When my son, Neal was 8 he decided a wanted to visit London. It wasn’t just a one-time request. It was at least once a week for several months. He was a big fan of the travel channel and watched a lot of shows about various places he wanted to visit. England happened to be one that took his fancy. I think it had something to do with all the history of the country.
Anyway, being the encouraging mother that I was, I promised we would visit in a couple years. I told him it would be a big trip and would cost a lot of money and we would have to save to go there. I also told him I wanted him to be a bit older so he could remember more of it.
When?
He continued to ask…it went from every week to every month, and then to every couple months, and then to when are we going to go? All that began 10 years ago. At first I said, “a few years”, then “when you are older”, and then, “when you are in high school.” My how that time flew by.
We had thought of going the summer after his junior year, but in 10th grade he decided he wanted to go to France with his French Club. So the money we were planning for our England trip went to his Paris, Switzerland, and Italy Trip. He had a great time. It was an experience of a lifetime for a 17 year old.
But we still hadn’t done the England thing!
Time Was Running Out!
I’m big on keeping promises. If I promise something, I always try to keep my word. Even to an 8 year old! So time was running out. My son was almost grown and we hadn’t done the England Trip I promised when he was a youngster. I had made good on many other travel promises….the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, California, Various Waterparks, Disney several times, and many more, but I hadn’t kept the big one! The trip to England was still hanging there.
So I decided his graduation gift would be a family trip to England. We had several family meetings about it and we were going to tour England, Scotland, and Ireland. The plan was for a two-week trip.
Changes
It was January of his senior year when he asked if we could change the trip. Said he wanted to go to London, but didn’t want to tour all the other places. Said it was too much time on a bus, following someone else’s schedule. Said he would prefer staying in one place, London, and just seeing a lot of the things in that place. I was Ok with that. Then he said how about we split the time between London and Paris. I was OK with that, lots of tours for both. Then he said he didn’t want to go with a tour group. He wanted to plan the trip independently. A few red flags…..1. A lot more involved planning. 2. A lot more details to worry about. I had a whole lot of concerns….going to other countries, not necessarily knowing the language, not being with a group, what if something went wrong, etc. This seemed much riskier! But my son can be pretty convincing and it was his trip. I wanted him to enjoy it and so I agreed.
So the plan was a few days in London and a few in Paris. We cut the length of the trip back a bit from two weeks to nine days and then decided to stay in “flats” instead of hotels so we would have more room, etc. We wanted the experience of what it might be like to live there, since he is considering studying abroad in the future.
The Time Has Come
So here it is, the eve of our trip. We are in the airport in Philadelphia waiting to board the airplane. I’m excited and happy to be going on this adventure with the two people I love more than anything in the world. We all love to travel, so this should be a fun time!
I’m thrilled that I am finally making good on this promise. I think it is a pretty awesome graduation gift and the best part is my husband and I get to enjoy it too! My hope is that we make many wonderful memories during our time together in London and Paris.
Follow along the next few days as I post about our trip.
Have you ever made a promise that took you several years to fulfill? Tell me about it in the comments below.