No Financial Peace at Our House

I am such a Dave Ramsey flunkie! Even when I try to follow the plan, sh*t happens! I'm destined to die with a Macy's bill. Or at the very least, an $850 charge on my MasterCard!

Ya see, I booked our Disney vacation back in December. My kids are very excited, and really looking forward to spending a week with some of their favorite characters. We had a wonderful time last year, and my husband said it was the best family vacation he's ever had. That means a lot coming from an anal, OCD, drama king. That was all I needed to hear to convince me that another trip to Disney was our best bet.

I love traveling, and I'm *usually* an excellent vacation-planner, too. I've got the hotel booked, hopper park passes purchased, character dining reservations made, airport transportation to and from booked, and boarding passes printed. However, I made a minor miscalculation in the timing... Our departure was scheduled for Saturday, May 23rd -- Memorial weekend.

In our school district, we typically start at the beginning of August so we can be out by Memorial Day. Every year since I started teaching, it's been practically the same schedule, give or take a few days. Yes, Memorial Day is a little earlier this year, but I just assumed the schedule was pretty much the same as always. Never mind that we have a clearly legible calendar given to us at the beginning of the school year. And if that's not enough, I have access to it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. via the web site.

Regardless of how many times I looked at it, I overlooked one minor, yet VERY IMPORTANT, detail. Teachers have to go back for two days of in-service after the Memorial Day holiday! It is true that the school year is over prior to Memorial Day; my son is done for the summer. But it's impossible for me to catch a plane for Disney on the 23rd when I have to be back to work on the 27th!

My husband's first response was "I guess you can't go with us to Disney! The kids and I are going!"

To which I responded, "Knock yourself out, Steamboat! You can't even take them to Wal-Mart by yourself without having a nervous breakdown. Go for it!" I couldn't help but feel smug. I knew I was going to win this one. Not much of a victory, though, I'm afraid :( .

I guess we could have gone for 4 days and only changed one leg of our trip. But that's not much of a vacation, especially when you have so much to do with two little ones in tow. Instead, we changed our plans in their entirety. We are now leaving on May 28th and returning on June 3rd. Disney is always great to work with and made our changes with ease.

That was not the case for the EVIL, VILLAINOUS airline. Their greedy butts just HAD to charge us for the inconvenience. I certainly can't think of any other reason since it took about 20 minutes to put us on the same flights, in practically the same seats, on different days. There were no planes left empty as I'm sure we won't be the only people traveling to Orlando in the month of June. No one got kicked off a plane because we needed a seat. I can only attribute the $850 they charged me to pure GREED!

Delta, which I normally love flying, charged me $75 per ticket PER LEG to change our reservations. In addition, I was charged another $65 per ticket due to a rate increase. Are you freaking kidding me???? The cost of flying (with still plenty of advance notice) has increased that much since December? Did the pilots get some exorbitant raise? I know it's not gas prices, so maybe they've got some fabulous entertainment appearing on the new flights? Maybe we're flying on a rocket ship? I know those things are expensive.

Whatever the reason, I think I've been kicked out of the Dave Ramsey club. I had to pay it; we were at the mercy of Delta airlines. And, of course, I don't have 850 spare dollars laying in my sock drawer. I put it on my *gasp* credit card! I feel Dave Ramsey's shoe being inserted in my ( + ) as I type...