to Mexico unless it’s that I will absolutely love Cancun. I can’t handle anything else to think about.

Filed under I Get Around |