View Full Version : Really, tell me about your mother
terry
03-03-2005, 11:59 AM
Do you travel with a parent? Tell me about your experiences -- the advantages and the problems.
astra
03-19-2005, 01:42 AM
I love traveling with my Mom. She's wonderfully young at 82, is deservedly crotchety by speaking her mind to whoever she wants and has a surprisingly dirty sense of humor in public :oops: Now my husband is a different story. A big guy at 6'5" 250 lbs, he'll make any flying experience a perfect nightmare. I have to practically sedate him into unconciousness before we get on the plane. I tried to get him drunk in flight one time to settle him down only to realize I had to drag that sotted lug OFF the plane by myself. Now we extend our vacations by two days with the extra time used for taking 2-hour multi-city trips across the country with loooong layovers in between. Maybe the train would be a better option?
terry
03-20-2005, 06:09 PM
Astra -
Considering your husband's size, I can understand his discomfort and displeasure at being packed into an airplane -- but what a pill.
makfan
03-28-2005, 03:58 PM
I don't think I have ever flown with my parents, but my mom desperately wants to go to Hawaii and I'd love to make that happen for her. My dad seems completely uninterested in going so it might be just the two of us.
terry
04-03-2005, 04:30 PM
My advice: Take mom. Both she and dad will enjoy the break.
vickiburton
04-30-2005, 03:33 PM
About 7 years ago, my parents wanted to go to Phoenix. Their college football team, University of Tennessee, was in the play-off for the national championship there (they won). My step-mother refuses to fly and she has never learned to drive. My dad had had two strokes only a year prior, so, I was invited along as back-up driver. Now, I was 40+ at the time and my parents retired. So, I took a 2-week road trip with my parents, traveling about 5,000 miles total. We went to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, San Diego, Mexico. I gotta admit, it was rather pleasant. The only downside is that my dad likes to get on the road by 3 or 4 am every day.
terry
05-01-2005, 10:32 AM
Glad to read that traveling with the folks works for some people -- and being on the road every day before the sun is up will keep you out of the bars at night.
missalf
06-13-2005, 07:36 AM
Okay, got a good one for you.
My mother in law just returned from a caribbean cruise. This was her first experience leaving the US in any contrivance, and, to put it mildly, is one of those people who really has never been more than 200 miles from where she was born and isn't very open to new ideas.
She and a her sisters were on the boat for 10 days and she called us when she got home, telling us about the wonderful food (although I didn't try any of that "foreign stuff") and beautiful water. Said her only "bad" experience was when they landed on Cozumel; that the place didn't look sanitary, not enough people spoke English, and that it was just too full of foreigners. Apparently this was the only "non-americanized" port they visited and she couldn't wait to get back on the boat. My husband and I just kind of looked at each other and waited until we hung up to roll on the floor and laugh.
I forgot to ask her if she tried speaking English LOUDER so they'd understand it better :wink:
terry
06-13-2005, 11:07 AM
Missalf -
If your mom had waited just a little longer, Cancun would not have been a "problem." Check out http://www.travelfox.com/archive/20030710.htm
Terry
deangreenhoe
06-13-2005, 12:12 PM
If your mom had waited just a little longer, Cancun would not have been a \"problem.\"
Oh, I don't know. I sent my cousin to Cancun on her honeymoon, staying at the Fiesta Americana. When they returned I asked her how she liked her trip. She replied, "fine...but there were too many Mexicans down there." :oops:
Some people should not travel outside of the United States. It's embarrassing for the rest of us.
missalf
06-13-2005, 12:39 PM
Some people should not travel outside of the United States. It's embarrassing for the rest of us.
and just helps contribute to the Ugly American stereotype -- which, I've seen for myself, unfortunately isn't so stereotypical after all.
Best comment? Santo Domingo airport, a couple from the US complaining about the heat, the wait for their luggage..no wait, the fact THEY had to wait for their luggage "Don't these people know we're in a hurry" and people speaking their native language around us and not paying attention to their impatient demeanor, and I quote "I wish they'd go back where they came from and quit complicating this trip."
We'd all be better off if some people opted for Disneyland!
Jeanie821
06-27-2005, 12:42 PM
I've had the pleasure of traveling with two different family members.
DAD: Arguably the best travel partner to have. He's a retired pro wrestler and authorized to carry a gun in all fifty states, which makes me feel very safe. I flew round-trip cross-country with him once, and he wasn't a pest as I had feared - we boarded, sat down, and he promptly fell asleep. The only problem that I had was that I couldn't sit directly next to him, as he's too musclebound to put his arms flat at his sides and I couldn't spend the entire flight tilted at a forty-five degree angle.
HUSBAND: He's now my ex-husband, but that's not why I call him the worst travel partner. Long before we left on the same cross-country route, I had to explain to him, in great detail, exactly why one could not pack marijuana, whether in checked or carry-on luggage. (I should have known an addict would try to find an angle.) When he wasn't ringing the flight attendant's call bell for stupid reasons, he was poking me in the side to get my attention. Finally, I threatened to stuff him in the overhead compartment (like me, he's only 4'11"). I knew I wasn't the only one who felt that way when a passing flight attendant offered to help.
terry
06-27-2005, 02:44 PM
Jeanie -
Sounds like your ex-husband was lucky not to be rubbed out by your dad.
Terry
Jeanie821
06-27-2005, 07:24 PM
Tell me about it. Almost four years since the split, and Dad still wants to use him as a heavy bag.
dee4j
07-16-2005, 12:03 PM
I don't even like to go to the supermarket with my mom, let alone vacation.
#2 Son
07-19-2005, 09:29 AM
Since this is a travel forum and you asked about moms, no, I have not traveled anywhere with mom since I was little.
Mom does not travel much these days.
I think it is because she got that wonderlust out of her system at a younger age.
How many travelers here have been both ways on the Trans Siberian Railroad?
My mom did it.
In 1915.
To catch a ship at Vladivostock to go to San Francisco to visit the Exposition.
This trip would be something today. Back then it really must have been a trip.
Wow! what an adventure that must have been.
Did she travel much over the years?
susanliber
07-19-2005, 10:49 AM
Wow is right!!
No one nowadays has the patience to travel like that! We all want to be there yesterday!!!! (So we can hurry up and wait!!)
kmkowalczuk
09-09-2005, 04:31 PM
I just took a trip with my mom to Ireland. She is 82 and a great travel companion. We flew into Shannon and rented a car. We stayed in B&B's around the country and drove 1026 miles. I drove all the way, as the rental car companies in Ireland will not allow anyone over 70-75 yrs to drive. My mom was the navigator.
She is fun and willing to try and do most anything within her physical abilities. Of course, I learned to slow down a little, which was probably a good thing. Stop and smell the roses as the saying goes. Besides, the custom of afternoon tea is quite nice!
The only challenge was the confusion factor which comes with being older. I really had to pay attention to signs, locations, etc. even though I had my navigator.
We plan to travel together to China in the very near future.