Things I Learned On Vacation

All last week I was in Palm Springs, on a vacation with my sisters and my mother. My older sister is pregnant with her first child (my mom's first grandchild!) and my twin sister is getting married in two months, so this was kind of our last hurrah. We spent most of the time shopping (is there anything better than outlet malls?) with a decadent spa day thrown in for good measure. We had a lovely time, and I thought I'd share a few of the lessons I learned along the way with you all.

1. It's Cruel to Take a Pregnant Woman Shopping.

I should preface this by saying that my older sister was a total trooper. She kept up with us and never complained once, despite the heat (42 degrees Celcius!), the long hours and the cement floors. But I think you see where I'm going with this. It was ridiculously hot and she was walking around with a furnace on her stomach. We shopped all day (and I honestly could have gone longer), so she was on her feet, in the heat, for way too long. Despite how well she hung in there, I don't think I'll subject her to it again any time soon.

2. Never Separate a Bride From Her Fiance.

Again, I'd like to preface this by saying that my twin was a fantastic travel companion and really kept the sighing and mooning over her fiance to a minimum. But it wasn't the same as when we used to travel. She was constantly distracted, and I'll be honest, I seemed to irritate her to no end. I may as well have been an itchy sweater she was forced to wear for a week. It shocked me, as we're very close and we've always made excellent travel companions before. But what can you do? She's in love and about to be married. There's no substitute for a fiance when you're head over heels in love and, in fact, anything else is just insulting.

3. Do Not Attempt to Write Your Blog Posts Ahead of Time.

When I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation. I don't bring a cell phone, I don't bring a computer. I'm on vacation from my life. So, I didn't want to have to worry about my blog while I was away. I wrote out my blog posts ahead of time, typed them up and showed my husband how to post them for me while I was away. The problem? Blogger sucks. Instead of showing the date of your post as the date it was published, it sticks to the first time you typed it. So, even though my husband posted them in the right order, they showed up in the order I'd typed them. Very irritating. And they all showed the dates I'd worked on them, instead of the date they were published. I was busted!

4. Don't Put Too Much Pressure On Your Vacation.

A few days before we left, I was talking to my older sister and couldn't help but ask if she was as excited as I was. She responded with a hesitant, "yes, but I hope we can all get along for that long." I was flabbergasted. The thought never even occurred to me! These were my sisters, my mother! How could we not get along? We got along famously. But her comment hung with me, and ended up creating a self fulfilling prophesy. Although we didn't fight, there was an undercurrent of tension through the whole trip that didn't let up until we were in the airport and on our way home. Suddenly, we were getting along the way we were supposed to the whole trip. If we hadn't been so worried about getting along the whole time, I think we would have had even more fun than we already did.

In the end, we did have a great time, and I have a whole lot of cute new clothes to show for it. But I think it's important to look back on our experiences and see what we can learn from the experience. These are the lessons I took away. What have your vacations taught you?