Our 2024 EMDT (Epic Mother/Daughter Trip) is about to commence!
Our last mother/daughter trip was in 2019 when the three of us tackled Disney World for 4 days. We've all changed a lot since that trip, and a lot has stayed the same. I've realized that traveling with my big kids is so much fun. It's a whole different adventure from traveling with toddlers...school age kids...tweens and teens. For one, everyone will be 21+ on this adventure! That puts a whole new spin on what we might do, and the three of us have come together many times prior to departure to plan/design this vacation with all of our interests and vacation styles in mind. Through lots of active listening and flexibility, I truly feel that this trip is going to be epic!
Below are some pictures from our previous mother/daughter trips! Lots of memories created and lots more memories to be made in the very near future!
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| 2019 Disney |
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| NYC trip with Rina to see Frozen on Broadway |
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| Disney, 2019 |
Our 2024 EMDT (Epic Mother/Daughter Trip) is to celebrate Katie's college graduation. As a member of the high school class of 2020, she did not get a 2020 graduation trip, and there was a lot of heartache as we canceled 10 days in Paris for June, 2020. A promise was made that in 4 years, her college graduation trip would be epic!
Europe was put on the back burner, and discussions were had about other big cities that she'd like to explore within the United States.
Can you tell from our Bingo Card where we are heading?
Yep, we settled on Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with a little bit of Disney thrown in. :)
The DREAMING phase of our vacation planning began over a year ago. What did we want to do? Where did we want to go? What do we want to get out of this vacation? Beyond a grad trip, why are we going on this vacation? How do we want to feel when we return?
These early conversations involved all 4 of us, we've always traveled as a family unit for our big vacations. Knowing that flexibility, compromise and active listening would be key to a successful vacation with our big kids, we came to the mutual conclusion that Don would not appreciate this vacation as much as Katie and I would. Carleigh loves traveling and seeing new places, so she was in from the beginning (even though her vacation preference is outdoors and nature). A family decision was made that Don would enjoy this vacation from a distance (through texts and pictures), so the vacation planning began for our 2024 EMDT!
Now to move onto itinerary building and getting more specific with hotels/reservations/transportation and all the FUN stuff!
Three adult women, three strong opinions and three sets of ideas...can we make this happen, where everyone gets what they want? It took about 6 months of conversations and I think we are there! I became the "chief vacation planner," and started booking flights and hotels. Prior to any booking, I reached out to my college daughter and my school-teacher daughter for opinions and feedback. Both were not local, so lots of quick calls and facetime conversations.
We continued to talk about what we each wanted through those months of planning, and plans were coming into focus. Our matching Disney shirts were ordered (and have a TYPO...stay tuned for that reveal)! Our VIP Universal Studios tour was booked. Our fancy Vegas night was designed! There were also times of compromise and asking why during our conversations.
Did we really need to buy tickets for The Sphere Experience in Vegas? The conclusion was yes, after understanding why it was important to one of us.
Did we really need to do a 2 1/2 hour private tour of The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank? I could have just said yes (my bucket list item) and through conversation, I helped the girls understand why this was important to me.
Why should we spend time finding Indy bookstores and cafes while on this vacation? Because it was important and offered the "down time" that would help with the rest of the vacation.
These realizations and compromises came through the ongoing conversations we had during the designing phase of this trip. It wasn't KATIE'S GRAD TRIP or MOM'S TRIP (because I was paying for it). The vacation belongs to all three of us and we all have ownership of parts of it, while understanding and recognizing the importance of the other parts. We are celebrating Katie's graduation, and all 3 of us are equal travelers on this vacation!
So, now we are entering the DEPARTING phase of the trip. What are we packing? What's our countdown? What time are we leaving? How are we getting to the airport?
We will all be together the night before departure and I can already hear the laughter and excitement as we anticipate our adventures. AND I know Don will appreciate the vacation from a distance. As he has stated numerous times during the last year...he will gladly miss the 3 P's, PEOPLE, PAVEMENT, and PRETEND! Though I wish it was a 4 person Rahn family vacation, I know that our EMDT will create family memories that will last forever!
I will be live blogging when possible, and if you want to follow along on our adventures, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (yep, I did it!)
