One Got Past The Keeper by Fertile FC

My wife and i have spent time in some amazing places, often trying to get away from the beaten track involving long and tricky travel and some very basic accommodation. We were keen on continuing this with children as an adventure and learning experience but then reality bites in, namely: money, time and safety.

We recently returned from our first family holiday in Asia, it was the first real family holiday that we have had together with our 3 year old and although we had a great time it was certainly a very different experience from our previous traveling. We love Asia and decided that it was a good choice for the trip. This time however there were a lot more considerations, we wanted to go off the beaten track as before but now felt being close to a hospital – ‘just in case’ was important, accommodation was also going to have to be a higher standard than we were used to, need for cooking facilities for making food for our gluten intolerant daughter, quiet at night so we can put her down to sleep and preferably a second room so we didn’t have to go to bed when she did.

All in all a bit of a mission, but with a bit of research we linked up flights chose some destinations, found some accommodation that fitted the bill, and even found an information sheet in Thai and Malaysian that explained to restaurants that our daughter was gluten intolerant. The next challenge was packing, where I could fit everything in my day pack, we had two other massive bags full of everything you could think of ‘just in case’! for my two girls. Add to that the food in the hand luggage and all the games, books and toys to keep our daughter occupied on the planes, we looked like we were emigrating not going on a 3 week holiday.

Once we were there things were good,  nothing starts conversations quicker than having a cute wee person wandering around with you. She learnt how to say hello and thank you in the different languages and people were so happy to hear her do it. New experiences were had each and every day, it was great to see her take it all in, swimming for the first time, an elephant ride, eating out most nights, exploring the bush and beach, playing with little friends that don’t speak English and having fresh coconuts straight off the tree.

I did have a classic bad dad moment involving a big wave, totally misjudged it and got caught in the danger zone and we got slammed, riding to shore in the foam. Unsurprisingly my daughter wasn’t as keen to get in the next day! Going to have to work on that one…

Some things were a bit challenging, getting ready to go out each day seemed to take forever, she got a bit funny with complete strangers picking her up and hugging her (but who wouldn’t) and she did freak out one time when a women in a burka came up and pinched her cheeks.

In the end it was a brilliant adventure for us all, next time we will know not to pack so much stuff, avoid big waves and just be a bit more relaxed in the planning. Seeing different places and experiencing different cultures is a great education for everyone and especially kids, we learn together and get to share special moments together. Hopefully this will be the start of many family travels, and we can’t wait!