Dear Crabby,
I want to surprise my wife with a weekend getaway for two, but I don’t have much money to work with. On top of that, we live in the upper Midwest where it’s cold and snowy, and my wife has an injury that prevents her from doing most winter sports right now. Any ideas of what we can do?
Sincerely,
Rusty N. Romance
Dear Rusty,
It is my belief that a getaway is simply intended to help one or a few people get away from normal life for a bit. I don’t think it matters where you live or what you are physically capable of doing. I would not let the weather or an injury get in your way of a little quiet time away. I know that I would be even more crabby (as if that were possible) if I was not able to get away every once in a while. It seems that our normal lives get us into a rut and it requires a change of scenery in order to allow our brains to
unwind and look at things from a different perspective. Most of the time this works regardless of where you go, but I do remember a time when it failed for me. The missus and I went up north for a much needed getaway. We heard about this nice little hotel that supposedly had a room for $75 per night. Every other hotel near this place was two to three times as much. So when I got to the hotel, I asked if I could see the room. They looked at me oddly and told me no. They showed me a picture they had at the desk and said they only had one room left. When we asked what the room was like, the lady told us it was “cozy.” That should have been our first clue. After I told them we would take it, she proceeded to charge me $150 for the room. I objected, “No, we were told it was only $75!” The lady kindly explained that the deal had expired a few moments ago, and it was now $150, take it or leave it. After some unkind thoughts about her passed through my mind, I agreed to the new price and paid the bill. As we made our way to the room and unlocked the door, the first thing I noticed is that the door would not open all the way – it was hitting the bed. This “cozy” little room had a bed, a nightstand, and a sink against the wall and no room to walk in between. There was a small closet that had both a toilet and a shower squeezed into it! We managed to make it through the weekend and had a good laugh once or twice, but we will probably never forget how “cozy” that was. So I guess my advice is to just get out and try something different. Go smell a flower on the other side of the state for a few days; it will always prove to be an experience. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
Sincerely, Dear Crabby
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