12 x things you used to do on vacation with your parents

How I sometimes miss those earlier vacations with my parents. Stepping into the car carefree, without having to worry about the planning at all. Roof box on top of the car, family inside, dog included, and off we went. Every year we traveled to the south of France in the summer to spend a few weeks there. Often camping and later in cottages. Those were the most carefree vacations, where you had little say and were just taken along. I really miss that at moments when I suddenly find myself being designated as the tour guide during a vacation with my beloved. Then I long back to that time when I only had a say over my ice creams or what I wanted to dive for at the bottom of the pool.

1. Entertainment in the car

The vacation fun obviously started in the car. Listening together to CDs by Céline Dion and stories of Jip and Janneke, countless games like ‘I see I see what you don't see’ and spotting the yellow M's of McDonald's. Although that last game was actually more a way to lure your parents to McDonald's; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

2. Making stops 

On such a long drive, there were many bathroom breaks. And of course, you never had to go at the moment when they stopped for your brother or sister. As a result, your parents had to make another stop for you half an hour later. If there was no time to visit a restroom, you were just hung out the door at a parking spot, and that was fine too. The best stops were the extended breaks for lunch; often a nice picnic outside on a patch of grass, where all the other vacationers also took a break. With a bit of luck, you could buy some car candy at the gas station afterward, because that pre-purchased bag from Jamin was already empty after thirty minutes of driving.

3. Playing Gameboy 

On vacation, the Gameboy was your best friend. In the car, a restaurant, or on the beach; the Gameboy went everywhere with you. Fortunately, this gadget didn't serve as a kind of iPad that you wanted to be glued to non-stop as a child. You could easily put it down, because besides gaming, you enjoyed coloring books, cards, and beach balls. By the way, a shortage of batteries could cause quite a bit of stress; you certainly didn't want your Gameboy to suddenly stop working.

4. Visiting a town or church

Whether you wanted to or not: on vacation, you had to go to all the villages, museums, churches, and everything you were of course not looking forward to at all. Often, you made a compromise with your parents: if you went along, you could then have an ice cream somewhere afterward. Then you quickly found it all fine again. Moreover, these ‘mandatory’ parts were never as bad as they seemed.

5. Walking a lot

I could sometimes get tired of this as a child, my little legs had to walk the same distances as the grown-up legs of my parents. Logical, but still tiring when you went to a market or the supermarket. Fortunately, you didn't have to do much else and could then rest by the pool.

6. Spending long days in the pool

What was more fun than floating in the pool all day? As a child, you could never get enough of the pool; you kept making cannonballs and diving. Sometimes your parents would pick you up for something to eat and drink, but then you would return to the pool as soon as possible, because all your vacation friends were there too.

7. Making vacation friends 

Nowadays, I prefer not to exchange a word with other people on vacation, but as a child on vacation, you did nothing but socialize. Quite annoying for your parents: because of you, they were obliged to chat with the parents of your new friends. Often, you exchanged addresses with your vacation friends so you could write each other a letter, but this actually happened rarely. Later, during the MSN era, it was easier to maintain that contact.

8. Drinking liters of Orangina

You only drank this super sweet drink on vacation. I don't think it even existed in the Netherlands. Anyway, you drank more soda on vacation than ever, because your parents were also on vacation and had little desire to make a problem out of it. You, as a child, of course, took full advantage of that.

9. Eating ice cream every day 

In line with soda, you could eat ice cream every day on vacation, sometimes even two a day. Abroad, they had very special varieties, like Twisters, Smartie ice creams, and not to forget that pink foot, which was really my favorite.

10. A day at Aqualand

If you were really lucky on vacation, you went to Aqualand for a day, that park with all those slides and attractions, often in the middle of nowhere. Here you could entertain yourself all day while your parents patiently waited somewhere on a grassy field in the scorching heat. But then, the next day, you naturally went to the local market without any objections, so in that respect, it was a good deal.

11. Getting smeared with sunscreen

As a child, you absolutely didn't think about this; that was your mother's job. You were smeared thickly a number of times a day by your mom. You had to let it soak in for a moment because you wanted to get back in the water as soon as possible. Even though I could find this very annoying as a child, I would quite like to have someone who smears me with sunscreen on vacation without asking for permission.

12. Staying up late 

On vacation, you were always allowed to stay up late. Especially if there was a fun evening at the campsite, your vacation friends were allowed to do that too. Age suddenly didn't matter anymore, so on vacation, you could stay up as late as your older brother and sister with a bit of luck.