Too Much Time on Our Hands

We expect that we will have 6 or 7 weeks free this summer, mostly in July. We have been debating what to do with this chunk of time. If money weren't an issue, what would you do? If money were an issue, would you do something different?

We've come up with lots of ideas. One is to take a trip around the country. We have friends and family in California, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and Wisconsin. We lived in New Jersey for a year and would love to visit there again and show older son where he was born. We'd love to visit LDS church history sites in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinios, Missouri and along the Mormon Trail. This trip would require lots of driving time, but would be less expensive than some of our other options.

We would love to travel to the Middle East or Central Asia. Cairo is probably my favorite city in the world (I can never decide if Jerusalem comes first), but Cairo in July is not pleasant. My husband and I have wanted to go to Samarqand, Bukhara, and Khiva for a long time. I always want to go back to Jerusalem. The problem with these ideas is that airfare for four people is pricey. Our families would also get in a snit because they think it's dangerous in that part of the world. They shouldn't have let us marry each other.

We could also stay home and build a house here, if we are going to be staying here permanently. This idea is practical, saves money, and sounds very boring. We are too often practical and boring.

I've also discovered that you can take less expensive freighter trips. How about a round-the-world cruise? It would take about 7 weeks and we would stop at ports all around the world.

I had a friend whose family backpacked through Europe as a family. That sounded like a great thing to do. She had a good time, except that her pack was stolen at the beginning of the trip. But she didn't have to haul a lot of stuff around. :)