I know this is long but please bare with me as context matters.

I have this friend whom I really got along with pretty well and while i do/did care about her and enjoyed the time we spent together, unfortunately she is an extremely unreliable person, not to mention that some things about her behavior seem insicnere. Like we planned on traveling together for 3 years now and she told me she didnt have the time or money, then within 2 or 3 month intervals i find out she has been to california (she lives in new york and i live in California) and didnt tell me, that she went to south america 3 months later, canada a month later, several European countries 6 months later and so on. Her sister also told me that she did get 10 grands from her parents, even though she’s been repeatedly complaining to me how she doesnt have the money. I tried not ot let it bother me, but it did bother me, and i confronted her. First politely and when she just gave me some polite but dismissive answer of the "what’s the big deal" type, my confrontation of the issue became one of making cynical remarks. I was just so pi$$ed that she would repeatedly bs me that she didnt have time for me, but go to all these countries.

To make matters worse, my mom passed away a short while ago and not only did my friend, whom i felt close to, not call me or otherwise contact me to express her condolences. It really bothered me that such a good friend who is so close to her family and understands how devestating such a loss can be would ignore me. This summer we planned a vacation and it looked like it was about to come true until she flaked out on my last minute and before i could even say anything, she unfriended me on facebook and send me an email ending our friendship telling me she couldn’t take it anymore, that she felt really bad for my loss but that it wasnt "her problem" and that i should go see a shrink. She then said she would never answer my calls again.

I called her and tried to work it out, to at least talk to her in person – email and text felt so wrong and i felt we had been such good friends we owed more to each other, and since i do care about our friendship i really wanted to work things out. I plead with her to please talk about it in person, that this wasnt right, but she never responded to me again.

I have come to accept it but i am hurt and i cannot get the circumstances of how it ended out of my head,. Who says to someone who lost their mother "go see a shrink, i cannot help you"? Or ends a friendship over text? I feel betrayed and hurt. It has been 6 months and of course she never contacted me. It is like i never existed. How can she do that especially given that SHE has been such a miserable friend? and why not trying to talk it out? Why didnt she at least call me after the anger settled? Why over text? Why cutting me off like that as if i had done something horrible to her? The irony is that her "about me" section on facebook reads "I am the best friend anyone can have".

What would you charge this family for your time, given what they are providing?
Child will be barely 3yrs at time of trip, has autisum and can be a bit of a challenge but also a tremendous joy! I have a nephew w/autisum who I spend a great deal of time with and am very familiar with the challenges of caring for children with autisum. I also currently watch this little boy a few times a week for 10-11 hrs a day so I’m very familiar with him and his family.
The first leg of the trip will be a cruise where he will be enrolled in their daycare for the better half of the day, I am only required to have him 3-4 hrs a day helping supervise him when they do games on deck and joining the family for dinner. This is a 2 week cruise where we get off at different ports, Spain and one other place I’m spacing right now. I’ll have him off and on through out day when we get off at these ports and have been encouraged to freely rome w/out the family.
The second half of the trip is 2 weeks touring Rome, France, Paris, etc. I would tag team him between grandma and mom, sharing the care when one needs a break. The family has encouraged me to choose desinations as well and they’ll be sure to make them happen. All traveling cost, cruise cost, food and housing is covered. My only out of pocket expense is food in addition to three meals a day they provide and spending money. They’ve encouraged me to have a friend come as well, granted they will have to cover their own cost all the way around and no I’m not taking them up on this.
They would also like to pay me for being there, what do you think a fair rate is to give them? I’m taking 3 wks off work back in the states, 1 week being paid vacation and the total time being gone 4 weeks.
That’s how I feel, they are already covering so much and really if they can just make sure my rent, etc is covered I’d be satisfied.

My family and I were thinking of going to Louisiana to visit some friends and family, but apparently the weather is going to be really bad. My mom wants to go, but she is afraid of being stuck over their with all the flooding from the bad storms. Also, the storms might turn into a hurricane from what she has heard. By the way, we were going to visit Lafayette if that helps, so it’s not too south like New Orleans.

I’m 25 years old and I currently work and live in Korea as an English teacher (I’ve been here 9 months already). I love traveling and so this is a great deal for me. It’s my first time being away from my family since I was born and I’m having a great time here. I’m learning a lot, getting to see new places, and meeting new people. Now here’s the thing: I miss my family as well. My parents want me to stay home with them (not the PUSHY kind of want, they just wish I’m home). Not to mention that I have a baby sister (she’s 20 years younger than me) that I love to bits.

If I decide to stay home, I feel like I would miss out on a lot of things while I’m "young and free." Traveling, meeting people, learning new things, etc. At the same time, if I go out and travel as I would like, I’m afraid that I would miss out on watching my sister grow up (and my mom somehow commissioned me as the one to be her "role model") and that I won’t be spending as much time with my family as I should. If I wait for my sister to grow up, it’d be around the time that I’ll be "settling down" and have a family of my own–in which case travel and adventures won’t be much of an option.

Maybe I’m being selfish seeing that I want BOTH, but if you were in my shoes, what would you do?