Lessons Learned Visiting Family for the Holidays

 Well folks, I did it! I drove to Maryland on Tuesday and got back today, Sunday. So, yes, I spent Christmas with my family!

Did I love it? Did I hate it?

I feel neutral.

Was I right not to leave 2 weeks ago as I'd originally planned?

Did I spend all my money?

Do I now want to live in MD closer to family?

Did I get a respiratory illness?

Do I now know what I want to do after FIRE?

Those were all the things I'm sure went through my mind at some point. 

I feel good about my decision to leave Maryland after a couple days. As I realized a few years ago, 3 days is my magic number. You get there. Rest. Everyone's still happy. I generally want to leave because I have to adjust to living out of my bags and not having all my everyday comforts and conveniences. You have to be nice. You can't duck out. You have to help out and be respectful.

So, I'm sure I would've gotten through 2 weeks there. But I'm glad I didn't have to. It was nice to break up the last weeks of the year. It did help to distract me from the apps. I got to go to a vegan bakery a couple hours away. 

The trip was fine. I'm just pretty neutral about it all. I think maybe that's what dating on the apps offer, and even catfishing a little. Just a little distraction and a little spice to life. 

Will I be so sad if I don't see my extended family for another 2-5 years? No. Will I be so happy if I don't see my extended family for anther 2-5 years. Meh.  I already know what they're like so that hedonistic adaptation is at play. 

I think I fear that in romantic relationships. Because there's so much chatter on keeping your partner interested. And  a lot of it seems to fall on the woman. But after awhile I mean that just feels tiresome.

So yeah, I find it so hard to relate to other FIRE members who just want to spend their free found time with their family or traveling. That really seems to be the only two choices. 

Anyway, the point is I made it to Maryland and I didn't die. Yay! We'll see if I wake up tomorrow sick, but I sure hope not! 

It's nice to be back. 

I spent way too much money way too easily. Luckily, I'd mentally budgeted $200 for this trip. That doesn't include gas, I suppose.

Oh, I guess one tangible upside of not staying 2+ weeks is I kept costs down. I think if I'd gone for 2+ weeks, I probably would've had to mentally budget 4-500 dollars.

All in all, it's a long way to go for a meal. But it was a good distraction so I'm thankful for that.  On the upside, I brought home 3 bowls of leftovers which I'm hoping should last 3 to 5 days. So, yay! I think I decided because I was quite spendy during the trip, to just limit myself to $10-$20 for the remainder of the year. I was originally thinking of like going out to eat often and just living it up a little, but I think I might rein that in. So that was an unplanned for win. I actually don't even know if I have that much left in my allowance for this month. So I'm glad I thought to bring some food back! 

I can't believe there's only 5 days left of the year!

Also, I realized it's good to travel with a back-up credit card. Since I've been living lean the last few weeks, I didn't have much extra money on any of my debit cards. I think one of the many gas stations I stopped at did the thing where they hold like $100 for a few days. When I stopped to fill up a second time, I could only get $8 worth of gas and I knew I had over $100 on the debit card I use for everyday expenses. 

Luckily, I had another debit card with $20ish dollars on it I keep just for silly situations like this.  I was afraid to use the card I have for bills because at this point, I think that card has the exact amount I need for next month's bills and that's it. I didn't want to disrupt that plan only to have to untangle it.

I remembered I had a Churner Credit Card with me, so that gave me a little peace of mind. I think I would've used that before using my Bill Pay Card just to keep things easy. But it was a good reminder to travel with back-up if I'm ever running that lean again while traveling. 

I have some minor updates on my Catfish adventures and I'm trying to figure out what exactly I plan to get out of dating and if that will affect whether or not I get off the app. More to come!