The Year of NO TRAVEL

Last January I declared, "We will save money this year!" And with that, we decided we would not be traveling. We would not buy Silver Dollar City or White Water passes, and we would not be bidding on timeshare stays on Ebay, and we would not give in to the urge to take the kids to the beach, and we would not jet off to nerd conferences, and we would not put extra miles on our van, and we would not make it to Thanksgiving, and we would not be visiting friends in other states, and we certainly said "Thanks, but no thanks!" to a Disney trip in 2012. Just not in the budget. Sorry.

But I wasn't that sorry. I felt really good about it. I was excited to reroute so much fun money to the savings account and make some real progress. It made my miser's heart swell with pride. Anyway, it was the year Alex would turn 8 and be baptized, so we knew that would draw some family members for a visit in 2012. So, there.

Well, 2012 had other plans for us. Early in the year, my paternal grandmother passed away. I had flown alone for my grandfather's funeral just 8 months before, so this time we drove the whole family down to Mobile to be with everyone. It was a sad occasion, and I was happy to break the traveling rule to be there with my dad and the rest of the family.

Something else happened we forgot to plan for, and it couldn't be helped. There's a new temple in Kansas City, and the opportunity to take our kids to the open house was something we couldn't pass up. Plus, we have friends who've moved there, and we were able to see them and stay there. So, basically, we traveled again, but it didn't count. Church related + no hotel = not really traveling, right?

And, well, this one didn't count either, but Ryan "had to go" to Portland for OSCON. Walmart paid for the trip, and poking around his old stomping grounds could hardly be avoided while he was there. No biggie. 

 And then there was the time some friends got married in Kansas City in July, and our temple recommends were about to expire, so we really had to go back. My parents happened to be visiting us on their way to Seattle, so we didn't have to take kids, and could you honestly pass that up?

I suppose Kylie and I might have taken a little girls' weekend back to Kansas City at some point. I'd count it, but since I got lost and nearly didn't get us there, I'd suggest we just move on. 

Other than that, summer of 2012 came and went quietly, and we did not travel. Except that there was the time one of my sisters brought up the beach, and we had just enough time to get down there and back before school started and to take advantage of a crazy deal on a condo at the last minute. But, seriously, it was right back to our plan after that. No traveling!

The thing is, we have these great friends. We've lived in Arkansas together for a handful of years, and they've become the kind of friends who know too much about you to ever not be your friends again. We've done lots of things with these guys, including near disastrous surprise parties and half marathons and Thanksgivings and date nights and Silver Dollar City and even Disney World, but not last year. Last year we could only play local. Because of our plan to save and all. And then they dropped a bomb. Our friends were going to be moving to England, and something had to be done. So, we DID go to Big Cedar for Labor Day, but it barely counts. Branson is so close, and it was only 2 nights, and the guys came home early for work, and for crying out loud, England!

But after that, it was back to being good. Really good. Well, except that the rest of my siblings celebrated my parents' retirement with a cruise, and we didn't go. We would have made an exception, but we couldn't work out leaving the kids at the time, and so we agreed that we'd come to Thanksgiving. But, really, it's a major holiday and a family tradition. Prepare to not count Thanksgiving, okay?

And then we remembered that we had once thought of going to Disney in October. I mean, it was just a thought. We weren't going to really do it, and we only thought of it because our (stupid, country-leaving, ex-pat) friends were thinking of going and thought it would be fun to go together again. We said it would have to wait another year, and we left it at that. Oh, but that was before they decided to move. So, wouldn't you know, we found ourselves on a plane to Orlando in October. And, honestly, we'll just have to count this trip. But I can totally justify it. We surprised our kids. They had no idea until 5 minutes before we boarded the plane. It was their first flight (if you don't count Kylie at 5 months old. You must point this out, or she will break out into hives!), and we had a blast just watching their excitement and nervouseness. We did Disney, but we also got to hang out with a bunch of Ryan's family we hadn't seen in forever (or even met!) for a whole afternoon. In the end, it was a great trip and a bittersweet sendoff, and we miss our friends terribly. I'd repeat this trip in a heartbeat, but it was the official end of my denial. We were, obviously, traveling in 2012.

And that made it easier to enjoy our travels for Thanksgiving. We would travel and eat and play and freeze our butts of and love it. And we did.

And guess what? I want to travel in 2013. Want to come with us?