Time to Plan a New Trip
Our first big family trip was behind us and from our standpoint it went pretty well. No major incidents and only wanting to cancel the entire thing and go back a few times, kidding just once. With one successful trip behind us, it was time plan another!
Feeling emboldened by our first trip we decided to expand our search for the next one. We kicked around some local locations but soon decided it would be best to take our trip out of state. Several ideas came to mind, Pennsylvania, Outer Banks, Biltmore Estate, and Chicago to name a few. None of them were really gaining much traction.
I will be honest, I cannot quite remember who suggested it first (wife will likely take credit), but a Disney Cruise came up out of conversation. I remember at first the idea was just kind of a joke. The wife and I had taken a Carnival Cruise for part of our honeymoon and could not imagine taking a toddler into that environment. So with a few side eye glances and smirks we moved on. It was not long before we came back to the idea of a Disney Cruise. We started doing some research on excursions, ship activities, and overall family experience and agreed it was the right decision for us.
The next step was actually picking which cruise to take. We knew we wanted longer than 3 nights since we would be driving and it just seemed to short for the amount of effort we would need to put forth to get to port. We also did not want too long of a cruise because who knows how it will go with a toddler. We settled on a 4 night cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral. I will be the first to admit Disney Cruises are not cheap. We started looking at inside rooms on a lower deck to help with the expenses. It was not long before we were discussing how this would likely be a once in a very great while trip, so we decided to be wild and started looking at a rooms with a verandas, a decision I will never regret. After much hesitation I clicked pay now and placed the deposit on our first Disney Cruise!!!
Johnny’s Words of Wisdom – Budgeting: First off, I am not a financial advisor nor offering advice when it comes to your finances, but I will say it is important to understand your budget and make the best out of it. Streching yourself too thin can often times create so much stress you are unable to enjoy your vacation and feel like you are “paying” for the trip well after it ended. This often leads to a less than enjoyable vacation and can often impact the memories you make. My wife and I established early in our relationship that we loved to travel and decided to always include in our budget a vacation savings, no matter how small that amount might be. This way we have the money saved in advance and when we get home from any trip the money is already there to be used to payoff any trip expenses. When making a vacation budget try to consider all of the expenses like food, souvenirs, gas, etc. I will be working on making a list of things to consider and posting it to the website……somehow. Regardless of your budget, you can always find a way to have fun and enjoy the vacation you worked so hard to go on!
Traveling Through The Ages 