Setting Challenges - Gap Years for Adults

"And that's the wonderful thing about family travel:  it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind." Dave Barry

I set many challenges for the girls along the way (like there weren’t enough already). I had them take turns to go in and see if various hostels and hotels, campsites etc had accommodation. This was wonderful in Asia as the proprietors were often so impressed with children they gave us a great room, or threw in a free breakfast etc. Seeing the children puff up with delight at their successes was wonderful for us all.

I asked them to do many things:

• Buy the underground tickets
  
  
• Check in at various airports
  
  
• Check in at various camp sites, hostels and hotels
  
  
• Pack
  
  
• Go into Tourist Bureau to find out where we could find budget accommodation or for directions
  
  
• Do the laundry
  
  
• And all of the challenges that the various activities posed

One sunny morning we left our base and headed to climb Mount Ruapehu. It was a very hard climb because of the very loose volcanic soil/shale on a very steep gradient. We all battled, the altitude didn’t help either, and gradually the people we started out with fell by the wayside, heading back with tired and shaky legs. The girls got increasingly grumpy and tired but I kept pushing them with the awful, 'Nearly There Now' and the ' Not Long To Go,' phrases where they would glare at me.

But we did it, we got to the top and made a memory so powerful that the children and I will treasure it always.
The climb has proved useful even now, when Eliza was moaning about doing French for her GCSE's having studied it for the past two years. She is gifted at languages but wanted to give it up to study something not her forte.

Having argued for weeks I suddenly remembered Mount Ruapehu and I said that the learning of French was like climbing a mountain. But this French mountain was measured in years rather then meters. If french was five years long she had already climbed two. She was quiet. Then I asked if she remembered Mount Ruapehu and how she wanted to give up. And I asked if she remembered how good she felt once she got to the top. Was it worth it to throw away those two years of climbing?

Doing tough things so often paid off and gave us all an incredible sense of accomplishment.