My spring break road trip was canceled. I’m still a bit weepy, so you might see a few tear-stained words on this post. I was forced to take something worse than a staycation, it was a sickation*.
Here are some spring break highlights: an ear infection, an allergic reaction to antibiotics, and a couple of visits to the doctors. But we got through it. My son got healthier, and I didn’t go completely stir-crazy. Here are some tried and true tips for surviving a sickation. May you never have to actually use them.
- Know Thy Cancellation Policies: I figured out early on in my career as a mother that there’s a 50/50 chance that my son would get sick right before a vacation. It’s some sort of natural law. That’s why I book directly through the hotel, in case I need to take advantage of their often generous cancellation policies. Sometimes I’m tempted to prepay my stay, since it may save me money. I only do this if I’m booking at the last minute and I’m fairly sure everyone in the family is healthy, or if I’m feeling as lucky as James Bond at a casino.
- Long Live the Day Trip: When we were finally well enough to venture outdoors again, I took some sanity-saving day trips. The only commitment we needed to make was to have fun. We got to explore some new places, and those we know and love. Either way, we got the feel of a vacation, but were still close enough to the pediatrician’s office.
- This Too Shall Pass: When the going gets tough, the tough starts to plan her next trip. I spent most of my sickation, planning my summer vacation. I bought some new travel books, did lots of research, and filled my cup to half-full again. Only 41 days left ’til school’s out!
*I love that I found a new, more annoying use of the suffix: -tion. Urban dictionary defines sickation as: “Using sick time at work to get a paid vacation because you are about to lose your accumulated sick time or because you want days off but have no more vacation time.” Kids Go West Dictionary adds another meaning to the word: “A forced use of vacation time to stay at home and tend to a sick kid.”
add that to the dictionary here, too. and that photo is so smack dead on for this post. love his face and the caption on the sign. CL-assic.
I dug the photo out of the archives, and the funny thing is that I didn’t see the sign when I took the picture, but it matched the attitude so perfectly!
I like how you still wrote about valuable travel tips while having to bag the original travel plans. Long live the day trip! And boy, you think you are out of the woods when you finally get the antibiotics – but to get an allergic reaction? That’s double/triple time at the docs. Hopefully your summer plans got some extra bonus planning that week!
I don’t think I’ve gone on a trip where I haven’t been at the doctor’s two days before we left (often on an emergency weekend visit). Just before we went to AZ for spring break this year it was Fifth’s Disease (which happily didn’t put the kibosh on any plans). Love this post and kudos to you both for your ingenuity and fortitude to say nothing of your facility with the English language.
Hola caro, muy linda la nota y la foto. Besos