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Staycation, Meant to Be Spent Near Home

Song Lyric of the Day:

Goodbye and it starts to snow / In the streets of Mexico / Goodbye, I am left alone / In the streets of Mexico

Glenn Morrison (featuring Islove) / “Goodbye

Yesterday when I wrote about my hopes for 2016, I forgot to include a big one: family vacations. As in: I hope we can take little day trips here and there. Because that week-long, possibly exotic family vacation in a location ideally far, far away? Probably not happening any time soon.

The other day Coraline asked me when we were going to the beach again, and I had to tell her I have no idea. Granted, the beach is very low on my and Rich’s list of dream vacation destinations — we’ve never been beach people — but we know she loves it, which makes us enjoy it more than we normally would. I would REALLY love for this to be the year we take Cora to Walt Disney World, but again, I’m not holding my breath.

Granted, a family vacation is a first-world problem, and even being able to take paid time off is a privilege, not a right. Until we can afford to take a real vacation, though, Rich and I are looking forward to taking little day trips with Coraline. We’ve decided to focus on a 2-4 hour driving radius of Knoxville, which opens up some decent possibilities. So where will we go first? I’m leaning toward the Lost Sea — it’s not that far, and the last time Rich and I visited was way back in high school (at the latest). The anthropology nerd in me is also dying to go to the ETSU & General Shale Natural History Museum, which I’m pretty sure Cora would get a kick out of (thank you, Night at the Museum movies). This list of family-friendly day trips on the Knoxville Moms Blog is also rife with possibilities.

So what’s the upside about staying close to home? Plenty of time to plan and save up for the big family vacation we hope to take someday.

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The Year of Living Dangerously … Close to Home

Song Lyric of the Day:

Come away with me / Come, let’s go away to be / On a new adventure for two / We can fly across the ocean / Or take a train together / I don’t care as long as it’s beside you

Tim McMorris / “You’ve Got My Heart

I’ve been fortunate in my life in that I’ve traveled a decent amount. My freshman year of high school, my mom scrimped and saved to send me to Europe with my French class (six countries in 16 days). For my honeymoon Rich and I took a Caribbean cruise. We made several trips to New York City over the years. In 2008 we met up with our friends Richard and Donna in Uruguay. In 2009 I took a solo vacation to the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2010 Rich and I visited Caren in Colorado right after learning we were pregnant with Coraline. In 2011 we took Coraline to Iowa to visit Rich’s extended family. In 2012 we took a long weekend in Asheville, N.C., exploring the city and visiting Biltmore (twice, but that’s a story for another day). Last year we took a long overdue visit to see friends in Ohio.

This year? Well, it’s already mid-May, and I have zero travel plans for the year. That’s right — nada. I’ve got nowhere to go and nothin’ to do. Travel-wise, that is. Due to various issues that have arisen and others that will need to be dealt with in the near future, traveling to, well, pretty much anywhere seems like more of an extravagance than ever. And I admit, it’s a bit depressing. It’s undoubtedly a first-world problem — boo hoo, poor me, I can’t take a vacation — but I’ll be honest and admit that yes, it’s got me down a bit.

One of the many beautiful, exotic vacation destinations which I will not be visiting this year.

One of the many beautiful, exotic vacation destinations which I will not be visiting this year.

A couple of months ago, Rich was encouraging me to go back to Toronto for this year’s festival, but I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen now. Which sucks if for no other reason than I got my hopes up. I’ve written before about how being optimistic, as opposed to my naturally pessimistic self, is something I have to work at. So getting the shit kicked out of my excitement at the mere thought of going back to Toronto has not been fun. Maybe next year. We’ll see.

I’m trying to be optimistic (what can I say? I’m a dumbass who never learns.) that maybe we can at least take Coraline to New York City this year. I haven’t been since 2006(!) so that is definitely on my shortlist of places to go whenever we can afford it. And no matter what we can afford right now, I’m just scared to spend money on things — vacations — we don’t need, because who knows what other things will need to be dealt with. See? That’s me being pessimistic. And practical.

Still, I do have things to look forward to this year: a new baby niece on the way, a nephew starting preschool, Coraline’s 4th birthday, a nephew starting 1st grade, time spent with family we are fortunate enough to live close to, a new X-Men movie. (Hey, if I can’t travel, you can bet your ass I’ll at least be drooling over Hugh Jackman on the big screen.) So despite not having any international or domestic adventures on the horizon, there are still good things happening this year.

Staycation, anyone?

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