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I just realized we don't have a thread or area for travel / vacation posts. I guess this thread can be the start of one.

I love to travel. I first went to Europe the summer before my senior year in High School. It was an amazing 5 week trip that earned me college credit. When I checked into trying to give my kids the same type trip decades later the price was about $5,000 and that for just two weeks not five. I settled for trips to Europe with the family.

To cut to the chase so to speak and bring us to my current situation here is a summary of my situation.

Since Kids have been grown we have started to travel more with a "big" trip every four or five years.

Our last "big" trip was last summer (May 2012) when we took a three week vacation that included a 15 night Transatlantic and Mediterranean cruise departing Miami and ending with four nights in Rome before flying home. This last trip was an amazing one that will be impossible to top. Everything was wonderful from the weather, food, sights, etc.

In our general framework of planning we would not be trying to pull off another big trip until about 2016 (when I had planned to go to Australia). However I have frequent flyer miles that I have to book by January or they will expire. These miles are enough to get my wife and I to or from Europe.

With that in mind I have run across another amazing deal on a 13 night transatlantic crossing. This one leaves Florida next summer and first goes to Nassau Bahama, St. Thomas (US Virigin islands) and St. Maarten before heading across the Atlantic to London.

London is my favorite city in the world and I have not been there since 2006 so the thought of spending a few nights in London at the end of the cruise is very appealing.

To give you an idea of how great a deal this is here are the numbers;

-Cruise $1540.00 total for both of us for 13 night cruise
-$100 cabin credit promo+ $200 cabin credit for being stockholder = $300 (this will cover the tips due at end of cruise)
- Bed & Breakfast we have stayed at before in London has unbelievable rate of just $82 per night including a full cooked breakfast each morning. 4 nights = $328 total
- Airfare London to Middle Tennessee - Free with FF miles but $ 379 total in taxes and fees.
- $2,2,50 total plus food and transport while in London and incidentals. Guesstimated total of $2,750.

While $2,750 is a lot of money it is a bargain for a 17 night cruise / trip to the Caribbean and England.

My wife, being the practical person she is, has stated she thinks we need to do some common sense practical things with money first like getting new windows in our 18 year old house and maybe an awning for the back patio or a deck for the pool. I am trying to figure out a way to do it all to make us both happy. LOL