Our first foreign holiday post-pandemic

Last week we flew out to Tenerife for a (very) last-minute week in the sun, meeting up with Terry’s brother and his wife, who were already out there.

It was our first trip abroad since before the pandemic (September 2019, to be exact…), and, as far as Max was concerned, it felt like his first trip EVER, because although we took him abroad several times pre-2020, he was too young to remember any of those trips. So it was kind of a big deal for all of us, in other words.

Honestly, I never been so happy to be squeezed into the middle seat in an aircraft as I was last week – and not even the horrible realization that Max’s graduation to a seat of his own basically means I’ll be stuck with the middle seat forever now could dampen my excitement at finally being able to travel again.

Here are some of the things Max asked me on the plane:

Will the plane crash?

Could it, though?

How can I be sure of that?

But if it did?

Has a plane ever crashed?

Am I sure about that?

Are we there yet?

How about now?

What’s a life jacket?

Why would there be one under our seats?

Are we there yet?

Where does the toilet on the plane drain to?

What if there’s poop in it, though? Where does THAT go?

Am I being serious right now?

Can we see that happen?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Did I mention I’m a nervous flier?

Guys, I am a nervous flier. And never more so than when being repeatedly asked if we’re going to crash, apparently. (My favourite moment: when the plane was taking off and Max shouted, “I REALLY HOPE THIS PLANE DOESN’T CRASH AND MAKE A MASSIVE HOLE IN THE GROUND!” at the top of his voice. Apologies, fellow nervous people…)

Anyway, constant questions about plane crashes aside, the flight itself was trouble-free, and pretty soon we were touching down in the Canary Islands, where the weather was hot and sunny all week, in complete contrast to the snow and rain we’d left in Scotland.

My parents (Who’d last visited Tenerife around 30 years ago) decided to accompany us on this trip, and, as I said, my brother and sister-in-law were already out there, along with my sister-in-law’s parents, so it was a bit of a family reunion for us all, and it was just so lovely to be able to relax in the sun for a while, after the horrors of the last couple of years.

We took my parents to see some of our favourite places on the island, like the Masca Valley and Mount Teide…

We also, however, spent a lot of time just relaxing, for what felt like the first time in forever. Max was a huge fan of the beach, and made quite a few little friends at the hotel’s play park, which he absolutely loved. In fact, he told me he didn’t want to come home, so although he’s the spitting image of his dad, it’s good to know there’s a little bit of me in there somewhere, too.

As for traveling during the pandemic, meanwhile, it actually wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated. We’ve admittedly been a lot less anxious about Covid since we all caught it back in January, but the Spanish restrictions regarding mask use etc seemed much the same as the rules we still have in Scotland, so there wasn’t much of a difference for us, and as we spent so much time outdoors anyway, it was easy to almost forget all about it for a while, as strange as that is to admit.

We did have to fill in passenger locator forms before and during our trip, which was a bit of a faff at the time (The government have just announced these are no longer required for entry to the UK, though, which should make future trips easier), but, other than that, all we had to do was produce proof of our vaccine status, and we were good to go. And, of course, to come back – which, as always has been significantly less fun.

All the same, though, we’re just really grateful to have been able to travel at all right now (And please see the disclaimer on my previous post regarding the horrifying situation in Ukraine…), and I can’t even begin to tell you how good it felt to regain another precious piece of normality. Travel has always been really important to me: I’m one of those people who basically just lives for her holidays, even if they’re not that fancy, and it’s one of the things I’ve missed the most over the last two years.

Like most people right now, we have a lot of worries about the future, and no idea about how the rest of this year is going to work out, so I’m grateful to have been able to squeeze in this little week away, which would have seemed utterly impossible this time last year, and which seems even more precious to us given the current circumstances in the world in general, plus some very sad family news we came home to this week.

Here’s hoping we manage to get a few more memories like these to look back on…