Since turning 30, I’ve been a little obsessed with making sure Trevor and I are taking full advantage of every PTO day we have so we can see the world. Sounds like an easy feat right? My poor husband…

The Quarter Life Travel Itch

I know the majority of you reading this can agree with me. Our generation is all about experiencing life. We’d much rather spend our hard earned money on a trip vs the latest gadget (well, unless it’s the new Switch that Trevor just had to have). But seriously, I can think of many reasons why taking a weekend or week-long vacation to a new place in the world sounds like a fantastic idea:

Reason #1 | the children are coming

It’s only natural that once you approach your late 20s / early 30s you have a minor freak out because the thought of children is no longer a thought and something you have to kinda plan for. That joke about “adulting” isn’t really a joke anymore. Whoaaa nelly.

Reason # 2 | DINK status

Maybe you’re in a perfect DINK (dual income, no kids) situation where your house, jobs, dog, retirement funds are all in great places and the thought of enjoying life seems like the right type of reward. Sure you could save more money for your children’s college fund, but you gotta enjoy this time where the money flows and the responsibility is minimal!

Reason #3 | deals on deals on deals

Hopper… Kayak… Skyscanner… daily news articles that promote the latest and greatest deal. I mean how can you resist? I told you before we flew from Seattle to Sydney for $550 RT… I monitor and see deals like this still all the time. You just can’t pass them up!

Reason # 4 | YOLO

Yes you’ve heard / used this a million times before – but how much more spot on can you get? You don’t have endless amounts of time to do all the things you want to do in life. Hell, you truly most likely won’t get to do all of them. So why not take a little chance, live a little. You might not be here tomorrow or the next. Go on. See the world.

Something to Look Forward To

Getting through the Seattle Winter months were hard. You heard me complain about the grey all the time. Now that Spring is here, there’s new life happening all around and I can’t help but feel excited to have something to plan and look forward to. So in true Crazy Cort form I put together a Google Slides presentation that pitched to my dear husband all the places we could go in 2017 – 2018. Nearby island getaways, weekend adventure ideas, a couple Euro-fixes and of course true tropical vacations.

Since starting the new job (back at square one with PTO), I’ve been trying to get resourceful with how to maximize my time off – taking advantage of existing holidays, cheating the system exploring one-ways vs round-trip fares. Thus, we have our next trip to look forward to — and I can barely contain my excitement!

Portugal & Spain — our 3rd Euro Trip

Memorial Day Weekend will be spent abroad, traveling from Seattle to Lisbon, Portugal and hopping around Barcelona, Spain for 8 days. I’ve been staying up late researching the best hotels, restaurants, things to do, etc so if you have any recommendations, please share away! We’ll definitely be visiting Balearic Islands, which my god, looks like a dream!

As I count down the days and (try to) cut out the calories, I can’t help but start a want list of vacay accessories… let me know if I’ve missed anything in the comments below. And let me know what you have to look forward to!

// cb✌????