How to Pretend You're on Vacation
While on a Business Trip, Part 1
Although I feel no specific need
to explain to anyone why I am in Florida for the third time in 10
months... Well, never mind... I actually do sort of feel a little bit of a need to defend this... thus, this post...
I'm here, this week, because I
accepted a position, for the fall, as an early childhood music teacher, and I
have training to accomplish. The
training is here in Orlando. That's the
short story. The long story on this is
coming at some point, but not today.
Upon realizing that I would need
to make a trip to Orlando, I began deal searching, because that's how I
roll. No one I know can vacation at a
better price than I can, and even though this is decidedly not a vacation, I
think it is wise to be thrifty when traveling.
I often stay with friends when I
can, but seven nights of free lodging is a lot to ask. In addition, many of you may know that I have
had the worst summer in many years in regard to asthma and allergies, so even
though I am usually OK to stay in homes with non-feline pets; I am being
particularly careful because of how precarious my ability to breathe well has
become. Because of this, I started
looking for a cheap hotel.
When I say cheap, in this case, I
mean really cheap. I mean really cheap, but not quite Motel 6
cheap. It's not that I'm a hotel snob or
anything, but a friend of mine recently told me that since we're in our 30s, it's
OK if we don't pick Motel 6. I went with
her logic. When I started planning this
trip, however, I had another reason for shunning the cheapest of the
cheap. I was not certain, at the time,
if I would be traveling alone, and although I am something of a tough solo
traveler; I do like hotel rooms with doors inside the building if I'm by
myself. Weird? I don't know, maybe. But I'm keeping it real here. I found a cheap hotel. A really cheap hotel.
Then I thought to myself, I'll
bet there's a way to save more money on this.
Because, friends, this is always what I think to myself when I
travel. I then proceeded to take this
cheap hotel thing to a new level by working the system to score a free night,
free tickets to Sea World and Aquatica, and some free food. Please do not misunderstand. When I say it was cheaper to go with this
package, I do not mean it was cheaper than all of these things combined. I mean it was cheaper than the hotel price, alone.
I walked away from my negotiations feeling pretty awesome.
Upon researching travel options,
I found that it would cost nearly the same amount for me to fly or for Phil and
I to drive, together. This is the point
at which I said to Phil, "Hey! Do
you want to go to Florida with me for eight days?" If you know my husband, you know that what
followed was a sideways glance that questioned my sanity. There is no way I ask him for more than a
week of his time... alone... and he says no.
So I made my next pitch...
"Food is going to cost more
if you come with me, so you're going to have to take care of that..." The truth is, I have super odd eating habits
when traveling alone. Unless somebody
says, "Hey L... you really have to
eat now," I am probably going to survive on coffee and whatever (if anything)
the hotel provides for breakfast. This
is probably a huge part of why Phil often sets me up in hotels with decent
breakfast options when he makes reservations for me. It's like he knows I will be unable to resist
shuffling down to the lobby in my Hello Kitty pajama pants if I can smell
cinnamon rolls and cheesy eggs, but if it's just cold cereal, I might forget to
eat altogether.
Phil's response to this food dilemma
was a pretty typical response for our family...
"Gift Cards!" We are
sort of gift card hoarders. I am being
completely honest when I tell you that we have a bag full of gift cards that we
keep in the van. The nicest thing anyone
can offer us for birthdays or Christmas or graduations or random acts of
kindness are gift cards. At this point
it occurred to me that if I took Phil to Florida with me I would eat well all
week. This is a great plus for me, but
it's also good for you, blog readers, because it means that you will not be
subjected to multiple pictures of random grilled cheese sandwiches for which I
have foraged over the course of eight days...
So, very early this morning we
got in the van after about 90 minutes of sleep and began our journey. About three minutes later we turned around,
because I had forgotten my shoes. I hate
shoes. I mean, I really hate shoes. But I have no idea what the dress code is for
this training, so I am trying to play it business casual safe (legit, business
casual, not Naz business causal, which means business suits), and this means at
least breaking out the good flip
flops...
I proceeded to drive for 21 hours
and 4 minutes. I should admit here that
I may have tricked Phil into this particular itinerary. When we drove straight through from Ohio to
Florida in 2006 with a five year old, a four year old, and a two year old; Phil
informed me that we were too old to ever do the non-stop thing again. True to his word, we have taken two days to
drive to Florida on every trip that has followed. I knew that I was going to do this drive in
one. I have known this for months. It was just a tiny bit awkward when Phil asked
me, earlier this week, where we were stopping on Saturday night. I think he was less than happy with me when
my honest and very understated answer was, "Orlando." Ahem.
So, we stopped far more than usual, but Phil kept me supplied with
coffee running through my veins and probably more food than I would have eaten
on the entire trip if I had left him
at home. About three hours into our
drive I remembered why airplanes are beautiful and worth the risk, but I'm
thankful for a husband who thinks it's a privilege or something to sit in the
passenger seat and watch me rock out to loud, angry music in my sweatpants and
t-shirt and bandana. I didn't say I
understand it. I said I'm thankful. I'm pretty sure there was a moment at around
18 hours when it became less incredible to deal with my exhausted driving and
the crabby attitude that creeps in when I have been essentially sleepless, but then
he fed me again and we made it the rest of the way...
My original plan was to use those
free Sea World tickets in the morning, and let's be real... this is mostly
because of the free breakfast (do you see the theme here?). However, my new plan is to sleep as long as I
want and to focus on the first day of training, tomorrow, which begins mid-afternoon.
'Night
