Vacation - Papa's point of view part 2

You’ll really need to read part 1 before jumping in here.

When we last left our story, I was just starting to plan our first ever family vacation, so that is where we'll jump back in.

January - I broke into Julia’s email to get Jane’s email address.  Once I had the address I lobbed the first test email to see if she was receptive.

She was.

February – I broached the idea of a vacation with Julia, and she shot it down; it was out of the question.

March – I tried again and the answer was the same.  I now decided that trying to suggest this each and every month would get us nowhere, so I let my plans simmer.

April and May – Nothing to report.

June – I throw caution to the wind since the girls were making great progress of their own and reached back out to Jane.  I was targeting a trip between August and February, so the girls would be under two years old and, therefore, could fly for free.  Jane was due with baby number three in October, so that limited us a bit.  John would be taking vacation in September, around their girls’ birthday, so we set that date.

July – I booked the flight, car, and hotels once Jane confirmed John’s vacation plans.  The only thing I told Julia was the trip would involve a two hour flight and a 90 minute car ride.  I also told her how much went into scheduling the flight, car, and hotel. 

You cannot book a flight for an infant on your lap over the internet.  You first have to book the flight and then call in with the other two riders.

For the car, you have to call the location to confirm they have car seats and can reserve them for you.

The hotel is a little trickier.  Unless you want to spend an arm and a leg to get a suite with two different rooms, you have to call around.  I couldn’t afford the suite, so I had to find a hotel with adjoining rooms.  Even if you do that, you have to find a hotel that can provide two pack n plays.

I distinctly remember one call where the person informed me they did have a pack n play.  I was in the middle of booking everything when I decided to ask a stupid question.  Did they have one crib or more than one?  In a hotel with 1,400 rooms they had only the one crib.  Click (that's me hanging up in disgust), on to the next.  The ninth hotel I called had what we needed so I booked it.

So everything is booked.  Julia has no idea where we're going or what we're doing.  Just to make sure she didn't figure it out by accident, I decided to throw her off the scent.  More on that to come next time.