Tuesday SOL 2/12/13 - The Ups and Downs of Vacations

va.ca.tion 1: a respite or a time of respite from something; 3: a period spent away from home in travel or recreation

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?  And, for the most part it was, but let me share some of our ups and downs during our week of respite.

Planning - where shall we go?  what shall we do?  should we fly or drive?  how long will we be away?

Preparation - searching for the right flights, and then hotels - when will we be there - one night or two; reserve a rental car; confirm our stay with my Aunt.

Anticipation - what will the weather be like, will we need jeans and sweaters or shorts and tees.  Don't pack too much, but how much is enough - only taking carry-on luggage.  Put the liquids in a baggy.  Camera, phones, chargers, Kindle, more chargers, money, charge cards....

The day arrives - sunny and nice at Branson... but then we watch the weather channel - Atlanta has bad weather.  The plane arrives, we board, the pilot backs out,  needs de-icing - 5 minutes, 10 minutes.  "Sorry folks, we have to go back to the terminal.  Atlanta has a ground stop.  Should be about an hour delay".  We wait and wait - so much for getting our connecting flight.  Three & a half hours later, we board, again.  Our connecting flight was cancelled, but we were put on a later flight.  Finally arrived in Orlando - only 6 hours late.  Get the car and try to find our way out of Orlando Int'l. Airport - first stop - a toll booth with traffic backed up a half mile - second stop (3 miles after the first) another toll booth - this could be a very long ride, but thank goodness that was the last of the toll booths and we found our hotel about a half hour later.  A very long first day and hopes that things would go smoothly from this point on.

And so they did.  We visited with my 85 year old Aunt - what a delight!  We drove through the Florida countryside, visited a botanical garden, walked along the beach, drove through the Everglades, saw lots of wildlife, met friends who were also vacationing, toured the Kennedy Space Center, traveled about 1,000 miles.  Saw many places that we have never been before, made u-turns because the map reader (me) couldn't always find the right place - Hubby says we bring the GPS next time!  Through it all, we had a delightful time and there were more ups than downs - which brings me to my OLW - grateful - for safe travel, good weather, wonderful seafood and traveling with my best friend.

Now the respite is over and back to the norm and as the saying goes, "There's no place quite like home".