We’re all going on a Summer Holiday

Woo-hoo! It’s official. We’re all going on a summer holiday. Although, when I say “all”, I kind of mean the three of us: me, my wife and Piglet. You’re welcome to come along as well if you want though. You just need a tent, an eager embrace of the outdoors and the flexibility to do some slightly odd ferry journey combinations given the last minute nature of the bookings.

We’ve had it as a vague plan for a few months now but it’s had to come together fairly suddenly given a change in circumstance. We are off to France, camping. We went camping back in Easter and Piglet adored it so we knew we were keen to go again. It’s also a relatively cheap holiday given the other things we should prioritising money towards. It should be good: 7 days in the sun, or cloud, or (knowing our luck) endless torrential thunderstorms. Well, whatever it brings, we’re looking forward to it.

In fact, I feel a weight off my shoulders having booked it. Just knowing there’s a break on the horizon has quickened my pace somewhat. I can’t wait. Although there will be some challenges, I’m sure. We’ve got a slightly convoluted itinerary, largely due to taking whatever ferry crossings were still available. We’ll end up staying in a hotel in Portsmouth and also a hotel in Cherbourg, just to make the connections manageable with a 3-year-old. Weirdly I’m probably more nervous about planning evening meals and breakfasts for a gluten, dairy, soya-free diet at the hotels than I am about finding food while camping. Eating on the campsite should be fine. Once we’ve found a supermarket and refreshed our memories on the French words for each allergen, the lovely EU standardised allergen documentation should make it easy to work out what’s suitable. Also, because we’re driving, we can take a fair amount of ‘sensible planning food’ with us to cope with any tight spots.

Piglet is very excited. Every time we get in the car he asks, “are we going on the boat now?”. The thing he’s most looking forward to, of course, is riding his bike. That was far and away his highlight of the last camping trip and the catalyst for him becoming so confident on his balance bike. What he doesn’t know is that we’ve already ordered his bigger bike (with pedals!!!) and it should be with us in time for this holiday. He’s talked about getting a bike with pedals pretty much every day since the last camping trip – so I’m pretty sure he’ll be excited when it arrives.

The change of circumstance that I mentioned earlier is that our summer holidays has been hit with a fairly clear milestone. A milestone that will probably mean that holidays, cycling or any physical activity will be out of scope for the last two thirds of the summer holidays. Hence our sudden rushing to sort a holiday at the start! It turns out the my wife will be having surgery at some point in August. Surgery to inspect and potentially remove some of her endometriosis. She’ll be having a Laparoscopy and Hysteroscopy. It’s bittersweet news if I’m honest. It means that the Endometriosis is significant enough for this to be a reasonable course of action, and neither of us is looking forward to her actually having the surgery. On the other hand, its great that we’ve been given an option to move forward rather than coping (or more commonly not coping) with it. The last few months there has been significant pain at both the ovulation and menstruation parts of the cycle. At worst that means some level of pain for about 3 out of every 4 weeks. It’s not fun – and I’m not even the one biologically suffering. (Now is not the time to cultivate empathy for any sympathy pains I may or may not get… One for a different day but I’ve always been very sensitive to the hormone cycles of people I’ve lived with!). As a result, any resolution at this point is welcomed by both of us. If it can even slightly reduce the pain, let alone clear it or help with fertility, we’ll be very, very happy.

The surgery is just a few days after we get back from France so the holiday gives us welcome respite and distraction. We’re not sure exactly how long my wife will be out of action afterwards. Certainly a couple of days of just bed rest; we’ve assumed that she won’t be in a position to lift Piglet for at least a couple of weeks afterwards. We’re both fairly hopeful she’ll be in a position to return to work when the Winter term starts in September. Fingers crossed it goes well.

I’ll make sure to share some highlights of the holiday, either while we’re out there or when we get back. If any of you have memories/experiences or suggestions for Normandy, do let me know in the comments. Particularly in regards to allergies in France. From what I’ve heard/experienced it isn’t the easiest place to manage a dairy-free diet. But because we’re camping the majority of the time – I’m fairly confident we’ll be able to cater for ourselves safely.