Over the summer, I took a trip to Paris with my mom and dad. This was not the first time to Paris for any of us so the trip was a bit more laid back than the typical flurry to see everything, everywhere in just 7 days. As the trip porgressed, I couldn't help but gain a huge amount of respect for my parents for traveling with me as a child. We took several trips when I was younger and I now know those trips must have been filled with constant bathroom breaks, snack breaks, hurt feet, being lost, and a myriad of other things. I know this, because I think traveling with your parents as an adult, is much like traveling with children.
Airports:
It all began with our trip to the airport. When you have small children, you allow yourself 7 hours to load up the car, get to the parking lot, unload the car, load the shuttle, unload the shuttle, get through security, and finally board the plane. When you have parents, you allow yourself 7 hours to get to the airport and wait 6 hours in case SOMETHING horrible happens and you need those 6 hours to fix that something.
With Kids:
With Parents:
Bed Time:
We had a nonverbal, but strict agreement that bed time was no later than 10PM. The last time I went to bed before 10PM was when I had mono and couldn't keep my eyes open longer than 30 minutes at a time. Do you know what happens when you go to bed at 10PM? You wake up at 6AM all bright eyed and bushy tailed. There is a life lesson in here somewhere...but I haven't decided to take it yet.
Bathroom Breaks:
I swear to you, I know where every public bathroom is within a 50 mile radius of our hotel in Paris. I know where every public bathroom is on every floor of every museum I went into. You need a bathroom? I have you covered.
This could be getting a bit too personal, but I'm going to just go for it. This is how I view the natural progression of need for bathroom breaks as we age.
Infant: I don't even care about bathrooms
Toddler: I need to go but I am having WAY to much fun with these legos so I DON'T CARE. Uh oh. Whoops. I should have cared.
Young adult - 50: I can appropriately gage when I need to use the restroom
50+: I think I might need to use the restroom sometime in the next hour, so we need to find one right now. RIGHT NOW.
Snack Breaks:
If we were not on a strict "eat every 2 hours" regimen, it was meltdown city. We wouldn't talk to eachother, everyone was stomping and walking 45 miles per hour to try and get to food faster, angry looks were tossed over shoulders because SOMEONE had taken to long at the last bathroom break and now clearly the world was ending. By the end of the trip everyone had to pack a snack for emergencies.
All in all, it was an epic trip - we may have yelled at eachother when we missed snack break, or stomped away on the way to the bathroom, but it's only with family that you can do those things with complete faith in the forgiveness that will follow. It is only with family that you can act like a 5 year old no matter your age, and still come out with no loss of love.
I recognize that at 26, the years of taking vacations with just my immediate family are waning. Despite my brother and I's nearly constant singledom - I do think both of us will actually find our great loves to bring on family vacations, and eventually we'll bring kids along to. Those trips will bring new memories, laughs, and temper tantrums.
Until that point, I'll take all of the trips with my parents that I can - even if it means hunting down every bathroom in the city.
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