I didn’t grow up in a family that had big overseas trips in my childhood, it was simply not on the list of things we could afford and that was completely fine. Up until a few years ago my husband and sons and I were similar, we had dipped our toe in the overseas holiday pool heading to destinations like Fiji but had never headed anywhere too far away. Now I understand that a trip to Fiji is overseas and that in some cases that would be a dream for some families, but a trip to the USA or Europe was something I had always dreamed of doing with my family.
The key barriers to travelling, pre-2020 were obvious. There was the financial aspect, flights and accommodation for four people can stretch the budget. Then it was the transit itself, my youngest son is now eight but the thought of travelling with him on a twenty-four hour-plus trip to get from point A to point B sounded like a nightmare I didn’t want to live.
Last year was the first time we dived into a long haul overseas trip with our holiday to the USA and Mexico. It was an incredible opportunity to mix some work and play and to bring the boys along for the ride. We saved our butts off and didn’t hold back on the experiences we wanted to share as a family.
I’m a big believer in planning your next holiday before the current one ends so during our trip we thought about where we wanted to travel to next and decided Europe, more specifically Spain, Paris and London would be the next on the list.
By the end of 2019, we had secured our flights, booked our first accommodation location in Barcelona and started researching all of the magical places we wanted to visit. We had also confirmed tickets to the men’s final at Wimbledon, a once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate my husband’s 40th.
Then 2020 happened, and the hope to travel overseas or in my case to travel outside of my five-kilometre radius became nonexistent.
I was still dreaming of Spain, the culture, the people and of course the food! So after a suggestion from my coach I thought, why don’t we have a dinner party to celebrate the postponed trip and to bring a little bit of Spain into our household.
After a little bit of planning, and with the help of my eldest son we put together a feast that we all enjoyed. It was so much fun being in the kitchen as I love to cook and getting dressed up to enjoy a meal together.
I can’t imagine how magical it will be when we do travel to Spain, I know I will personally be even more grateful for the opportunity and will devour every moment.
You can check out what Caroline and Tai cooked by watching out VLOG