Forever a Party of Two

Forever .... A Party of Two

We will forever be a Party of Two, but not in the way that most will think that I am referring to. True, we will forever be a party of two at home in that we are never going to have children and we do not have an immediate plans for any pets.  Today, I am tackling the fact that it feels like we will forever be a party of two when we dine, travel etc because friends without children are RARE.

The Childfree over age 35 frequently end up being friends with empty nesters or those who have busy, never home teenagers. Trying to be friends with those who have little kids is just impossible. The interests and schedules are just completely different. Its rare that parents can go out on a School Night. When they can or when they do, it is either something really special or they are done and home early enough to not disrupt the regular night schedule. For a childfree couple, we rarely have a "school night".  Both of us have taken a variety of courses, training, conferences, etc at various points in our careers which made us have to study and do homework on a week night, but normally, a week night doesn't have much difference for us. We can go and do what we want.

At various times we have had a varying number of couples or friends around us in various points of their lives. Some were never married, some were empty nesters, some were trying every day, it was just different for each couple. However, since moving to California, a place I considered to be more progressive than my home of Virginia, I was shocked to find the lack of ChildFree people. I figured anywhere I went, outside of the military community obviously, that I would have no problem finding couple who either didn't or were delaying the whole children thing. I have been shocked to realize that even outside of the military community that every where I look, it is still families, families, families. 

We have pretty much decided that we aren't going to bend, and go out of our way to be friends with people with kids. You can't go out on a Wednesday? Nope we are not rescheduling to when the kids don't have a game. Your problem is not my problem. It gets exhausting trying to work schedules around something I did not choose.  Have I accepted being a party of two? Maybe not 100%. I hope that one day, we meet a couple more interracial, married, childfree couples who enjoy traveling and dining out. Will we? I don't really know. One amazing thing in our marriage is we actually get along, and we actually enjoy spending time together. If we never meet any further childfree couples, we will still travel, we will still enjoy life. 

Our life is on our terms. We don't have to work based on someone else's schedule. Our married life is crazy enough being on active duty military. Whether we are surrounded by friends, or just surrounded by our love, our childfree status isn't changing, and our wonderful life is only going to get better.

Azure Hotel, Ontario California

Azure Hotel

Ontario, California

Living in San Diego, Anytime there is a convention at the Ontario Convention Center, it requires a 110 mile, 2 hr drive. For multiple day conventions, it makes sense to simply stay in the area, instead of driving 2 hours back and forth.  Back in November, I attended a multiple day convention and I made a blog post about the hotel where I stayed. I was close, but I drove to the convention center every day since I had things to transport with me.  The convention I just recently attended, I decided ahead of time to stay at a closer hotel, so that  I could just walk and not have to pay the parking fees.  I chose the Azure hotel. It is right next door to the convention center. Their parking lots touch. It was not even a 5 minute walk.

I am not sure if I would stay there again, even though it is super convenient, I am just not sure I would stay there again.

If you love the Grandma's Basement look, this hotel is for you. Everything in the hotel is super duper old and outdated. The flooring is this ridiculous, ugly GREEN marble. The bed was this super creepy 4 poster bed that somehow survived the 80s.

The most annoying part of the trip was when I checked in, the hotel had me as 2 separate nights, not one reservation for 2 days.  When I went to check in, the clerk was not helpful at all. She was just matter of fact, Nope they only had me for one night, period end of sentence. Not let me extend you, let me modify your reservation, not any help at all. 

I had to pull up the reservation to prove it was 2 days.  The hotel staff CLAIMED it was 2 separate reservations and their system would not allow it to be modified. As an IT Person, I don't believe it. 

I understand how software works. They could have easily changed the reservation.  Instead, I had to check out and check back in the next day. When I was at the desk checking out and checking back in, someone from house keeping was there. She said "You don't want service today do you?"

I just figured they were understaffed and she was trying to minimize what the housekeepers had to do.  I explained that I had food trash, I needed one more towel and the previous cleaner had left cleaning supplies in my room. I said they didn't need a full clean, but I at least need the trash to go and another towel.

I got back, of course my room hadn't been cleaned, the trash was still there, the cleaning supplies left previously were still there. Someone had dropped off a bunch of towels, but that was it.

The other super annoying part was the hotel has these "energy saver" light systems. You have to leave your card in the fixture to make the lights and AC run. So the hotel can have an updated "energy saving" feature, but they can't be bothered to either update the lamps to the lamps with plugs in the bottom, or add an outlet cover to the outlets by the bed that turns it into 3 outlets and a USB or similar.  Those covers aren't even $10. 

Hawthorne Suites, St. Robert, Missouri

Hawthorne Suites

St. Robert, Missouri

For my family visit to Missouri, I wanted to spend as much time with my family as possible since I had not seen them in so long. Well my sister and family lives in Waynesville, and there are not any hotels anywhere in Waynesville. I found one B&B but it really looked creepy. There is a road of hotels in St. Robert right off the interstate which was super convenient. 

I decided to stay at the Hawthorne Suites. I really did not need the kitchenette, but having a fridge was handy. They put me on the first floor in a room right behind the housekeepers laundry and storage area. The room had clearly been fairly recently remodeled with updated flooring, bedding and furniture. The weirdest thing about the room was the bathroom smelled like a wet dog. I don't think the hotel even allows pets. 

My first night there was the 23rd. Apparently, Dec 23 is national Elephant Bowling with roller skates night. The hotel has no real noise protection from the floors above. I have no idea what was going on with the groups that were on the floor above me. Honestly, it sounded like a herd of elephants were bowling while wearing roller skates. The elephants kept falling down. Apparently, the elephants were up until at least 2am. I did get lucky in that the elephants only stayed there my first night and my last night. So I did get some sleep. 

I will point out something that Hawthorne Suites had, that ALL hotels need to have. EASY ACCESS TO POWER OUTLETS!

The night stand in between the 2 beds had a power strip built right in. There were outlets on the desk, under the tv and other places.  With the amount of traveling that I do, I stay in hotels all the time. One thing that really annoys me in when a hotel remodels or is fairly new and yet they cannot make sure there are outlets where people need them. Definitely it was a welcomed surprise at Hawthorne in St. Robert.

Welcome to Uranus!

Uranus Fudge Factory, St. Robert, Missouri

My Sister moved to Missouri in 2014 when her husband was given new Military Orders. Since her living there in 2014, I had never gone to visit her and see where she is living. I decided since the husband was deployed at Christmas, I would fly out and spend time with the family for Christmas. I stayed in St. Robert at a Hawthorne Suites. St. Robert is the next town over from where the family lives in Waynesville. 

I saw the Uranus Fudge Factory when I was driving it. I thought it was hilarious. When my sister had to work on Dec 26, I decided to take the kids to Uranus Fudge Factory.

They DO actually make fudge there. But the store is more of a general store for tourists. Just about any typical tourist item you can imagine is there for sale. It is in a small shopping center with other "Uranus" businesses. There is a small circus / freakshow museum, an escape room and even a small playground for kids.

The best part?

When you walk in the door, Everyone yells "Welcome to Your Anus!"

If you are anywhere near St. Robert, you have to stop by. If for no other reason, then to say you tried Fudge from Uranus!

WOW - World Of Wonder - RIO Hotel - Las Vegas

WOW

World of Wonder

RIO Hotel & Casino

Las Vegas

What is the most constant thing in Las Vegas? Change. As soon as you get the hang of where certain shows, restaurants and clubs are located, something will change. Especially with shows. Shows definitely come and go, they also move from venue to venue frequently.

The show WOW World of Wonder started in 2017 I think, maybe early 2018. From the previews, I knew I definitely wanted to see it. It is currently at the RIO where the Raiding the Rock Vault show used to be. At one point, RIO had Raiding the Rock Vault, X Rocks, a tattoo parlor owned by Counts Customs, and the KISS Rock N Roll mini golf. RIO was sort of going for a Rock n Roll kind of theme. Maybe trying to attract a certain age group or certain crowd. 

Raiding the Rock Vault has moved to the Hard Rock and X Rocks has moved to Bally's. WOW World of Wonder is a thematic, show performed in a sort of half round, multi level stage. The center is water and it changes. The show is not high flying and performing water tricks as some of the other shows. But it is definitely a dramatic, elaborate show. It tells a beautiful story and it is fairly easy to follow.

The story encompasses pirates, mermaids, sea creatures, fantasy, dreams, love and adventure. I would definitely recommend it for all ages. It was not something that was "too advanced" for kids maybe ages 5 and up. It is a fantastical roller coaster ride. There are few shows in Las Vegas that I would pay to see again within 6 months, WOW is definitely one of them. Don't miss it when you are in Vegas.

MSC Seaside, June 9-16, 2018

MSC Seaside

Miami, Florida

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Nassau, Bahamas

Our First Cruise on MSC was MSC Seaside out of Miami. 

This was our 10th cruise overall. However, the first 9 were on Carnival.

Our cruise journey definitely started out quite interesting. First when booking and checking in, we had to get used to how MSC does it. I actually liked their system better.
Instead of opening your on board account ahead of time, you have until you have been on the ship for 48 hours before your account is "on hold" until you put a credit card down. It can be done from one of their many kiosks, so we definitely did not have to stand in some long line.

We have cruised out of Miami before but MSC was at a different terminal. When we got to the terminal, our Lyft driver pulled right to the luggage cart. He was actually not in a parking space. He was just trying to get us to the pile of luggage as close as he could.
As we get out of the car, I have my husband asking me questions, the Lyft driver talking to me, and the dock worker talking to me asking me questions. Even though the dock workers are unionized, get an $15 an hour, they still expect tips. We had 3 bags that the handlers had to move from the ground to the cart. That was it. We were right by the luggage cart. If we had been further away, I could understand. I opened my wallet while talking to the driver and my husband and THOUGHT I grabbed a $5 for our 3 bags. My standard in the past had been $2-$3 basically $1 per bag. If we are getting on earlier and our room isn't ready, we check more. If our room would be ready, we carry on more.

In this case, our room would be ready. The dock worker took our 3 bags, one spinner suitcase, one regular roller, and a garment bag. I thought I handed him a $5. He looked at what I tipped and gave me the world's dirtiest look. I have gotten worse looks from people when I intentionally did something bad to them. Finally the Lyft driver was satisfied and left, my husband took off towards where we would check in, and took off after him.
Later, I looked in my wallet and realized I must have given him a $1 instead of a $5 based on what was in my wallet. It was an accident. 
We got on the ship, ate, did the safety drill, went to dinner, waited and waited waited. My husband had his luggage. But my suitcase with our toiletries, my medication, ALL of my clothes was never delivered.
Finally at 9:15pm I could not wait any longer and I went to guest services and then was directed to the "no tag: area. Thankfully my suitcase was there, and my luggage tag was easily visible.
I could tell where the tag had been ripped off clearly the dock worker was angry that I had not tipped what he expected. It made the cruise start off on a sour note, but it was not MSC's fault.

Other things about the cruise definitely made up for it. 

Carnival Inspiration, February 2018

Carnival Inspiration

February 26, 2018

Long Beach, CA

Catalina Island, CA

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Our second Carnival Premier Getaway, our 3rd cruise out of Long Beach, Our second short Mexico Cruise. 

This was our 9th cruise on Carnival. When we originally started cruising on Carnival in 2015, our plan was to not repeat the Ship, Embarkation port, or Itinerary. So far, we have not cruise on a Carnival Ship twice. We have done the same itinerary twice, and this was our third cruise out of Long Beach.

We board the Carnival Inspiration and then went to Catalina Island the next day. We decided to take a tour around Catalina Island and get to see some sights. It was a great drive to get to view around the Island. When we had been there before we did something else. 

Our next stop was Ensenada Mexico. This was my third time in Ensenada. Our first time we drove there. From where we are in Northern San Diego County county, it takes about 90 minutes with no traffic to get to the border, and then it is about 2 hrs to get to Ensenada after crossing the border.  The second and third time we visited Ensenada we were on a Carnival Ship.

Ensenada is a fun tourist town. The weather is pretty good all year, so there is a ton to do as far as activities. This trip we did a wine country tour. People do not really think of Baja California as being Wine Country, but it is. Due to the wonderful weather, it is a great place for grapes and olives, not just the infamous Agave for tequila. Our wine country tour included a bottle of wine at the first vineyard. The second vineyard had way more than just wine. It had all sorts of oils, spreads and seasonings. It was a great tour even for those who do not drink. 

Get Over It

We all make our own choices in life. The best thing you can do in life is make the choices that work for you and what you want out of life. We have chosen to not have children so that we can be free to travel and enjoy our free time. We wanted a life without constraints. 

Reasons to be Childfree

The Child Free Life

The Child Free Life is not "luck". It is a deliberate choice. I hate it when people say we are "lucky". It makes it sound like they regret their choice to have children. We definitely do not regret our choice not to have children. We have enjoyed an amazing life full of fun and travel due to not children to deal with.