Insane Random Ramblings

I really wanted to go out of the country. Somewhere like Mexico or Costa Rica. My vacation is a present for myself for finally graduating school. That means the trip won’t happen until at least May of next year because I won’t graduate until the end of April.  I already know I won’t have any extra money until then.

I seriously doubt that I’ll be able to afford something expensive though. I really love cruises so that may be a option. The only bad thing is that I’m probably going to go by myself. I’m tired of not being able to go places because nobody wants to go or they back out at the last minute. So I’ll have to pay the single supplement which is usually double.

I’m pretty open to places to go though. But I know now is the time to start planning.

Well I’m flying to NJ and I’ll catch a ride with someone to the spot where the reunion is being held. I know my friend Geneva has a GPS in her car so I hope to get a ride with her. The reunion is in the boonies in a area where no one is familiar with. They chose that spot because it has a lake for the kids to go swimming. I just hope somebody tested out the water to make sure it’s a safe swimming area.

I really wanted to drive so I would have my car but I don’t mind flying either. Now I just need to figure out what I’m taking and I’ll be good to go.

Since I never did a Chicago recap, my list today will be: The top 5 things I liked about Chicago.

1. Diversity. I grew up in NJ and Philly and there is all kinds of people there. In Pittsburgh you basically have black and white and that’s it. There are a few people of other races scattered around but not many.
2. The shopping! There were so many stores that we don’t have here. We don’t have Nordstrom’s or Neiman Marcus, not yet anyway. We also saw Brighton, Chanel, Tiffany’s and Van Cleef & Arpels. Not that I could afford to shop in any of those places but it was still nice to window shop.
3. The people. Most of the people were really nice to us. We didn’t do a lot of the typical tourist things and we tried to blend in with everyone else. So it was nice to see how everyone interacted with one another.
4. The transportation. There are 2 train systems 1 for the city and 1 for the suburbs. Then there’s the buses that run in the city. You can always get around and the prices are fairly reasonable.
5. The activities. There is so much to do. The shopping, the city landmarks, the Navy Pier. You have your pick of activities and you’ll never be bored.

All in all I really liked Chicago and would love to go back for a visit. With their harsh winters I couldn’t ever see myself moving there.

I’ll have my thoughts on the city and what we saw later. It was a good time I just wish we had longer to stay in the city. I have a quiz today so we had to come back for that. Nevermind that I’m not even ready for the stupid quiz!

John and I decided that we are going to Chicago for the holiday weekend. We plan on leaving on Friday after work and coming back Monday afternoon. We wanted to stay until Tuesday but I have a quiz so I have to be back before 6pm. We would have to leave Chicago at 9 or 10am and drive almost straight through. I would be pretty tired from that ride and wouldn’t want to sit through class so we decided to come back a day early.

I went and made sure my car was road worthy. I don’t need anything done to the battery, air conditioning compressor, or the transmission so we’re ready. I have my handy-dandy AAA card ready just in case anything happens. Now we just have to get some money from the bank. We’re getting a 3-day bus pass that’s around $10 and I’m sure we’ll get good use out of that. Our meals will probably be on our debit cards because we don’t want too much cash.

I’ve never been to Chicago so I’m super excited. I can’t wait until Friday!

I wait until the last minute to do everything. I’m going to NJ tomorrow to visit my mom for Mother’s Day. I just did my hair last night and tonight I have to do laundry. Yes my clothes are still dirty. I don’t want to have to come home and do laundry for next week. I also just asked for Monday as a vacation day. My department is pretty laid back and if it’s open I can have the day. I’ve worked other places where they would not approve vacation if you didn’t request it 2 weeks in advance.

We’ve also put vacation planning on the back burner. I just realized that I have school one of the days that we’re supposed to be in Chicago which is a bummer. Now we’re looking at Hilton Head rentals, condos, and a few hotels but we haven’t decided on any one place yet. I really want to go on a cruise but that would be way too expensive this year. Maybe we’ll do that next year once I’m done with school.

Of course we would probably plan that at the last minute too.

Today’s five topic is things I may spend my Economic Stimulus money on:

1. Baseball in general. Whether it’s tickets, gas to the games or food. We’re making tentative plans to go to Chicago to either a Cubs or White Sox game. We may go back to Cleveland for a game as well.
2. Sneakers. I want a pair of Nike Shox but I refuse to pay $120.00 for one pair of sneakers. I don’t care if it is “free tax money”.
3. My car. I need tires and break pads. I don’t need rear spoilers or anything fancy for the car, I just want it to run.
4. A small portion will go to tuition for school. Anything I can do to lessen the need for a student loan the better.
5. Savings! Yup, even after all of the above I will still save a portion. I’m leaning towards 10% right now. I will save the money first and spend what’s left.

What about you? What do you plan on doing with your money?

We usually get along so well and agree on almost everything. We usually only disagree on where to eat. And that’s because I always want IHOP and he wants to eat somewhere different each time. But vacation is a thorn in both of our sides.

I want to go to a beach or tropical location. He wants to go on a road trip to see baseball games. Money is tight for me because of school so this one actually works. I want to stay in a nice condo hotel, he wants to stay someplace cheap. I do agree that the hotel is just somewhere to sleep but I don’t want to stay in some el-cheapo fleabag place. I want to go to certain baseball games but he doesn’t want to go to those particular cities. Mostly because he doesn’t like the team that I do.

Our vacation is only a week long but I have a feeling that we’re going to disagree on a lot more issues. I guess it’s good to get it out of the way and see how well we can compromise with each other.

My top 5 vacation wish list:

1. Aruba - I’ve been wanting to go here for years. I almost made it last year for my birthday but I went on a cruise instead.
2. Trinidad and Tobago - This isn’t somewhere that you really hear a lot of people talking about going. I know several people from here originally and I hear how beautiful it is. I would love to go and see for myself.
3. Dominican Republic - It’s close and it’s affordable. This will probably be the first one that I’m able to cross off of my list.
4. Australia - I was so jealous of my friend David when he went about 4 years ago. He went with a bowling league and went to Australia and New Zealand. They stayed for 11 days total. I kept asking him to stash me in his bags. I was only half-joking.
5. France - I never told John this because he has some kind of abnormal fascination with France and learning French. I want to spend some time in Europe. I would like to visit London but spend the majority of my time in France. This is possibly a honeymoon trip but I’m not opposed to going just because.

I’ve only been at my job for 2 years so I only have 2 weeks vacation. That’s definitely different for me because on my last job I had 3 weeks. That extra week doesn’t seem like it would make a big difference but it does. I have to take 5 days together for my first week. Then I can break up the second week and take the days how I like.

Those days go by quick. You might get a couple of 3 day weekends and maybe one 4-day weekend if you’re lucky. But that’s about it. It’s not really enough time for a vacation especially since I don’t live near the beach. No Myrtle Beach, no Outer Banks, or even Wildwood would be nice. But with so little time off, it’s probably not even worth it to go. By the time I would get to my destination, it would be time to turn around and come back.

Maybe when I look for my next job, I should negotiate vacation time as well as my salary.