Retrospective

It’s been awhile since I’ve traveled anywhere…apparently.

Last year, we went to North Carolina, rented a cottage and lived on the beach for a week. It was one of the best trips we’ve ever had, but one where we were heavily at the helm of the financial impact of that trip. We chose to drive, we bought groceries and with a few exceptions, spent most of our time cooking fantastic meals at the cottage, swimming and driving around.

On Tuesday, we packed our bags and headed off for another adventure and though it has been a wonderful experience, it has been shocking in a lot of ways.

For weeks, the children knew we were going to Chicago, but they had no idea that was only the first stop in our big adventure – we were boarding a plane there and flying to Orlando for a week. You can’t imagine the shock and delight when the learned where they were really going as we sat waiting to board our plane. It turns out that Jamee, age 8, was “on to us” early on when he thought we were “up to something.” No, he didn’t see that all the clothing packed for him was shorts and swimsuits, but he did think my behavior was odd when I told people we were going to Chicago. He also thought there was more whispering than usual. There probably was. Oh, and when we checked our baggage at O’Hare, the lady asked him if he was going to see Mickey Mouse…he wasn’t. We’re doing that next year.

Anyway, the first big shock of the trip is this: did you know the airline now charges you for each of the suitcases you bring along? Isn’t that usual to bring a suitcase with you when you go on a trip? Our family of four brought exactly two suitcases and we paid $15 each for them! Back in the day, on other trips, we might have brought a suitcase each – I’m glad we didn’t!

The last time I went on a plane, you were not only served a beverage, but a light snack or a meal – depending on the length of the flight. Oh, and they used to offer peanuts. Later, for fear of causing anaphylactic shock, they offered complementary chips. Now, you still get a beverage, but a cheese and cracker snack was $4 and a small portion of chips were $3! Can you believe that?!

In Orlando, I’m sure you can imagine how easily one finds themselves hemorrhaging money. Children’s meals are on the order of $7-10 each – and kids don’t eat much! Adult meals, as you might guess, were considerably more. Appetizers were $9 and up everywhere. In the hotel, we considered having a sushi dinner at one of the lobby-level restaurants but were shocked to find that not only would you pay for dinner, but a 20% service charge and also gratuity. I believe there was also some other random $3 charge.

We didn’t make it to any of the other major attractions in the area since swimming the hotel pool was such a great attraction, but in looking at the prices – we found it would have been several hundred dollars for us to spend a day at any of the theme parks or to go to a dinner theatre event.

Looking around Orlando, Florida, I see almost no indication of the economic trouble that is so apparent at home. I saw what appeared to be a huge group of new employees at the hotel at an orientation – which indicates hiring. I saw shoppers with bags loaded with items at the mall. I saw parents shelling out what I later determined to be hundreds of dollars for their little girls to get dolled up like a princess at a theme park affiliated store. Can you imagine a costume, a hair style, some glitter, shoes and you’d find yourself writing a check for $200? Shocking!

Yet, as the heartland continues to suffer and people around the country continue to get a financial reality check as their jobs disappear, savings dries up and things continue to get worse – I have to wonder, when will the impact be visible in a vacation destination place like Florida? When will people decide they’re not willing to spend the money? And when they decide that, will the prices become more reasonable? Will someone in some high place realize it might be more prudent to lower prices than to wait too long and wait until there is almost no one there to willingly hand over hard-earned money for a few hours of fun? I realize I’m talking about one of the biggest establishments in the free world with fingers in everything and about establishments that are well-vested in feeding off that tourist trade…but if things remain as bad as they are at home, and keep getting worse, it only seems reasonable that people will not be willing to pay the prices any longer. It would be a shame to think that instead of ramping down with the economy, they’d wait to long and be closed forever.

I’m glad we live in an area where a good meal is affordable, where we have ample choices of entertainment for our families that are free or inexpensive and, on some level, that when things get bad, we don’t have as far to fall.