Ready For Your Next Adventure? Start Planning Your Trip!

One of the best parts of going on a trip is planning for it!  Planning our next trip is what I live for!  I love scoping out our next destination—finding places to see, activities to do and food to eat! 

Planning the trip is half the fun!

Our kids are pretty well-traveled and are used to our long flights and road trips.  Although like most people, they prefer to fly.  I can’t disagree that flying somewhere and getting there in a fraction of the time is so much better.  However, with a family of five, flying isn’t always in the budget.  Plus, with this pandemic, I’m honestly not ready to fly yet.  And when you fly, you miss part of the journey.  We have a goal to hit all 50 states by the time our kiddos are 18. Road trips give us the ability to hit states that we may otherwise just “fly over.”

COVID ruins 2020 plans

In 2019, we planned our biggest trip yet—an Alaskan cruise set for August 2020.  We were so excited to see a totally different landscape, plus have the opportunity to get to states out west.  Unfortunately, COVID 19 ruined that trip for us. 

For the first few months of the pandemic, we didn’t do anything.  It was still winter in Ohio, which meant cold weather and snow, making it tough to be outside.  At one point, I hated to even go to the grocery store—I’d come home and feel so dirty.  Then, things started to ease up a bit and the weather broke so we weren’t stuck in the house as much.  We’d ride bikes, go for walks, or make obstacle courses with sidewalk chalk.  Eventually Ohio started opening back up and we felt a little safer going out. 

In May, we found out that our cruise was officially canceled.  We were preparing for the inevitable so although we were disappointed, we knew it was for the best.  When the country shut down, my job moved to a work at home model and we were busy.  I was working long hours and trying to be a teacher to my three kids. 

My husband worked at home for a couple of weeks, but then he was back in the office so I was left to juggle work, school and kids.  Needless to say, I was stressed.  To top it off, I wasn’t planning my next vacation so I didn’t have anything to look forward to.  There was so much doom and gloom and I needed to feel happy again.

Back to planning!

In June, we decided to book a week-long trip to Myrtle Beach.  We found a condo at Myrtle Beach Resort where my husband stayed as a kid.  We booked it for the week of July 4th.  I was instantly happy and back to daydreaming about what we’d do while we were there.  The last time we were in Myrtle Beach was about 11 years ago when my oldest son was only one. 

I immediately popped open Pinterest to begin researching–places to see, activities to do and food to eat!  Shortly after we booked our trip, they declared Myrtle Beach a COVID hotspot.  My stomach was in knots knowing that we may be putting ourselves at risk.  We debated on whether or not to go, but decided that we were going to keep our plans and make sure we social distanced. 

Travel Smart

A couple of years ago, we went on a Royal Caribbean cruise and the week before we got on the ship, there was a norovirus outbreak.  The ship wasn’t allowed to stop at some of their planned ports so they came back a day early.  The ship was thoroughly cleaned the night before we embarked. 

I was nervous to get on that ship knowing that we were walking into illness.  However, they took several precautions to prevent another outbreak including constantly cleaning bathrooms and high touch surfaces.  In addition, there were no self-serve buffets—everything was served to us and we had to sanitize our hands prior to entering any restaurant. 

We got off that ship (which was fully booked with 6k people) and there were no additional outbreaks.  Knowing we needed to be cautious, we had our sanitizer with us at all times and wiped down our room when we got there.  Because the ship was able to keep over 6000 people from getting sick on that ship, it made me feel confident that we could do the same thing during our trip to Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach

Thankfully when we got to Myrtle Beach, it really wasn’t crowded—especially for it being 4^th of July Weekend.  Our condo was in south Myrtle Beach so we were farther away from the crowds, which was good.  We stayed in a condo so we didn’t have to deal with a lobby fully of people like in a typical hotel. We had our own kitchen so we prepared some of our meals cutting down on us going to restaurants. 

On the beach, we socially distanced so we felt really comfortable with our decision to keep our trip plans.  Even when we did go out to dinner, restaurants mandated mask wearing and kept tables spaced out so we weren’t in close proximity to anyone.  Typically we eat either late lunches or early dinners (even without a pandemic) to beat the crowds.

We ended up having a blast!  We loved having an oceanfront condo and being able to sit on our balcony in the evenings and watch the fireworks on the beach.  This trip gave us some much-needed family time where we could leave our work behind and focus on our each other.  It also gave me hope that the world would eventually get back to normal—or at the very least, a new normal.

Plan Your Own Trip!

I encourage you to find a trip to plan and get excited!  Remember, your trip doesn’t have to be far away or to a place that doesn’t allow you to socially distance.  Find something that fits in your comfort zone—even if that’s a hike in a nearby park, a day at the zoo, or a camping trip to a local campground.  Go find your happy!