Cast of Characters:
Me: 38, School SLP, Disney Dork, trip planner, keeper of the passports, itinerary, reservations...
Nick: 38, hubby, passenger prince, needs frequent reminders of where we’re going and what we’re doing
Kim: 60 something, Nick’s mom, retired school paraprofessional, the enthusiastic and crafty one of the group
John: 60 something, Nick’s dad, retired electrical engineer of the Navy ship camera system variety of engineers, the cookie lover of the group
I could start this pretrip back in 2019 when we first booked a cruise on the Disney Dream (for 2020), but…I’ll start this a little more recently than that for the sake of keeping this shorter.
Last February when we sailed on the Magic, we, of course, booked a placeholder. Pretty soon after returning home we re-evaluated our vacation lineup for 2025 and decided to use that placeholder on a cruise over April vacation. So we got a cruise on the Disney Dream for April 26-May 1st on the books. It’s a 5 night, with 2 sea days and stops in Cozumel and Castaway Cay, leaving out of Fort Lauderdale.
And then shortly after we booked, my in-laws decided to join us, so we got them booked too. Then I did ALL the planning. Literally all of it. I just told them the itinerary for each day, where we were staying, and how much they owed me for the various tickets I booked.
We watched the countdowns, booked a cruise for 2026, I booked and rebooked hotels and rental cars and JetBlue changed our flight time half a dozen times. We (I) eventually booked excursions and tickets for the Everglades tram. I did online check-in for all of us. I made reservations for parking at Logan Airport.
The week leading up to break was about as hectic as I’ve come to expect, and, as I’ve come to expect, not without drama. In the special ed world, the week before a break is always filled with meetings, because everything has to get squeezed in before the deadlines. Then my sister, who flies a lot for work, started texting me about parking chaos at Logan Airport. The week before NH’s April vacation was vacation week for all of the other New England states, and apparently everyone had decided to park at Logan, to the point where they were just lining up cars and collecting keys, to valet the cars IF spaces became available, with a really mysterious car return policy (that was better explained to her when she retrieved her car…about 16 hours before I was scheduled to park there). So, I went out and bought an additional air tag to hide in my car, when I should have been packing or getting my hair cut. There also was some significant job stress at Nick’s work, where two days before we left, he found out that the 100 year old family owned dealership he works for that has 5 car brands, is selling off two of the brands because the 3rd generation owner is retiring and his daughter has to buy him out, and some restructuring is occurring at the remaining brands. Exactly what we wanted to hear immediately before leaving on vacation!
The packing got done, for both us and the dogs. Weather forecasts got stalked. Departure day instructions were texted, written, and stated numerous times. Anxiety was through the roof. But…we made it to vacation…
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