So much for our trip hiatus
We sacrificed three months worth of Saturdays and half of our June "staycation" to our camp renovation project. Besides the sweat, tears, but surprisingly no blood, involved we invested the rough equivalent of two vacation budgets. A calculated expenditure to set us up for the empty-nest/semi-retired years that are now within sight.
In the nine years that Adam and I have been together this is only the 2nd time we have taken a full week off from work together and NOT traveled somewhere. Yes, we are spoiled. I did not quite realize though that Adam has become just as addicted to our getaways as me. Until, that is, the last day of our "staycation". That Sunday morning as we were packing up the camp to go home, he stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips and announced, "I've learned something about us this week." I thought it was going to be some profound or sentimental testament to our teamwork and project accomplishments. Nope. "I learned that I REALLY like going away for vacation."
Now he tells me.
Truth be told, I think he had been telling me for months even as we worked on the camp. My mind was weighed down heavily with thoughts of staying on budget for the project, unknowns around car repairs, and working with our new forester on our new land. I had been insisting that we just didn't have it in the budget to take a trip when we took our next week off in October.
I was researching a peace offering of sorts in the form of a long weekend to Quebec City thinking its "Europe Lite" atmosphere might hold us over... I'm not entirely sure how I got rerouted into investigating "low season" pricing in the Caribbean.
I suppose we will just chalk it up Adam's subtle persistence and the stars aligning.
"...Barbados keeps coming up in top 5 lists for safest Caribbean islands"
"They had some all inclusive, I wonder how the package prices are..."
"JetBlue flies direct to Barbados from Boston..."
"Isn't October still hurricane season in the Caribbean?"
"Apparently no so much in Barbados because it's so far south."
"If we do a JetBlue package that would give us a bump on miles for the Hawaii trip in 2021"
"The all inclusive are a little different than we're used to, they kind of "in town""
"They are so much smaller than what we've done before"
"But is that really a bad thing?"
"Just gives us fewer food options so it could get a little boring by the end of the week."
"We'll have to overnight in Boston before we leave."
"It's a 5 hour flight, we definitely need to spring for "more leg room" seats if we do this."
"Whoa look at these places and the ocean front rooms that are available!"
"Apparently October is low season, those prices seem do-able..."
There was about one serious week of this kind of talk before I called Adam on his way to work and said, "soooo.... I can book a package at that hotel with the oceanfront room AND lay flat business class seats for less that I can book us in coach with "More Leg Room" seating..."
"Do it."
And that friends is how we booked our first trip to Barbados, with MINT class direct flights on JetBlue, a whole 7 days after returning to work from our not-so-restful "staycation".
In the nine years that Adam and I have been together this is only the 2nd time we have taken a full week off from work together and NOT traveled somewhere. Yes, we are spoiled. I did not quite realize though that Adam has become just as addicted to our getaways as me. Until, that is, the last day of our "staycation". That Sunday morning as we were packing up the camp to go home, he stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips and announced, "I've learned something about us this week." I thought it was going to be some profound or sentimental testament to our teamwork and project accomplishments. Nope. "I learned that I REALLY like going away for vacation."
Now he tells me.
Truth be told, I think he had been telling me for months even as we worked on the camp. My mind was weighed down heavily with thoughts of staying on budget for the project, unknowns around car repairs, and working with our new forester on our new land. I had been insisting that we just didn't have it in the budget to take a trip when we took our next week off in October.
I was researching a peace offering of sorts in the form of a long weekend to Quebec City thinking its "Europe Lite" atmosphere might hold us over... I'm not entirely sure how I got rerouted into investigating "low season" pricing in the Caribbean.
I suppose we will just chalk it up Adam's subtle persistence and the stars aligning.
"...Barbados keeps coming up in top 5 lists for safest Caribbean islands"
"They had some all inclusive, I wonder how the package prices are..."
"JetBlue flies direct to Barbados from Boston..."
"Isn't October still hurricane season in the Caribbean?"
"Apparently no so much in Barbados because it's so far south."
"If we do a JetBlue package that would give us a bump on miles for the Hawaii trip in 2021"
"The all inclusive are a little different than we're used to, they kind of "in town""
"They are so much smaller than what we've done before"
"But is that really a bad thing?"
"Just gives us fewer food options so it could get a little boring by the end of the week."
"We'll have to overnight in Boston before we leave."
"It's a 5 hour flight, we definitely need to spring for "more leg room" seats if we do this."
"Whoa look at these places and the ocean front rooms that are available!"
"Apparently October is low season, those prices seem do-able..."
There was about one serious week of this kind of talk before I called Adam on his way to work and said, "soooo.... I can book a package at that hotel with the oceanfront room AND lay flat business class seats for less that I can book us in coach with "More Leg Room" seating..."
"Do it."
And that friends is how we booked our first trip to Barbados, with MINT class direct flights on JetBlue, a whole 7 days after returning to work from our not-so-restful "staycation".
