Won't You Let Me Take You on a Sea Cruise? |
When my son was two years old, he fell in love with Mickey Mouse. I did his room in Mickey, his clothes were Mickey, his shoes were Mickey. In one of those tender moments with a two-year-old, he asked when he could go meet Mickey. I said, "When you are ten, we'll go to Disneyland." He never forgot that statement.
Oh, he's forgotten things I told him to do five minutes before. He's forgotten to call home when he reached his friend's house. He's forgotten to do his homework. But, as his tenth birthday approached (he actually started around his eighth birthday) he began to remind me. I began to panic. I had worked only part time since I wanted to be a stay at home Mom. Now I had to come up with funds to pay for Disneyland. I had a few hundred dollars in my savings account, about $5000 in mutual fund for their education, and a couple thousand more in my husband's RSP. (Why do kids always have more money than their parents?)
So, with mortgage payments, loan payments, bills, food, clothes, school stuff, I-just-gotta-have-it stuff, I figured out that we had about $20 per month to put away. Sigh. That was, of course, only if I kept mending my underwear and my husband didn't need new socks - ever! There had to be a way. Yup, there was. I went back to work with more regularity and started earning a steady pay cheque. Now I figured, after I paid the daycare costs and my new clothes and the occasional lunch out, I'd have $50 per month to put away. Provided, of course, that the car or house never need any repairs and taxes didn't go up. In the end, something fantastic happened! No, we didn't win the trip but my son and I won a contest through our Internet provider (Sympatico) and suddenly had $1000 cash. It just might work out. Then, I remembered my BIG plan. I wanted to cruise down the coast to LA. Okay, let's just say that it's good to have credit! Now, let me tell you about the trip.
Funds were a bit tighter than we expected because the Canadian dollar decided to hit an all time low. So, we caught the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver as walk on passengers, then caught the city bus for a 45 minute, jostled, crowded ride to the port. At least, we thought it would go there. We had to walk about 8 blocks; two adults, two kids, six suitcases, one garment bag, one video camera bag and a purse. You can get the picture.
Did you know that it takes about 3 hours to board a cruise ship? There were fifteen hundred people in queues waiting to go on. The kids thought this was the worst thing that could ever happen. Suddenly, it was our turn. We entered on the main deck of the Statendaam, one of Holland America's ships. So many smiling faces greeted us and led us to our room. Well, to our cabin, really. Or, perhaps it was a large closet. It seemed small, at first, but after we settled in, it was, okay, it was still small but cozy.
After a lifeboat drill, we took a tour of the ship and headed to dinner. Now, I know you've all heard about cruise cuisine but let me tell you: just walking by the restaurant I felt those calories begin to cling to my thighs. The food was divine, superb, incredible, marvellous. And, pretty good, too. Even the kids loved it. Every meal we had was great. Especially when we treated ourselves to the free room service after the floor show in the huge Las Vegas style theatre. Now, here's the best part of cruising with kids. They had this thing called Club HAL which was organized activities with a director, just for kids! We dropped them off at the designated spot in the hands of smiling Melinda at 10:00 a.m., picked them up for lunch, dropped them off again, picked them up for dinner, then dropped them off for an evening's fun til 10:00 p.m. Aaaaah, such a delight. We had grown up time.
I won't bore you with all the details, but that three day cruise was the best idea. We were so relaxed when we hit LA and were ready for the chaos that is a family trip to Disneyland.
The shuttle brought us to Anaheim, and there it was, the sign, "The Happiest Place on Earth" right in the middle of the biggest road construction project I'd ever seen. Our hotel seemed trapped in the middle of two hungry new freeways that devoured everything in sight. But, the room was great and there were pools.
We walked to the park that first day. (Amateur visitors do that sort of thing) We had five glorious days to spend seeing the splendour, riding the rides, learning that a hot dog, potato chips and a pop came to $7.50 Canadian.
On that first day, we lost our seven year old daughter. No, she didn't get lost, we did! She stayed right where she was and waited patiently til we finally figured out that we had lost her. Talk about traumatized. But, it didn't bother HER.
I can't say enough about Disneyland. It was wonderful and full of magic. The evening show, Fantasmic cannot be described in words. I felt the magic slide inside my body and suddenly I was a kid again. As a tear of joy trickled down my cheek and the spectacle just got better and better, I knew, at that moment, that spending the next two years paying off my Visa card was all worth it in the end.
(c)Joanne Keating 1999 All Rights Reserved
