The form asked “Do you like your Smile?” and I was stumped as I never really thought about my smile.  Now, if it had asked “Do you like your thighs?” I would have immediately wrote “NO” in capital letters, double underlined, but that’s a given –  what women loves her thighs?  Here I was in the orthodontics office filling out the consultation form almost thirty years too late (although apparently it’s never too late).  To understand how I got here, you need a bit of background or maybe just a few choice words – sixteen, fat girl, all girls catholic school, three months before prom.  Ok, maybe you can’t get the mental picture of how important prom was back then to a sixteen year old junior in an all girls Catholic high school.  It was a big freaking deal to go to the prom – my class was made up of 356 girls at the time and everyone wanted to show off their date and dress at the prom – no one wanted to sit home alone (oh, foreshadowing if I only knew).

Three months before prom, the dentist sent me to the orthodontist to see if I needed braces – the full metal kind with little rubber bands.  Here I was dateless with only the monthly dance at the boys school to meet someone to ask to prom and the dentist was explaining how the next two years of my life (junior, senior years of high school with the possibility of a bit of college) would be spent in braces.  At some point, I tuned him out because here I was already at a disadvantage trying to get by on my wonderful, sparkling (sarcastic) personality and saw braces as a no-go if I wanted a social life.  Somehow my mother let me make the call so of course, I said “NO” and life went on.  In hindsight, I should have taken the hit of braces for two years as they wouldn’t have made a difference in my dating life (or lack thereof).

So cut to now and the form “Do you like your Smile”.  At a recent dentist appointment, my doctor asked “did you notice this?”, “what are you doing about that?” and I sat clueless. I didn’t notice this and had no idea about that.  I’m pretty busy trying to live my life – work, gym, eat, rinse, clean house, repeat.  He then went on to talk about the function, as he realized I’m not too concerned by the cosmetic, of getting braces now. He said Invisalign should work now and not freak me out to much (he neglected to mention the cost would freak me out).   No longer am I thinking about the guy who won’t date me or the prom I’ll miss, now, I think in terms of travel, money and lost opportunities.  Since insurance doesn’t cover the costs, I would be out of pocket and it’s (very) expensive. The kinda expensive that involves shifting priorities and budgets which, in my case, means looting my travel budget. The only upside (and this is a stretch) is that I can use a credit card and get points…. now which card to apply for to maximize points?

When presented the “estimated” costs, my head immediately flashed pretty pictures of the places now out of reach for next year:

• Galapogos – all that wildlife
• Maldives over the water bungalow
• Two trips to Europe
• A Panama Canal cruise
• That “estimate” represents a good chunk of money I’ve been savings for my dream Antarctica trip

As I detailed in my Travel Savings Strategy, I have made travel a priority for years as it resets my mind, body and spirit.  Travel for me is all about my happiness and well being.  Not to say, I’ve neglected my health, on the contrary, I’m a big proponent of what I call “my week of naked” where I schedule all doctors appointments for the year in one week to get it over with. As I’ve gotten older, I’m more aware of the need to maintain good health so this shouldn’t be too tough a call to make and yet it has been bouncing back and forth in my head.  The decision is simple to most people – they would just do it but my inner sixteen year old has this hope that something better is waiting for me now and I should just say “No”.  What if I was meant to be in the Galapogos next year and now I’m not? If she only knew that “hope” was going to torture her for most of her life she would have said “Yes” to braces back then.  If only she knew that she wasn’t going to the junior prom but would instead laugh with her (then) best friend watching John Cusack in “Better Off Dead” which, at the time, reflected our dateless moods. If she only knew she would be a solo traveler – strong and willing to explore the unknown alone.

So life is taking a big bite out of my travel budget to literally give me a better bite. My travels for next year are going to need to be very creative with points and travel hacking to make up for the lost budget. It will be a challenge I need to accept with a smile….a smile that I can confidently complete the form today saying “Yes”.

Has life ever taken an unexpected big bite out of your travel budget?  What did you do?