After we returned from our amazing Honeymoon in Greece we said that we would do something BIG and FUN again for our ten year anniversary. Ten years seemed so far away at the time, but time moved quickly and soon enough it was time to have the conversation of if we really would do a big trip away. You can never recreate your honeymoon. I don’t think you can ever go back to being that carefree once you have kids, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try. So we decided to do it. We decided to take a long trip. Just me and Captain Awesome. Without our kids (eek!). We picked a location and we booked it. Ok it wasn’t that simple but in the end we did it! We took that 10 year anniversary trip and I am so happy we did.

The first question was can we afford to go. We try to be as financially responsible as we can, but sometimes you just have to just go. We put a lot of our honeymoon on a credit card, but we would do it again in a second. The experience was worth every penny. Could the money go elsewhere? Sure! But we wanted to do this. We could make it work, and we could do it without going into debt. BIG WIN! Could we have used the money to do some improvements for our house? Sure! But you can’t put a dollar amount on experiences.

The next question is where to go. Captain Awesome is Greek (among other things) and I am Irish (among other things).  We went to Greece on our honeymoon so we thought maybe it was my turn to get back to the land of my people. Also, we found a trip to Ireland to be more on the affordable end. A nice long trip and it didn’t break the bank.

Childcare was a huge question. How could we go away for 8 days without the kids? I couldn’t think about the actuality of it or I would go bonkers and never book the trip, so we had to just run with it. It had to be during the school year. That way both kids would be in school for all or part of the day. Ireland is cold most of the time so that left spring or fall. Fall couldn’t happen because the back to school time of year is sooooo super busy and I would hate to miss out on all the “back to school” events, so Spring it is! It certainly isn’t easy to pick a time to travel away your kids.

Both of my inlaws work so to make this happen my parents had to agree to travel to Long Island and stay the week. I asked my inlaws if they would take the first 2 nights of the weekend so break up the time a little bit and they generously agreed. The kids would stay with them Friday and Saturday night, and then my parents would come Sunday to spend the week. I felt relived to know that they would be at home and able to go about their normal routine. I knew it would be alot of my parents, but I was confident they could/would do it. (they didn’t disappoint!)

Now the question was who would plan it. A good friend of ours was a lifesaver. He used to work for a company that booked trips to Ireland and he put us in contact with an amazing travel agent. I have never met anyone so passionate about travel to a certain area. Her name is Erika Gustafson of Greater Falls Travel (gutentuf@gmail.com)  I could just feel the love of an area with every conversation. She just “got me” right away. We talked and she put together an amazing trip. She put together a trip I know she would have wanted to go on…and has. She was confident and took any hesitation I had and told me to roll with it. She was exactly what I needed.

My type A personality was SCREAMING! We booked a trip that left us room to breath and wasn’t completely over planned. I am a planner so for me this was tough. But I was told that’s the best way to see Ireland (they weren’t wrong!) We had the hotels booked, our flights and a car booked and that was it. The rest was up to us! Was I up for the challenge? I embraced it. Before we left I barely could tell you which direction we were travelling let alone which cities we were visiting. I didn’t have to do too much research myself because Erika, our travel agent, gave us the most amazing suggestions. Knowing what I know now after the fact she didn’t disappoint.

So we did it! We planned, we knew our kids were taken care of by amazing grandparents and we left! It was time to take our 10 year anniversary trip and I am so happy we did. I loved it so much and can’t wait to share it all with you. Ireland was the most beautiful country, and it was a trip different then any other I have ever taken. I promise to write it all down and to share it all. Not only for you, but mostly for me so I can remember and amazing trip!

Erika Gustafson Greater Falls Travel: gutentuf@gmail.com

Erika has a passion for booking Ireland Trips but is currently also booking Portugal and the Canary Islands among other locations.