Are We There Yet?

As you go through life the long dark winter nights seem to add a few weeks to themselves compared to the winters we used to know and aye even loved especially if it snowed and sledging was on the go, however nowadays if it snows it is met with a certain growl and a lot of distain with a smidgen of worry and that is just the wee one.
Most of us long for the weather to change and for the season to get itself into spring mode with the wee bit relief it gives us from being stuck in the house and of course people moods improve or at least that is the hope.
So Now we are getting to the other side of those long dark nights a lot of us harbour thoughts of the perfect family holiday in the sun where no wrong can happen and memories are built that last a life time and as if by magic even the telly companies know this and trot out the usual holiday programmes where the presenters have a ball at our expense-the lucky sods!
I am no different and armed with my laptop I peruse all that is glittering and stunning from the four corners to see where we will not be going this year. There are several factors to us not going to these wonderful places-family dynamics being one, as I look at the hotel pictures with the swimming pool and the all important bar right in the middle my practical mind returns to the logistics involved in getting there and keeping everyone entertained and happy, for one papa is eighty something with failing eyesight he might see the bar and miss the pool which might make it on to you've been framed but would not enhance his holiday experience, then there is my 18 year old who still thinks that he banks with the bank of mum and dad and therefore should be included on the tickets, Then there is the wife that thinks we live in a hot climate if the sun sneaks out and finally there is the wee one who would just love to lounge about all day on a sun bed ordering orange juice cocktails from the waiters like every other wee one out there.....
I did say finally but I did not include myself and the reason for that is very simple I have a small fear of flying, when I say small I mean when I see a sign for an airport I break out in a cold sweat and to tell the honest truth even when I am collecting family and friends from an airport I stay outside in the car park.
So even if we get over all of that there is the final wee problem-Have you seen the cost-I was only looking for a wee break I was not intending to pay off that particular Country's national debt!!
So I looked harder at the web knowing someone somewhere would have the answer and sure enough the suggestions came flooding in with one idea being extremely popular The Holiday At Home- ah that sounds like fun to a stay at home granddad I thought just carry on as normal and not a penny spent could this really be a solution that people were being enthusiastic about with one suggesting you go out and buy holiday clothes and wear them instead of my usual rags. Then there was the house swapping idea, That did tickle me for a minute the whole idea of cleaning someone else's house for a week well they do say a change is as good as a rest!
No there had to be another answer and sure enough it came through my mother in a moment of huge generosity- who has booked a holiday home for the entire extended family for a week of rest and play. A week of midges and walking ten miles to the nearest shop and fifteen miles to the only pub- better not get barred-yes you guessed it in the middle of Highland nowhere and all that will be heard on the four hour car journey is are we there yet. That holiday at home idea may not be as bad as it first sounded throw in a trip to the swimming pool and I could probably get a wee cocktail in one of the local pubs and then I could truthfully answer Aye we are there!