What Kind of Trip CAN We Take?

During the early days of the Covid lockdown, I realized that I was going to have a big birthday in May of 2021.  Because everything felt upside down and inside out, my mind became fixated on the idea of celebrating my birthday in a BIG way.  To me, my birthday became a symbol of being out of the pandemic, of life getting back to normal.  

My first thought was, I'm turning 40 in Disneyland Paris.  I mean, what is more me than being in a Disney Park in my favorite foreign locale?  Well... by May of 2020 I realized that I shouldn't put my eggs into the basket of being able to go to Europe.  Sure, it might be open in a year, but there was no guarantee.  

Plan B was a week at a fantastic, all-inclusive resort in Mexico with our travel buddies, the Bush Family.  There was a kid's club, so we could have some grown up time.  There was a fantastic beach.  The food looked good.  We were sold and booked our trip!  Then, in January of 2021, the government announced that anyone who leaves the country would have to test to get back in.  With two families, 4 kids and 4 adults, the possibility of getting stuck outside the country was too big for us to take.  So we scrapped the Mexico plan and I sulked for a few days.

Once I got over it and accepted that I would not turn 40 at a fabulous all inclusive resort in Mexico, we decided on a split stay.  The Schneiders would spend 4 nights at Walt Disney World in and then we would join our friends at a beachside resort in Fort Lauderdale.  It may not have been our original plan, but it turned out to be the BEST plan!

As I share this trip with you, there will be pictures of us in masks at Disney.  At the time of our trip, the policy was masks everywhere unless you were taking a photo.  About two weeks after we left, the mask policy was changed.  Just our luck!