It's so hard to be good!

Okay, here's the deal. Brett found out yesterday that he has a week of vacation that needs to be used by the end of the year. You're probably asking yourself "so what's the problem?". We are not ones to do the whole staycation thing... you know where you take a vacation but stay at home. That's just not how it's done in the Hertan house. We take full advantage of every vacation. So here was the dilema.

As a couple of DINK's (Double Income No Kids), we've been a bit spoiled. If we ever wanted to take a vacation, we would just do it, no questions asked. We are very frugal (ie. cheap) in other areas of our life. We have no problem going without cable, having cell phones that don't take pictures, using the library instead of buying the book, not going out to eat, buying clothes at Goodwill, etc., but when it comes to vacation, we don't hesitate.

The problem is that we made a pinky spit swear to each other a couple of months ago that we would not, under any circumstance, spend frivolously, until the Hummer is paid off. We have put off paying it off since it's a zero interest rate, but we want to not have that payment looming over us each month. We're getting oh so close to that day and here comes this vacation that must be taken.

Brett's family has their Christmas party that week and now we have the time off. Perfect timing. I checked ticket prices - ouch, maybe not so perfect. Next, I start playing on the internet just for fun and went to one of my favorite vacation sites and lo and behold I find a last minute 7 day cruise to the Bahamas for $199 per person!!! It's leaving out of Charleston, so it's within driving distance, which means no airfare! This cruise would be less than the flight to CA! I call to get more info. With taxes and fuel surcharge (don't they know gas prices went back down?) the rate ends up being $374 per person. Still WAY less expensive than just the flight to CA. Hmmm....should we do it? Do we break the pinky spit swear?

$374pp..that's crazy cheap when you think that it includes all your food. Of course, you have to pay for parking @ $15 day = $105. Charleston is a 9 hour drive, so add a room there and back and if you're lucky you can do that for another $150. Add the gas...$125. Of course, we'll want to attend the formal dinners....$100 clothes. We've got the TN honky white legs going on....$50 tanning. Excursions & food when in port @ $200 X 4 ports = $1000. We're now just under $2,000 and we haven't bought an alcoholic beverage or even played Bingo while waiting for a show to start (you cruisers know what I'm talking about).

In the end, the pinky spit swear wins out....we're going to try our first ever Staycation. Wish us luck that we're not bored out of our minds by Tuesday morning.