Here's four reasons why travelling with parents means more than a free trip

Half way through the exchange period (around Easter/spring break), parents begin to make their descent upon the cities you have been studying in for the last few months.

While you may not want to admit it, you get excited, having been away from home long enough to start missing mom, dad and even siblings. You also wait in anticipation for the delivery of food supplies that can only be purchased at home (for a Canadian, this becomes difficult as transporting maple syrup could result in a sticky explosion, causing irreparable damage to one’s clothing). And admittedly, you dream of a full week or more of expense free travel.

Beyond these superficial reasons, the opportunity to show your family the country you have been living in can be an eye opening experience as it is free from the distractions of work, school and even electronic devices. While walking through new and unknown places, discovering ancient ruins, looking out over blue waters or engaging with the local customs, it inspires conversations and experiences that may not have occurred otherwise.

Travelling alongside the people who raised you can also be rewarding in that you are more likely to connect with other travellers closer to your parent’s age. As such, you have the opportunity to learn from those whose life story has been shaped by an entirely different culture and age.

I have put together a list of four things that you may discover while travelling with parents during your time abroad. I have also included some travel tips in case one of the mentioned locations inspires your next excursion in Europe.

1. They were young once too

Sometimes, it is easy to forget that your parents once had lives before you. At one point or another, they were once exploring the world on their own, discovering new places with friends and experiencing all the same highs and lows of growing up as you are now.

This window into my parent’s younger days happened one night over the course of apertivo in a lively side street bar in Milan. If you are unfamiliar with what apertivo is, it is an Italian ritual that includes going out for a pre-drink before dinner. With the purchase of this drink, you get some sort of “free” food item and depending on where you are, it can range anywhere from a few finger sandwiches to an entire buffet.

With a Spritz in our hand, one of the drinks native to the region of Northern Italy and a platter of mini pizzas, nuts and other tasty treats in front of us, my dad began sharing stories from his youth. I became absorbed in his descriptions of former high school friends and the trouble they would get into growing up in a small Canadian town on the prairies. Similarly, my mom also began reminiscing about the memorable moments of early adulthood and life growing up on the east side of the country.

As both my mom and dad recalled the good old days, I felt connected in some way to the lives they lead before me as they introduced me to the characters of their story before babies were ever in the picture.

2. You do things you normally wouldn’t have if you were on your own or with friends (parents have the power of force over you)

It is only natural that you and your parents will have different opinions on which sites are a must see and which ones could be done without. However, in travelling with family, I became aware of the truth behind the old cliché that sometimes the things you are most averse to doing are the things you may end up enjoying or remembering the most.

Such a realization happened in Salzburg Austria, the first city I had the opportunity to explore with my family during their visit. As the birthplace of Mozart, several of the cities attractions revolve around areas significant to the composer’s life. For instance, one of the main draws is Mirabell Palace, where the Mozart family once played.

Today, performances are put on several days a week by a small, local orchestra whose set list features many of the musical genius’s original pieces. As someone unfamiliar with the world of classical music, I was reluctant to go. I also thought this would be a tourist trap, with sub-par performers satisfying tourists need to be able to say they attended a concert at the site of Mozart’s beginnings. Yet my parents persisted, and I relented to going.

Needless to say, my expectations were beyond exceeded. As the music began to flow from their fingers to my ears, I could feel myself being transported into a different era, one with white wigged men and ladies dressed in oversized gowns, riding in a horse drawn carriages.

Getting there:

• The concerts are played in Mirabell Palace, one of Austria’s most prized concert halls as this is where the Mozart family would play for Salzburg’s royal family. It is within walking distance to most of the cities attractions and main centre.

Cost:

• Be sure to inform those selling the tickets that you are a student as they offer a discounted rate, making for a slightly more affordable night of entertainment at 24 EUR as opposed to the regular price of 38 EUR.

3. They begin to realize how much you have actually grown up

Generally, the first thing that happens when family arrives is they ask you to show them around the town or city you have been living in. You proudly take them to all of your favourite spots, ones you either stumbled upon yourself and others recommended by locals. You advise them on the best foods to eat and which to avoid, while also impressing them with new language skills when ordering at the counter for everyone.

The first thing I took my family to see in Trento Italy, the site of my exchange, was the main piazza. My mom got somewhat emotional upon seeing my new temporary home for the first time. I loved watching their faces as they took in the main square, surrounded by mountains, and old buildings that if you look closely enough, still contain vague outlines of murals painted hundreds of years before.

The next day, I gave them the grand tour of meat shops with enticing hams hanging from thick rope in store windows. Preying upon the Italian’s love for family, I would ask the butcher if he could let the Canadian parents, who had come so very far to visit their daughter to try Italian cheeses and meats. They gladly sliced off chunks of asiago cheese, speck and prosciutto (both delicious types of Italian hams) each butcher delighted by my parent’s reaction upon discovering foods in which their families had dedicated their lives to perfecting.

I also acted as the interpreter and translator, sometimes failing miserably and other times surprising myself at the amount of vocabulary I actually knew when required to do the talking.

After their visit, it became clearer to them just how independent I had become. Naturally, my parents were used to being the ones having to care for both my sister and I on vacations, assuming the responsibility for getting us from point A to B. However, my experience living in the Italian culture, navigating new landscapes and speaking to the locals in another language allowed me to take the lead, while showing my parents a new found confidence.

4. You meet people you may not have met otherwise

Travel with parents can allow you to connect with the older generation of the country in which you are visiting, leading to interesting conversations about life in particular corner of the world as it was 20 plus years ago.

For instance, my dad has this uncanny ability to forge lasting friendships with people we meet while travelling which has often gotten us a “backstage” pass to the city. His skills in the social area were particularly useful during my parents visit to Italy, as a conversation with a woman holding an empty wine glass in Tuscany led to one of the most memorable experiences of my exchange.

Watching him discuss with this woman from the car, I waited for the inevitable signal to come in response to some bit of information or discovery he had made from talking to them. In typical fashion, he turned to my mother and me, beckoning us to come.

Unsure of what to expect, she led us into a small wooden house where we were immediately greeted by a group of four woman, two Aussies and two Canadians that had met travelling in Cinque Terre (a series of five villages set into the cliff side on the North eastern coast of Italy). Together, they were laughing and enjoying wine samples being poured by the owner of the villa, a jovial Italian woman who sat behind a counter crowded with wooden barrels, bursting with the rouge colored liquid. After some more friendly chit chat, they invited us to join them at a restaurant located a few hundred metres down the road, which we graciously accepted.

Having watched my father on countless vacations, I have inherited his love for getting to know the stories of others, especially those hailing from far off lands. In talking to the Australians on that warm Tuscan night under a string of white twinkly lights, I learned that one of them had grown up in Germany. At the age of 18, she decided to join the German military where she worked as an interpreter from the base of the Black Forest. Not only was she a master of languages, she was also an entrepreneur, making a dramatic career change in life upon her move back to Australia as she decided to open up a furniture/ turtle saving business.

My conversation with the woman sitting next to me (who also happened to be from near my home city) was also quite interesting. After going through a painful life event, she had decided to set off with a friend to Italy, a country she had always dream of going but had never had the chance to reach. After staying in Cinque Terre for a few days and meeting the Australians, they made the spontaneous decision to head for the remote hills of Tuscany in search of some peace and tranquility.

Before we knew it, the formerly dusky sky turned to nightfall, where the twinkly white lights were now joined by a constellation of stars. What felt like minutes turned out to be hours of six people, some complete strangers, sitting around a table enjoying local delicacies. While I was by far the youngest in the group, I gained so much through this exchange of stories filled with humor, heartache and inspiration.

Getting there:

• A car is the most convenient way to go through Tuscany although a taxi can be hired from a main centre like Siena.

Accommodation:

• We stayed at ancient villa, Antica Dimora, situated in a medieval town just 4km outside of San Gimignano one of the main tourist towns in Tuscany.
• Lucky for me, I was with my parents or else the cost would have been too much for a student budget.

Once you hit your early twenties, you may often shy away from travelling with parents. It becomes uncool or somehow shameful to admit that your next adventure will include sharing a hotel room with mom and dad rather than an all-inclusive with your bro’s. Don’t get me wrong, travelling with friends is definitely a good time and comes with a degree of freedom that just doesn’t happen with parents.

Yet, travelling with parents has its own advantages as the opportunity to explore new worlds brings you closer together while exposing you to some of the most memorable people and places during your Erasmus exchange.

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