Anyway it reminded me of the something from way back...way waaaayyyy back LOL.
We are a big family, ok maybe not that big we're a family of six (my folks and 4 daughters). Yes i have three sisters, and i'm the youngest. As i was saying, we're a sorta biggish family and when we were all much much younger we would go away for summer vacation because we had about 6 or 7 weeks vacation..fun fun fun - not that we'd be away for so long, but the shortest time we'd be away on vacation would be about 2 weeks.
I remember the things that made vacations "our vacation"... We would always leave very early in the morning, before sunset - usually after early morning prayer - in summer thats pretty early 4am, we would pack in so many things, the water cooler, cushions, a teddy/ toys - mini chess/drafts etc.. mom would get the thermal flask ready with hot coffee/tea and pack in sandwiches for long road "pad kos"i [put-cors], there would be blankets and a small gas stove, and all the other essentials including luggage of course!
We would take on the open road and drive for miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers just doesn't sound the same! ) and drive down to Durban or Pretoria or PE - we have some family living that side.. PE is really a friendly place, most people you meet there are so warm and invite you to come visit.. Durbs is like summer time capital and the scond most colourful place in South Africa.. Cape Town ranks the 1st place - but of course!! I am a proud Capetonian, can't help it:)
It's the little things, like stopping at those little roadside restaurants (at the garages) called "The Golden Egg" and having the world simplest but most DIVINE toasted cheese sandwiches and a chocolate milkshake.. a taste that lingers forever, trying out the teddy machines (with the one dangling arm to catch teddies at the bottom of a glass cabinet for 50c), spending the night in the car and sitting up all night telling scary stories and holding a very dim torch, trying not to laugh while mom snores and one of my sisters pretends she's going to put a pillow over my mom's face.. while the driver (my dad) gets rest that keeps that years vacation alive in your memory..
What makes a vacation a vacation? It's the little things, because if all you did was travel to where you had to be without those little things it would be no fun at all!
We would carry out the annual family summer vacation roadtrip in the most loved vehicle of all time...
Except ours was powder blue with turqoise custom-made curtains that had little pink and white flowers on them.. it was our "Volksie Bus" [forlk-see bus] we also referred to it as the "Combi".
It was the best way to travel back then... made every trip an adventure!
"Every step of the journey is the journey"
The other thing i remember about the Volksie Bus was that on those days when there was a lazy sun in the sky..in the afternoon...like sunday afternoons, we would get a pillow and a good book and go and lay in the Combi. Was always so nice and cosy.. or we would just go and take a nap in it..
I'm still not really sure why i remembered that specific memory about the Combi.. but it just seems like we had it yesterday.
8 comments:
Aww, the simplest things are always the best and those are great memories. That reminds me of my family too: for our family vacations my parents always woke us up at Fajr to pray before leaving and my siblings and I (also 4 of us, though I'm the eldest), would whine and cry about how early it was to be in the car (your mode of transportation is much cooler than ours though)!
P.S "kilometers and kilometers" hehe, I know what you mean, it just doesn't sounds right!
Even tho it was terrible to be in the car that early..the nice thing was that we got to the sun rise as we drove adn when you're on the open road, you can appreciate it so much more:)
hehe, my aunt had a combi like that, but a chocolate brown one.
I just thought of it now, after a very long time, because of your post :)
Have a great evening :)
It's actually very funny but i think the choc brown one was very popular back then..cos i saw a minature model at my sis's inlaws on sunday..but that was the V-front combi!hehe..
Woohoo for the VolksieBus guys!:)
Very Nice Post
thanks singleguy:)
Well try four boys and a mother who made the East german Stasi look like scholar patrol. But holidays were cool. after about a week we would need to kill each other. Stuff memories have been made off.
Ooh just remembered that I got annoyed evertime a relative said how big I've gone. Holidays in places where there are no relatives is much less stressful on the waistline.
I'm rambling
OOOooh i so now wot that feels like.."Ooh just remembered that I got annoyed evertime a relative said how big I've gone" LOL
Yes, with age comes growth [height and everything!!]..holidays are always stressful on the waistline hehe:P
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