As a kid, I did all my traveling with my family. Obviously. My mom made us take a mandatory family vacation every summer. I have strong memories of me being a surly teenager, sitting in the back of the minivan with my head phones on for the entire trip. I also have memories of the things we actually did and saw and at this age, can appreciate all that my mom did to make these trips happen. I’ve seen a lot of places in the western half of the US due to my mom’s annual family vacation requirement. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to travel.
My brother and I are champion road-trippers. We can drive all day long, only stopping at rest stops and gas stations. I credit this to my parents doing long road trips with us when we were little. I remember briefly waking up when my parents buckled my seat belt at 4am so we could begin driving to Canada. I’d promptly fall back asleep and wake up when it was day light. We had a Subaru wagon back then and of course my brother and I had the usual fights about his stuff always creeping onto my side of the car. The middle section of the backseat was obviously mine. I was older, and at that time, bigger. End of discussion. My folks would probably tell you that was far from the end of the discussion (hence the next car being a minivan with separate seats).
The thing about long road trips is eventually you get good at them. You learn how to entertain yourself in a car for hours on end. You learn that it takes as long as it takes to get somewhere and asking “are we there yet,” and irritating your dad is not going to make the trip go any faster. You also learn not to smack your gum because it will immediately go out the window. Ahh, childhood travel memories.
Eventually I graduated on to doing trips with friends. In high school I got to go to Missoula for shopping and movies, to Schweitzer to go skiing, to Silver Mountain to see a concert, etc. At one point, I got to do an overnight trip, but that was because we were visiting a college campus and our parents were tired of driving us all over the place.
In college I did my first multi day road trips with friends. Eventually once I started working and had some disposable income, I did some overseas trips with friends. This is where I learned how important it is to be a good traveler. When you’re on a plane for twenty hours, even inflight movies get old at some point. And you’re going to be annoyed by the people you’re traveling with. At some point during my childhood, I realized that my parents had somehow abolished (too much) whining while traveling. I also learned that not everyone had this particular travel skill.
Oddly enough, I’ve come full travel circle. In May, I’m taking a trip to Italy. With my mom. Part of me feels like I’m regressing a bit. After all, you’re supposed to travel with your parents when you’re 3, not when you’re 30. But at this point, I’ve actually traveled more than my mom. Or at least to farther destinations. And there is something to be said for having a relationship with your mom that you don’t hesitate to spend almost two weeks together traveling.
I’ve been on the hunt for a new travel buddy the past few years. All my friends got married and started families, which makes it difficult for them to go bum around a foreign country for a couple weeks a year. In a way it makes sense to go back to traveling with the person who taught me to travel in the first place. And we’ll be in Italy! Tough to argue with that.
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