E is for Experiences
I always struggle with feeling guilty for what I have. We are by no means rich but we do pretty well for ourselves. On a daily basis, we don’t struggle. We don’t want for. We are stable. And through this – and trust me, it took planning and good choices – we have been able to have so many experiences.
When the kids were younger and we didn’t have a ton of money, we based our vacations around my husband’s conference schedule. He did two a year and they were usually at a central Florida hotel. I’d come down with the kids after it was over and we’d get a good room rate and then hang out at theme parks and the hotel pools.
As we both began making more money (I took on more online jobs) we started taking trips across the country. Our first was just up to Ohio, but we drove and stopped along the way. We saw other theme parks and various places that the kids had never seen before. We’ve been able to see: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana with the kids.
Ash and I have also been able to take trips away from the kids and we’ve been all over: some before kids like London and Paris, then we’ve been to New York and we’re going to Iowa this summer and Germany and Czech Republic in September.
I always have had a love/hate relationship with money; obviously you need to pay bills and I appreciate the stability but experiences become more and more important the older I get. We want our kids to see things outside Florida and know how different places can be. What they also get out of it is seeing that people are basically similar everywhere you go, they just exist in a different environment. I am so grateful for all our trips and experiences we’ve been able to have!
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I got to travel a little in my 40s as an IT consultant covering the entire US with two co-workers. But traveling for work meant little sightseeing time. My first travel binge was as a 58 y/o widow when I loaded up my Harley motorcycle and took several trips ending in my riding through 42 states across 27k miles. Two years later, I sold the house and everything in it, bought a used Class C motorhome and hit the road. A year later I met my now husband, who was also widowed/retired/full-time RVer/Harley rider and the travel around this beautiful country continued. Thanks to cruising, I’ve been to all 50 states and multiple countries. We even moved to Cuenca, Ecuador for two years. Our last grand adventure was a two month vacation involving 3 cruises (two were transatlantic) and multiple countries. We have slowed down and now concentrating on getting our home to where we can live out our years comfortably. Travel is wonderful!!!
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Wow, what a ride!
Well, you’ve had some nice experiences. Family road trips really make for nice memories all around.
Now that we’re older and have more discretionary funds, more travel would be great – just wish I had the energy of youth!
Much of the travel I/we did during the ‘growing up kid years’ was connected to work trips for my hubs. It was great to be able to tag on to those. I grew up on the East Coast but my grandparents lived out west. I remember how much fun it was to see something so different. No desert in NJ : )
I love traveling and seeing and experiencing new things! When our kids were in high school, I was able to go on choir trips with them and we went up the east coast and sang the national anthem for a Boston Red Sox game – they even let the parents go out with them! We also went to Colorado and went white water rafting on the Arkansas river (wild!) and we went to Texas. All of those trips were great and I enjoyed being with our kids. It sounds like y’all have had some amazing experiences together!