The Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes
It’s funny because it’s true. I have 24 clients traveling during our Spring Break. And until five days ago (exactly 30 days before our Spring Break starts) my family had no idea where we were going!
There are some common misconceptions with travel planning and travel advisors in general.
1. We travel for free or seriously discounted rates. While we can earn discounted rates or sometimes have access to TA only rates, this is not always the case. Sometimes vacation is work and it can be considered a work expense, but most of the time we are paying for our vacations just like you.
2. We have access to hidden availability. Nope. We see what you see in almost every situation. Working with a travel advisor doesn’t give you access to hidden rooms, cruise cabins, or flight availability…but you do get all of our brain power!
3. And last, but definitely not least, planning your own vacation is easy. After all, you’ve already done everyone else’s planning so it should be a breeze. This is a flat out lie. I am my very worst client. Actually, let’s be clear…my family is my worst client! They have no opinions…until it’s planned. Then they have ALLLLLLL the opinions. Girls, please. I don’t have time for their shenanigans.
And, so, the Travel Advisor’s kids have no vacation.
To be fair, my family has to plan every vacation around my daughters’ swim schedule. And sometimes we don’t know if we will qualify until the very last minute. (A perfect example of this is Alaska this summer. We are going on an Alaska cruise. I even have the ship and itinerary picked out. But we are down to literally 8 days that do not conflict with a possible swim meet. This means we have not actually booked anything because we just don’t know.). More on this in a later blog, I’m sure, but suffice it to say that we often give up extra time around school vacations because there’s a swim meet of some sort. Spring Break is a perfect example. Our school goes on Spring Break on Friday, March 13. Which means we COULD have ten full days of vacation. We do not.
My oldest daughter has a championship swim meet the first weekend of Spring Break, whittling down our vacation time to Monday-Saturday (because we need that last day to get our heads back in the game).
This takes a week long cruise out of the mix (they tend to leave on Saturday or Sunday) and we already have another long weekend on Utopia planned for April. We looked at Mexico, the Florida Keys, Vegas, Zion National Park, Chicago (but we’ve been cold enough in the so called Sunshine State this year), skiing in Park City (uhhhh hello, snow drought?!) but literally nothing had us feeling jazzed. And, yes, I said jazzed. To my children. Who are teenagers. It went over exactly how you would expect it to. They were, in fact, not jazzed.
And then, I had an idea. An awful idea! I got a wonderful, awful idea. (Did you read that like The Grinch?!) Just kidding. It was a freaking awesome idea! We are going to California!
And those teenagers? Suddenly jazzed!
But with just 27 days until take off I had my work cut out for me. But the ADHD fixation in me is made for this. Within 2 hours I had pinpointed the perfect flights (Delta out, Southwest home) and found approximately 38 incredibly perfect rental homes…in two different locations: Joshua Tree (crossing off another NP) and Manhattan Beach, near Santa Monica.
And here’s the mom win…I tricked my kids into planning some of the activities! I dangled the carrot of extra screen time if they’d look up some fun activities in SoCal. And it worked like a charm. Thank you Instagram and TikTok for filling our days!
Here’s what we have so far:
· Hike to the Hollywood Sign
· See Ellen Pompeo’s Star on the Walk of Fame
· Santa Monica Pier
· Bike the canals in Venice
· 1000 Steps Beach
· Visit Pioneertown in Yucca Valley
· Bart’s Books
· Ride in a Waymo
· Visit the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (opening ceremony site for the LA 2028 Olympics!) This will be our fourth set of Olympic rings to visit on vacation…four different countries. It’s kind of become our thing. And I’m not ashamed.
One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that I truly LOVE planning personalized vacations. This trip may be coming together relatively last minute, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t done with care and consideration. Our exchange student has just three months left in the US. And we have just 3 Spring Breaks left before my oldest daughter goes to college. Every trip is meaningful. And every stop on this California vacation will be filled with moments of togetherness, endless memories, and photo shoots…hello, teenage daughters.
And I genuinely LOVE the planning process. I take each of my client’s wish lists, personalities, idiosyncratic travel must do activities (written from the heart of a National Park bucket lister and Olympic ring visitor), and I craft an itinerary that is personal…just like I would do for my own family.
Just usually with a tad bit more notice. (But don’t tempt me with a last minute trip that will wow your socks off…I will leave you jazzed, I guarantee it!)
Hey, these kids can’t complain. They are living my best travel dreams!