Globetrotting

The number one reason why I initially began thinking about not having children was my husband's and my shared love for travel. We were up at the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, NY last winter, enjoying a very non-child-friendly vacation which included spa treatments for me, skiing for him, drinking at the ski lodge in the middle of the day, and a couple of nice, elegant, expensive, adult dinners.

Back in our room was a guide informing us that the Mirror Lake belongs to an organization called Small Luxury Hotels (of which we have since become members, and which I would encourage any other travel aficionados out there to check out.) Flipping through the guide and looking at all of these amazingly luxurious hotels in exotic locations, I thought about our love of travel and our goals for the future. My husband and I literally have a list of everywhere we want to go in the world, and it is long and ever-growing. We take at least one long (one or two weeks) and one short (four or five days) vacation per year, both of which generally involve leaving the country to jet off to a tropical island or a European city or wherever we might feel like going.

We spare no expense on these trips. What I look forward to when we go away is some serious, adult, romantic time with my husband, including beautiful hotel rooms, nice dinners, breakfasts delivered via room service, and quiet relaxing by whatever body of water is nearby, preferably with a cocktail in hand no matter the time of day.

Yes, you can travel with a child, but not the way we like to do it, and not to many of the destinations we're eager to visit. For example, we've already decided that next year's big trip will be to the Icehotel in Sweden. This is not a destination to which I would bring a small child. This is a destination I want to go to to visit the Absolut Icebar and sip vodka-based cocktails out of glasses carved from ice, to snuggle with my husband in a cozy sleeping bag set on a bed of ice and snow, and perhaps to go on a snowmobile safari or two.

If we had a child, we would have neither the means nor the freedom to take trips like this so often. And that just isn't something I'm willing to give up.