Double Trouble Travel have just completed an
exciting road trip across France and touching Spain in our much loved soft
top.... Fun and adventurous but not without its stresses and dilemmas...
Travelling with a seven year old did not worry me
at all... But after being in each others faces for a whole month; sleeping in
the same bed; spending our days together; travelling side by side with no other
company (apart from 2 hitchhikers we picked up on our way from France to
Spain), I realise I was slightly optimistic.
Not impressed with her first bee sting....
We love each other and enjoy each other s company
but I can honestly say we have never argued so much. The difference with
backpacking and road trip is that you obviously get to spend much less
attention on the child, and all of your attention divided between the road, the
map/GPS and the (in this case foreign) road signs. This also means that when
they do throw an attention seeking wobbly, it can feel very dangerous, and you
can become very frustrated.
Logically; (frustrated parent without peace + frustrated child without attention) + heat = arguments galore!
Pleased to be out of the car! Freeeeedom!!
Having said that, we had a great time, and visited:
Le Havre
Pauillac
Toulouse
Bize-Minervois
Narbonne
Aspiran
Burriana
Benacassim (Rototom Sunsplash )
Paris
and various villages in between; including two fantastic
reggae festivals (reggae sun ska in France and Rototom sunsplash in Spain) and
a wedding!
I noticed so many things on our trip - the
difference between French and Spanish cultures for example; or at least on
their beaches. On the beaches we happened to visit in France, the visitors
seemed to all come to the beach fully clothes, undress subtly and enjoy the
sun, whereas the beaches in Spain; the beaches I am more used to, had people
coming in beach clothes, getting topless, and leaving in bikinis. This may not
be correct for the whole of France and Spain; I was not there long enough to
say; but this was definitely a trend I noticed in the few beaches I visited,
which left me a bit unsure of beach etiquette. We also experienced the beauty
of couchsurfing with someone who we had hosted a couple of years ago (definitely
a positive experience), and realised that some people feel very strongly about
a single mother travelling with her child (a negative but enlightening
experience), and can be very forceful in expressing this.
There was also (to me at least) a noticeable
difference in cultures when I attended the two reggae festivals, compared also
with Summerjam in Germany. We were blessed enough to both see Paris for a full
day and all the main sites for less than 100Euros.... definitely worthwhile but
I would love to go back without a seven year old in tow; to see Paris by night,
to browse its expensive stores at leisure (without echoes of 'Muuuuum, they are
all just cloooooothes!'), and to actually go up the Eiffel tower or take a tour
bus without multiple toilet stops.
a lot of these things are
talked about further in following posts.... so keep posted ;p
