Traveling About - Spouse, or No?

I have a friend here who plans on spending most of the summer off-island. She's going to visit family, and travel around in between. The catch? Her husband won't be along for most of the trip because the Navy isn't so willing to hand out three months of leave. Hopefully, he'll join them for a few weeks along the way, but that's it.

Listening to her outline her trip for me, I was just a tiny bit jealous. I'd love to get off island for three months, and spending it traveling around? Even better. (Yes, we do like living here, but it's an island. There's a reason they coined the term "island fever".)

Leaving Oliver home, however, is not a happy plan for me. I'm very aware that we'll be back to a deploying command at the end of next year. Even though I could really use a break from here, I am not interested in a self-made break from my husband. So, I'm going to stay here, and we'll take a couple week long vacations this summer.

I'm also looking at it this way: when he starts deploying again, I'll be traveling with the kids on my own every time. I plan on taking a decent trip in the middle of every deployment, now that I'm over my fear of flying alone with them. Plus, they are a lot older now and much easier to take along. Having a trip in the middle of deployment helps so much in breaking it up. I wish I'd done it more in WA.