Tuesday 22 December 2015

Packing away my suitcase and choosing a staycation.

Whether I'm traveling round the globe or I'm exploring the area I live in, I travel alone.

I've had enough now and I'd just like to put down some roots, I'm not too bothered where that actually is as long as I have some certainty that I'll be there for as long as I choose and not move when visas get cancelled or jobs come to an end.

I've spent 4 years in South Africa and a year now in Dubai. I've explored every inch of South Africa and on a visit there last month, I felt I'd returned home. When I visit the UK, it's all very familiar, but it's not my home anymore.

I've also travelled to new places this year and made a trip across the Atlantic to Canada for a tweet up.

My husbands job dictates where we live and when we move, but I now have employment in Dubai and for the first time, in a long time, I finally feel I have a little control about my life and as long as the job pans out, like I hope it will, we could stay in Dubai on my visa if hubbies company decide to move him on and we're not ready to go, like what happened when we left South Africa at the end of last year.

Don't get me wrong, I  know at some point we'll have to return to the UK, our children are there, as are our parents and the reality is, they are getting older and have various ailments that prevent them from traveling out to see us. 

The eldest child is in care in the uk and there is no way that she, her carers, the crew and other passengers would survive a 7 hour flight. Child 4 is unemployed, child 3 has his own life, friends, job, home and although he is coming to Dubai for the New Year, I can't see him visiting here often, although he has said when he has his own family his wife and kids will be told that visiting us while we live abroad will be their family holiday each year.

Child 4 is in the army, currently in Northern Ireland and off to Kenya and the Falkland Islands next year, while our youngest is at boarding school in the UK in his 1st year of A levels and aiming for a CISCO apprentiship which could take him all round the world also.

I don't find travelling a pleasure anymore, it's become a necessity that I don't actually enjoy the experience of these days, hopping on a plane isn't exciting, I've visited so many places around the world and stayed in the height of luxury in the Bellagio in Las Vegas to camping in a township in South Africa, I just don't feel there's that much left for me to experience or explore, although I would like to visit Cairo and the pyramids one day and I'd love to walk the Inca trail, but those are experiences for me of places to visit, but I don't look forward to the flights or living out of a suitcase anymore.

Many friends are 'home' for Christmas or booking New Year on a beach in the Maldives. Me? I'm just looking forward to staying at home, with the family who can to travel to visit us.

We live 1km from a beach in a city that people pay a fortune to come and visit for a holiday, so this year, like many more to come, we are having a staycation.


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