bachelorettes, food, and a funeral - my first planning journal!

[marielynn724]

So how this trip came about is a long story. This particular trip all started with a funeral, believe it or not. But there's more to the story than that - the legacy of the "girls trip" for us has been in the works since I was about 14.

First, let me introduce you to the cast of characters:
There is me, official trip planner, DISer, and obsesser of all things Disney. I am now 22 (will be 23 by the time our trip rolls around) and I am currently planning this trip along with my disney-moon which will happen next spring.
Then there is my sister. When it comes to traveling, she is as hard core as it gets. She's 25 and is also getting married, not until 2011.
Of course this girls trip would not be complete without our lovely mom, an all around fun person and up for spending dad's money (like for disney trips!) whenever her daughters con her into it.
And last but not least, to round out the bunch we have grammy, matriarch of the family, easygoing and always fun to have around.

 

[marielynn724]

Ok, so I mentioned that it all started with a funeral. I also said it is a long story, so let me go way back to when I was a sophomore in high school. My family (mom, dad, sis, me) and my cousins had planned a long-awaited trip to take place over teachers convention (school vacation in NJ) in November 2001. Then 9/11 happened, and my mom just refused to travel via plane. Of course, we were all devastated but my mom wouldn't budge.

Then, the year after that when I was a junior in high school, I went through a horrible period of clinical depression. My sister, a college freshman at the time, had a boyfriend who's family decided to take a trip to the world - and bring her along. They stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and of course had a fabulous time. My mom and grammy took pity on me, and we decided that we would venture to the world ourselves - just us girls. It was the first time we ever traveled without my dad. We also decided to have an adventure and go down to Florida from NJ via Amtrack (mom still didn't want to fly). We ended up having such a wonderful time that we all agreed "we have to do this again someday".

That was 2003. Now fast forward back to April 2009. We were going to the garden state parkway to go to a funeral down in South Jersey. (Don't freak out - the lady was my great, great aunt, 105 years old and her funeral was on the most beautiful spring day the week after Easter. If you knew her you would guess she planned it that way.) So on the drive down, what did we pass but signs to Metropark where we had taken our train ride down to FL.

Here's how the conversation in the car went:

grammy "we really should go back again."
me "seriously?"
grammy "yea, seriously."
me "like you are really serious? cuz i'm serious if you're serious."
grammy "girlfriend, i'm really serious!"
me "ok, it's decided then."

... and that's how this whole trip started.