Vacation Planning

I used to love to research vacation destinations. I still like to look at websites and dream of where I might go. But we are now three weeks from Spring Break and I have still not booked our vacation. Originally we were hoping to go to Whistler, BC. But as you may have read in the post about my lost passport, I still do not have a passport so while I could go to Whistler, I would not be able to return home. So I have now started looking into local vacation options. Unfortunately, all the local options involve a lot more choices than I like. I am a Disney traveler. I like to book my hotel, buy my tickets, and be done with decisions beyond where to eat lunch. But the local resorts have lots of different rental options, resort locations and amenities, as well as a whole host of ski school options. So I am now faced with a lot of decisions and I just want to put my head down and give up. Staying home for Spring Break could be nice. Except I don't want to disappoint my kids.

The boys are really excited to learn to ski and surprisingly love the snow. Maybe because we actually invested in some good snow clothes, boots and gloves for them. I remember as a kid always being cold and wet in the snow. My long hair dripping with wet snow, whipping my face as I headed down the hill on my old school style sled. I liked the snow as a kid but I did not like being cold and wet. The one time my family took me skiing, I was wearing jeans and kept falling down so that quickly I was cold, wet and falling down a hill. I gave up rather quickly after that and have not skied since. It never occurred to me that my kids would want to ski or do anything snow related. But turns out after living in California for two winters, the big excitement of moving home was snow. They really wanted to see snow, play in snow, go sledding and now skiing. This year though I found the secret to enjoying snow. Good snow clothes. The right gear makes all the difference. Though I don't think it will help with the falling portion of learning to ski. And that part still makes me nervous.

My worry is that as I am getting older, new things are starting to scare me. I find myself not wanting to try new things, especially new things that involve speed, heights or the possibility of serious bodily injury. It is a good thing to have a healthy sense of self preservation, but I am slowly becoming old, scared of things that should be fun and exciting. I am worried I am becoming an old woman, someone who will be too scared to fly to see my grandkids. Someone who would rather stay in my house than get out into the world. And I don't want that! I want to enjoy the world when I finally have the freedom and finances to do it. I want to see Istanbul and go to a wildlife preserve in Africa. I want to go swishing down the snow covered mountain, ideally on a snowboard because I want to be cool and hip. I want to take chances because I know without taking chances life gets dull and I get stuck in a rut.

So it is time to get over my anxieties and worries of trying to plan the perfect vacation, trying to find the absolute best place to stay. It is time to get over my fear of the phone and call the ski school and actually talk to a real person about the best way to get everyone in my family up and skiing. It is time for me to take a chance on something, without expectations of perfection. It is time to step up and book our reservations.

But since it is 10:30pm I will have to wait until tomorrow.