Another travel adventure in the U.S.

Since we moved to Guantanamo Bay visiting family has become more of a challenge.  Coming and going is definitely not as easy as one would imagine.  After all we are traveling and in and out of military installation, security is higher and flights are limited.  My plan was to travel Space A after the big holiday rush, therefore guaranteeing seats coming and going.  Cost of my tickets for four of us? Under $200 round trip. Can't beat that.  I, unfortunately, made a big mistake that cost me a lot of money. I was frustrated for a good hour trying to figure out if it would be worth going on the trip, I was not expecting to spend the money on the ticket, instead I planned to splurge a little visiting family and our son Josh.  But I quickly decided it was definitely worth seeing my kid and more so, seeing him and his siblings together again.  That was priceless so we paid and off we went on a 10 day adventure up and down the East Coast.  

My expectations were to hit major traffic jams, get lost a few times, miss seeing friends, and spend too much time just traveling.  Turns out I left my bad luck right at the ticket counter in Guantanamo when I paid the huge price for our four tickets.  After that everything went smoothly.  OK well, maybe not everything, apparently my credit card wouldn't work and Enterprise did not leave a car for me at the airport, but that was easily resolved by going to another rental company who quickly accommodated me with a car, free gas, AND a free GPS unit.  We sat in our newly rented KIA Soul and the song "Party Rock" by LMFAO came on.  Of course, my teen daughter Em and I started dancing and laughing because we remembered the commercial with the chipmunks dancing to this tune in a KIA Soul.  It was a great way to start our vacation--again. I knew it would be fine. 

We traveled from Norfolk to New York and back in 10 days and covered 1100 miles. Visiting family in every state, some friends, a couple of colleges for Em and ate entirely too much.  However, we hit very little traffic and had no problems finding a place to park no matter where we were... yes even in NY.  The only pain I'm experiencing right now is back and neck. The Soul is a nice little car with an incredible amount of space for all our luggage and toys but not the best for driving two to three hours daily, however it was great to park because it fit just about anywhere--loved it, as long as I can get a massage soon.

We are now sitting in a USO in Norfolk waiting to board.  With no delays we should be in Guantanamo Bay by noon today.  I do miss Michael a lot, though I don't think he would have liked all the driving we had to do.  I also miss my routine, my friends, and my exercise... really need to get back to gym, desperately.  Thankfully I have to teach a lot so I wont be lacking physical activity.  I'm ready for GTMO!!