Alex and Lara, 57, and their daughter Imogen, 17, have gone on regular Intrepid family trips, as well as holidays of their own, over the last decade. I caught up with them at home in the United Kingdom to find out why travel is such an important part of their lives and get the lowdown on some of their favourite memories together.
In Imogen’s words
When I was eight, we went to Egypt. I was scared of mummies, but I remember walking into our hotel room and looking through the window and just seeing past all these buildings, past the road and the building sites, just the very top of the pyramid, and just thinking, ‘wow.’
With Intrepid, we’ve done seven or eight trips, and it’s mostly been group family holidays. I have two half-sisters on my dad’s side, and they’re 12 years older than me. They’ve never really lived at home, so they don’t go on these trips – effectively, I’m the only child at home, which was why my parents went into family group travel in the first place, to give me some other people my age to connect with.
Seeing all the different cultures – and seeing how our differences are our strengths – has shaped my perspective. Seeing the pyramids and the Taj Mahal was amazing, and Cuba bypassed all of my expectations – it was just so different from anything else I’d ever experienced. We went into South Africa and Swaziland and camped on a game reserve. We looked at these amazing stars, the Southern Cross and Scorpio, and we went to sleep with the sounds of lions.
South America is right at the top of my list – I want to see the Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia and Machu Picchu. After that, I feel like you could just say anywhere and I’d be up for it.
My friends do laugh at me – they’re like, ‘Where are you jet-setting off to next?’ When I come back, they ask me lots of questions, and I normally say it was good, but I don’t really expand too much, because I don’t want to brag, and it’s a lot of inside jokes that only the people on the trip would ever really understand.
Normal life moves so fast that travel, even though it can be hectic and it can be crazy, actually gives you more time to have those really meaningful conversations. I think it has brought us closer when we travel together.
Travelling with your family, but also in a small group, is about stories. You keep those stories forever, even if it’s just a little thing. I think that’s more important than your flash car or your flash phone – these stories of having lived. I think that’s really special.
In the words of her parents
Alex: I never travelled – I didn’t have a year out or anything like that. Before Imogen, we didn’t have huge means to do trips so it would be a beach somewhere not too far away, but no big travelling – more just a restful holiday.
Lara: Imogen was about eight years old, and she was studying Egypt at school. I had learned about Egypt myself at school, and it was a dream of mine to go there. I thought to actually bring what Imogen is learning in the school books alive would be absolutely wonderful.
We got a lot of loyalty points with Tesco, and we found Intrepid by looking for holidays through the loyalty scheme. We had a third of the Egyptian holiday covered through points – we probably wouldn’t have done Egypt without that little nudge. We’re still Intrepid customers 10 years later.
Alex: The format of the family trip worked really well – Imogen had kids to interact with, which was part of why we chose it. But what we discovered was that the other people there are all really interesting.
We went to a couple of places in India, then we travelled to Vietnam. We were meant to go to Cuba, but the pandemic happened, so we went back two years later. That was a really, really interesting trip. Imogen was getting to the age where she’d be very much the oldest, so we did that as an ordinary trip. This year at Easter, we went to Morocco, which was not a family trip, but there were a couple of younger lads in their early twenties, and that worked really well. So yeah, we caught the bug.
Lara: We’re very much encouraging Imogen to shape the trips herself and choose what she wants to do and where to go. There is still a lot that Imogen wants to see that if we can, we’d like to see with her – she’s very keen to go to South America, starting with Peru and Bolivia. Next year, we’re looking at doing Canada.
While Imogen is studying at university, I think Alex and I might go do some gallivanting ourselves on our own. When Imogen’s got leave from university, I hope she’ll do some travelling with her friends, because I think that’s important for independence. But I also hope if Mum and Dad pay, she’ll come and do some more trips with us.
Read more of Imogen’s reflections on her travels with Intrepid, and find a family adventure of your own.
