Vacationing with a purpose

When my father in-law passed away in 2015 my husband and I recognized it was important that we build on keeping the family connected and making memories. So I began to plan. What can we do together as a family  that would be new and different but also memorable as well.

Little by little I put money aside and made sure to get my request for vacation off. Then the research began. Where to go? When to go? How? Car rental? So many questions to answer and decisions to make.

So the first place to start was to ask the children where they may want to go. The responses varied. Hawaii, cruise, Paris, France, etc. It was great the conversations were started having but I knew we had to be realistic but the trip had to financially feasible. Fiji was the trip we were going to take. We would need our passports and would have to figure out air travel.

After a couple of months of discussion...Fiji was out and Orlando Florida was in. Disney World and Universal Orlando  were on and everyone was excited. Once dates were decided on the invitation went out to the grandparents and my siblings. Now the plan was taking shape. We would visit both Universal parks and the four Disney parks. Enough days were selected  so that we didn't have to visit the parks each day but could have some rests time in between.

Be ready for the unexpected......Such as work telling you the days you were previously approved for had to be changed. Yikes! Major stress on board! Rearranging flights, rentals, and hotel accommodations was frustrating. Be sure to know you company's policy on vacation time and requests. There may be times where you will get the short end of the stick. Plan accordingly.

Well I worked by butt off, trying to ignore my anger at having to rearrange my all my reservations, grateful for flexible family members and the blessing that there was no additional cost for all the changes I had to make.

Count down to take off! I'm a list maker. I like having everything organized so all I have to do is just check is off. Parking, maps, swim suits, sun block, aspirin. Check it off. Not every area may have a Wal-Mart or even a Walgreens.  As my dad would say, "Its best to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Up, up and away! The day is here and its time to go! Tickets, check. Suitcases, check. Gonna have a good time, check!
It was the best vacation ever! We had a great time, even in the extreme heat we enjoyed the time together as a family and it was completely worth it!