A little vacation never hurt anyone.

A little vacation never hurt anyone.
It has been a long time since I have written any travel advice. My Mom always told me, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything."
It would have been rude of me to give travel advice when most of us are trying to figure out how to keep our homes out of foreclosure or how to keep our jobs. I have never seen such a bad economy in my lifetime, and I would have felt too guilty telling you to take a trip. It just cost too much to even drive to the airport.
Now, thankfully, fuel prices are coming way down, and the airlines are finally reducing their prices. The number of flights is still very limited though, so you have to be flexible with your dates if you want to get a deal. If you stay away from peak travel days like November 26, December 26, February 14, March 21, and the middle of April, you can really get a bargain. Just don’t fall for anything that sounds too good to be true (like I did).
My husband and I are trying to save our money, especially since we have to go back to Moscow to pick up our son next month (finally!) We have packing our lunches and eating all of our dinners at home. Last weekend we saw that one of our favorite restaurants was offering 50% off dinners even on weekends. A bargain, right? It is if you don’t mind getting 50% less food.
We left the restaurant starving, but at least we weren’t broke.
I didn’t think it was fair recommending a vacation when things were so chaotic. My clients expect and deserve more from me. Even the people rich enough to afford vacations, felt "uneasy" about taking one.
A very nice elderly gentleman recently called to reserve a vacation to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. He told me quite honestly that his savings was worth almost ½ the amount it was worth 6 months ago. I told him that maybe he should just go out for a nice dinner or wait and celebrate 51 years next year. He insisted on going this year, and asked me rightfully, "don’t you think I deserve a little vacation? Don’t you think I earned it? I worked hard my whole life and now I want to enjoy myself and my lovely bride. I need a vacation."
He was absolutely right. I was wrong and I admitted it. Times are tough, but everyone deserves a little vacation. Don’t cash in your retirement fund, but DO take advantage of the really great deals for 2009. Every day the major hotel chains are sending specials because quite frankly, they need to.
Iberostar, Riu, and Occidental are just a few of the resorts that just dropped their rates (some up to 50%).
Maybe this year you can only take 1 family vacation instead of 2, or you compromise and take a connecting flight instead of nonstop, or even go away for 5 nights instead of an entire week.
We are doing everything we can to help you. We even just added "cancel for any reason" travel protection. Hopefully, you’ll be able to take a trip. I know I need one. I need to go to Moscow and get my son. The international adoption process, like life, is a roller coaster. Sometimes you just have to hold on tight and enjoy the ride!