Travel Plans

John came home from work a few weeks back telling me that some of his frequent flyer miles were going to expire at the end of this year and that he wanted to go on a trip with me to someplace warm. At first I wasn't so sure we could work it out but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. For our honeymoon we rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains of TN and had always said that for our tenth anniversary we would go to a tropical destination. That milestone came and I was pregnant at the time so we ended up going to a homeschool convention instead. The change in our "plans" really made me laugh but we did enjoy the time together.

John and I began to look at various locations and flight length as there are only certain ones available with the award miles and they all seemed to be longer than a regular flight or had more lay-overs. We contemplated the Riviera Maya area in Mexico but then found our dream location in Jamacia -- a bungalow on a rocky cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Ahhh! I got shivers just looking at the pictures.

But then came the logistics of working everything out on the homefront...

-- We are getting our puppy the end of March so it is ideal to travel before.

-- I need a passport and we don't want to spend extra to get it expedited.

-- John realized his vacation is used up and it won't begin again until April, meaning March is out.

--  Figuring who can stay with the kids or if they went somewhere who would take care of our puppy was a challenge.

-- Prices of our ideal location were adding up and we really want to take a nice family vacation this year too.

Ultimately, John began to think a long weekend in a tropical destination wasn't meant to be at this time in our life. I was disappointed but only for a short time as in the back of my mind knew it wasn't time.

So, after looking more into the miles that need to be used found that they can be put toward accomodations. We found a wonderful log cabin in the Smoky Mountains to use the miles on for our family vacation this fall and are putting our efforts into making it a memorable time together.

One day John and I will whisk away for a long weekend to a tropical destination. Right now I'll be content to dream.