Planning is half the fun, right? Well, it is until you run into the ‘glitches’.  Just over a year after our first trip to Eleuthera, a little slice of paradise, we have decided to plan a big trip with our family in June!

After a significant amount of time searching for the right property for 9 adults, we decided on what appears to be an ideal spot.  Pau Pau Beach Estate is on the Caribbean side of the Island and we thought being right on the Beach would make for an incredible vacation.  I could picture us sitting around the firepit on the beach (after spraying for no-seeums of course), enjoying the sunrise, the sunset, the rum bubbas.

But, when I confirmed with the agent we were ready to commit, I was told he made a “mistake” and the rate was significantly higher than he had quoted…a mistake that would cost almost $1,000 given the exchange rate right now.

So, right now I take a deep breath, wait to hear back from the agent on whether he can give us the originally quoted price and follow up with our second choice.

Don’t get me wrong, our second choice is Shangri-La a lovely home on the Atlantic side with a separate cottage.  But there are no Ocean views from the home and it’s a 2 minute walk to the Beach.  Would anyone really mind?  I doubt it.  Am I putting too much pressure on myself? Likely.  It’s tough to plan for a big group of people…we are Empty Nesters, after all!

Our journey together started more than 30 years ago…so long ago, yet in many ways it seems like yesterday.  We were kids really – just 15 and 17 – when we started dating.  Oh, who’s kidding who, we are still just kids…at heart at least.

We are the proud parents of two incredible children.  Jacob and Victoria have had the pleasure of frequent “road trips”, trips within Canada, the US and overseas.  They’ve even had the opportunity to do summers abroad, taking advantage of a mom whose commute has often been very long distance.

As young parents, we grew with our children.  For all of us, our best memories are related to our travels.  David and I decided to have our children while we were quite young so by the time I was 26, Jacob and Victoria were both here and an integral part of everything we did.

So, when the time came for Jacob to head off to University in 2010, it started becoming much more difficult to plan travel as a family.  Soon, the reality started to hit us….in 2 short years, our lives would change drastically.  Our children would both be away at school.  Our nest would be …. Empty.

Ok – for some of you that sounds melodramatic.  For those of you who have been there, you know that sinking feeling.  It truly is a life change.  We had to do something – we would convince our daughter to go to a local University!  Nope…that wasn’t going to happen.

And so it began.  We live in Kitchener. Both children chose Universities in Toronto.  A mere hour and a half drive (ok – 2 ½ – 5 hours with traffic!) and often, my contracts had me working in the city!  We could do this, right??  Not without making some changes — a change in our attitude and our perception of how things would be.  We had to embrace the Empty Nest.

And with this, we would embrace travel for two and the adventure and romance it would bring.

Let the New Journey Begin!