THE FIRST TIME MY DAUGHTER, Maia, realized I was leaving on a trip without her, she was alarmed. She was three, and as a new travel writer, I was excited about a solo visit to South Carolina. Seeing photos of where I was going, she didn't hold back her toddler despair. "Why did you even have me if you were just going to leave me behind?" she sobbed.
I tried to tell her that someday she'd understand the lure of travel. But as my husband, Evan, pried her off my leg so I could leave, I wondered if my solo trips would be worth the effort of going without her.
Returning home after a few days away, I felt energized and inspired. The mini jars of hotel jam I brought back were a hit, and Maia was happy to hear about my trip. But this was the age of learning about compromises. As in: "You have to wear a coat, but we'll compromise and you can choose which one." She told me I could keep going on trips for work-but we'd compromise: She'd come with me.
Travelling is something Evan and I hoped Maia would love. She was born on our sailboat, six years into a slow adventure through 12 countries, Mexico, Panama and Guatemala among them. Wanting her to know her grandparents, we headed back home to Vancouver when she was 14 months old.
OUR GOAL WAS TO SET OUT sailing again when she was seven, an age when she'd be able to remember the voyage, as well as be independent enough for us all to enjoy extended family travel. Until then, the plan was for me to travel on my own and build a writing career while we took Maia on short family trips.
But then, a year after that pivotal trip to South Carolina, an invitation came to experience the Rocky Mountaineer on a parent-child journey through the Rockies. And as terrifying as it seemed to take a preschooler on a luxury train, the trip sounded too good to pass up.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2024-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2024-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.
Who Wants Coffee?
It’s bitter—but beloved around the world
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.
ME & MY SHELF
Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.
SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.