Upcoming "family" trip!

I love travel, and Pieter and I enjoyed flying to France, Holland, Belgium, Colorado, NY city, Israel, Boston and more before we had kids. After kids, well its rather obvious our flying legs took a break in exchange for family wings. Luckily, we were able to fly out to Paris and cruise along the Baltic Sea last summer, but both trips without the company of our two favorite people.

Instead of traveling out of town, we transform our evenings and weekends into family activities like gardening, hiking, walking through Princeton, grocery shopping, steam train riding and even heading to Manhattan (have not done yet but will this summer). As the kids grow older (4 and 7) we can slowly expand our wings into places and time that can span oceans, visiting family and finally taking a plane.

This summer we are all traveling to the Netherlands, for 2 weeks...an entire 2 weeks... an entire 2 weeks. Sorry, this repeat is only a symptom of my inability to believe this reality. Ordinarily, I only take 2-3 days of vacation at a time due to my hectic schedule at work (and my workaholic nature). Yet this time, we are doing it, and I can't wait...my kids are so excited about the plane, and Alec keeps "Are we taking a plane? Please take me on a plane, with Mommy, Daddy and Isabella"; while Isabella reminds us that when we take the plane (which she yells for joy each time) her and her brother will have to ride with an adult while the plane takes off to be safe (she is really conscientious, even her teacher told us so).

In some ways, this trip is a long overdue, since every year we have as a family mentioned a possibility to go to Holland but have never felt is was quite yet right, both due to the ages of Bella and Alec, and also cost for 4 tickets is not too cheap these days. But this year, and ironically even due to my constant business travel, everything has come together.

Traveling for work can sometimes mean my time is very limited and I hardly think of "time off" for myself. And yet, because every trip is usually associated with some reward point system, I accumulate tons of potential rewards. This summer, they have become a wonderful gift for our family.

Besides getting 2 Continental round trip tickets to the Netherlands in mid July mostly from points, Pieter and I will be taking a short trip to DC courtesy of my Hyatt and Amtrak rewards...finally I can see this town from outside the office and can go to the Spy museum! : )

Anyway, can't wait for these trips to happen, and to finally share some long overdue time with our dear friends and family across the ocean in Holland. (Oma, here we come!!!!!!)

Leuk, eh?? (Dutch for cool)