Momma Needs a Vacation

This space has been woefully short on travel posts the last year, which is sad for a blog whose original URL included the term "travelblog."

Travel is expensive, and lately, we've had to use our family resources to pay for other things.

So how could I say non to the folks from the French Tourism Board, who asked me to participate in a contest to help them promote the joys of Martinique?

Twenty-five travel bloggers have posted some of their funniest experiences on the French site. The blogger who gets the most votes wins a free one-week trip for two to the tropical vacation spot in the Caribbean.

The best part: All who vote for a travel post also become eligible to win their own one-week vacation in Martinique!

Please vote for me here -- even though, to be perfectly honest, my story isn't even close to being the best one on the site. The first draft was a lot more amusing before I cut it down to the requisite 800 word limit. Even then, it was rather tame, next to tales of spa days in Tajikistan and backpacking through Africa.

The truth is, we're not adventurous travelers. We rarely go anywhere that doesn't involve visiting our far-flung family, and we don't tend to put ourselves in situations that might be dangerous for ourselves or our child. So I really had to rack my brain for an incident that might qualify for an entry, and this is what I came up with.

So why should you vote for me and not one of the other, better qualified entrants?

Ummm...

Because a week in Martinique would be the honeymoon my husband and I never had.

Oh, we did go away for a week following our wedding (15 years ago next month). But it wasn't a traditional honeymoon.

You see, when my husband's parents and aunt and brother and his wife flew in to San Francisco to attend our wedding in the Sierra foothills, I could not envision kissing my new husband for the first time and saying to them, "See ya." They came 6,000 miles for our event, had never been to the United States before (and have never been able to get back). How could we then just go on our merry way without them?

We could not. So we borrowed a second car and toted my in-laws around so they could see the best of Northern Calfornia.

We didn't have a lot of money, but we did have sympathetic friends and family. A friend of my dad's lent us the use of his Lake Tahoe cabin for a few days. A friend in Sonoma hosted us while we moseyed around Wine Country. A cousin in Silicon Valley temporarily moved into his girlfriend's house so we could use his home as a Bay Area base.

It was a lot of fun and a vacation I (and my in-laws) will always remember.

But it wasn't a proper honeymoon.

Come to think of it, THIS is the story I should have given the French Tourism people for my entry.

OK. So if you liked THIS POST, please head over to the contest and vote for me.

And who knows? YOU could be the winner.

Comments

[Liz]

Logged in my vote - is this a daily thing?

[Jenny]

I voted for you, Donna!

[Michelle Lamar]

Hey-
I voted for you (at least I think I did). Kept pressing buttons and then it said "You can only vote once" so I guess I voted. Sorry to be so "WT". You've got my vote sister!

[akakarma]

I thought it was a great post! Voted for you- who else?

[Emily]

It was an excellent post here. I agree with i voted for you. You are very happy?