Here at the Amber household we are deep, deep, deep in plans for our next family holiday. It’s a BIG event for us, we haven’t had a family holiday for FOUR years. Long story short we haven’t been able to agree on a destination and other family things have got in the way.
We’re not a family who sits on a sunny beach, if we do find ourselves on a beach we’re the ones digging the monstrous hole with an architectural structure, moats, walls etc. Great for a UK beach, not so good long-haul when our son would prefer to check in a large, durable garden spade (all the better for digging) rather than clothes in a suitcase. Foreign holidays for us tend to be road-trips and our next one we taking on Canada! More about this over the next few weeks.
SO because I’m super excited, I thought over the next few weeks, I’d share a few snippets from some of our past road-trips.
My first ever long-haul was decided by a packet of crisps – I kid you not. Years ago I worked in catering and I found an offer on a pack of crisps for “free” flights on Virgin Atlantic. I remember buying a huge amount of badly flavoured crisps just for the tokens on the packets, enough for two adults. Choosing the destination was easy, I wanted to go as far as I could get for my potato crisp. We picked LA.
Things didn’t start well, we had a puncture on the way to the airport, then we were hauled out of line at Uk security for a thorough bag check and LA had just had a bad earthquake and serious mud slides, but hey, it makes a trip interesting.
I remember being unable to comprehend matching the flight travel time to the difference in the actual time zone upon arrival. Hubby and I (pre- marriage and kids) had few plans, pick up a car, go to Disney, then see what happens. I didn’t realise he was a closet road-tripper.
We travelled around 3000 miles in just two weeks! That trip we flew the Grand Canyon in a six-seater plane. Hubby up the front with the pilot taking great photos, me down the back feeling very green with all the air turbulence. We visited Las Vegas, feeling the pull of the glitz and glam, the heat and wilds of Death Valley, the hydro-electric plant at the Hoover Dam and the amazing Utah arches national park, even going as far as The Four Corners which borders Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Next Time: Our trip from the Giant Redwoods to San Diego.
Wow! If that was your first unplanned long haul trip the one to Canada will be outstanding! I can’t believe you packed so much into two weeks and love that he was a closest road-tripper! Yeah for the crisps but imagine more conventional ticket arrangement this time. Just check the tyres first! Then have an absolute brilliant adventure.
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Thank you Annika – plenty more road trip tales, I hadn’t actually realised how many we’ve done until I started today’s blog. This will be our second Canadian trip, more about the first later.
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Wow, what an amazing trip! I’ve only ever managed to visit NYC after living in the Catskill Mountains for three months (Camp America). I would love to go back to America and tour. Your road trip to Canada will be fabulous, I can’t wait to read more 🙂
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Ooh I Have a friend whose daughter has recently got back from doing Camp America and then adding on some travelling, sounded like a wonderful opportunity.
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Great post – looking forward to more road trips.
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Thanks Mary.
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Love this story 🙂
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That’s great, Rosie – always wanted to do the US road trip thing! Love the photos, and I so envy you Canada too. Totally get the attitude about not wanting to spend loads of money and fly miles and miles just to lie on a beach 🙂
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Looking forward to more of your trips. Yes, I’m not a beach person either, although sometimes I think it would be nice to spend some time in a place like that and just write, read and go for walks…
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Sometimes I’d like to stop and read a book, but then I do that all the time and adventure awaits.
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Wow – you guys got a lot done in a short amount of time! Looking forward to hearing more.
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Thanks Teri.
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Wow-that’s an impressive two weeks! I love the pictures. Can’t wait to hear about your trip to Canada. I’ve never been.😊
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to more.
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We did a Toronto and Niagara 4 years ago, you’ll hear more soon.
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Hi Rosie – what a great way to get a holiday! Gosh that was a dash around wasn’t it – but now I look forward to crisp packet two’s tale … cheers Hilary
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The best thing is it didn’t feel too rushed at the time.
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Kudos to you for doing these trips, Rosie. My Mom and Dad took road trips with me and my brother – also sailing trips – and they are some of my best memories. We did the same with our kids, and it’s amazing what they say when they talk about them.
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Looking back they are some great trips, as a kid my parents took us on trips to France and I still remember those.
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I hope you have as many adventures in Canada as you did on your trip to the United States. Better to travel there in the summer, though–it’s darn cold up north during the other three seasons!
Fantastic photographs, by the way. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thanks Linda, planning for July, got to let the kids do all their exams first.
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Lovely post, Rosie. Looking forward to hearing more.
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I’ve also done parts of your LA trip Itinerary. Have only missed the four corners and Utah Arches National Park. Will look forward to the Canada pics.
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Would like to go back and be based around the Utah area for a longer stay to see more of the Arches and other places in the area, so many great places to visit.
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It is on our list as well.:-)
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What a fab trip ? All due to a packet of crisps, Chloe https://pinkiebag.com/
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Thank you.
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