Vacation Rules Apply
This is my “we’re on vacation ” philosophy.
This is my “we’re on vacation ” philosophy.
Sometimes you just need a change of scenery.
After the year from hell, with everyone stuck at home 24/7/365, with limited entertainment options aside from the TV and our phones, escaping the four walls within which we’ve all been spending almost all of our time was more crucial than ever. Especially in the middle of winter when fresh air is less appealing than usual.
So last month, when my kids’ winter break hit, we got out of dodge. In a Chevy.
One of the worst aspects of having kids is, well, just take a spin around my blog. I’m pretty sure I’ve covered them all at some point. Including this week’s podcast topic: how expensive they are!
It starts with diapers and clothes and formula, then it progresses to daycare and sports and food, and eventually you’re buying them cars and college tuition. It never ends.
But it’s not just money they cost you, they also steal your sanity, your time, your sense of self. We get into all the ways kids bleed your wallet, and I do an impression of Louis Gossett Jr. in everyone’s favorite 80s alien movie that almost no one has ever heard of!
There’s a running joke among parents that any vacation you take with your kids is not actually a vacation, it’s a trip. God knows I’ve leaned on this joke myself from time to time. Because it’s true.
If you ask most parents to name their best vacation ever, odds are they’ll cite one they went on before they had children. Or on which the kids were left behind. I would have said the same thing; both of my favorite vacations – my big fat Greek honeymoon, or our trip to Tuscany – took place pre-kids.
That changed last month, when I went on my new best vacation ever. And surprise surprise, I even brought my kids along! It was the best of both worlds.
In late February, during my son’s winter break, we decided to head to Philly for the weekend. It was a great call.
Not only is Philadelphia an easy drive from Brooklyn, not only had it been way too long since I’d had DiNic’s ridiculous roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, not only had we long wanted to take the kids to the hyped (deservedly, it turns out!) Please Touch Children’s Museum, but the city of Brotherly Love was also the site of my first date with Mom and Buried!
Needless to say, this visit wasn’t exactly the same as the one that had launched our relationship some 13+ years ago. Nothing is the same once you have kids.
Especially traveling.