In the summertime

This Friday afternoon is the start of summer, which should make me very happy: BBQ dinners, ice cream trucks, really stupid TV shows that the networks are too embarrassed to run during the regular season. Summer … you can’t say it without smiling.

For most of my life, summer meant vacation. I would go to ” title=”Disneyland College Program”>Disneyland College Program to an internship at a newspaper, with a vacation right before returning to school, sometimes.

When I graduated from college and moved to California, summer meant a job with more sun during my commute.

Now that I am married, summer means two of us in jobs with more sun during our commutes.

Notice a pattern?

As two adults without children, taking a summer vacation is not only difficult – it is expensive. Hotel prices, airline prices, gas prices – everything is higher in the summer, not to mention the crowds.

However, just because we can’t take a summer vacation, doesn’t mean we can’t take a vacation.

Now, instead of June being our favorite month – it is May and October (the two months in which we’ve been taking our vacations). October is perfect – the days are cool and it is after the insanity of the High Holidays. May is perfect – the days are a little warmer and the kids aren’t out of school yet.

My husband and I are fortunate people who can afford to cruise. We know others are not as lucky and, because of high gas prices, can pretty much only enjoy a “” title=”Disney Magic”>Disney Magic for our one-year anniversary. Since it is off-season, we found a great price for the cruise and the hotel at