So I’ve skipped a few weeks. It would be too expensive to try to book something EVERY week. Ah who am I kidding, blogging is time consuming. But I’m here now and I actually have plenty to update.

What I’ve Learned

About a month ago when I was having trouble sleeping, I decided to check my current Southwest flights to see if the price or points redemption cost went down. Most didn’t but I saw my trip to LA was cheaper by 600 points. While it was small, I figured I might as well get it. So I log in, cancel my companion ticket, then go in to “change” the flight. When I went to update, the departing flight was 6,000 points less and the return flight was 5,400 points more. I was given the option to pick one or both flights. At first, I thought it might be a trick but sure enough, I select only the departing flight to change and a moment later, I’m refunded the 6,000 points. I’ve heard of getting refunded on Southwest but I never realized you could get a larger refund with part of a round trip ticket. I would’ve checked all my reservations but because I have to cancel my companion ticket every single time, it’s much easier to just assume the ticket isn’t cheaper.

What I’ve Planned

I originally planned to save money and stay at hostels but I decided for my Guatemala trip to try multiple different accommodations since it’s just me and “the inconvenience of moving” is only affecting me. I plan to bring “just a backpack” however I may splurge on an Osprey just to have rollers for the airport trek and save my back when I can. Ideally I’d get my value out of this by planning solo trips annually.

I have also updated my year of travel. If you remember my 2nd post, I listed my plans but it’s a little more finalized since then.

January: Nothing but I’m still 28 

February: Park City, Utah Done

March: Los Angeles, California  DC Roadtrip Done

April: Stay cation in a free dome 

May: Cancun, Mexico 

June: Honolulu, Hawaii and Chicago

July: Southern Road Trip

August: New York City and Niagara Falls 

September: Guatemala

October: Most likely Las Vegas but not booked

November: Family in Georgia  

December: Caribbean Cruise

Due to a death in the family, we missed our LA trip. I plan to hopefully reschedule that in fall. The main purpose of the trip was to see the Lakers play… well to see LeBron James play. He was injured the last few weeks anyway so once the next season schedule comes out, I’ll try to plan another trip… so maybe in October.

What I’ve Booked

I’ve also changed my Viator tour from cancun to Chichen Itza to a private tour I found on Trips with Tykes blog. While the price did go up from $200 to $500, my husband and I will personally benefit from not having to deal with cranky kids out for 12 hours including 4 hours in a van with up to 30 strangers. Cost vs comfortability. Bringing kids always means trying to make your life easier. This way I’ll still get to see my wonder of the world, but the family only has to dedicate half a day vs a full day for me plus I no longer have to worry about the logistics of trying to swim in a cenote with 2 young children who can’t swim or having a one year old in my lap for 4 hours instead of a carseat.

I also received the bonus from my American Airlines CC bonus so I booked my ticket to Guatemala this fall.

Finally I booked a cruise. I knew I wanted to do something for Christmas this year since both my kids don’t really play with toys (last Christmas, they played with their gifts for a total of 30 min) and value family time more. Originally I was going to book a Disney cruise but the ship looked super dated for the price they wanted me to pay. A quick Google search of “New cruise ships” later, I learned there was a new Carnival ship sailing out of Galveston the week of Christmas. It seemed like fate. So I booked the Carnival Jubilee for its inaugural sailing. This will be the first cruise for my husband and kids and my first one as an adult.

Well to avoid boring you on my first post back I’ll end it there. I still have more things to finalize and book but I’ll update you on that next time.