(The Walrus said)
It certainly wasn’t a walrus that made me realize the time had come for me to start traveling again.
Too Soon
I once made a long weekend in Cancun happen in less than a week; booking airfare, reserving a hotel room, arranging pick up from the airport, and I dropped way too much money while doing it all. It was no big deal. I had a job, didn’t have to take any time off of work, and I wanted to do it.
But when Paddy text me about a good deal on 5 days of diving in Roatan with one months notice, my response to him was, “I’d love to but how…?”.
At the time, I had only been back to work for a month after maternity leave, 3 or 4 weeks of which were unpaid. Plus daycare costs more than a pretty penny. Not to mention that we had a 3 month old baby! I was not prepared to leave her for a date night yet, let alone for 5 days while we were gallivanting in a foreign country.
“So we will bring your parents along to watch her.”, was Paddy’s simple answer.
Part of me was ready to go for that plan. But the new mom voice once more reared its sensible head…what about transport? This would be a group outing, how would we cram a carseat into a group taxi? Last time I went to Roatan with a dive group, the van was a tight fit with everyone and their dive gear, adding a carseat to that mix seemed dubious at best.
Then there were the sand fleas (which destroyed me last time) and the fact that Ella would have been too young for sunscreen. And I wasn’t even going to thing about the cost of a rush baby passport. Yay for new mom worry!
I could not get past the “How?” because it was too soon.
I’m Ready
Since then, Ella has grown up too fast (11 months new already!), we have enjoyed a full 24 hours baby-free while she partied at Oma’s; and I know now is the time because, even the sadness at the thought of leaving my baby girl at home for a week, does not outweigh the excitement I feel when I talk about the first travels to go on my 2017 calendar.
Bonaire in May! Guaranteed 12 dives plus unlimited shore diving on a Caribbean island infamous for its shore diving.
Once again it started with Paddy texting me. This time I asked if we were seriously going to make this happen; rather than asking how we were going to make it work. There are still logistics that I have to work out but I am not stumbling over them. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.
Have you left a little one at home while you went on a vacation? How did you know it was the “right” time? What travels plans are you most excited about in 2017?
