the traveler

Hi, I'm Raven from Just Expressive and Kristie asked me to help out today with a guest post; it's my first, so be gentle okay? Haha!

I wasn't sure what I would post about but decided that the best thing to discuss is what you know, right? Well, what I know right now is TRAVEL. I am chomping at the bit for a vacation. Usually in January, we go to the cabins (Hideout on Horseshoe, New Braunfels, TX) for my birthday, but I think we aren't going to be able to make that happen this year.

Following the birthday trip, we usually take a larger trip later in the year. In the past it's been my home state of Arizona for a friend's wedding (or honestly just because, I will go home any chance I get). Last year it was Orlando for my son's 13th birthday. We had a phenomenal time and I highly recommend ANYONE get to Discovery Cove at least once in your life. It was an amazing experience and worth every penny.

Today I am on my bargain sites searching for this year's deals. I enjoy this process, I enjoy figuring out where we can go for how much money. I enjoy narrowing down our selection and coming up with fun activities that will keep us occupied while we are wherever we are going. Every year we try to go someplace we have never been before or do something we have never done before and this year it seems we are going to try Denver, CO. It's amazing how inexpensive the packages have been this morning. Originally we thought Seattle, but we might wait on that until the Sprog (my son) is a little older so he'll get more out of it, which will offset the cost a bit. I don't want to invest that amount of money for him to be bored. Teenagers can be such a joy ;-)

You may wonder how we are able to go on these trips given the state of our economy right now and I have a relatively simple answer: savings. We have money that is immediately deducted from my husband's paycheck and sent over to a savings account earmarked only for this purpose. Travel is a priority for me and that is the way my husband came up with, to make it happen; I am insanely grateful for the opportunities that has allowed us. Sprog is getting to see much of our country, experience new things and we get such great quality time as a family sans the stressors of real life. We have a very close relationship as a family and I think part of that has to do with these trips (along with the family game nights but that's another post).

I can't wait until June! The more I research, the more excited I get.

So now it's your turn to share! Have you been to Denver? What did you think of it? What activities would you recommend? Do you have another suggestion that I should look at instead? Is travel a priority in your life too? Is it something that is really no biggie? Do you use a travel agent or bargain sites like Hotwire or Expedia?

Anyway, thanks for reading and maybe I'll see you flying the friendly skies somewhere!


edit: I just realized that I never mentioned how I know Kristie. Through travel of course! I met her at BlogHer this year; she was one of my 3 fabulous roommates! I've actually known her online longer than that, through a music site, but I met her in person for the first time in San Francisco, even though we both live in Texas. How funny!