With a little bit of research, we've been able to make travel days into highlights for the boys by taking routes that pass child-friendly attractions and scheduling our journeys around them. Even a quick stop for petrol part way to Scotland provided an exuberant playground experience when we discovered the "Wakky Warehouse" that formed part of the complex.
So with confidence high, we attempted to tie a visit to the Stories of Robin Hood museum and Nottingham Castle into our trip from Hull to Cardiff. Being a pair of Luddites, attached to our romantic memories of charting our way using paper maps, we have not, yet taken the very sensible advice to acquire Sat Nav (GPS). We turned off the motorway into Nottingham and followed our nose to the centre. After a quick stop at Tesco to grab picnic lunch supplies, we soon located the signs to the museum and castle. We arrived in the centre of town and went round in circles trying to find somewhere to park. After several attempts, as we passed a neighbourhood set of swings, we pointed them out to the children and asked if they might like to stop there, instead. Their enthusiasm was high, so we pulled over and had a picnic. Partly because we were sick of navigating city traffic and partly because it would be a much more frugal thing to do....and actually, the children were perfectly happy with something much less "wizz bang".
Nottingham has a reputation for having the highest crime rate in the UK, and, from what I observed, I think we might just have stopped in one of the more colourful suburbs. Yet within minutes of arriving at the park, the children had been included in the games of the other children playing there. A quick trip around the corner to pick up a couple of coffees revealed a community market....nothing worth buying, but some great chill-out music with an African flavour and a tasty smelling something being cooked up on smokey coals. Excellent coffees, sold cheaply and served by warm friendly people topped things off and created a feeling of well-being we find far more often in highly diverse suburbs and towns.
Each cultural and socio-economic group operates with a conscious or subconscious set of criteria with which they judge, interpret and read each other. At the base of those criteria, are core values of empathy, courtesy and respect. Layered on top, are superficialities such as grooming, speech, wealth etc. It seems that when different cultural groups mix, the superficial values don't seem to operate so strongly. What's left of the criteria used to judge those with whom we mix? The big, important stuff - courtesy, humanity, their "personal story".
Of course this is not new to any of us... but travelling about, from high crime rate, low socio-economic neighbourhoods, to picture perfect, genteel villages, to university towns, this observation describes our experiences and sense of social connection very well. Diversity within communities has brought with it a greater sense of social connection and acceptance.
And another goldren rule for travelling with children....all mid-journey stops must be in rural locations or small towns.
