It's all about perspective..

Last week a friend of ours with little kids (both under 5) sent me a message asking for help planning her vacation.  She mentioned a dollar amount and the number of days and that she was asking us, because it seems like we travel a lot and have some kind of secret membership to save money when we do travel.  Luckily, we were chatting by message so she couldn't hear me giggling hysterically...I shared some of my secrets (see below) and started talking to Mr. Ranch about the difference in perspective--that I sometimes am disappointed that we don't get to go on "fantastic" family vacations, but that to someone else ,what we are able to do looks really exciting.

Mr Ranch and I started chatting and then we realized that we are actually very blessed and that we are able to do some fantastic and exciting things--we are able to do a reasonable amount of travel, especially when we take advantage of offers from friends and family.  We've been able to stay at relative's condos, on friends couches, and in RV's in their driveways, and we belong to every "hotel club" imaginable, in an effort to get the best price when we can't find a couch.  Our greatest vacation expense recently has been kenneling the dogs.  When we stay at a borrowed condo we try to eat in as much as we can--bagels and cereal for breakfast, casseroles or spaghetti for dinner, lunch and snacks out sometimes or sandwiches if we're near the condo.  When on a road trip we try to stay at places with a breakfast (friends or hotel...), eat lunch from the cooler, and then splurge for a meal in the evening or cook in the hotel microwave.

We also have been able to bid on and win a couple trips at the kids' school fundraiser--those are certainly not free, but are a reasonable splurge--a few years ago we stayed at a cabin in Breckenridge and this year we'll stay at a condo in Puerto Rico.  We've also splurged to go to a cousin's wedding in New Hampshire, but we shared a hotel room with Mr Ranch's sister and then stayed with friends, so the dog kennel and plane tickets are the big expenses there.  Several years ago now, the kids and I had the same spring break, so we splurged big time, drove to Phoenix, met Mr. Ranch's dad, and then spent 4 days in California, at Disney and other exciting places.  Even then we lucked out, our hotel not only had a kitchenette (and 2 bedrooms and 2 baths) but also a free (truly free) breakfast and a cocktail hour on Monday through Thursday nights--with real food (hamburgers and hot dogs one night, tacos another, cheese, fruit, crackers and other snacks the third night we were there)--again, all free with the hotel room.

This summer the kids and I will make the great Midwestern journey again--we are hoping to spend 1-2 nights in a hotel on the way out and back, and use couches the rest of the time.  I'm going to do some planning along our hypothetical routes--I'm not opposed to going out of the way if it means a free couch. I'm also not opposed to going a little way out of the way for something interesting--I found this website Road Trippers--I'm having a lot of fun playing around with it--it's amazing the weird things one can find in America. Like the Moai Dude in Altoona, Iowa, or the Largest Ball of Stamps in Boystown Nebraska.   I think that both of those locations could be on my route, if I really wanted them to be, but I'm not sure I care that much about either.  I'm sure I'll find something really interesting. A couple years ago, the kids and I actually "sacrificed" a day to visit the Lincoln home in Springfield, Illinois (free!  Well, $2 an hour for parking, but still!!!)

So there it is...it's all about perspective--I guess my vacations are pretty exciting after all, even if I don't really have any secrets!