After reading my friend’s novel set mostly in Europe, I was reminded of a promise I made to myself to write about my first European adventure before I forget the details.
My first trip there was in the summer of 2010, when I was pregnant with our child. Technically, it was not really the first time because I had been in Frankfurt the previous summer. But that was just for a full day, and though I explored the city quite extensively in the few hours that I was there, it did not really count as a real European trip.
In any case, this was another one of those last-minute travel arrangements that I seem to have the luck for. Originally, my husband and I had planned on doing a tour of Israel with a side trip to Jordan to see the rose city of Petra. He was supposed to attend a week-long conference in Tel Aviv and we thought we could segue to a summer vacation. It was the perfect time. I was on my second trimester, perfectly healthy and fit for a last holiday hurrah before becoming a mother and taking a year-long maternity leave from work, and my husband had to use up some carried over vacation days from the previous fiscal year.
The plan was for me to fly to Tel Aviv on the last day of his conference. I was able to find an organized tour that would show us the highlights of Israel in a little less than two weeks and it started from Tel Aviv the day after my arrival, so it had seemed perfect in the beginning.
However, arranging the trip to Jordan proved a little challenging due to the need for multiple-entry Israeli visas (since we would be coming from and going back there after the Petra excursion) and the complicated synchronization of that schedule with the main tour. Also, there were some uncertainties with communicating my husband’s precise dietary requirements (he is fructose-intolerant) with the hotels and restaurants in Jordan.
Upon learning I was pregnant, the travel agent also pointed out the fact that we would have to trek through the desert under extreme heat and possibly ride donkeys on the way to Petra. She asked if I would be fine with that. I started to think twice.
My intuition dictated this was not the best time to have a Middle Eastern adventure, so I checked other alternatives. Since my husband’s flight itinerary had a layover at the Heathrow Airport on the way back to Canada, I toyed with the idea of just spending our vacation in Europe with London as a start and end point. That made sense, he said. That way, he didn’t have to make too many changes to his original airline booking. He could just move the last leg of his flight (from London to Ottawa) to two weeks after.
We cancelled the reservation for the Israel tour and told our agent that I would look for a European tour instead. She mentioned there was actually one from the same tour company that was on that week’s promotion list and that the start date was the day after my husband’s flight to London. It was a discovery tour of several cities around Western Europe and it would start and end in London. Now, wasn’t that a coincidence or what? We booked it right away, as these last-minute deals usually go quickly. Even better, we got an extra discount because apparently, we got the last two seats.
This tour would take us to England, The Netherlands (passing through Belgium), Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France for two and a half weeks, after which, my husband and I decided to extend our stay in London for a few more days to do some day trips before going back to Canada.
I recall that when our son was around four years old, I showed him our 2010 European trip album. He asked how come he wasn't with us. I told him that he, in fact, was travelling with us the whole time. Confused, he asked again, "Why am I not in any of the pictures?"
And I replied, "Because you were inside my tummy that time...and you were such a well-behaved boy!"
Our smart son thought for a minute then said, "But that's not counted, Mommy. I didn't get to see everything that you saw!"
And so, I promised our son that one day, we would do this trip again...this time, with him walking beside us.
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