Travels

Planning a vacation is supposed to be fun...but somewhere along the way, it became stressful (at least for me).

While Ben and I have done a wee bit of light traveling - we had a few weekend getaways to Lake Tahoe, there was our honeymoon to the coast, a work trip to Hawaii, a week in Florida (where we stayed with my aunt and uncle), and visits to Ohio and Utah to see family - that's been about it.

We haven't had a true VACATION!

You know the kind...when you get off the plane and the air is warm and filled with the sound of steel drums welcoming you to paradise...when you take a shuttle to the hotel and are ushered into an open-air lobby for check in...where you have a choice of resort restaurants which offer wonderfully exotic foods that you'd never be able to find at home...where any time, day or night, you can get a drink at the beachfront bar...where you're surrounded by palm trees and blue skies and the sound of the ocean...where your biggest challenge is deciding whether to sit poolside or on a lounge at the beach looking out over clear blue water.

That's what I want! 

We're trying to plan a vacation with another couple sometime around May 2013.  Aside from knowing that we want to go somewhere warm and tropical, we're having a hard time narrowing things down.

Here's my wish list:

All-inclusive resort so that we don't spend the entire trip saying "I'd really like a drink, but not for $10" or "I'd like to have ------ for dinner, but it's so expensive."

A location that won't take us half of our time off getting to and from (I'm thinking the Caribbean is our best bet).

Nice, but not too fancy schmancy.  While I don't want to be surrounded by sweaty men in muscle t's at the breakfast buffet, I also don't want to feel like I need to dress up to have a burger by the beach!

Finally...something affordable.  Now, that doesn't mean cheap - when it comes to vacation spots, you get what you pay for, and I don't want to pay for a dirty room with bugs and toilets that don't flush.  I just want to be able to go on vacation without having to sell a kidney (probably one of Ben's) on the black market and still be able to pay our bills when we return!!!

I don't need a private butler, or a room that walks out onto the beach (as nice as that sounds), or a patio jacuzzi (though I wouldn't mind), or 5 star restaurants to eat in - I just want a nice clean room, a comfortable bed, air conditioning, a nice pool/beach, and some choices on where to eat (without getting food poisoning).

Does such a place exist?  Where will we ever find such a paradise???

At this point, I feel like I need to take a vacation from planning our vacation!!!!