Dave Ramsey has asked his listeners to send in their financial vacation horror stories from this summer. I listen to Dave Ramsey about everyday online at work and kept hearing him ask for stories and it finally registered that I HAD A STORY!! Below is exactly what I sent him. I am glad that I was forced to write this up so Dad and I can always have it to look back on because we both have terrible memories!
I tried to write it up like a MasterCard Commercial...
Our 10-day adventure traveling overseas to La Paz, Bolivia began on a beautiful day on July 2, 2008. We were so excited to be traveling to Bolivia to visit one of my college roomates and best friend who had started a children's home in Tacachia, Bolivia. Neither one of us had ever traveled overseas before.
We were set to travel with a local youth group who had already organized a 10-day trip to the children's home for their summer mission trip. (passport, shots, food, etc...$1,460).
-I got a speeding ticket on the way to meet the sheriff so that he could kick our tenant out the day we were leaving. ($150)
-Tenant stole our appliances ($300+)
-Our car needed a new tire before we could drive from High Point to the Raleigh Airport. While we were putting on the tire we found out that the car was overheating ($30) and that we would not be taking that car to the airport. We had to have my Stepmom come and drive us and hour and a half to the airport so that we wouldn't miss our flight. ($21)
-We arrived at the airport to find out that our flight to Miami had been cancelled, not delayed but CANCELLED b/c of weather. That also meant that the next flight to La Paz, Bolivia would not be leaving out of Miami until July 4th. We were going with a youth group of 17 other people that would now not be able to travel to La Paz at all (which they had worked over a year on raising money) and they had to completely change their mission trip to travel to Guatemala instead. No matter what they were going to get somewhere to do some "Jesus Work" according to their mission trip coordinator. (plane tickets - $1,950)
-We had to spend the night in Raleigh, rent a car ($38.16) (which isn't easily done when Dad tried to rent the card with cash, since he decided to leave his wallet at home and not bring a debit card or anything that they would accept, so I had to rent the car w/my debit card which we are so thankful that I brought because that was our only source of emergency money besides the few hundred dollars of cash that we had brought) and stay with a friend until our flight out the next morning @4am to NJ, then to Tampa, then Miami (amazing that the only way we could get to Miami from Raleigh, NC was to take 3 flights) where we would spend another night before we could fly out the next day. (Dinner-$16.90)
-Our air carrier was changed, which changed the weight requirements of our bags. We had to dump out some of the items that we were donating to the children's home and move around other items to evenly distribute them to other bags. ($50+) In total, we had 8 bags for 2 of us.
-We were tagged to be "stripped search" at the airport which took extra time and patience (which we were running short on).
-Spent the night in South Beach Miami after riding a public bus ($3) to get there only to stay in a not so clean, not so cheap hotel. ($101.70) + Taxi ($33.50) + Food/Drinks ($101.59) (Our July 4th day in South Beach on a Scooter -$72.00)
-Arrived at the airport the next day 8 hours before our flight so that we weren't charged extra to keep our other 4 bags in storage ($28) . We found out that our bags could not be checked until 5 hours until our flight and had to sit with our 8 bags until then. Hauling the 8 bags around was a task within itself.
-Arrived in La Paz safely at 5am Saturday morning only to deal with the next 7 days of culture shock including not so great food, cold showers (which only amounted to about 3 the whole trip), hard to find bathrooms which toilet paper could not be flushed and cleanliness.($500+)
-Watched our lives flash before our eyes several times from La Paz to Tacachia, where the children's home is, on a winding mountainous dirt road for 3 hours each way. (FREE)
-On the way home we spent about 10 hours on a plane from La Paz to Miami, which was approximately about 3-4 more hours than we were supposed to.
-We arrived home safely only to find out the next day that Dad got so sick that he had to be rushed to the emergency room where he would find himself off and on for the next 4 days fighting a severe virus that he had gotten from our trip causing him to lose about 10 pounds and not even want to see our pictures or items purchased from our trip without getting sick all over again. ($ 6,534.85 total, only $2,300 out of pocket due to HSA )
Total trip expenses (estimated the best we could) = $7, 152 .85 out of pocket, $11,387.70 Total
Overall, our trip to Bolivia to see Carrie and Korywawanaca Children's Home = PRICELESS.
We learned so much and grew such a huge appreciation for the United States . The United States is so blessed to have what we have, it's amazing that we still find things to complain about! We hopefully did our part in helping the children's home and we are currently trying to help raise $ for the home here in the US.
It will be a long time before we will want to travel overseas again and deal with the airports/luggage/expense, etc...
About a year ago I never would have believed that I would have been able to pay my part in cash to travel 10 days to another country, but because of listening to Dave Ramsey virtually everyday at work and taking control of my financial situation I was able to take this trip without racking up debt!
You can view my blog for some detailed stories that I wrote while we were there and pictures.
www.babblingbowles.blogspot.com
Thank you for the opportunity to share our adventure!
Kaitlyn arrived she handed her Mom
my a birthday card for her new baby brother and not soon after she wanted us 
all to sing Happy Birthday. Once we were finished she promptly asked where the birthday cake was. So, it looks like Kaitlyn and I will be making birthday cake tomorrow!! I can't wait to see what kind of personality Austin develops and how Kait and Bryce adapt to having someone else to play with. The 3 of them plus, their new baby cousin Michael Clay will definitely be keeping "Team Townsley"(Ang, Jon, Nana, 
Pop, Ikey, Jenny, Chas & Adam) very busy! Enjoy the pics!!
