Family Holiday Memories: Travelling, Holiday Mishaps & Seeing Extended Family ✈️

My favourite times of the year are the holidays. I am sure everyone loves some time to spend with friends and family, either relaxing at home or travelling across the world to a new place to explore. Some of my favourite holidays have been family holidays, either visiting extended family back home, in England, or travelling to a new destination altogether.

Two years ago, I went to Prince Edward Island, with my dad to celebrate my 18th birthday. I enjoyed everything about that holiday except the flying. I don't actually mind flying but the idea of being that high up in the air, in a machine where anything could happen, and not being completely in control is the scary part. But, that holiday, even though it was not with my whole family has been one of my favourite holidays to this day. And I am really grateful that my dad took the time out of his busy schedule to take me to a destination that some of my favourite books, and movies, are based in. I had the most amazing time there, and I would actually love to go back. 

Prince Edward Island, where the story Anne Of Green Gables is based, is in Canada. When I was there I had the opportunity to see the house, which is the model of Anne's house, in the books, and some plays, as well as walking around the streets of Charlottetown, which is the capital of Prince Edward Island, and where we stayed.  I also tried lobster, for the first time ever, and even better, I got to try the world's second best ice cream, after Ben & Jerry's, which was Cows Ice Cream, which is a chain of ice cream parlours based in Charlottetown. 

My dad really spoilt me on that holiday. It really was the best. And I can't wait to go back, and hopefully next time the rest of my family will be able to join us.

Charlottetown Main Street, Prince Edward Island 

One family holiday that I always remember, as it started off terribly,took place about nine years ago. I actually think the situation that happened rather funny now, but back then we thought that everything was going to go wrong. So, it started off as an ordinary family holiday, on our way to the airport to fly to England. My dad, my brothers and I were waiting on the platform, at the train station, and my sister and mum had gone off to check the times, or something. The train arrived, and my dad told my brothers and I to get on as he loaded on the bags. As he turned to get the last bag the train doors shut, and the train started to move away from the platform, with us and the bags on it, and my dad staring at the train on the platform. 

Long story short, we got off, with the bags, at the next station and everything ended fine, and we arrived at our destination in one piece. But at the time, my brothers and I were trapped on a train not knowing what was going to happen, and my parents were worried. Thinking back on it all now, it has become a funny story which we can all laugh at now. 

A Swiss Train Station 

Another family holiday, took place in France. When were do family holidays, we usually stay in a holiday home, with a pool. Well, on this particular holiday there were apparently wild boar that lived nearby, and the owner of the holiday home told us to always keep the gates closed, so these boar could not get in. We never saw one the whole holiday, but we would all make jokes and say we saw something in the distance to try scare each other. One time, when arriving back from a day out, I made a joke and said there was a boar near, and of course there wasn't. I guess my mum had had enough of this playful joke, and told me to get out the car and walk into the driveway of our holiday home. And even though there was no wild creature in sight none of us wanted to get out and we ended up laughing over the whole thing. I am rather upset that we never saw one, and am not sure if there were any around at all when we were there, but even so we never wanted to chance it and be outside the gate, in case we ended up getting attacked by some wild angry boar. 

That same holiday, there was a thunderstorm one night, and my sister and I were sharing a room. During the storm, my sister noticed that there was a "light" flashing outside our bedroom window. She was sure that there was someone out there flashing a torch light. The more she said this, the more anxious I became to the idea that someone was signalling out there, for some unknown reason. But once we had calmed down a bit we discovered it was not somebody with a torch, but the flashing of lightning in the distance. We thought it was really funny, once we discovered what really was going on, but I still made it into an opportunity to tease my sister a little. 

A (random) wild boar

When I was much younger, maybe around eleven, I can't remember, my dad took my brothers and I to Europa Park, which is a theme park located in Germany. When we arrived we were given a sticker each, which was for the parent to write their phone number on in case their child got lost. My dad insisted that none of us would get lost, so he never wrote his mobile number on any of the stickers. Everything was going well, and we were all enjoying the rides and walking around the theme park. Then, there fell upon me a situation with my shoe. I called my dad and brothers, to wait for me, and I looked down to tend to my shoe but when I looked up my dad and both my brothers were out of sight. At first, I had no idea what I was going to do, but two young ladies saw me walking along alone and asked if I was alright. I remember telling them what had happened, and they asked for my dad's mobile number, but of course I did not have it. They ended up walking along with me, to try find someone that could help me. It was while walking along that I saw my dad in the distance, and when I went over to join him he just smiled at me and said something like, "Oh, I was wondering where you were." My dad still insisted he did not need to write down his number for any of us after that, but none of us got separated from each other again. 

Europa Park, Germany

One time, a couple years ago, we were staying at home for the holiday or bank holiday, or some holiday.. and we decided to go out to get a pizza as a family. Everything was going well, until we got to the car park. It was an underground car park, and I guess the space we found was not big enough for our car. We thought everything was going well, until we heard a smash, and we looked back in shock to see the rear car window was smashed, because the back of the car had hit something at the back of the space that none of us had noticed while backing into the space. We had to drive home, with glass falling out of the broken window onto the road as we drove. When we arrived home, my parents phoned the car garage, and we ended up getting a take-away pizza instead. And lets just say that we have not tried parking in the car park space again.

A (random) rear car window

One of my favourite holidays are when we get to see extended family, back in England, as we don't get to see them very often. Usually, we drive to England when we go. It is longer but it is often easier having our own car when we are away but the problem with driving is that it can take the whole day to get from our house all the way to England. 

When we travel to England, we get the train, which leaves from Calais, in France, and goes through the channel tunnel ,we drive onto the train, and the train takes us under the English Channel, all the way to England.

This journey takes a very long time, which also include many breaks along the way. Especially during the times one of us are not feeling very well, or need the toilet every twenty minutes. The one main thing I hate about this car journey, except for being in a hot car for hours on end, is driving through France. I love France, but I hate the french public toilets, and if I can help it I never go to one. They are always small, and disgusting, and one can hardly breathe when you enter one. I feel sorry for all french people who have to use them regularly. There are always stuff on the floor, and sometimes on the walls. I don't, and never will, understand why the french have such terrible public toilets. 

The positive side of this long car journey is that those in the back of our car can watch movies. Our favourite movie to watch on this car journey has always been "The Borrowers" and we have watched it nearly every time we have made this drive. This is probably the reason why "The Borrowers" is one of my all time favourite movies. 

"The Borrowers"- One of my favourite movies

Seeing our extended family, in England, is always a holiday well spent. There is always food, laughs and talking. As we don't see them very often, it is exciting to be able to catch up and see how they have been doing. 

When we see our family, back in England, there is always lots of food and it is a great time to spend time with our cousins, aunts, and uncles. We often just go for walks, watch movies, and just talk but there is rarely a dull moment when we are all together in the same place. 

When we visit our dad's mum, she is always making delicious dishes of food for us and will never rest until we are completely full, and even then she is still offering plates and plates of rice, fruit and cakes. With our cousins we are always laughing and joking, and talking about past memories and jokes.

Most of my cousins are boys, but that does not make anything any less boring. There is always something going on, no matter how small, and even when we don't do very much at all and are just sitting round a table playing a game it is always a lot of fun and full of laughter and joking, and of course a lot of tasty treats.

"Nothing is better than family...."

This summer we didn't go to England, which is a shame, but some family did come and visit us here. My mum's brother and his family came to visit us, and so far there has not been a dull moment. The house has been full of laughter, jokes and talking. My mum has slaved away in the kitchen making sure there is enough food and treats for everyone, and everyone has enjoyed each others company. Even when we are not talking, it is enjoyable just spending time together. 

A Family Day Down By The Lake...

Two of the most memorable moments that have taken place during their visit, so far, has been their first day here, when we went out to an open air cinema and today,  and when we went into the woods and made s'mores.

On their first night we went to an open air cinema, which is a summer thing which was set up in town. I had never been to it before, so it was a first time for our cousins as well as for my siblings and I.  The film that we saw was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. It was the first Pirates of the Caribbean film I had ever seen, so I was the only one in our group which was  totally new to the story of the film series. We all enjoyed the movie but the problem was it rained all through the movie, and we all got soaked. It is a good thing the movie was enjoyable, otherwise it would have been an awful evening. But overall it was a wet but enjoyable evening, and we got a free ice cream which ended up as a rainy sweet mix but it was a day for us to laugh about over the days that followed.

The soaked movie tickets...

And yesterday, we went into the nearby woods and made s'mores. It took a very long time to start the fire to begin with, but eventually we got a flame and soon the fire was roaring and ready for roasting marshmallows. 

It was an enjoyable evening with a lot of playing teasing, laughter, and mess.  A few of us may have enjoyed it all a bit too much as their were a number of complaints and moans of "feeling sick" even though it didn't seem to stop them from eating one or five more. 

By the camp fire with my brother and cousins...

Any holiday, no matter how long or how many mishaps there are, is well spent when surrounded my family, no matter if its just my parents and siblings or with extended family. It is always a good time.