We'll Get There Fast and Then We'll Take It Slow....

That's where I wanna go.

I haven't written in a few days, because I've been using all my self-allotted computer time to try to plan a trip to celebrate a little event that's coming up: Our 10-year anniversary!

At a later date, I will write more about what this occasion means to me, but right now, I want to vent about how difficult it is to plan a romantic getaway to someplace warm on a limited budget. Oh, and also how difficult it is to compromise when I really want to go someplace warm and my husband isn't gung-ho about someplace warm and would rather spend four days being touristy instead of lounging on the beach.

You see, I hate the cold. Every year at this time, I wonder why I live in Ohio. The snow, the frigid temps, the ice, the cabin fever, are all things I despise. I've heard that people with hypothyroidism feel colder than people without, so I attribute some of my animosity toward Ohio winters to my health issues. But the rest of it I just attribute to hating winter.

So when the husband said, "we should go somewhere fun for our anniversary," I was stoked and started planning immediately. With the kids' spring break falling right on our anniversary week, it would work out perfectly. They could enjoy a few days with my parents while we could enjoy a few days alone.

The very first travel site I stumbled upon advertised $449 per person deals to the Bahamas. Ahhh... the Bahamas. For at least a day I drooled over the pictures of beautiful white sand while thoughts of all-inclusive meals and drinks and walking hand-in-hand on the beach floated around in my head like rose petals on a jacuzzi tub of warm water.

So what if the $449 was the pre-tax total and so what that the price didn't apply to the week we'd be traveling. We could still go to the Bahamas for less than $1300, plus the cost of passports and parking our car at the airport for four days and any sight-seeing excursions or souvenirs. Okay, we could go to the Bahamas for less than $1600, probably maybe.

Then there were the cruises. I typed in all of our information, minus our credit card number, on a cruise website to see what the cost for a cruise would be. Unfortunately, I typed in our phone number and we've had calls everyday for a week from a cruise rep to tell us about their latest deals. For around $1900, a 4 night, 5 day Caribbean cruise was the best they could give me.

But I didn't stop there. Key West was much more affordable. Yes, we would have to rent a car to schlep around in, but for about $1200 total, the trip would be a bargain compared to the Bahamas or a cruise.

I happily presented our options to Big A and waited for him to choose. I secretly hoped he'd pick the Bahamas, but any of the three would have been fine.

Instead, he burst my fun in the sun bubble.

"You really want to go to the beach? We just went to the beach last summer," he said.

We DID just go to the beach last summer. But going to a beach with kids is not the same as going to the beach on a romantic getaway. I tried to explain this to Big A, but the logic was lost on him. To him, the beach is the beach, and having been there two summers in a row, it was not his first choice. He's not a big fan of sand or the water, two things he should have revealed to me BEFORE we got married.

Then he gave me his ideas: See a concert somewhere or go sightseeing. To which I replied with a big YAWN. I should add that these ideas seemed perfectly reasonable before the images of sand and surf were etched into my brain. Now, I'm jaded.

Then he gave me his thoughts on our budget: The more we spend on this trip, the less we'll have to spend on a vacation with the kids this summer. This reasoning deterred me only a little.

The he gave me the line that I hate.

"But we'll do whatever you want."

I HATE when he pulls that card. Hate it. If we do whatever I want, we won't be doing what he really wants, and even I, in all my imperfect selfishness, do not think that's fair.

After about 45 more minutes of discussion, we were at a standstill. I want to do whatever he wants to do, as long as he wants to go to the beach. He will go to the beach, but he won't absolutely love it. So, our trip planning is put on hold for now.

I do know that we'll have a great time no matter where we go. I look forward to quiet dinners, dancing, romancing and all the fun couple stuff we seldom have time for lately. But everything would be so much sweeter if the outside temperature was in the low 80s.