Travelling with boys for 245 days.
It seems like a good time to mention some of the good and bad things about travelling with your family for 245 days.
We approached this travel thing with great excitement and everyone we have spoken to about it has always said how lucky we are. Everyone that is except our boys. Travelling for them has really become something of an ordeal. For them the actual travelling part has long since lost it's glamour. We have done about 12 flights so far (although Julie has done 16) and the palava with all the security, customs and passport controls is now so tedious that air travel is really not much fun anymore.
Visiting new places is good and the boys have always responded well to new environments and cultures, pointing out the differences as we go along. Staying in one place is also good as it allows us an opportunity to settle into a routine (as we have done in India) but it also gives you more time to think and this tends to develop into bouts of homesickness.
Overall Julie and I have been quite dissappointed in how routine our way of life has become for the boys. They are very blasee (sp?) about the priviledge of it all as it has all become quite normal for them. They are often (here in India at least) miserable about going out again for more sightseeing (most of the sights in India are pretty boring for boys of this age - I think?) and can be really upset when we have to drag them out.
They miss their friends and having their "home stuff" around them. Although they both brought their own small bags of books and toys, they have rarely been looked at or used. They have preferred to be involved with who ever or where ever they are staying. If we are staying with other kids (as we are now) then they will all play on the computers, or gameboys or go and watch a movie together (does everything these days have to be electronic? We are having to severely limit their exposure when they see a TV, as they have been without one for years now). If they are in hotels or other accommodation, they will explore and discover things in their environment.
As far as being together as a family unit is concerned, let's just say that we now appreciate the time we had at work or whilst they were apart from us at school. Living with them on top of you ( we have also been sharing a room together all this time) 24/7 is very challenging especially for Julie. If you are within their range you are constantly required for something or to resolve some dispute. We could really do with a rest from them. Julie and I went out on a tour of Delhi the other day and it was the first time we had been alone and apart from the kids for more than 5 minutes in perhaps 5 months. Man it gets to you.
Did you know they have a 5 rupee bank note here? It's worth 6 pence.
Did you know that only 2% of the population of India pays tax?
So would I do it all over again? Probably. We might just change the schedule somewhat and perhaps shorten the whole excercise. We are not really looking forward to having to get into another plane. We are almost travelled out. I might even have travelled the kids to the point where they will never want to travel again. And believe me, as a person who comes from a travelling family, my father worked in 57 countries, it won't be a bad thing. They will almost certainly value being at home alot more now.
1 comment:
Your final comment is most certainly true for people I know who travelled a lot when young. However, most of these confirm that in later years they began appreciating having had the opportunities of travel at a young age. None of them would want to miss the vivid memories from their 'databanks'. The benefit of an expanded conscious, a wider personal horizon, are maybe only ever comprehended by the more mature.
The indifference shown by the younger Boards at times strikes a chord. The few minutes we had of absolutely breathtaking sunbathed American beauty was spent by our two little ones bickering over who should determine which version of "I spy" (!) would be played for the remainder of the car journey.
The reason for flickering gameboys winning it hands-down (pun intended) with the younger generation over the perfect stillness of a beautiful and massive cultural artefact may have a good side and a bad side. The bad side: attention spans will reduce to the range of nano-seconds within a few generations. The good side: Massive and beautiful though they may be, even the most fascinating artefacts fascinate by their unchanging artificialness. They are the 'work of our hands' we more often should repent of than allow ourselves to be fascinated by. Being used to change - at less then flickering pace I would hope - accepting only that which moves and moves on, is perhaps more capable of realising the gift and opportunity of change and natural progression that comes to us from His ever merciful 'unchangingness'.
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