After the holiday, it took me about 5 minutes to get busy again, not all work related things, but busy non-the-less. I really enjoyed the time away from the office and, although I did some work while I was away, the break was relaxing, fun and well needed – for us all.
The two older kids and my wife have jobs so relished the ‘down time’ and my younger Son (16) liked the freedom and space he had in Turkey, feeling a bit older than he is. I loved spending time, as a family, I realise we won’t always have holidays together, moving forwards, and this was the ‘perfect storm’.
As my Daughter lives away, it was nice to spend more than a weekend with her, find out all her news and check all is well for her at work and in life generally. Too often we will have a brief call and superficial catch up and it’s nice to hear the news, the real news! Fortunately, it is all positive and she seems to be planning her career, like a real adult – she is 23 so I suppose I should expect that ????.
While we were away we decided to do a few activities like a boat trip, paragliding and also a trip to Rhodes. The ‘activities salesman’ told us how beautiful the day out to Rhodes is and that we get picked up from the hotel and it would be a 90 minute trip over, 4/5 hours in Rhodes and another 90 minute trip back. Wow, talk about mis-selling. It took us 4 hours to finally get to the port, through passport control, on the boat and sail over. We had 3 hours there and then took another 3.5 hours to get back to the hotel! Not a recommendation I’d make for any of you to do.
On the way to Rhodes, it was slightly rough and the water was a bit choppy, so it wasn’t long before the first person threw up! This then caused a domino affect and there were sick bags being dished out all over the place. I was stood having coffee at the bar with my Daughter watching the drama unfold and ended up eating cucumber and cheese with the bar staff.
Suddenly, a young lady rushed past us, in to the bar area and stuck her head in the sink and threw up. She then collapsed on the bar floor, moaning and groaning and stayed there until we arrived at Rhodes. She was ok but didn’t want to get up from the nice cool floor. Fortunately, we don’t suffer from sea sickness, but, I did wonder if the people that did were looking forward to the return journey ????. (Fortunately, it was a calm crossing back!)
When we got back home (UK), the two foster kids were happy to see us, and, I think, appreciate what we do for them more now, which is great to know. They had a nice week with other families and did well to fit into another set of rules and routines, it must have been tough, but we are now all back into our routines and things are going well.
The next holiday is being planned, but only for me and Sandra. A short 5-day break somewhere hot is on the cards, mind you, with the UK weather at the moment we might as well just spend the time on Bournemouth beach, although that’s not quite the same.
These breaks away give me something to look forward to and motivate me to work hard and play hard, just to balance my life out a bit!
Are you getting your balance right and what is you next treat that is giving you something to look forward to?