The things I've missed about Being Away

It feels as if it’s been a very long time indeed since I’ve been able to type a sentence like this next one. I’ve just returned home after spending three days staying with friends in a rented house in Suffolk.

The wonderful pier in Southwold in Suffolk, where the weather was a bit less wonderful

Now that I am back home, feeling delightfully refreshed, if a little wind and rain buffeted - the weather wasn’t exactly balmy, sigh…. I’ve been reflecting on what it is that I’ve missed about Being Away, whether that’s somewhere relatively close to home, or on a more far-flung adventure (which I’m intrigued and a little surprised to discover I feel no pangs of need to be. At least not just yet).

In no particular order then, here then is my not remotely exhaustive list of the Being Away experiences I’ve missed. (And I really have missed them, in spite of how it might sound!)

Deciding what to pack (and still managing not to have quite the right things)

I mean, this is obviously easier when you’re going somewhere that’s sunny and hot - less bulky clothes, so more room to take more of them (that’s definitely how it works) and less chance of going too far wrong, unless you actually forget to pack your swimsuit completely (ahem).

It’s another matter entirely when you’re holidaying in the UK, where, even at the height of summer, if you don’t have a mac, wellies and a winter weight sweater, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll pour with rain and be freezing cold. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll resolutely (and shiveringly) refuse to buy a new sweater/mac/suitable footwear, (delete, or add to, as appropriate) because you’ve already got so many of them at home.

Figuring out how everything works in your hotel room/rented accommodation

Ah that marvellous first xx (fill in time span in hours, or, more impressively, minutes) you spend working out which of the 48 switches works which of the 6 lights in your hotel room. Or which of the 4 remote controls actually turns on the TV and, you know, just Changes The Channels.

Or where the on-switch for the oven, the one with a control panel like a NASA space rocket, is hidden in your AirBnB.

Or how on earth you work the absurdly cryptic heating controls so you’re not sweating from the heat, or can see your breath because it’s so cold. (Long experience leads me to suggest that you may never figure out that last one. Opening every possible window, and finding a way to get over the hideous waste of releasing all that heat into the atmosphere, and that emergency winter weight sweater are my tried and tested countermeasures.)

Waking up somewhere unfamiliar (and banging your head/stubbing your toe in the night)

However much you map out the layout of the room and all it’s potential banging/tripping hazards before you turn off the light, when you’re half asleep in the middle of the night you can guarantee you’ll squarely and agonisingly stumble into or over something as you grope your way to the toilet (see above for recalling where the light switch is when you get in there).

Unless you’re in one of those hotel rooms with so much electronic equipment in it, each with it’s own, frequently different coloured, sometimes even blinking, on-light (and remote control, see above again). In which case, even in the middle of night, it resembles the dance floor of a disco. Not great if you like to sleep in ‘proper dark’. Great if you enjoy getting to the bathroom without the risk of concussion or breaking a toe.

Finding your way around somewhere new (and reminding yourself it’s OK to get lost)

Ah, those long gone days when you grappled with the origami-folded map of the area - in the inevitable wind that magically appeared the minute you unfolded it - thus clearly signalling that you were not only A Tourist, but one might be just a teeny bit lost.

Thank goodness for maps that appear neatly on your phone, and whatever app you’ve downloaded to help you to navigate yourself around this unfamiliar territory.

Except when they don’t….you know…..work. Maybe because your phone refuses to find a signal, or the battery has gone dead, or, well, any one of a myriad of incomprehensible technical reasons why you appear on the ‘map’ as a blue dot, but with absolutely nothing else on the screen at all.

Then it’s back to the good old-fashioned concertina map (who is it who decides on the incomprehensibly random way they’re folded?) and the gentle mental reminder that it’s not only OK but frequently more than a little lovely to get more than a little lost and the adventures that can lead to.

Discovering that restaurant you really wanted to try is shut or fully booked until the day you leave (but stumbling across an unexpected culinary gem)

Unless you’re someone who is so organised in their holiday preparation that you always research and book the best places to eat in advance (in which case, could I come away with you next time please), finding, and getting a table at, the places that serve up the tastiest food can be a bit hit and miss.

The hits can be a wonderfully memorable part of any trip, but sometimes the misses can turn out to be even more unforgettable. Like the almost deserted ‘gastro pub’, in a tiny, equally deserted-looking village, that we ended up in in Suffolk, because it turns out restaurants are either closed on a Monday - even after months being forcibly closed all the time, go figure - or booked up until the middle of September. The meal that we had there was one of the memorably best I’ve eaten in a very long time, served by the most delightful brother and sister - him on only his third shift, her gently keeping an eye on how he was doing.

And when it comes down to it, isn’t the essence of what’s so wonderful about Being Away, all those memories you’re making.

All those good, bad, funny, painful, delicious, disgusting, cold, hot, joyous, mad, magical, unforgettable memories.

I think so. And I, for one, am thrilled to have the chance to make as many more of them as possible again.

There are lots of ideas for places to go to make memories in the Have Adventures section of the site. Head over and have a rummage and plan some memory-making trips of your own.