Kenya safari on a shoestring!?!

My eldest son and husband have an annoying habit of leaving me behind on their vacations.

Every March I silently fume while these two take off on amazing odysseys to the most alluring exotic destinations - strolling among Frankincense groves in eastern Oman, scaling volcanoes in northern Bali, peaking the highest watchtower on the Great Wall. More frustrating is that that the two schemers never even know their destination, much less start planning, more than a week before debarking. But truly humiliating to this personal economy journalist is that the cost of these little 10-day jaunts is peanuts! Our somewhat jealous friends, expecting to chastise this naive duo for their last-minute purchases, typically gasp when they hear the actual outlay.

So I vowed to be stew no more. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.