Vacation Time!

The most common thing that married people tell me they would do if they were still single is travel as much as possible. True, I have a lot of money saved up and can think of few things better to spend it on than touring the world; it's the limited vacation time from work that's a problem. Still, it's also true that when I marry and have a family, I'll have more urgent and important things to spend my time and money on.

It occurred to me last week that the only vacation I have taken in the last 12 months (from August 20, 2008 through August 20, 2009) was the Mesa, AZ trip in April. The year before, I went to Disneyland, the western Caribbean, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and Cedar City. But this year, most of the time I took off from work was because of physical illness, and I was probably getting ill because I wasn't scheduling time off. It's a vicious and yet predictable cycle.

Last night, I grabbed the globe from my desk and started looking at all the places I want to go: Thailand, Greece, Italy, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, eastern Canada, Alaska, New Orleans, Missouri and Illinois, Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Russia, Australia, Georgia, Cuba, Fiji, Egypt, Israel... the list goes on and on, not to mention places I have already been to that I would like to revisit. How I wish I were independently wealthy so I can travel all the time!
[photo is courtesy of travelwo]

So you can only imagine how ecstatic I am to have not one, but two vacations planned within the next six months! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! I am so happy to have something to look forward to, I don't even care that I have to wait six months for the second vacation.

The first trip will be to Washington D.C. next month. I had scheduled time off for my birthday without a clue what I actually wanted to do, but I was pretty sure I didn't want to sit around at home for five days. Then, while talking with Aaron and Shonni on the phone a few weeks ago, Shonni asked "When are you going to come visit us in D.C?" She and Aaron are planning to move back to Utah in a few months, so my time was growing short. Everything just came together and I said, what if I come Labor Day weekend for my birthday? A few hours later, I had purchased a very reasonably priced plane ticket, sealing the deal. Just like that, I have a vacation planned!
[photo courtesy of Teambuildinginc.com]

Since I recently saw many of the tourist sites in D.C., I asked Aaron and Shonni to treat me like a native, so they are already thinking about restaurants and dance clubs and other activities to take me to. If there's a Labor Day celebration somewhere I want to go! However, I'll be there on a Tuesday, and I imagine they will have to work, so I am thinking about what to do that day. I would like to do a session at the Washington D.C. temple and maybe visit the Smithsonian museum where Dorothy's ruby slippers are kept. I am just so excited to get out of town and play with my darling brother and his friends!

The second trip is a western Caribbean cruise at the end of January with a group of singles! Yaaaaaay! I went to the eastern Caribbean with this group in 2008 and absolutely loved the whole experience. The prices this year are ridiculously low, and the stops are in Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. Shonni and I are signed up to be roommates and are hoping for more people for our room, Aaron is coming too, and we're trying to get as many of our single friends involved, because the more people we know, the more fun we'll have!
[photo courtesy of Fins 'n Flippers]

If any of you single ladies and gentlemen are interested in joining me on this cruise, shoot me an email or post a comment on this post with your email address and I'll give you the info. Sorry to leave you out, married folks, although I bet if you wanted to bring your family and come along I would see you there! It won't be exclusively single people on the ship so you'd be more than welcome. Let me know if you want the info. Cruising is the BEST!

I am especially excited about the timing for this cruise, because our next software release is on January 15th... again. Remember how last year I was working my brains out through the holidays and doing a show and pretty much no one heard from me for three weeks? Yeah, I really could have used a vacation then and kicked myself I didn't sign up for the cruise. Because we'll be scrambling to cover for one of the technical writers who left for another awesome employment opportunity, I'm thinking this release will be even more stressful than the last. This year's cruise starts January 25, perfect timing, no? Even if we don't quite finish the work, my boss already gave me clearance to go. I am very, very grateful and even more thrilled.

Meanwhile, I also have a desire to visit China within the next year -- most likely in the late spring or summer. I keep hearing advertisements on the radio for tours starting at $999. That includes hotels for a week, sightseeing admission and airfare. I'm sure there will be extra Chinese travel visa fees and tips and stuff, but I am quite excited about the idea and can't fault the price. I need to call the agency to see what options are, pick a date, and then start recruiting friends to come with me. If I went next summer I wouldn't even have to worry so much about whether to invite student friends, because they wouldn't have to miss any school!

I generally don't like planning things that far in advance because there are so many factors I can't predict: possible family weddings and such. (Hopefully if I plan in advance, though, they might be willing to take my schedule into account...? I know that's completely egotistical because I have no business making demands of a wedding and I'd only be peripherally involved anyway, but I missed Adam and Lindsey's wedding during my mission and I really don't want to miss another one of my brothers getting married!) Another kink is that it might mess me up on doing one or more plays next summer. However, going to China would likely be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... it just sounds awesome. When else am I going to do something like this if not now? Anything can happen between now and "someday," so if I want to go -- which I do -- I should probably go now.
[photo courtesy of Trader China]

Anywho, I'm looking forward to travelling and taking some much-needed and hopefully much-deserved time off from work. And it's always nice to take advantage of these opportunities when they come along. Woo-hoo!