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| America is such a large country with many potential travel options. It's hard to pick just one favorite vacation spot! |
Three months in, one trip down; three trips in two months to go.
Backstory, for those of you new to this series: In August I began a new job that provided me with a lot of vacation time for the rest of the year but very minimal vacation time for next year. In an effort to make the most of it, I'm planning four trips in five months (now, three) with updates weekly on how the planning process is going.
With trip #1 out of the way, I am left with:
Trip #2 – New York City, Trip #3 – New Orleans, and Trip #4 – ?!?!
Here's what I accomplished this week…
Trip #2
I booked a hotel. One, single, solitary hotel.
I already had two hotels booked, so I'm down to only needing one more night I think?
Anyway, I also looked at tickets to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Gardens (throwback to my childhood), tickets to see the Daily Show with Trevor Noah (saw him in Atlanta and he was AMAZING!), tickets to attend The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and tickets to see Saturday Night Live. Apparently, it's complicated to get tickets to many of these shows and the Billy Joel concert is sold out. *sigh* I might still buy tickets from StubHub or from a third party, but we will see.
I also made my way through Lonely Planet's 2017 guide to New York City. In that, they recommended things like seeing the opera at the Lincoln Center (Madam Butterfly) or taking advantage of a free night at the Guggenheim (currently offering an exhibit on Jackson Pollack).
Point being, there are a lot of options in NYC and I just have to make up my mind as to what I want to do.
Of course, while I'm looking at all of that, my husband mentioned spending each day of our trip exploring all five bureaus of New York City. But what is there to do in Queens? Brooklyn? the Bronx? And with three out of four nights booked in Manhattan, wouldn't it be hard to explore so much of New York City?
I looked at traveling out of the city to the Hamptons (a six-hour drive) and to Brighton Beach (apparently, heavily Russian). I even looked at exploring Coney Island in the off-season. And as far as car rentals? From what I've seen, it's approximately $100 a day! But at least you get a luxury car in that deal? It's just a shockingly high sticker price compared to the $40 car rental I had from EWR for four days driving to Atlanta just a few a weeks ago. (Enterprise ended up charging us $200 which I'm currently having to fight. ARGHH!!)
Anyway, so Trip #3
has been a pain in the neck.
Complications from booking my NYC flight meant that I moved a Saturday night stay in New Orleans to a Thursday night stay. On Thanksgiving night. Meaning my husband and I have a 6.5-hour drive on Thanksgiving night to New Orleans after visiting family. ARGH. And it's all because I misread a date. (I thought a Saturday night was actually a Sunday night on a nonrefundable hotel room and freaked about how I didn't have any extra holiday time, so I called to ask the hotel to move it. And they did. Point being: you shouldn't try to plan trips at 5am in the morning. You will make a mistake.)
Aside from that screw-up, I haven't really done much planning. I have two more hotel nights that need booking, I need to find a good place to hear jazz, and I just need to start putting the whole itinerary into Visit A City, so that I can get a better idea of times. (How big is New Orleans, really? How much of it will we be able to explore in a weekend? Is parking a problem?)
Now, for Trip #4
London prices are sneaking up on me and my stress limit is hitting its max. Now I'm considering Hawai'i instead. I've been there. I kind of know what I'm doing – Airbnb, sit on the beach and relax, eat banana bread and pineapple. I mean it's an easy peasy trip. Aside from the flights, I think we could do it rather cheaply. And I just got credit card offers from Hawaiian airlines for 50,000 points. Can we travel to Hawaii for 50,000 points? Apparently not from Atlanta. So is it worth it? I'm still working that part out.
I want to go to London, but I also want to have the time to plan a successful trip to London. Half of the so-very-helpful can-I-hug-you-all-right-now comments I've read from you all have me desperately wanting to go to London and do it right. If I start planning now for next year, maybe I would be able to do it right.
Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I've been sick, so I've gotten behind on responding to comments (again), but I will catch up one day, I hope. In fact, I think being tired (and sick) is what has led to so many of my recent complications with planning as well as my consideration of choosing a relaxing beach vacation over a city one for December. I haven't booked plane tickets yet, though so I may change my mind again. Who knows?
When making big decisions, do you spend a lot of time planning out every aspect (perhaps months, days, or hours in advance)? Or do you live by the seat of your pants? Would you rather sit on the beach or explore a big city during the Christmas holidays?
