Tag: cruises

Do you try and go on vacations every year?

We do. And we have, except during the scamdemic when no one was allowed to breathe unless given permission to do so.

Going on vacation is the light at the end of my working tunnel. It gives me something to look forward to. Otherwise, it’s the same hum-drum every day, I start feeling beat down and not exactly depressed but sort of … numb.

Though I love going on vacation, I love planning vacations almost as much. There is something so satisfying about putting travel puzzle pieces together and building a trip. We don’t use a travel agent, I’M the travel agent. I coordinate the flights, the trips, the vacation details including reservations for various things we want to do/see. Kevin hates this part, but me? I enjoy it. I’m a planner. Though I don’t get as upset when things don’t go according to plan anymore, (I used to get SO STRESSED when something didn’t go according to my carefully-laid out plans), it is nice to have some sort of a skeleton plan to begin with.

We have been on some pretty epic vacations in the past. For example, here is a list of vacations we’ve taken over the past decade …

This list doesn’t include our vacations from 2024:

2024 May Cruise to Bermuda (left out of Boston)
2024 June Camping to Branson MO
2024 Camping to Greenville MO
2024 Camping to Beaver Lake AR
2024 Camping to Crater of Diamond/Diamond Mine Murfreesboro AR

We had two cancellations – the first was supposed to be our 30th anniversary cruise to Europe. We were going to fly into Amsterdam, drive through the countryside and spend the night in a hotel near the cruise port. We were going to England, France … I can’t remember all of the places, but it was going to be EPIC. But if you notice the date, it was during the scamdemic year and we had no choice but to cancel the trip. We weren’t ABOUT to succumb to societal pressure and inject ourselves with God knew what just to go on a cruise. Our health was way more important to us than that.

The second cancellation was October of last year. We had to cancel because Kevin’s dad ended up in the hospital and very nearly died. (He’s okay right now).

We had gone on a cruise, pretty much, every year until the scamdemic. When the scamdemic happened, we weren’t about to be stuck at home all the time because life is too short to hide from it, so we started talking about buying a 5th Wheeler and going camping again.

We bought a pop-up when we were young parents. We took quite a few trips in the pop-up and though we enjoyed it, it was a lot of work and not really that safe. We got caught in a hurricane-turned-tropical storm one time and we were nearly blown over from the fierce winds. It scared us. We were basically a kite just waiting to lift off. We sold the pop-up shortly after that experience but by that time, we had used it for a number of years and we were sort of burned out of camping.

Fast forward about ten years later, and we bought our “Cub.” It was a hybrid camper. A hard shell camper with two folding tent beds on either side. It was a cool little camper and we drove it to Estes Park Colorado one year with the boys. We had a lot of fun, but it stressed me out because the canvas beds would leak and I would obsess about making sure I had sprayed enough water repellent to try and prevent waking up in a puddle of water every morning. Then we noticed it was starting to buckle and the walls were warping because of water getting in so we ended up selling it.

We were done with camping from that point forward, or so we thought.

When the scamdemic happened and it looked like we were going to be forced to cancel our cruise, we went into rebellion mode. We were not, nor will ever be, those people who kowtow to a government that tries to bully us into living our lives according to THEIR rules. So, instead of going on our anniversary cruise to Europe, we flew to Clearwater Florida and stayed at a hotel for a week. It was right across the street from the beach and it was a fun, if not weird, time. Everyone was pretty freaked out about COVID at that time, we had to wear masks, yadda,yadda,yadda, I don’t have to remind you of that dark and weird time in our history. Though we braved the hostile environment, (because let’s face it – it WAS hostile – everyone looking at each other with suspicion and with judge-y eyes), and got away for a short time, it wasn’t anywhere NEAR the type of vacations we were used to, or even wanted.

Since we had no idea when, or if, we would ever be able to get on a cruise ship again, we started talking about buying a camper again. I was surprised Kevin was even open to the idea because he wasn’t that crazy about camping to begin with. But when we started to seriously look and pay attention to how much campers were … whoa. But we were still determined to do SOMETHING for vacation every year.

And then, both Kevin and I stumbled on to some YouTube videos of people who had converted a cargo trailer into a camper and it was like a lightbulb moment.

Wait a minute … COULD WE DO THIS?!

Before I knew it, Kevin had bought a cargo trailer and was making plans to convert it. We watched a TON of videos on how to convert a trailer, came up with a layout that worked for us and Kevin started scouring the city for pieces he could use to build it. He found all of our cabinets at Habitat for Humanity and various other pieces at thrift stores … he did such a good job of keeping the cost down and he built everything himself. I’m so proud of him!

We’ve used it about 18 times over the past three years. We’ve been taking about four camping trips a year, though Kevin has used it a few more times than me as he has taken LeRoy on some camping trips, too. We love it. The trailer is very comfortable, is holding up really well, hasn’t leaked, so far, and it was the best $13,000 we’ve ever spent. (That includes the trailer). We plan on continuing to go camping for the next 5 years or so … until either we can not physically handle it anymore, (because camping is a lot of work), and/or, we just get tired of it.

Which brings us up-to-date. It’s that time of year again when I start throwing vacation ideas against the wall to see what sticks. I want to plan one long camping trip, a few short camping trips, and one cruise. We have some pretty strong contenders, now it’s just a question of figuring out the logistics.

I won’t actually start booking anything until January – we need to get through the holidays and cool our credit card off a bit, but I’m making plans, doing some research and getting excited for this year’s trips!

Bring it on, 2025!