STAYCATION...

One of the positively plus rules that came out of the eventual flight attendant merge of United and Continental workers in October 2018 was the inclusion of the old Continental option that a flight attendant could "sell" her vacation back to the company.  That way she would receive recompense for scheduled days off, AND if she wanted, she could let the Crew Desk know she would like to "fly through" those days, as well.  In short, get the vacation money and fly some extra hours during that "time off".  A win-win!

I had planned to have my red SUV paid for in a year after I purchased it in 2017.  But since I had never sold my Mitsubishi Eclipse after I got the new car, there was no big hunk of money to put toward the principle.  That's when I began giving plasma to earn more money to start paying down my car loan.

I still had about $3,000 left to pay when it was time to bid for vacation last November.  I had been too chicken to give up my vacation time--even for money--the year before.  Then I remembered  how much easier it is now to arrange schedules for time off (once I learned how to do that).  I sold all but six days back to the company, and then bid those six days to have a vacation near our anniversary on May 12th.

Everything worked out perfectly!  I got the vacation money when it paid out the end of February.  It was enough, and to spare, to kill the loan.  Plus, I got my first vacation choice which I parlayed into 12 days off by choosing a schedule that had days off both before and after the six vacation days.  Whew!  That was a coup!

Now....where to go?  I know Louis would LOVE to go on another ocean cruise.  Not for me.  In fact, we do much better on shorter trips.  Not the whole 12 days, but  a few days where we could go and have a good time.  Someplace we haven't been before.  Someplace with a temple, lots of scenery, and quirky little shops and antique stores that always optimize my vacation time. ( Some of my most cherished Nativity pieces were procured during those mini vacations.)  And a place not to difficult to travel to, either.

Nova Scotia!  United has flights out of Newark.  We could get to Newark, change planes for Halifax, rent a car and be on our way until the following week.  We even bought the plane tickets because I didn't want the nerve-wracking hassle of stand-by travel.  All doable and something/someplace we haven't done before.  I started looking forward to it, and had a brand new passport in my possession so I didn't even have to worry about any expiration dates.

Then Coronavirus reared its ugly head.  The borders to Canada closed for all but flight crews and Canadians.  There went our little get-away.  We got our money back for the tickets, and put the rest of the plans on hold....for how long?  Who knows.  And our lovely vacation-to-be got repurposed into a "staycation".

So, when I turned the calendar over to May, there were 12 perfect days with nothing scheduled.  Too bad there is no place to go.

This STAYCATION hasn't been fun at all.  We did drive out to Fort Morgan one day.   Just because it was a different direction than we usually go. Another day we drove up to Estes Park.  And on the last day of my staycation, we drove down to Deseret Book by the Denver Temple.  That is one of the few  Distribution Centers in the US outside of Utah and Idaho that had just opened again in the first phase after COVID-19 lock down. (Louis needed new garments and called the store to see if they were open before he made an online order.) 

Grocery stores are open.  We can still pick up food in the drive-through or at the curb if we want to eat out for a treat. But for the rest of the 12 days, it has been nowhere to go, nothing to do when we got there, and nothing new to see.  Once thing for sure, it will be a staycation we remember for a long time to come because it was so....

B O R I N G!  

      
PS Already making plans for a real vacation next year....hope it works out!    I'll send you a postcard, if it does.