Never travel with "friends"

As part of the vacuum selling gig, everyone that I show one to gets a certificate for a free 2-night hotel stay at any number of destinations. Well, I brilliantly decided that once I showed all my friends, we would all use the certificate to go somewhere together. Bad, bad me.

We haven't even made it through the planning stages yet, and already there's a mutiny afoot. My idea was to drive to a beach (the closest being about 10-12 hrs from here) and then spend 2 days just lounging and tanning by the ocean. That would make for the cheapest trip overall, because we wouldn't have to shop, or pay for activities (things that certain other destinations pretty much guarantee, since that's all there is to do).

The first decision made was that the children would be left at home for this weekend getaway. Which was a relief for my hubby and I to hear since we don't have kids, and generally don't like them much. Problem with this decision was that because of it, one couple doesn't want to go anywhere that's farther than 5 hrs from home. Can I ask why? I mean, really. If something were to happen, does it really make that big of a difference if your 5 or 8 or 12 hrs away? I mean, if it were me, and something bad happened, I would fly home anyway. So the distance, (we're talking about being in the same time zone here) really shouldn't matter that much.

So now we are left with very few options of places to go. The places within 5 hrs of home, and on the list of ones we can use the certificate for, is very limited. We all liked the idea of St. Louis, but then realized, it's not on the list. So then someone says we should just forget the certificates, and go to St. Louis anyway! Great! Um, except for the fact that doing this would totally negate the entire point of the trip, which was to go somewhere on the cheap! Ugh.

All that's really left is Nashville or Gatlinburg. Both of which will require more money spent in order to do anything outside of the hotel. The only thing to do in either place, really, is shop. And I personally don't find the shopping in either place to be to my taste. Though I live in the country, I am not a country person. The decor in my home is modern, sleek, simple. No apples, or chickens (OK, there's roosters in the kitchen, but only because I haven't gotten around to covering them yet), or strands of hay or gingham to be found. So, you can understand why these places don't appeal to me. I've been to both, and wouldn't choose either as a place to vacation. I know tons of other people love these places (my friends are apparently in that group), but they're just not our scene.

After leaving our friends that evening, my hubby and I came to the conclusion that we are snobs. I've always known that he was one, but I hadn't yet come to the realization that he had rubbed off on me. Why couldn't we simply go along with the group's decision? Why did we have to have it our way? Why did no other idea sound as appealing to us as our own? Because we're snobs, plain and simple. So we then decided to simply not bring up the subject again, in the hopes that it will die quietly, and he and I will use our certificate to go to the beach.

Hey, I admitted to being a snob, but didn't say anything about wanting to change that about myself. Don't hate.