Initially holidays used be just a short break to relax, away from the hustle and bustle of London. The furthest we ventured was Jersey. The next step was Europe. The biggest worry in those days was the language. Travel guides and dictionaries became an essential part of the check lists. I would look up the top ten interesting sights to see and things to do and the success of the trip depended on how many of them I could tick off the list.
Trying the local cuisine was not high on my priority list. During my Paris and Denia (Spain) trips we found a local Chinese restaurant near our hotel and ate there most days. Slowly it dawned on us that trying out the food is equally important as seeing the local attractions. Missing out on pizzas in Napoli and tapas in Spain was similar to going to Tuscany and not seeing the Tower of Pisa. Well, sort of.
Package holidays made life easier. We let the guides do the talking and all the hard work and we just followed them. As a result I think I have become lazier during my travels. I don’t do much research before I go away anymore. Also nowadays I am not worried if I don’t see everything there is to see. The primary aim these days is to relax and enjoy. Everything else is a bonus.
Tomorrow we are going on a long weekend trip to Oslo. I don’t know how much we will be able to do during this short trip especially with the little one. Maybe not a lot, but it doesn’t matter. Life is not about ticking boxes, but living it.
