Making It Happen

My family & I recently went on a three week holiday to Australia, with stop-offs in Singapore and Hong Kong. It was an ideal time to go: my daughter will be going to school in September so it's the last big holiday we can make during term-time; my son is almost two and so his airfare was cheap.

During our entire holiday, we had the same conversation with fellow passengers, hotel staff or locals that went as follows:

"Going to visit relevatives? No? Oh.....you're really brave, doing such a big trip with two little ones".

I was baffled by the number of people that held this view, so much so, that I began to ponder on the significance of their comments.

Over the years, I have noticed that I have a tendancy to sometimes enter into things without fully thinking throught the challenges that I will face. For example, I went off to live in Colombia for a year, with a Colombian family, without being able to speak a word of Spanish.

With this trip, I didn't really think about how hard it would / could be travelling for three weeks, five cities and six flights with two toddlers.

Why do I do this? To be honest,I think that the fundamental reason is that my husband and I really wanted to make this trip. We had a sense of drive that meant that we were incredibly focussed on making the most out of these three weeks.

Even if somebody had pointed out.....
- that we would have no time to ourself for three weeks;
- that we would not be able to eat healthily and at regular intervals;
- that there are hundreds of posionous insects and that we'd constantly have to keep an eye on our children;
- that the constant travelling is tiring;
....I don't think that would have stopped us.

And in the end, we had a fabulous trip. We saw so many amazing sights and we had lots of fun with our children and saw their world expand as they encountered each new experience.

What I learnt from this, is that when I really want something, it doesn't matter what the obstacles or challenges are, I can make it happen. There's a passion for the experience, a drive to seize the day that makes this obstacles part of the journey, as opposed to the end of the road.

At 6am in Hong Kong airport, I noticed a well-dressed couple in their 60s giving us a look of anxiety. As I suspected, they were on the same flight as us, and were concerned about the level of disruption our children might bring to the flight (when in fact, they were both generally well behaved, even on 13 hour flights).

The usual conversation cropped up. But this time when they told us how brave we were, I replied, "If you really want to do something......".

They nodded with sage understanding.

Mummy - You're speaking Dora!

I was rubbish at languages when I was at school. When I had the opportunity for a year abroad, I chose somewhere where I could become competent in their language within a year - which is how I ended up living in Bogota, Colombia. I think I achieved my aim, as by the time I left I would be dreaming in Spanish. I love the language, its turn of phrase and its fluidity.

Having this second language is useful. On this last holiday I used it when we arrived: I spoke to our taxi driver in Spanish to make sure he didn't fleece us. As we got to the hotel he told me it was closed! He then explained it was part of a chain. He drove us to the next hotel and I asked him to wait with hubbie and kids in the car. I spoke "extremely fluent" spanish to the receptionist who was able to explain our booking had moved to another hotel. I was also able to translate what has happening to a pair of Russian girls in the same circumstances. Being able to do this made a stressful situation less stressful.

In previous years my spanish was particularly useful when we got stranded at a local tourist site in the middle of Cuba. I was able to hitch a lift off some local lads. In Seville, I managed to negotiate a cot for our hotel room which somehow had been "lost" from our hotel booking. In Malaga, I got away with a major "scratch" on my hire car when I returned it to the rental place at the airport.

However, what I love most of all about speaking spanish is that I'm a role model for my daughter. Whilst trying to reclaim one of my son's baby spoons which had been cleared away accidentally by the waiters in our hotel (una cucharada blanca por un bebe con una pollito amarillo), my daughter kept saying to me "Mummy - you're speaking Dora". It wasn't particularly helpful at the time, but she made me realise how important it was that I could "speak Dora".

I then noticed that my daughter had started to seek out situations with the hotel maids to say "Hola!" She was frequently disappointed when they didn't hear her, or they were already engaged in conversation with someone else. And now, back home, she keeps singing a spanish song that they played every night at the Mini-Disco.

Following on from the holiday, I'm feel ecouraged to maintain my daughter's motivation. I have overcome my challenges as a teenager and I feel confident speaking another language. I want to support and develop both my children so that they are able to speak a second language with ease. Not only is is practical, but it's empowering.

Shall we get rid of the TV?

I have just come back from a week of late “Summer Sun”. We had a lovely time, lots of r & r and the kids enjoyed playing on the beach and in the pool at the hotel.

Towards the end of the holiday, my husband and I reflected on the fact that we seemed to be going to bed quite early each night and having at least 8 hours sleep. As a result we were feeling that the break had truly recharged our batteries.

So what’s stopping us from adopting these habits when returned home? Our first reaction to this question was that most nights we stayed up watching TV. My hubbie posed the question “Are we addicted to the TV?”. I then boldly suggested “Should we get rid of the TV?”

But before we leapt to any further drastic (!) conclusions, we spent some time analysing what we did most evenings. There are two key things that my husband and I have in common: 1) Food; 2) A love for Great American Drama (Fringe, Surface, Without a Trace, Lost, TrueBlood, Lie to Me, Brothers and Sisters, CSI and CSI NY, Bones......etc) which are religiously recorded on our Sky+ Boxes.

At home each night we usually have about two hours together. In that time, I cook a meal from scratch, we discuss the news from the working day, any gossip from our friends and family and then indulge in one of our favourite past-times: the GAD.

We realised that when we were on holiday all our food was prepared for us; we weren’t in constant contact with friends and family so had little news to share, and we didn’t have the frustrations & challenges of the working day to debate. Instead we had 14 hours every day for a whole week to enjoy each other’s presence – not two precious hours. On holiday, we didn’t have to stay up late just to grab some time together. And that's why I love holidays - spending time with the ones I love the most and the opportunity to reflect on life in general.

So now we’re back home and soon the holiday will fade away into a fond memory with some lovely pictures of the kids on the beach. Meanwhile, tonight we’re back to home cooked food & two Sky+ boxes full of GAD to watch. Which one will it be? .......think it’ll have to be In Treatment.