The ocean does exist after all!

We just returned from our four-day vacation to Destin, Florida. 

Hotel: four hundred some dollars. 

Food, gas, and other expenses: two hundred some dollars. 

Feeling the sand beneath my feet: priceless.

In other words, it was totally worth it, despite the cost. I have no regrets. The icing on the cake was that my son - who, last summer, changed the interior of our car forever by getting dramatically carsick at least four times - did not throw up. Pretty impressive, considering that it takes about eight hours to get from here to Florida. 

Dramamine: also priceless.

Observation and vacation

Observation: "Looking for Freedom" is the name of a David Hasselhof song. No offense to Hasselhof fans, but this disturbs me. Perhaps we should have done a little more research before selecting the blog title.

Moving on...

We decided to book the trip to Destin because I needed a break. Using Expedia (which is having some excellent last-minute hotel deals), we found a relatively inexpensive beach hotel that's received good reviews on Tripadvisor and booked a room for four nights. 

We'll try to stick to a budget while we're there. The hotel offers a free continental breakfast, so we won't have to pay for that meal. The rooms have refrigerators, meaning we can easily buy sandwich makings at the grocery store and avoid overpriced restaurant lunches. Knowing us, we will probably eat out for dinner, but we located a few nearby restaurants that aren't too costly (like Panera). In terms of activities, we intend to enjoy the beach, and that's about it.

To pay for it, I put the expense on my credit card, transferred money from the savings account to the checking account, and paid off the balance on the card. I'm pretty sure Suze Orman would disapprove of using emergency money to pay for a vacation. Sorry, Suze. I am not waiting until I'm 35 years old and have 8 months of expenses in the bank to go on a getaway.

Frugality bites

Yeah. I said it. Frugality bites.

At least I'm honest.

So let me get this straight. We find it necessary to pay upwards of $500 to fix the car, and hundreds of bucks for dental work, and about $400 a month for the most threadbare of health insurance policies, and another couple hundred bucks to figure out why the toilet won't stop leaking... but we don't get to go anywhere fun this summer because we've convinced ourselves that whatever money Murphy (of Murphy's Law) deigns to let us keep, we should save.

Boo. Boo, I say.

Last night, I was thisclose to spending $400 on a four-day trip to Destin, FL (who am I kidding... I can talk about staycations 'til the cows come home, but I'd much rather go on a "real" vacation). Luckily, I live with a responsible adult - aka Trent, my husband - who quickly said, "I'd love to go to Destin, but are you sure you don't just want to put that money into the savings account? You know, toward the boat we're going to buy one day?"

*sigh*

I'm still not sure the Destin trip won't happen, but at least I now know how to put the brakes on my Expedia addiction. 

I just want to see the ocean and feel the sand beneath my toes. Is that asking too much? 

My grandfather grew up during the Great Depression, and he never spent anything. Never traveled much, never bought himself new clothes, never updated his car. I respect the frugal way in which he lived. I even benefited from it: when he passed away, the money he left funded my undergraduate education. 

But it seemed like he never had any fun, and I wish he had. I wish he'd done something for himself. I wish he'd enjoyed himself more. I don't want to be like that.

On the other hand, I don't want to be like I used to be, either: a shortsighted spendthrift.

The Ultimate Staycation

After numerous brainstorming sessions and several hours of searching for cheap travel, we've decided to just stay home this summer. As boring as this seems to me - because I love seeing new places and experiencing new things - it makes sense. We'll be able to save some money, and we'll be able to finally pay off the last credit card. Besides, we're working over the summer anyway; bringing my laptop to the beach doesn't sound like a good time.

Instead, we plan to save up some cash for a work-free holiday trip in December. We know where we want to go and how much we want to spend, and we're confident we'll be able to afford it. It's something we can all look forward to.

A couple of weeks ago, Trent's dad visited. He really loved where we live, and he opened my eyes to the number of opportunities and activities we have available around here. We have parks, museums, decent restaurants, swimming pools, community events - much as one would find in any vacation destination in another part of the world. Granted, we don't have the beach, and granted, the temperature can be pretty miserable in August, but no place is perfect. 

If we keep our eyes open, we'll find things to do. We just have to put some effort into it.