Seriously Grounded

I need a break. Like a vacation kind of break. One is coming, but not for weeks.  So, the next best thing is to plan another vacation. I have spent approximately 20 hours over the past 3 days planning our family summer vacation. I have spent painstaking hours on the trip advisor, frommers, fodor, and the travel and leisure websites.  We are taking an 8 night, 9 day 1950 mile road trip this August. I have booked only 2 nights of those 8 nights so far, but I think I am "this close" to booking two more. I have emailed and called numerous inns, motels, hotels, lodges, and resorts along the northeast coast.  And, because I have taken so much time planning this, I am sure it will all blowup in my face and we will have a hurricane twice the size of Sandy hit shore the day we are leaving.

Five years ago I spent 4 months planning a trip to Paris for my husband and myself. I learned basic French, pre-booked tours of  Charte, Mont Saint-Michel and Versaille as well as a dinner cruise on the River Seine. I obsessed over chowhound for restaurants that we would love and planned each day around which Arrondissments (neighborhoods) we would explore. You get the idea. The DAY we were flying out the volcano erupted over Iceland and all air traffic across the Atlantic was grounded (for over a week!) Grandparents were already at our house to babysit the kids and so much planning had occurred to get them situated that my husband insisted we still go away. American Airlines and Hilton (5 nights of our stay were with Hilton points in Paris) worked with us and the ONLY place we could fly out the next day on an American flight and use Hilton points was Key West. So, after crying and drinking heavily for the first 48 hours I came around and enjoyed my week in the sun. It was no Paris, but it was nice to get away. We brought a pic of the Eiffel Tower mounted on cardboard and this "flat stanley" made it into EVERY picture we took in the Keys even the one of us parasailing. And, no, I have not rescheduled my trip to Paris, I am still hoping to one day.

So, have a I learned a lesson from my problem with over planning? I guess not. I did need a distraction from this cold winter that won't end and it has been fun learning about a part of our country and our country to the north that I really knew nothing about. I really hope this trip comes to fruition though since it is for the whole family.  But as of today, I am stepping away for a bit, I have grounded* myself for at least a week. My eyeballs, my children, my puppy and my kitchen are all sorely missing the attention they need. Well, my eyeballs just need some rest.

*Grounded is my word of the day - the intention was to be more grounded and centered today, then I spent 3 more hours on the internet looking at location vs cost of 7 different Southern Coast Maine hotels. sigh.