Curb your enthusiasm

And so we’re off again on this now much-loved oft-trod escape to the south west of Europe. As we grow more familiar with each schlep (even allowing for the sneaky curveball of some changes to the complicated diversion through Rouen), this trip, two have become six – with four teens aboard, we are outnumbered.

We are taking the slow road to our quick fix of happiness. Two weeks heading towards/staying in/returning from Salema in the western Algarve. We have packed looms and bands, countless magazines, and DVDs of their choosing are piled high in the boot. There’s a boxed up, newly purchased three-man dinghy (complete with oars and pump) atop their four bulging suitcases that hold 19 bikinis between them.

The next generation

We’ve lost the battle over music choice but, to be fair, we never even put up a fight. For this holiday belongs to our next generation, two of them having joined the ranks of adulthood since our last summer all together in the sun. But do they count among the numbers of adults on this holiday? I think not.

When did I last download a ‘Now’ album, I ponder, as I buy boosters to ensure its full delivery to my iPhone. I am appalled to discover this latest release is number 88. ‘What is she singing?’ husband asks, and I hear echoes of my parents. As we all do eventually, I suspect – as these girls will, I hope. In the confines of a Dodge Super Caravan (strangely, no longer feeling overlarge, wide and roomy), we will all dig deep to become tolerant of each other but not of any other travellers – those many strangers who swell in huge numbers in airports this time of year. We have neither the desire or need. We are in our own world of travel and it may not be as fast or cheap as flight but it will be fun.

‘ROAD TRIPS ARE MUCH MORE FUN AND FREE.’ I keep telling the girls this, in a variety of ways and at varying interludes – from when I booked the crossing to just before we leave, when heading out of the EuroTunnel at Calais and as we enter Bordeaux and so on, increasing the frequency and pitch as we nose ever nearer.

‘YOU JUST SEE SO MUCH MORE IN A CAR!’ I screech.
Holidays are often said to make or break a family. I am in danger of either nailing it or putting the final nail in the coffin of whole-family excursions with my high expectations and breathy enthusiasm. And it’s only day one.