A Sad Realization

Next Monday, we are taking another vacation home.  We'll be home for eleven stress free days.  This is great because it'll be the second time this year we'll be home.  The best part is that my brother and sister-in-law will be home as well.  Oh, they are also bringing their baby home.  So that's cool.  While it is always great to get home there are a few things I thought of that were a little sad.  Captain Bringdown to the rescue!

The first realization is that this may be the last vacation until next year.  I have the vacation hours at work so that's not the problem.  We could take another trip during the summer, but I also need to work so I get more vacation time.  It doesn't just magically appear.  So we try to space out the vacations to recoup the time off.  The problem is that working in retail means the last three months it is very difficult to get time off.  It's way too busy.  There is a small window in September and October but once you get into November....game over.  Until February.

The other realization is that we haven't ever really taken a vacation.  Yes, going home is a trip to see family and friends and it's time away from work so it qualifies as a vacation, but we have never traveled to different places.  The last place we went was St. Thomas and that was to get married and we had our honeymoon at the same time.  That was six years ago.  The problem is that it is crazy expensive to go places.  Think about going some place for a week.  It doesn't matter if it's Chicago or Baltimore or New York or Las Vegas.  Places outside the country as well.  There are cities in Canada I wouldn't mind visiting.  Seven days of hotel and food bills.  You also have to fly there unless you're close enough to drive.  It would be great to go to different cities and just explore.  See things and play tourist.  Drive the economy in another part of the country. 

And yes, you can take a road trip and see different parts of the country.  But that isn't free either.  You can go camping to save money and bring food to cook and all that stuff and get back to nature, but everyone that goes has to really be into it or else some are happy others are just annoyed.  We've gone camping with friends before and it's a blast, but haven't ever gone by ourselves.  I don't know how that would turn out.  I have no problem going camping to get back to nature.  My wife maybe not so much. 

It takes a lot of cutting back to save money.  And to save money for a vacation on top of that seems like a steep hill to climb.  I feel like you have to have a two or three year plan.  Plan a vacation two or three years into the future and start saving now.  Save a little here, a little there.  Put it into a bank account that you know you won't touch until you are ready to go.  Maybe reap the benefit of accruing some interest.  And where we are right now in our lives, we don't have that.  We don't have that disposable income just laying around.  Money goes to bills and rent and all that fun grown up stuff.