Five hotel reservations in four Florida beach towns... A spring break saga Part 1

A few months ago, Alyssa asked if we could go to *a* (she wasn't picky where) beach in Florida during her spring break. We said it would probably work out- no promises but we would look into it. Unfortunately the college kids did not have their breaks the same week as Alyssa's so it would just be Alyssa and us. That's ok, Alyssa was after the sun and sand, siblings were not required. Donnie has been swamped with work and said it may not work for him to go either. Alyssa was after the sun and sand, both parents were not required ;). Alyssa and I have traveled together many times just the two of us, mostly when she was in club soccer and we traveled all around for out of town/ state games and tournaments. 

I started to look into flights to various cities on the coast. I found a direct flight out of Cincy to Fort Lauderdale during spring break. It seemed near perfect. It was on Allegiant- a discount carrier that we've flown on before. It's a no frills kind of flight but we don't fly for frills so that was no problem. I found a hotel on the beach that would meet all of our needs (which is basically just... being on the beach!)! Laudy in late March would be nice 'n hot. Settled! Fort Lauderdale for spring break for us! The only question was whether Donnie would be able to go with us. I held out on purchasing plane tickets until we knew for sure whether Donnie could go or not.

Until... I began to do a few more flight searches. I found a flight out of Dayton to St. Petersburg/ Clearwater Beach airport. It was direct and it was cheaper than the flight to Fort Lauderdale. In addition, we live closer to the Dayton airport and it's a very small airport. There are numerous beach towns close to the St. Pete/ Clearwater Beach airport so I began to do a lot of research into beach towns and endless searches of hotels on the various beaches. I narrowed the choice down to two and made reservations at both of them. 

Then I began to do daily searches on the two flights to see which one was cheaper. All things being equal- which they pretty much were, we'd go with the cheaper flight option. Fort Lauderdale is further south than Clearwater so we would have a better chance of hot weather if we went to Laudy but in researching weather trends in the Clearwater  Beach area, it seemed likely that we would have good beach weather in Clearwater Beach if we went there during spring break. So now a few choices- two different beach towns and two different hotels in Clearwater Beach if we decided on that.  I continued to hold out on purchasing plane tickets to either Fort Lauderdate or Clearwater Beach until we knew for sure whether Donnie could go or not.

Until... two things happened. One, the question of whether or not Donnie could go with us was settled. He could not. One of the associates at his law firm put in ten day's notice that she was leaving the firm. Donnie had been able to give this associate some routine assignments for his clients which freed him up for more complex matters. When the associate put in her notice, not only would he not be able to give her work, but he'd have to go through the time consuming process of hiring someone new and then training that person. He was already busy helping his clients and this set him back further. Going away for spring break was out of the question for him, unfortunately.

Then the terrible situation with Ukraine and Russia resulted in low air fare... ceasing to exist. Prices for the tickets that I had been eyeing went way up. I could have paid the higher fare but it was hard to swallow knowing how inexpensive the tickets had been so recently. 

I began to consider driving to Florida. Driving to Florida!! Never had I ever, though I know of many people who live in our area (which is... not close to Florida) who do. I began to look for beaches areas in northern Florida. I sure wasn't going to drive to Fort Lauderdale (a 16 1/2 hour drive from our house!) or Clearwater Beach (a 14 1/2 hour drive from our house).  By this time, it was mid March and it seemed fairly likely that temperatures would be warm in northern Florida during our spring break. And northern Florida was definitely the furthest south I was willing to consider driving. 

So what to do? Well, I did what any indecisive northerner who wants to flee the state for spring break who thought she was going to be flying but now looked like she may be driving to Florida would do and that was to book hotels at two different beach towns in Florida- one on the Gulf Coast side of the state and one on the Atlantic side of the state. If we decided to drive and not fly, we would make a decision about exactly where to drive.

For about two weeks, I had hotel reservations for five different hotels and in four beach cities in Florida. I had choices to make (and four reservations to cancel before my credit card was charged with the stay). Would we fly to Florida and where or would we drive to Florida and where for spring break? Such decisions!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our spring break saga!!

A few pics from Little Lyss's first trip to Florida in 2008.

One day, she seems to be thinking here, I will rule the roost...

... they will take me where I want to go!

Whadaya mean, mom might not be willing to buy airline tickets to Florida?

There's got to be a work around...

They can't resist my smile! Mom will drive twelve+ hours to get me to the beach!!

Time to pack the resort wear...