My Florida Trip Nightmare!

Vacations are meant to be fun and relaxing, but sometimes things can go wrong. I learned this lesson the hard way after taking a trip to Florida in 2009.

My oldest son was an only child for almost eight years, and it was his father's and my idea to do something special for him. So, we decided to take him to Florida for Valentine's Day.

We left on Thursday and drove from Michigan to Florida. The car ride there was very uneventful, with both my son and I sleeping almost the whole trip. We arrived late Friday evening.

Friday

Since we arrived so late, shortly before 5 pm, we had no plans outside of spending a relaxing night at the hotel. However, we were not expecting it to be so cold.

Coming from Michigan we were expecting at lowest sixty degrees, however, the weather barely got in the high fifties while we were there. This was unfortunate because we had wanted to spend the night swimming in the pool. However, the hotel had an outdoor pool so we were forced to our hotel room for the night.

The night would only get worse as my son begin to feel sick. He started complaining about an ear ache and sore throat. Since we were not expecting him to get ill we did not bring any medicine with us.

So, we headed out for a bite to eat and some shopping for medicine.

Saturday

Saturday morning we were planning on going to SeaWorld. We gave Mikey, my son, some medicine and headed out to what looked like it would be a nice day. We were very wrong and thankfully I had left our winter jackets in the car.

The weather was in the low 40's that day, and even though it was cold, we still enjoyed ourselves, and ended the night by going to the World's Largest McDonald's.

Sunday

Sunday was to be my day. I am a huge NASCAR fan and it happened to be that the Daytona 500 fell on Valentine's Day that year. As a surprise from my husband he got us tickets and we headed off to the races.

My day did not go as planned. Mikey was not feeling great and made sure everyone knew it. My husband, who is usually very patient, was beginning to get annoyed with Mikey's complaining and made sure everyone knew it. By the time the track broke, this was this race where the track had broke, I was beginning to get annoyed.

I finally got tired of listening to the two of them complain that I very nicely said we were leaving, and we did. I made it back to the hotel in time for the restart but to say I was disappointed was an understatement.

Monday

On Monday we had wanted to take Mikey to Disney World but he did not want to go, so instead we drove down to the Miami Zoo. The zoo was great, the weather was nice. It actually made all the bad stuff seem like nothing.

Than my husband decided to take us to Miami Beach so our son could swim in the ocean.

It usually takes a lot to get me mad and this was the drawing point for me, yet my husband would not listen to me at all. I really wish he would of because a very nice, and I say that sarcastically, man directed us to a parking spot.

We parked, and got up to walk up to the beach. I called my husband an inconsiderate person (technically it was the word for a child born out of wedlock), which made him mad.

For many who do not know me, this may seem harsh on my part, but if you remember:

1. My son was sick and there was no way he was going to go swimming to make his ailments worse and;

2. I have a HUGE fear of the ocean. I am deeply afraid of drowning and worse sharks.

So yes, my husband was being very inconsiderate and I made my point with that statement. He pointed at the ocean, told our son there it was and said we were leaving.

We were away from the car not even five minutes. As we walked back we could see our car being towed away. Unfortunately all the cash on us was very little and the tow company did not take credit cards. It only got worse with it being President's Day and the banks close. This would not of been a problem if my husband knew his pin number to his debit card, and of course being out of state we could not write a check.

This left one option. I had to call home and have my parents wire me the money.

Tuesday and Wednesday

By the time Tuesday arrived we were ready to come home, and heading home to get hit with a blizzard in Indiana. This was also the day the trainer at Sea World would be killed by the whale.

Wednesday we got home and I got my son straight into the doctors. He had an ear and sinus infection!

To say this trip was a nightmare was an understatement. However, it was probably one of my favorite trips. Yes, a lot of bad things happened but it gave me a chance to give my son a trip he would enjoy. To this day he still remembers the trip as a positive and happy experience and can not wait to go back in a couple of years. Hopefully, when we return when our youngest son is five, we will not have as many problem.