I’ll start with I’ve never really vacationed much in my life. We went on camping trips when I was a kid, but that was the extent of it. I’ve been to a few states, but usually because we either moved there or are driving through there on the way to our new “home”. So as you can see my experience with vacations is pretty minimal. My bestie, we met in College back in 2005, loves to travel, loves it. She goes everywhere. I’ll throw in here that our birthdays are a week apart so we usually try and do something for them (when feasible obviously). 

Our first attempt and absolute disaster was in Alaska, she tried to come visit me there. She took a commercial flight to Juneau then was catching the ferry to Pelican. The first time in probably the entire history of the Alaska Ferry system they had a damn “bomb threat” and canceled the ferry. What in the ever loving?! So we tried getting her on the float plane, nope it got canceled too. UNTIL we decided to just book her flight back to Oregon, then they decided to fly. It was a disaster. Needless to say this was the height of our “birthday curse” LOL! Last year was the first year that we have gone somewhere else for our trip. Deadwood, SD for their Forks, Corks and Kegs festival was a blast! Here’s the kicker for me, my anxiety sky rockets when I’m away from home. All the “what ifs” that run through my head are endless. On top of that I’m an over the top planner. I want to know where we are going, where we’re staying, whats close by, how much does food cost on average there, whats there to do….the list is endless. It works out great for my bestie cause she just lets me do my thing and she’s just a long for the ride hahaha!

This year rolls around, I’ve got a flight credit that needs to get used up so we start brainstorming vacation ideas. Lots of options, but we narrowed them down pretty fast since I’m a slacker that doesn’t have a passport yet (its on the to do list I swear!). We finally settle on a cruise, I can still leave the country, something Ive never done before. We decide on a 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico on the Carnival. Hello, anxiety, we’re hitting all new levels now LOL! I remember vividly just a few months ago saying I would never go on a cruise. Stuck in open water for days, the what ifs are endless. Plus I have a ridiculous fear of water when I can’t see the bottom. I’m silly, I know. Prep work commences, I’m not kidding about this either. I looked up our cruise boat, looked up our exact rooms so I could see what we’d be staying in. I watched hours of videos on everything about cruises, Carnival etc. Brain overload. Let’s fast forward to the day before flying out. I’m set to fly out of Bozeman, MT and into LA. Non stop flight, horrible flight but I survived. Meet up with the bestie in LA, grab a shuttle and get to our hotel. Lady at the counter cracked me up when she told us we had the best view in the hotel….she had to be joking, right? Our view was a concrete jungle, girl…I’m from Montana….. 

The next day we head back to the airport to meet up with our bus that will take us to the Cruise ship terminal. Easy, peasy. I mean, honestly, it was way more simple than I expected it to be. Check in through the cruise terminal was quick, painless and ahead of schedule even. The Faster to the Fun pass is definitely worth it. 

When you board the ship you aren’t allowed to go straight to your rooms, those aren’t for a couple hours still so until then you get to just wander around, have some lunch and enjoy the view. We opted to check out the ship, grab some delicious lunch at Guy Fieri’s burger joint and bask in the glorious sun. Big difference from below freezing temps and feet upon feet of snow.

Everything is honestly going great, why was I so worried about it all?! Day 1 is spent in Avalon, CA on Catalina Island, we decided for this stop not to book any excursions and just wander around. Gorgeous views, I have missed living close to the Coast. Stopped at a little restaurant and had lunch. Fish and chips with “gummy bear shots”. Those are dangerous. Holy hell. They’re one of those drinks that doesn’t taste like a drink so you just keep going and then all the sudden BAM! It hits you, or me while we were on a very rocky water shuttle back to the ship. Did you know that on the inside of your wrist there’s a pressure point that helps with nausea? Yeah, I didn’t either. But my bestie did! Thank goodness too cause I was on the verge of hurling up those delicious fish & chips along with all that gummy bear goodness lol! Back on the ship and sobering up, thank god for zofran because we have elegant night to get ready for!

I love dressing up, LOVE it. But I rarely do it and I definitely have not done it since acquiring this mom bod, ugh. It’s out of my comfort zone for sure nowadays. However, we sucked it up, dressed to the nines and rocked elegant night. With quite a few compliments even <3

Day 2 of the cruise we land in Ensenada Mexico! This is what I was the most excited for. We booked an off shore excursion here. Taste of Ensenada and Margarita Madness tour. This was the absolute BEST excursion, but also it sent my anxiety into overdrive. Offloading from the ship and meeting up with the tour guide, simple. She explains what’s going to be happening for the trip, we’re headed to the Valley of Guadalupe. There’s an adorable little set up out there that we’ll be doing the cooking class at (I forgot to mention that earlier!!!) and the Mezcal tasting too. Our cooking instructor is Enrique, 5+ stars for that man. We made salsa, guacamole, enchiladas and tostadas complete with bottomless margaritas that were the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot for this one, I’m a picky eater, no lie. Avocados, ew. Salsa, too spicy. Did I make, try and love it all? Hell to the yes! I make it all at home now and my family absolutely loves it. The Mezcal sampling was great, the men presenting were absolutely hilarious. The Mezcal was not what I was expecting in regards to it was really good. All the different types, even the strong ones. After we left there we went back into downtown Ensenada to do our tequila tasting. Plot twist here, the hilarious guy doing the mezcal tasting is the husband to the hilarious woman doing the tequila tasting. Delicious tequila. There’s a reason tequila is my go to 😉 Once we finished with the tequila it was time to do some shopping in downtown. Now I shop, I love a good deal too, especially haggling at some garage sale. Saying that though, I was so utterly unprepared for how this goes on. So unprepared.  You get swarmed. SWARMED by people in their booths. I’m a ‘make eye contact with everyone’ person, you’re gonna look me straight in the eyes every time. Every single person stopped me. I also have a hard time saying no, ugh, not good in a situation like this. My bestie is telling me “Don’t make eye contact!” I can’t! It’s utterly impossible for me to not make eye contact. I need more prep before I attempt something like that again because holy hell, that was a lot. Don’t think I’m knocking any of these people either because I’m not. The amount of hustle, bustle and back bone they all have is amazing. They do this all day, every day. Mexico was definitely the best part of the trip and somewhere I really want to go back. I may have to try and convince my husband to go this next time though.

Day 3 was our sea day. I expected this to be our “hangover recovery” day, but we didn’t really even catch a buzz the day before so it turned into a relax day. Except the bestie decided to buy drinks and get our drink on *hand meet forehead*. Two shots of Patron and a Tequila Sunrise later and I was down for the count. I am a light weight, afterall. It was a great day though, drinks, good food, beautiful sunshine (Yeah, my ginger ass got sun burned lol). It was literally heaven on the ocean. 

The last day is debarkation day, off the ship and back to the real world. We hopped on our shuttle bus back to LAX, got some lunch real quick, bestie took off to her gate and I went to mine. All was good leaving LAX. Flight was bumpy as hell, that does not help my nerves at all. I have an hour and a half layover in Denver, figured that should be fine. I’ve never been to Denvers airport (prefer to avoid it in the future now too). Our plane was late getting in and then had to wait on the runway. So what started as 1.5 hours was cut in less than half. The terminal I needed to get to was on the opposite side of the airport. So I’m walking as fast as my stubby little legs can carry me, literally on the verge of running. I’m hauling ass, oh shit now I’ve got to go downstairs through a tunnel?! I get down there and its not just a tunnel, its a damn underground train. Somehow I manage to catch the next one just in time, jump on it and hold on. Get to the otherside and start booking it again. I make it to gate B21, I am sweating, breathing hard but I’m fine right? I made it to my gate and hop in line. I upgraded my ticket for this leg to First Class so I go to the front. I get to the attendant and he scams my boarding pass, stops, looks at me, scans it again and then sees it. I’m at the WRONG freaking gate. I’m supposed to be a Gate 41!!! He says RUN, I see one of those golf cart guys that drive people around, I jump in and beg him to zoom me over the B41 (on the opposite side of the terminal). He does, we get there in the knick of time, I tip the guy for saving my life (not literally but it feels like it) and I head over. I’m standing there anxious and sweating my ass off from all of this and guess what?! My freaking plane is late, all that rushing and stress for nothing. UGH! Ah well, I made it. I sit in my comfy first class seat and relax. It’s a short flight back to Bozeman but it’s been a day. About halfway through the flight though the stewards appear with the sweetest card signed by the captains and stewards on the plane and some bubbly. Perfect ending until I get to Bozeman, but we won’t get into that. The important part is that I made it home. I finally went on an out of country (even though just a day) trip and made it back in one piece. Also, my kids and husband are all alive and survived without me.

My take away from this whole thing, take the trips. Do the things, experience the new and love life. We only have one and man, can it be good! I don’t regret for one second going on this trip, especially with my bestie. I’m sure some of you are wondering why I didn’t go with my husband or kids? Sometimes moms need breaks. My husband isn’t much of a going out and doing things, especially a vacation with lots of people around. And I’ve got 4 kids, that shit is expensive! Moms need away time though and it took me over a decade to really realize that. It’s important for our mental health because while I love my children to death and would do anything for them, sometimes I need a break from it. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. So I hope you enjoyed reading this, maybe got a few laughs out of my nonsense, but I also hope your biggest take away is its ok for you to enjoy yourself too. It does not make you a bad mom.