R & R

 

We both need to get away for a while, you know – come up for air.  We have been working way too hard while knowing that each day we are seeing tick past is one we'll never get back.  Now is the time.  We simply have to go for it.

 

We put in for vacation and began scheduling our trip; first trying to get plane reservations that weren’t going to land us in the poor house.  So we kept watching the prices, checking back and comparing, knowing full well the moment we locked in our tickets the fares would drop.

 

Then comes the dance around the suitcase; what to pack, what will travel well, what not to bring and what we’re not allowed to pack based on the TSA rules.  No fingernail clippers, hand lotion, toothpaste, peanut butter, and heaven forbid you have a bottle of water with you.  Knitting needles?  No problem.

 

Oh, by the way - you better weigh that suitcase before you leave the house…  Forget about being blown-up or sky-jacked, the thing you need to worry about is how much more they're going to charge if you are a pound over.

Okay, what are the chances the airline is going to juggle our seats around so we're not sitting together?  They did it the last time.

 

The rental car industry has somehow added multiple variations to the size of vehicles. The auto industry manufactures small, medium and large, but the rental car people have divided up each of those categories into eighteen sizes, each a little more expensive than the next.

"No.  There is no GPS with this one.  We want you to drive around aimlessly, using up the gas and return it to us empty.  That's where we make our real money."

I think the last time we ended up with a sub-compact SUV, but that’s only because we had a coupon for a double upgrade.

 

Next comes the hotel rooms…  Where to stay?  Down by the beach was priced way out of our budget and yet too far out of town would leave us spending our vacation time on the freeway every day driving back and forth between our affordable hotel in the sticks and the restaurants and clubs back in the city.

 

The location of the room in the hotel is also very important; not next to the elevators that ding all night long with people coming and going and not next to the vending machines or ice machine.  We certainly don’t want to be under or over the pool, dance floor, bar or night club and never on the bottom floor with people stomping about in the room overhead with big convict shoes.  But not on the top floor in case there is a fire.

It must be No Pets Allowed and don’t forget to check for bed bugs.

 

Are we having fun yet?

 

 

 

 

We are glad to be back home.