Husband and I struggled to decide what we wanted to do for a vacation this year. Usually, we just take three or four days, pick a location somewhere close to home that we can drive to, and schedule the heck out of our time there. When we get home, we’re so tired from the stress of finding things to do that are fun yet affordable, making it to those destinations within the allotted time budget we’ve set, and driving to all of these locations that the vacation is more exhausting than enjoyable. This year, though, Husband actually has vacation time to use– time that he gets paid for, unlike at the post office, where he was technically still a part time employee (in spite of working full time); if we took a vacation, it meant he had to put in for time off that he was unlikely to get, which meant he didn’t get paid, which meant we accrued more loss than just paying for the vacation. This year was going to be different. This year was going to be relaxing. This year, we were going to try something new and enjoy our vacation.

After considering a variety of places in conversations that went something like “What about INSERT LOCATION HERE?” “What is there to do?” *search for interesting and affordable things on the interweb* “Nothing. Well, what about….”, we threw up our hands and booked a cruise to the Bahamas that departs out of Baltimore. Totally on a whim. Without consulting friends who have cruised before. With minimal price/review comparisons with other cruise lines. All we could do is pray the trip would be enjoyable.

We counted down the days to embarkation, even drawing a countdown on the chalkboard in our kitchen (we really, really needed this vacation, you guys). I did my typical overpreparations, cleaned the house from top to bottom, and tried to suppress my frustration that Hubs didn’t make a packing list (I mean, doesn’t everybody create a word document with a table and check off boxes with detailed, itemized boxes listing every piece and color of clothing you’re bringing? No? I might be a tad Type A.). Finally, the day arrived. We said good-bye to our furbabies, made sure they had plenty of food and litterboxes just in case Husband’s brother didn’t make it over frequently to feed and scoop, said good-bye to the furbabies again, and loaded the car to get the hell out of Dodge. Read more