TRAVEL MEMOIRS

Expressing My Love for My Kids Through Travel

I'm glad we went on this trip, even if I didn't want to

A view of the Geirangerfjord taken from the viewing deck — Photo by the author.

“When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you’ll never get back” — Rick Warren

Growing up, we went on vacation as a family maybe three or four times. The last one we took was when I was about five years old. My dad was always overseas, working. He would spend years away from home and only returned every three to five years.

During summer, it was mostly my mom, my two siblings, and me who went on vacation. It wasn't the ideal family setup, but it was what it was. By the time my dad returned for good in 1999, I was a young man at 17, my brother was busy starting his career in the hotel industry, and my sister had migrated to the US, so our chance to go on more family vacations had long passed.

My dad passed away in 2010, and we never got to go on another family trip.

Now that I have my own family, I take every vacation as an opportunity to make many beautiful memories with them. I'm glad I agreed to take a long road trip, even if I didn't want to initially.