Yes, you read that right! I've FINALLY officially booked my First REAL vacation in 2 YEARS!!! It's funny b/c the #1 Goal I had for myself this year was to travel more ( you can revisit my 2012 goals here if you like) and until I booked this trip I was failing miserably at goal #1...but I will add I've been pretty successful w/ all my other goals this year so I guess I can't beat myself up too much ;)
Plus the year isn't officially over...still gotta a couple of mths and my trip is booked for Nov 19 - Dec 3...so just making that 2012 deadline ;) ...and India is pretty exciting so even though it's only one trip I think it's a pretty good one!
The problem w/ me booking trips and getting away is 1. I'm a bit of a workaholic 2. I HATE to miss or give up work...seriously it's a problem. I get anxious when I'm already booked for a wedding and can't divide myself in two b/c another job has come up. This year has been an incredible year for growth and improvement in my business but I am IMO still starting out so I still have fear that every job is the last job and that I need to be available for everything b/c there will come a time when I won't have any work and I'll regret missing jobs or spending money on trips...I know this ridiculous and my business continues to grow and I'm already booking weddings as far as a year in advance but still it's a BIG fear of mine!
Plus I really wanted to get a handle on some debt that I had collected while beginning my career...so now that that's taken care of I feel I can relax a bit, save some money and even splurge once in a while...still trying to learn to do this as it takes me FOREVER to make a decision sometimes.
Seriously, I've been talking about taking a trip pretty much all year. I'm sure some of my friends were annoyed (particularly Ashley Readings lol) b/c I just kept making excuses and saying not yet, it's too busy, I don't have enough money saved yet, I don't want to miss ANY work etc. I also have all these issues where I think b/c I'm self employed I'm technically losing MORE money than a reg. employed person b/c not only am I spending money on the trip but I'm making $0 while I'm gone and technically possibly losing money b/c I'm turning down work...ppl who aren't self employed just can't get this b/c they have vacation pay and can't WAIT to take some time off lol!
But finally I just had to realize YES Jessica you probably are going to miss some work...but think of the experiences you are going to gain. So then came the research! I knew I wanted to go w/ a travel group of some sorts...I've decided to go w/ G Adventures btw. I've traveled alone a lot and I just didn't feel like doing it for this one. So I needed to find a trip where they weren't going to charge me more just b/c I'm single...jeez don't I get enough flak or pity from society for being single...do I need my vacation to penalize me too lol! Also, b/c I'm still anxious about missing work I wanted to choose a time when I "should" be less busy...so I was thinking Nov/Dec (hope I'm right). Plus I wanted to go away for approx. 2 wks...I really want to experience a place a bit and flights are so bloody expensive I want to at least get my money's worth there! So right there b/c of my timeline and budgetary restrictions (I'm not rolling in it yet ;) ) the trips are a little limited...I was really hoping to do Turkey but the company I'm booking through stops their tours their in Oct.
So anyway, w/ those restrictions I started my research! I really wanted a trip that was a bit exotic, a bit of an adventure and a bit of a learning experience. Esp. since I'm going alone I wanted to do something active. I've never done an all-inclusive in my life...maybe when I have someone to actually go w/ - be it a friend or significant other that might be something I'd enjoy but by myself...not really what I was looking for.
Ever since a friend of mine Christine Estima did a tour of India a couple of years ago and inspired me w/ her wonderful stories of her trip it's been a bit of a fascination and interest of mine (plus while I was in Shanghai I almost went there for work at one point but it didn't work out :( ). So I thought India would be a good option! The tours are affordable, once you get there the expenses are affordable, just the friggin' flights (or more specifically the taxes) that are expensive and it really is a place I'd want to travel w/ a group and really wouldn't feel comfortable exploring on my own.
There were a lot of tours going on there...as it's still quite warm in Nov/Dec in India (esp. the South) AND it's after monsoon season. But again b/c of my "work anxiety" I wanted to miss the least amount of Saturdays possible (it is after all my busiest day of the week usually...and wedding really do happen all year round in Toronto). The problem is a lot of the tours START on a Saturday which would mean leaving on a Friday and then they finish on a Saturday or Sunday so even if they are only 14-15 days b/c of all that you still end up missing 3 Saturdays...and I preferably only wanted to miss two at most!
Then I found the PERFECT trip for me! It starts on a Mon. which means flying out on a Sun and it finishes on a Mon. so I'll get back to Toronto on Tues. Plus it really is a fast past tour that hits a lot of the MAJOR attractions of the country...AND it just happens to be one of their more budget friendly trips to India (always good for me ;) ). Even w/ all these things lining up I'm not going to lie it probably took me another 2-3 wks to FINALLY officially book the trip. I kept re-visiting the website, checking how many spots were left for the trip I wanted (I finally booked when there was only 1 spot left), checking flight prices...and just over analyzing the whole situation. Hey I'm a Libra...I'm indecisive and I like to weight out everything...but when I FINALLY make that decision I STICK WITH IT!
So on Friday morning I OFFICIALLY booked my trip! India - Delhi to Goa - Nov 19 - Dec 3...if you're curious you can check out the trip details HERE!
Still lots of planning and researching to do before the BIG trip but I CAN'T WAIT!!!
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