I'm Traveling Baby!!

I love to travel.  It's so much easier getting through busy exhausting weeks when you know you have really fun travel plans to look forward to far, far away from work and chores.  A place where the only thing on the agenda includes things like wine, flip flops and exploring.  Last year's trip to Europe was epic.   The after glow kept me going for a while but I'm ready for more.  Having travel plans on the horizon helps keep me happy.

Trip #1 is just a weekend mini getaway really centered around a sporting event but I have to pack and book a hotel so it still counts.  I'll be heading up to Los Angeles TOMORROW for the 2013 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships at UCLA.  Mj bought two tickets to all sessions as a Christmas gift with the understanding that the extra ticket was NOT to be for him.  He said he'd go if I couldn't find a date but would rather not.  It's a 3 day 4 session event which is a lot of gymnastics for a non gymnastics fan to sit through and I might have made him except that a friend of his is coming in from out of town and I knew he really wasn't interested.  I was all set to go by myself and sell my extra ticket but my mom volunteered to come with me and insisted that should could not allow me to go alone.  It couldn't have worked out better.  I'll get some great quality time with my mom and I'll have someone to share this awesome Gymnastics event with.  So it's me, my momma and gymnastics this weekend and I'm really excited about it.

I'm going back to Vegas this year for trip #2 in May with my older sister and my very pregnant good friend who lives in Alaska.  Is it weird that she's going to be 8 months pregnant chillin' at the pool in Vegas?  Kinda.  But she doesn't care.  She loves poker.  She's so good she'll probably make enough money to cover her plane ticket.  She's just dying to get away from Alaska which from the sounds of things sucks big time and if she doesn't care about her big round belly entering the casino before she does then we don't either.  It'll be good to see her and spend some quality time with my older sis before she moves out of state again.

Trip #3 takes us to the Washington DC metro area.  We will start out in Delaware visiting Mj's family for a few days then we'll hop over to Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia visiting some of Mj's friends and exploring DC.  The last time we went to DC it was a side stop over on the way back from Delaware.  It was December and it was FREEZING!  I was so miserable that I didn't even want to see the White House.  My face was turning into an ice block and my limbs were starting to go numb.  This time I can actually enjoy the experience and see more things.  We snagged our airline tickets for only $246 on Valentine's day.  Dynamite deal.  I have not paid that little for an airline ticket in a long time. 

Six long months later is trip #4.  In December we will be going to Maui for 8 days!!!  Europe was a city vacation.  Exhausting, frenetic but still amazing of course.  DC is also going to be a city vacation.  We went to Oahu for our honeymoon two years ago and that was our last lying around on the beach sipping fruity drinks vaca so I'd say it's time for another.  I can't wait to explore a new Island.  The hotel is booked but we still need to get our airfare.

We might throw in one other trip in there somewhere because I need to use my timeshare.  It would just be a short one not to far away.  I'm barely into trip #1 and my mind is already conjuring up European trip ideas for next year too.  I told you I love to travel!  Some people have no desire to ever travel and see anyplace new and I don't get it.  The upside is that you save a lot of money if you never go anywhere but the downside is that you miss out on so much!  The world is vast.  It's bursting with different cultures, amazing places to experience and memories to make with people that you care about.  There are so many adventures to be had outside of our little work and home life bubble.  I say, might as well get out there and see it.  That's what I plan on doing anyways.