After months of debating on whether to take a vacation to Greece this summer, I’ve finally made a decision not to go.  As much as it’s tough to go another year without visiting family there, the stress of trying to plan the trip was getting to be a bit much.  With my cousin getting married on July 18th, I was trying to fit the trip in around that weekend.  Then deciding if I should go for just 10 days or 2 weeks, knowing full well that a long trip would prevent me from taking any other vacations the rest of the year and a short trip just wouldn’t be worth it.  Then the cost of the trip was on the high end, the flight alone was going to cost at least $1400.  For those of you that know how in tune I am with my finances, you know the expense wouldn’t be easy for me to swallow.

When I found out last week that I have training to attend the week of July 20 (with a golf outing that week too), it pretty much sealed the deal on not going.  After not picking up a large amount of CPE’s last year, I could really use the training time for my CISA designation.  It’s somewhat of a relief now that the decision has been made.  It’ll also allow me to plan a cheaper trip to one of the other places on my list, like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hawaii, and Costa Rica being a few.

So now I’m making preliminary plans to go to Hawaii during the week of July 12th.  With a bunch of friends here in the LA area always willing to go I’ll probably have a few people with me on the trip… and they’ll probably be my tour guide too considering the amount of times they’ve been there.  Who would have thought planning a vacation would cause so much stress?  Now I’m finally excited about planning my summer vacation.  Just think, clear blue water, white sand beaches, mai tai’s (sp?), and relaxation.  That’s my ideal vacation!