The planning of last year’s family holiday brought me to despair.
The New Year has barely begun when my husband Steven starts planning the upcoming summer holiday. The internet is surfed for hours, plenty of the latest holiday brochures are arriving at the house and Stephen is in heaven.
We are a family of three and our ideas of a happy family holiday could not be different. The only thing we can agree on is a warm holiday in the ‘sunny south.’
Our first task is to find the right accommodation. A hotel is not suitable for my 18 years old daughter Caroline, because breakfast is not served after 11am. A picturesque little cottage in the countryside? This is also a definite no, because spending time with your parents in the middle of nowhere when you are young does not appeal. There are no activities, sports or a night life.
Stephen is happy with a tennis court and a good tennis coach. I would love some time to myself and a golf course nearby.
After several family dramas, we came across this place in the South of France. At first sight this place was not my idea of bliss. More than ten thousand people would stay there during the high season. The good news was that there were more than 16 tennis courts with very good coaches. Stephan was happy. There was a little golf course with wonderful views over the mountains and the sea. I was happy. But most importantly there were five pools, a beautiful beach, several bars and pubs. Now guess who was happy?
We managed to book a cute semi-detached house with the most wonderful sea view. Caroline suddenly decided to bring a friend which made the family complete.
After an early morning tennis lesson, Stephen brought some fresh croissants home and we started the day with a lovely family breakfast. The girls enjoyed their day at the beach or lying by the pool. Stephen and I had a relaxing game of golf and I managed to find some time reading a book in our tiny but very enchanting garden. We all met up in the evening for diner and the girls then enjoyed some time in a bar where they met several other young people of their age, while we sat on the terrace and had some delicious French wine.
This was one of the most relaxing, peaceful and happy holidays we ever had!
Would we do the same thing again? Most definitely, if of course Caroline wants to spend another holiday with us. I bet she will, because after all it is the cheapest holiday she will have and everything she wants is on the door step.
Yes, you can have a happy holiday with teenagers. We definitely had.
Family