From Stressful To Pleasant Memories

Guess where we went?

Every time before we travel, I get really stressed. Patients who have not seen me for a while suddenly asking to be seen on short notice. There are also many other things to be done in the clinic before leaving not to mention packing. My wife and kids often bear the brunt of my stress.

Even though we often think of vacation as a time to relax and recharge, traveling with two young boys sometimes come with definite difficulties. Especially when my older boy fractured his arm last year while we were in Brisbane.

This time we made sure to plan for mishaps and disasters. This often leads to bickering over the slightest thing with my wife and leaves me feeling stressed out. Thankfully, my wife does all that planning, taking up time, finances and stamina. I just pay.

The houses we find are often big and beautiful, but ultimately they aren't home. My older boy likes feeling safe and secure and we make sure both of them have that.

We never ever travel red-eye anymore after a particularly bad experience when my younger boy didn't sleep a wink and all hell broke loose when we landed and had to wait a long time at immigration. After the birth of our boys, we only fly with Singapore Airlines as the boys get a toy/ game once on board, are served their child meals first and they can be entertained by the in-flight entertainment system.

Fortunately, we didn't plan hours of walking, sightseeing or other touristy stuff. Too many activities make our boys tired.  In fact, we normally avoid the touristy places and plan plenty of down time. We normally rent houses near rivers or beaches and farm stays. Both my boys especially the little one love farm stays, feeding the animals, collecting your own herbs, vegetables and fresh eggs.

My wife pack lots of snacks so that the boys don't get hungry and have temper tantrums. We often go through pictures taken during the trip and laugh at what we did. Our boys really like this time together as we share new experiences, conversations and laughter.The best memories seem to come from these spontaneous moments.

During stressed times while traveling, which may be due to family, children or indignities of bureaucratic travel, I just need to calm down and think of the happy times.

Everyone in my family is sleeping as I type this, so that I can give them my undivided attention during the other times. So please excuse me for not writing until I'm back in early December.

Fireworks at Darling Harbour last night