It's the last night of a three week vacation. Beni is, thankfully, sleeping, and Joel and I are thinking of heading to bed soon as well, seeing as we have a very early wake-up call in the morning.
The last few days of this vacation have found me thinking about redefining an ideal vacation. Things have changed, and more things are going to have to change in the future... here's what I'm thinking:
Because of living the lifestyle we live (doing the expat teacher thing), it is very normal that at each break in the school year (fall break, winter holidays, spring break and summer break) we take a trip. Everyone we know does this. It's what you do. It's a major perk of choosing this lifestyle, because of course, I realize, most average families, can't afford to take vacations 4 times a year.
Until now, I have been the person who always wants to leave for these vacations as soon as is possible, without breaking any rules. If there is an evening flight on the last day of school, let's take it! Next morning? Ok! I have also always wanted to come back as late as possible- well, always just the day before going back to work.
But now, I'm re-thinking this. The reason? Well, this vacation was three weeks long, and I hate to admit it, but it was just too long. Oh, it kills me to say that. But it was. It was too long away from home. It was too many locations and too many flights (we spent time in Bali, Lombok, Phuket and Kuala Lumpur, which over the course of three weeks, meant 7 flights total, 4 different hotels and one stay at a friend's house). By week two we all came down with a stomach bug (which of course could have happened at any time, but, was just bad timing), and we honestly kind of suffered through our third location. We've spent the last two days in Kuala Lumpur at a friend's house, and while it's been truly lovely, Beni has been showing us again and again, that she is just. ready. to. be. home. We've had temper tantrums, general unpleasantness, just... not cool. Of course, it could be other things causing it all, but mostly, it just seems like she's over being away.
As I said, we spent time in 4 different hotels. One of them we were in for only a night as we transitioned from one location to another. The others we were in for 4-6 days. During this vacation, Joel and I have watched a good 10+ movies. Why? Well, Beni goes to bed between 7 and 8. We were staying in hotels. When she went to bed, we were stuck in the room (no baby-snatching incidents for us, thanks!), and we had to be relatively quiet because, well, she's sleeping. So we stocked up on dvds and most nights after she fell asleep, we watched a dvd on my laptop, listening to it on headphones. It wasn't bad, but, it wasn't exactly ideal either. The couple of nights we tried to just quietly watch tv, it would wake her up (too much light and noise), and well, there just wasn't much else for us to do. I suppose we could have tried to play some board games or something by candle light- but we didn't plan for anything like that. So we were stuck watching movies. And when we were sick, we pretty much all went to bed within a couple hours of each other (yep, that was me, asleep before 10pm on New Year's Eve!).
There are several things that we plan on amending on future vacations... firstly, because we have another baby on the way, we'll need bigger rooms anyway. We'll need rooms with two beds at the minimum, or more likely, suites with adjoining rooms (like a bedroom and a living room type thing). Us adults just need some space after the kids go to bed, and we'll all need more room to sleep.
But thinking about this has made us question whether hotels are even the best place to stay once you have a toddler and baby (or more?). We're thinking maybe it's time to transition from a couple weeks in hotels on the beach to like, a cabin on a lake. You know, like, a cabin with several bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen...room to live and be and whatnot, even when the kids are sleeping. Depending on finances this, of course, also dictates where we might choose to vacation. I'm not sure we could afford a cabin or house in any of the places we vacationed on this holiday. Maybe we just need to do more research. I think (and feel free to tell me if I'm wrong) that 3 weeks in the same house in one location could probably work for everyone, which could mean we could still make use of all our vacation time!
When it comes down to it, vacations have just changed. I did mange to read a book on this vacation- but I probably got some extra leeway/time between coming down with traveler's tummy for a good week + and being pregnant. But certainly, gone are the days of spending all day next to the pool reading. I remember vacations when I might have read two or three books in a week! Sigh. Not anymore.
Don't get me wrong, things are changing, and we need to figure out managing the changes, but it's still good. Aside from the stomach bug, we had some lovely days on the beach. Beni got to try surfing with her dad for the first time (possibly more exciting for dad than Beni, but cool anyway). BeniBeni the world now, and watching her take it all in is amazing. And of course, it's great that we get to do it with her.
All that said, there is just no denying, that it is all so very different now, than how it was before!
What about you? How do you vacation with your kids? Have you found an "ideal" vacation?
