start planning our 10 year-wedding anniversary trip to NYC (sans kids!) in July 2012

Moving this from “give up” to completed because I’ve decided to put a positive spin on the wording. We didn’t go, but I did indeed plan it. In fact, I spent hours and hours planning the trip so I think I deserve credit for this goal :)

I think the first step in planning our first big vacation without the kids is figuring out how much money we need to save. I’m hoping we can spend four full days in the city with a day and a half to drive each way. Big expenses will include:

• Gas (850): I shudder to think what it will cost next summer, but I’m hoping if I estimate it costing $50 to fill the tank approximately 17 times we’ll have more than enough gas money. I suppose when the time gets closer I should price out air fare as well. I’m not a fan of flying, so unless flying would be significantly cheaper, I’m sure we’ll drive.

• Hotel (1160): We’ll be driving from upper Wisconsin after dropping the girls off with grandma and grandpa so I don’t think we’ll be able to drive straight through. This means two nights at a cheap hotel along the way and five nights near the city.

• Food (1000): I’m hoping we can manage to get by with less for food, but I know we’ll want to treat ourselves to a couple of extra nice meals, and we’ll be spending all day each day in the city so eating in our hotel room won’t be an option.

• Activities (650): I think we’ll do the CityPass which seems to be a good deal for several museums and attractions. I’d also like to see a musical on Broadway, a play Off Broadway, and some type of concert or comedy show. Luckily, I think we’ll spend a lot of time in Central Park which is mostly free.

• Souvenirs, subway, etc. (300): We’ll have to bring something back from the girls, but other than that Eric and I aren’t the type to buy much incidental stuff along the way.

So…the grand total is close to $4000. Let’s see if I can set aside $8 a day :)