Vacations for the Broke and Unemployed

One of the hardest things about being broke and unemployed is when you need a vacation.  Even when you’re not working, sometimes you still need to get away.  Away from your endless job search, your crappy part-time job, your parents, your spiders, your lazy lifestyle.  But if you have no money, you can’t really go on vacation.

            Enter awesome family members.  I know that I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to family.  I have close tides with kind family members who are always willing to take me in.  My aunt and uncle have a big, beautiful ranch in wine country Virginia, so I called upon them for my much needed getaway.  All I needed was enough money to get down there and back.  My beloved Zera made it all the way down on one tank of gas, and Jim the boyfriend paid for half, so it was only about 60 bucks each.  And my aunt and uncle spoiled us for the rest.

            We left at 7pm on Thursday night for the 8 hour drive, hoping we’d miss the weekend and rush hour traffic by driving through the night.  Somehow it was backed up pretty much the whole way down, and we came to a dead stop at 2am in New Jersey.  I know Jersey gets a bad rap, especially because of Jersey Shore and other recent “reality” TV Shows that misrepresent it—but when you’re stuck on the turnpike for an hour not going anywhere, I gotta tell you: that place smells!

            I took a nap in the back for a while and Jim drove, and when we finally got into Delaware and further south, we breathed the fresh air and could see the stars again, and it was beautiful.  We got down to Virginia a little after 3am and snuck into my aunt and uncle’s house, stopping to see the baby chickens in their garage, then went straight to sleep.

            The next day I woke Jim the boyfriend up, eager to introduce him to my family, only to find that no-one was home but the pets. 

We went out for a cheap breakfast and came home to relax.  That night, my aunt and uncle took us to meet up with my cousin, and we all went out for Indian food.  After stuffing ourselves and daring Jim to try the #50 spiciness (the highest level), we went to a nearby frozen yogurt place for desert.  The next day we went to a wine tasting and then had grilled salmon back at the house, with real southern cooked peach cobbler to top it off—the first cobbler I’ve ever had.  After that, we watched a movie, and the next day just relaxed, learned a new board game and started the drive home late that night.

            Overall, I spent less than a hundred bucks, got to see my family, got to explore the southern countryside and relax in a new place—which is all I need in a vacation.

            So, if you’re broke, unemployed, and living with your parents, take advantage of your far away family members.  They might not spoil you like mine did, but they’ll at least give you a place to get away.