When Michelle inherited some money from her grandmother, she knew she could tuck it away in an interest-earning savings account or take a gamble on some high-performing stocks. Or, or, OR she could spend it on an adventure of a lifetime.
My husband sits cross-legged in the playground, brushing talcum powder out of his hair, his face lit up with a broad smile. We’ve just played a fun game that involved passing a talc-loaded paper plate over our heads to our teammates. Those teammates were our three children (13-year-old Carmen and 11-year-old twins Anna and Nathaniel), their new friends from our Thailand Family Holiday group and the children of Baan Hua Tung, a remote village in Thailand’s lush green Chiang Dao Valley.
As my husband laughs, shaking more talc out of his t-shirt, I say a quiet thank you to Gran. It’s thanks to her, and the money she left me when she died just over a year ago, that we are one week into a life-changing family trip to Thailand.
We’ve already had so many moments to be thankful for over the past week – from standing in silent awe as elephants ambled by to sailing down the serene River Kwai in a longtail boat – but this joyful day has confirmed it: we made the right decision about how to spend the inheritance.
It takes a village
We travelled to Baan Hua Tung by minivan. The adults went in one, while the ‘bling-bling’ van, with its lovingly decorated gemstone ceiling, had become the van of choice for the kids – who had formed close bonds just days into the trip – and our local leader Ning. Ning provided lots of fun on route, teaching them Thai words and an elephant song, complete with actions, to perform for the children in the village.
From the moment we arrived, we felt welcome. Our hosts wasted no time immersing us in village life with traditional hands-on activities: making flowers from paper napkins, weaving baskets from bamboo and helping to prepare desserts by rolling colourful balls of rice flour to go into sweetened coconut milk.
Later, we headed into the jungle for a nature walk led by a knowledgeable local guide. As I watched the kids laugh with their new friends, their growing sense of independence and newfound confidence was clear. When we encountered a fast-flowing stream on the walk, they gleefully removed their shoes and socks to wade through the water, giggling as they jumped on the backs of the older teens from the group for piggybacks through the deeper sections.
I don’t think our children ever imagined that later that day they would watch their mum and dad happily pretending to be wiggly caterpillars transforming into flapping butterflies through song and dance. We’d thoroughly enjoyed watching the children of the village perform this dance, so it felt only right to get up and join them for the second round. Our kids returned the favour by performing the elephant song they’d practised in the bling-bling van, much to the village children’s amusement.
Nor do I think our kids ever expected to see us run around frantically with plates of talc over our heads. I doubt they’d ever seen us that relaxed and happy before; we’re usually too tired or busy to be silly. But neither of us had thought about work or chores for almost a week and we hadn’t even had to consider how to entertain, feed or organise the kids in all that time. Above all else, every day had been exciting and we loved seeing our children have so much fun.
Seeing children’s faces radiate joy as they run around a playground with a balloon strapped to their ankle can’t fail to warm your heart. As they twisted, turned, ducked and weaved to avoid letting their opponent pop the balloon with a foot stamp, the playground filled with excited screams and laughter over the frantic music. While Ning always did her best to equip us with some Thai vocabulary, that day, laughter and smiles were the only form of communication we needed.
Precious childhood memories
We still talk about that special day in Baan Hu Tung. We can still see the huge grins of the children we met and hear Ning’s loud, infectious laughter. We reminisce about the elephants, the novel experience of the overnight train ride and the emotional visit to the prisoners of war memorial at the River Kwai, which reminded us how lucky we are.
More than anything, we talk about the people. The kids still keep in touch with their friends from the trip – keeping me updated thanks to the constant stream of ‘snaps’ they share on Snapchat – and Anna still remembers fondly the little girl she befriended in Baan Hua Tong.
Gran would be delighted to know that we used her gift to make such special memories together through travel. Whenever I was at her house as a child, I played with her souvenirs from holidays abroad with my grandad: opening and closing a jewellery box shaped like a wooden chalet from Switzerland, blowing into a ceramic bird whistle from Spain and taking lids on and off tiny little copper saucepans brought back from a market in France.
Our souvenirs from Thailand are the precious memories we share and the photographs that adorn our hallway, such as the one of Nathaniel taking a moment on his own to look out over Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep temple and the family selfie we took standing on the railroad bridge over the River Kwai. We also have video evidence (for our eyes only) of the day we were caterpillars growing into butterflies.
Transformative family travel
In a way, we did go through a metamorphosis of our own. This trip was transformative. We ventured out of our comfort zone when it came to family holidays – having never travelled with strangers before or been on an organised tour. In doing so, we discovered a fun and accessible way to see the world. One where we could see more, do more and make lasting connections at the same time. We’ve decided we will travel this way with our children from now on.
‘There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots, the other, wings.’ This quote, which I read somewhere long ago but has stayed with me, underpins our parenting philosophy: that it’s our job to give our children stability and independence in equal measure. My gran’s money helped us give that gift to our children through the eye-opening experiences of travel – and that’s something we’re all grateful for.
I believe our time in Thailand will stay in my children’s memory banks forever and remind them to seize opportunities, be brave, work hard to achieve their dreams and, above all, enjoy life. What more could a grandparent wish for as their legacy?
My inheritance may not be earning interest for me in a savings account somewhere, but spending it still feels like the best investment I’ve ever made.
Michelle and her family made long-lasting memories on a Thailand Family Holiday. Find the right Intrepid family trip for you and take your youngsters on an unforgettable adventure.
