Family HolidaysBack in the 80s when my Dad got made redundant (hello Dad!), he spent all the redundancy money on one of those big motor caravans.
Us kids loved it, apart from when my sister threw up on my sleeping bag, but looking back I'm not so sure my mum did. There was a certain tension every time the big van was even mentioned, let alone driven around France for weeks on end with her still having to cook and do all the washing.
What went wrong, what went right, and how did you survive the shame of having your family with you as a teenager?
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chthonic, Thu 2 Aug 2007, 14:33)
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JordanMy parents don't really do Christmas. Most years we'd go away somewhere to get away from it all, which was fun, unusual, and so on the whole most family holidays were pretty cool.
However... (and this is a partial pearoast from an earlier QOTW)
In November 1998, it was just after Bill Clinton passed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, I was 16 and my family decided it would be a good idea to go on holiday to Jordan. It was - there were next to no other foreigners and locals were extra friendly to us lest they let the troubles completely kill the tourist trade.
Except for one 'incident' that could have been.
One day, a guide decided that part of the tour included showing us where some special scene or other from Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. We all climbed into Jeeps, and headed off into the desert.
The ride was a bumpy one, and we were being jolted back and forth as the driver kept his foot to the floor. All of a sudden the cars stopped just behind a big dune/hill thing where no one could see us. We were completely out of view from the nearby town, with just a grinning driver and apologetic guide. Why had we stopped?
"Puncture" said the driver.
We looked at the wheels, they were all fine. The guide looked white as a sheet, which was impressive considering his normal skintone.
Now, it is worth bearing in mind that the trip was almost cancelled - while Jordan itself wasn't particularly affected, there were those who weren't looking all that kindly towards westerners, especially towards Americans, and well, to some people Brits and Americans are very alike.
Oh shit. We had been driven there to be killed.
I was somewhat naive at that time, and having never been to a desert before I was somewhat excited and didn't really pick up on the concerns of those around me.
I went for a walk, by myself, into quite literally the middle of nowhere, while everyone else was slightly concerned about madmen jumping out and shooting them. I got some great photos though. I'll post them if anyone cares.
Needless to say (and to cut a long story short) the gunmen killing us all didn't happen. Another Jeep turned up half an hour later, I returned to the convoy, and the engine troubles were fixed - in the broken English of our driver "puncture" meant any problem with a vehicle.
(, Sat 4 Aug 2007, 16:44, Reply)
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