Deciding to go cross country was one of the easiest decisions we ever made. When I got pregnant with the twins twelve years ago, I had visions of our future family vacations. A cross country trip was at the top of that list. Initially, I hadn’t given it much thought about planning a cross country trip. It can’t be that difficult. I’m not really sure what caused my temporary insanity – maybe the excessive hormones, I was carrying twins after all? Maybe I was too focused on the tag team wrestling match knocking my spleen around? Whatever it was, I had unknowingly drifted back my college years … all we have to do was pick the landmarks, pack a cooler and pillow, grab a map and go! Eventually I regained my senses, most of them at least, and realized there was a lot to making this trip real. I don’t know that I would use the word “difficult“. Detailed is more accurate.
We talked about going cross country many times after the kids were born, well I talked and my husband nodded. I would remind him of our (by “our” I mean “my”) vacation schedule on a semi-regular basis – Disney at 5, cross country at 10 and Europe at 15. Really, just trips for me that I could pretend were age appropriate and were in the best interest of the kids. My husband’s response was always the same – a nod of his head followed by “Sure, we’ll talk about it.” Don’t get me wrong, my husband is wonderful but I wasn’t convinced he wanted to take this trip until one fateful day about 3 years ago.
I was droning on about the importance of “connecting” with the dynamic duo before we entered pubescent hell and I honestly believed a cross country trip would offer us much needed quality time with the boys (yes, it’s true, I will confess that as a first time parent I did fall for that Dr. Phil BS during the early years. No worries, like I said I did regain my senses.) As I continued to babble, my husband finally jumped in and bottom-lined it for me “You better start planning and saving for this thing if you really want to do it.” I was so excited; it was really going to happen! So, I started to plan, in my head. I thought about it a lot. And thought lots of wonderful ideas. In hind sight, it was not a very good plan.
Would we drive or fly? What would we drive – RV, car, van? How much vacation time will we need? Can we afford this? Should we stay at hotels or campgrounds? Where should we go? How much valium will I need (just joking!)? Our approach was simple – discuss it from every aspect, research, research and research some more and then discuss even more until one of us caves. Last man standing wins. Not scientific but works for us. Since my husband and I approach challenges from polar opposite points of view, we honestly felt confident that we covered our bases. Hopefully our planning adventures will be helpful as you start on your own cross country journey.