Summer travel plans, the spending of monies
June 24, 2008
Yikes, it’s already nearly the end of June! Two weeks ago, I realized that June had well and truly started, and if I was going to visit Portland and Phoenix this summer, I’d better get my tuckus in gear!
I missed my chance to make the Portland trip this month, and the Phoenix trip in August, so I thought to cram them both into August. Then I was informed that I was attending a wedding in August with BF. Hmm….. August will be insane if I go on a trip every weekend. Yes, the opposite of relaxing. Also, there’s a sporting event to be attended in October, also for BF. Portland will have to happen in August, Phoenix will probably get pushed to September, I believe. Work is claiming one of my weekends in August, so there’s just more than enough going on that month.
So there’s a lot of travel juggling going on. My travel budget this year is a wee one, so I have to be very creative in mixing award flights, gift cards, and real cash money.
The wedding flight ran $149, just within the $150 budget I’d allowed. I wanted to buy it immediately, and use the $100 GC for the October flight. But I didn’t take my own advice because I wanted to consult with BF about dates and times before I purchased the tickets. He’s still out of town, but I just guessed and purchased the tickets before they went up more than the $15 they already had. *tsk* Yeah, the price went up. No, I’m never going to learn.
I might as well get that SW gift card now so I have the GC and discount code ready at hand when I have to purchase the October flight.
There’s a quiet voice inside me whisper-screaming: Hey!! Skip one of those trips and use the money to pay bills! BILLS!!!
I’m ignoring that voice. I’m ignoring it.
The temptation to skip it all and leave the money in the travel fund “just in case” is overwhelming, but I just don’t see how I can renege after promising over and over that I’d visit these friends for the last few years. The PF blogger in me keeps saying that I’m going to use up ALL of my travel money by October and then what’ll I do? Things at work are still chaotic and I’ve got no plans for replenishing this fund. But that’s what the e-fund is for, Chicken Little. The sky’s not going to fall down if I go and have a nice weekend with childhood friends, and it very well might if I go back on my word!
Terrorism isn’t the reason I’m going, though. If I don’t do it this year, I might never. If I talk myself out of a promise this year, I very well may do so again next year. There’s never going to be a perfect time, at least not for the next ten years because I imagine the perfect time is something like, I have 5 months’s worth of vacation time, $100,000 in the bank for nothing but pleasure, etc. Not. Going. To. Happen.
As it is? I have nearly 180 hours of vacation time. I could be out on sick and then vacation leave for two months.
I’m going to play, dangit.
good for you! go travel and see fun people. go play.
I relate to the ‘it’s never a good time’ theme–I have friends in Austin and Montana, and even San Francisco…did I ever get up to see them from SoCal in the last 2 years?
Nope.
And now that I’m moving so far away…i’m kicking myself. Why couldn’t I sacrifice $200 and a weekend to even go to San Fran?? I’m a bad friend…
(most of the reason was vacation time–i never seemed to have enough, with all the funerals I had to attend. 3 days bereavement leave is NOT enough. 10 days/year with my family was also NOT enough. i would have gladly sacrificed some of my salary for more vacation!)
sense: My resolve weakens, the more difficult it is to book these award tickets, but I’m trying!
I definitely felt the same way in college: why couldn’t I take a single day off to go see my friends when we were in school within a few hours’ drive of one another? (Well, vacation time, money to spend, money I’d lose by taking time off, etc.) I regretted missing out on all the college stories; I ought to have learned my lesson by now!
Besides, you had no idea you were going to end up in NZ, did you?
Phoenix in Sept would probably be better for you temp-wise. But lots of restaurants/bars have misters to help keep you cool.
Phoenix is one of my favorites places that I’ve lived.
karen: I’m sort of a heat rat, sometimes. When I’m in the mood for it, I like to be outdoors and slighty roasty … but I should probably be prepared for Phoenix to be much hotter than would be comfortable even for me.