Vacation’s All I Ever Wanted

About six weeks ago I got a text message from a good friend that lives in Rome. This is what it read. “Giovanni proposed. Getting married over Labor Day weekend. Evening reception will be at his summer villa on a beach in Tuscany. You MUST come!”

Having the adventuresome “bug” I’ve carried since I was in diapers, my first instinct was to get on every airline website known to mankind so I could find cheap tickets to Italy. This was perfect!

The wedding is over a long weekend so we have an extra day to enjoy. My birthday AND wedding anniversary is on August 30^th so this would be the perfect way to celebrate. All the stars were aligning except for ONE…SMALL…DETAIL…I HAVE A TODDLER!

My life as an adventurous, last-minute traveler has changed forever. Yes, she can fly to Italy….my parents took me at one month. And, yes, we can still be absolutely exploratory with a little one, but- let’s be honest- it’s just not the same.

You can’t just throw a dress in a carry-on and go to Europe for a long weekend. There are so many things you need to take into consideration like the long plane ride, major jet lag, messed up schedule, car seats, etc., etc.

Needless to say, we will not be attending the wedding on a Tuscan beach. Instead, we will be spending two weeks in Miami.

Miami’s great right? Absolutely! But, did I mention we’re driving?

Yes, we’re driving….16 Hours….WITH A TODDLER!

We do, however, have a strategy. We’re taking our time stopping/sleeping in different cities along the way. We’ll visit friends in Raleigh, Charleston and Savannah and hope she sleeps considerably during the long haul between Savannah and Miami. If she doesn’t, we’ll spend the night somewhere along the way. We have a hard enough time getting her to sit still in the car from D.C. to Fairfax let alone Savannah to Miami. 

Some ask if we’re committing parental suicide while others applaud us for taking on the challenge. We’re taking the advice of our pediatrician and just going with the flow. We’ll stop when we have too, drive when we can and have fun along the way.

My family drove to Miami from D.C. every year and, while it was a long trip, I have very fond memories of the trecks. We would caravan in three or four cars with our CB radios…this was way before cell phones and blackberries!

Moms would pack lunches in coolers and we’d find state parks, along the way, to have meals at. We would always overnight in Georgia and the highlight was getting to spend the night at a Ramada Inn, swim in their pool and having Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner and breakfast at a Waffle House. The kids didn’t have DVD players or video games. We listened to the car radio, played road games and just talked with one another.  

Could we buy airline tickets and just fly to Miami this summer? Sure we could but 20 years down the road, we won’t have the memories of spending a week road tripping with our baby girl down I-95.

I’ll let you know how it went come September.