Text by Prime Sarmiento
Photos by Prime and Nina Sarmiento
Every year my lil sis and I used part of our savings to give our parents the gift of travel. We usually go somewhere around the Philippines and/or southeast Asia, "educating" them about the joys of experiencing new places. So last month, when my lil sis came home for a short break in Manila, we decided to hold a pre-Christmas family reunion in Baguio City – the summer capital of the Philippines and renown for its cool and crisp weather (the city, after all, is ensconced in the mountainous Cordillera region).
My lil sis and I always travel on our own so we both needed to make some adjustments to give way to our parents' wants, needs and quirks. That said, I learned a lot of things while traveling with my family – and these are the lessons that I live by in life, work and travel:
1. Patience is a virtue:
My mother is perhaps one of the world's most difficult travel companions. She is a germophobe and a true-blue OC (like a cross between Adrian Monk and Sheldon Cooper). Two days before the trip, she keeps on saying that we should just go on without her because she hasn't prepared anything yet (of course when neither my dad nor the nanny wanted to stay with her at home, she decided to come with us).
Two days are not enough for my mother to pack her things. I honestly think that she needs a month just to prepare for a weekend trip. My mother brings a lot of stuff (stuff she told us she can’t live without) – apart from her medicine for her diabetes, she also needs to pack a bottle of clorox, alcohol, her own plastic dip, and tons of wipes to blast all the germs that can be fund in the hotel room (my mother never trusted the cleanliness of any hotel).
I usually have a temper but since my lil sis and I are used to our mother’s OC-ness, we either just do what she wants or ignore her. Besides, like Adrian Monk, my mother gets profound happiness by cleaning stuff so we just let her do her own cleaning to humor her.
2. Always be prepared:
Apart from my lil sis who’s been living in Europe for the past few years, no one in our family is used to cold weather. Baguio’s weather goes below 20 degrees Celsius, and while my lil sis thinks that’s nothing, it’s a big deal for us denizens of hot, grimy Manila.
So I made sure to pack not only warm clothes for myself but also a big bottle of lotion, vitamin C tablets plus mittens, hats and socks that my parents can use.
3. Good food trumps everything:
We are a family of foodies, but while my lil sis and I sometimes subsist on biscuits and plain bread (I once ate bread and cheese for a whole week in Australia) if we’re running low on travel funds, my parents can’t make such sacrifice.
So whenever we travel, I make sure that our itinerary includes dining in good restaurants which I personally visited and loved. That or I choose restaurants that got good reviews. Needles to say, these restaurants have to be CLEAN (no street food for my mum, although my dad would have loved that).
Eating together is perhaps the most effective way for us to bond. We always discuss things over the table and the discussions become more enjoyable if we do it over good food.
I guess, it’s an age-old family ritual. I grew up in a family that celebrate everything by cooking and eating loads of food. I can still remember my aunties and their maids spending the whole day cooking cholesterol-and-sugar-laden Filipino party food: kare kare, lechon, menudo, ube jam.
4. Look for good deals, value for money:
My lil sis and I are not backpackers who can survive by sleeping in grotty hostels – we have standards and we don’t hesitate to spend more to remain safe and comfortable. So we’re always looking for a good deal.
Traveling with our parents compels us to be more money savvy. We want to have a good time without incurring massive credit card debts. So here’s what we did: we spent some time surfing the net, looking for deals, reading reviews of restaurants and hotels and choosing which will provide the biggest bang for our bucks.
5. Family is important
Which is why I always try to spend more time with them. When my sister arrived in Manila, I declined all business trips and other commitments because I didn’t want to be away when she’s in her once-a-year Manila visits.
My family has always been there no matter what. They provided me with the stability that I needed to take calculated risks in life and work, allowing me to succeed in my career as a journalist. It’s having a happy and supportive family the main reason why I never got bored, afraid or lonely whenever I travel on my own – I know that whatever happens, there will always be someone there waiting for me to come home.
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Do you travel with your family? Please share the lessons you leaned while traveling with your parents in the comments section.
