You could just call it ‘holidays’ but that would be missing the significance of what we do when we take a break from the routine and head off as a family.

If its just about catching your breath / R&R then I reckon we can lose out on the opportunity to create fantastic memories and to better define who we are as a family.

It has occasionally been asked of me if I am preparing adequately for retirement, if we are ‘looking to the future responsibly’ and other questions of the like because we enjoy taking holidays and make them a priority. It’s true I could probably save $10-15k every year in lost earnings and money spent when we take holidays, but I am of the opinion that our lives are much much richer for the time we take out together than they are for the financial bottom line.

Of course it’s not am either/or equation but when I consider the fun we have and the connections we make in the time we spend away from home each year I’d never trade it for another bit of the mortgage paid off.

As I look back on my own family holidays as a kid I remember them with great fondness and I hope our kids do the same – times when you get to do some things that will possibly be life long memories. I remember surfing at Ocean beach in Denmark as one of those great holiday events – and I would pester my parents to take me there every day (and twice if we’d been once!) I remember our UK holidays pre Oz – as cold and wet as they were…

I don’t remember many families after the age of 15 – perhaps because I no longer wanted to go on them and did my own thing. I’m aware we have a small window with our kids to create memories and shape their attitudes towards life so I’m hopeful that the type of holidays we take, the frequency with which we go and the stuff we do on them, helps them to have great memories, but also shapes them into better people.

I write this in Broome, a place that has become a favourite for us (despite what the knockers say), while we are camping and enjoying being outdoors and doing it rougher and while we are meeting people and exploring, yet also taking moments to spend lavishly and have fun we wouldn’t often have in everyday life. The pic above is my first attempt at SUP (stand up paddle boarding) harder than it looks!