My son LOVES to “visit local hotels,” for vacations. Honestly, we do want to feel like we travel even though leaving our own city is really challenging. So we make the most of Austin. Over the holidays, we visited the Ikkikkan conference held at the Renaissance Hotel and it was like going to Las Vegas and having a costume party with hundreds of people. My son LOVED it. And because we stayed at the hotel, he could come and go as he pleased. He made a work of art to celebrate his fun.

“Ikkikkan” on Wood Panel, ©️Jackson’s EyeTV

One thing I wish I had done YEARS ago, when my son was first diagnosed and our expenses were sky high was to put all of the therapy bills on a hotel-chain credit card. We got one a few years ago and I have put every single medical expense on this card. If you have a special needs child, I don’t need to tell you how fast the bills add up. With what I spend on this hotel credit card each year, we earn enough points to stay at two nice hotels each year, we take a winter weekend and a summer weekend each year on the points we earn on the card from our medical bills.

While my husband reminds me that these are not “free” trips, I was going to spend the money on my son’s therapy regardless so we might as well have fun!