Tripping before our Trip

I am a Type A , ragingly obsessive, overplanning freak of a person.

I obsess about vacations, road trips, trips to the grocery store, restaurant trips, innocent forays to a state park...all are mapped, planned, replanned, researched, plan B'd until they are nearly not worth going to visit because I now know everything there is to know about the location. Something that I do not go to everyday, or often, I need to learn everything about before I go...therefore there are no embarassing surprises and confusion.

I know where to park and how much parking will cost us.
I know where the bathrooms are, and what condition they are in.
I know their hours of business.
I know things to do and not to do while there.
I know discount deals and hidden non-advertised specials.
I will dig until I found the cheapest way in.
I will scour the internet to read reviews and weigh all the options.
I find little special things about each location. Hidden perks.
Do they take a credit card or do I need to bring all cash?
New restaurants...I will look their menu up online...read reviews...check out their website from top to bottom...

We're going on a cruise in April and then spending two days at Disney. Do you see what is coming?

Thank goodness we are avid cruisers and have cruised and visited Disney before (before the Toddler mind you). The groundwork research is already done, but there are so many new things to add on!

It took me three hours to decide on a hotel for this trip to stay over for ONE night on the way to Florida. Three hours of reading reviews, weighing the rates, reading more reviews, weighing more rates...of course I was also eating breakfast, taking a Toddler to pee pee, keeping an eye on my husband in the backyard using a huge piece of equipment called a stump grinder...but the majority of the three hours was research. I don't want to ever end up in a dump like we did on our second trip to Florida. That was frightening.

I have planned this thing forward and back. I have the money spelled out in the check register for the Fun Fund. Right down to the parking fees.

Dog Boarding HOLD $250
Parking at Pier HOLD $75
Parking at Disney HOLD $60 (four days)
Hotel HOLD $550
Hotel in SC HOLD $75

You get the point.

Yes, I have a problem.

I know where the characters do meet and greets at Disney.

I know when these meet and greets are supposedly not as busy.

I know of a quiet secluded area of deck space on our ship that hardly anyone uses.

I have researched the thunder out of an excursion we are taking in the Bahamas. I could probably tell the guide all about it at this point.

I am a planner. And yes, again, I have a problem. There has got to be a support group somewhere.

There is! Its websites like TripAdvisor that allow us to tell other fellow travellers how things REALLY ARE. I love that site.

I have a manilla folder that contains a slew of gift cards that I have earned in the past six months for prescription transfers (don't offer me a $25 gift card...I'll FIND a prescription that needs transferred) and the credit card points redeemed for gas cards.

I have also printed out ALL the confirmations for the hotel rooms, the character dining at Disney, our boarding pass for the cruise.

We will get our passports next week...and those will be packed.

By the time we leave that manilla folder will be bursting at the seams.

There will be extra pens in the folder...and phone numbers...and back up hotels to contact. There will be odd assortments of information like places where "KIDS EAT FREE!" and all that jazz.

And then...I will open it and reopen it no less than fifty times on the way to Florida...checking everything, to make sure it is there. Last vacation we took, the clasp came off I fiddled with it so much.

My husband doesn't mind it though...he doesn't have to worry about anything. He just asks me...'do we have?' and away I go. Digging and flipping and pulling out said information.

I have it all labeled, post it noted, paper clipped and filed in order of event.

It's insane.

But I LOVE it!