FEATURE
Travels with a ten-year-old Planes, trains and automobiles! Dawn Anderson shares her experiences of a big trip with a small person!
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S the usual arctic temperatures of January set in, your mind may be wandering towards the summer, the promise of sunshine and being able to leave the house without feeling like you have been swaddled. I usually long for the brighter weather, but am hopeless at planning holidays until the last minute, despite being ruled by the school breaks for the last 18 years! Having two children ten years apart has its advantages – but that isn’t one of them. But 2023 was different… a plan began to form in February and the essential elements, like flights, were booked by March! You might be wondering what galvanised me last year? Well, I was working on a contract that ended in July and was hoping to have time off in August. My son Laurie, then aged 10, spends half his time with me and half with his dad but I wanted to make the most of the time off and go away for a couple of weeks. I had no idea where and anyone who has children of that age will know that holidaying anywhere at that time is eye-wateringly expensive. I wanted something affordable, but fun. I am not known for being adventurous in my choice of holiday, usually preferring a package holiday (easier for a busy mum to arrange) but I had some time to think about it. My main consideration was this: what would a ten-year old and a fifty-something both enjoy? The idea of a different kind of trip began to form. I started to think of other destinations and to ask myself a) was my son old enough to come with me and b) would he enjoy it? The other major consideration was whether such a trip would be wise as I would be the only parent and indeed, the only adult. I played through every scenario in my mind, thinking of the worst that could happen, and would the limitations outweigh the positives? In the end I just thought, “Life is short. What am I waiting for!” An English-speaking country was 32 Reflections January 2024
Packed and ready for their holiday – Laurie and mum Dawn at home in Chesterfield. essential, exotic places might be more appealing, but I wanted to ensure that if we had any difficulties, language was not a barrier. The United States immediately came to mind, I’ve visited before but my son hasn’t. New York seemed the obvious choice; you can fly from Manchester easily and, much to my surprise, affordably. Whilst there I also wanted to ‘pop up’ to Toronto in Canada. I knew it was close (well, only an hour’s flight from New York) and I had a friend there who I had been promising to visit for ten years.
Whilst doing my research, I realised that internal flights in North America were relatively inexpensive (it was cheaper to fly from Toronto to Los Angeles than buy a rail ticket from Chesterfield to London) and then the options really opened up. Car hire was the next thing I debated; it was cheap (less than £30 a day) and fuel is almost half the price there, but would I dare to drive? Whilst being a confident driver over here, I had never driven on the opposite side of the road! I breathed deeply and booked the car, reassuring To advertise call 01246 550488