This life lesson relates to my previous blog #78 Make a Call form a London Phone Booth.
This was a pretty simple bucket list item to achieve, it was just a phone call to my parents. As I have said before though, there is a life lesson in all of these. No matter whether they are easy or hard.
This one taught me how easy it is to stay in touch. And also, the importance of staying in touch. My dad was excited to receive the call and it was good to update him on the next leg of my journey.
As I grew up, and began to start travelling on my own, my parents and I developed a rule – No News is Good News. Back then, the only way to get in touch would be to call from a landline phone, unless you wanted to pay the outrageous roaming charges when using your mobile phone overseas.
Instead of hunting around for a phone and figuring out how to call collect, we thought it was best to enjoy the holiday and then catch up after. This went both ways, for them and for me.
I continued to abide by this rule, even into the age of the iPhone. Until about 2015, I would leave my phone at home when I went on holiday. Partly because I didn’t need it and partly because I didn’t want it. Now, everything has changed. Everything is done online.
Communication is done online. Checking into flights is done online. Issuing tickets is done online. Border control services are done online. Duty free is done online. Everything is done online. Whether I want my phone or not, I think it is safe to say that I need it.
At first, I saw this as a bit of a negative thing, but now I realise that it is positive. Now, instead of doing a big debrief with my parents at the end of a holiday, I can do it throughout the holiday. Thanks to technology, it only takes minutes, or even seconds to send a quick update.
It doesn’t even have to be a direct communication to them. My parents follow my progress on the BucketLaunch Facebook page, so by posting regular updates throughout my trip, they can follow along. I think they actually enjoy this more because they can follow along as the journey progresses, instead of getting all the stories at the end.
Also, I continue to take on new sports, including high-risk ones, such as skydiving and base jumping. I always do these as safely as I can and never want to be injured in the process. I’m sure they understand this as well, but it is simple to send an email or Facebook message to let them know I am safe and how my weekend of jumping went. Plus, I think they enjoy hearing about the progress that I make in these sports.
The bottom line is that staying in touch with your parents is important. It is important to share your experiences with them and also important to let them know that you are safe. Remember kids, stay in touch with your parents, they miss you!
How do you stay in touch when travelling? Let me know in the comments below.
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Dave has been on a mission, since 2010, to cross off the 100 items on his bucket list. The stories of his adventures are complimented by life lessons learned along the way and his travel tips are unique to his experiences.
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