When did you last go on holiday? Come to think of it, what IS a holiday? For me, the weekend visits to my son’s home constitute a holiday – albeit a mini one. Change of scene, good company and pampering, returning home refreshed. The pièce de resistance, as it were, is a holiday with sun, sand and sea, staying in a hotel or Air B’nB. That, of course, involves travel in order to reach your destination and travel not only requires effort and organisation but also a certain amount of stress and discomfort. It was ever thus. A mind-blowing number of passengers pass daily through the World ‘s major airports but we were not expecting to have to queue for over an hour to pick up a pre-booked rental car at Los Angeles Airport. Well, my son did the queueing. I did the sitting and waiting!
The Air B’nB in Huntingdon Beach had three bedrooms plus a sofa-bed- perfect for my two sons, my granddaughter and me. There was a supermarket just around the corner and the ocean was seven minutes away by car. The following day was ‘California May gray’.
Because of the chilly breeze, I wore my anorak to walk down Huntington Pier. So much for my vision of swanning around in my sundress!! For a while we watched the surfers and inspected the fish caught by a local fisherman. Then we lunched on oysters or lobster rolls at the end of the Pier before driving over to my niece Sarah’s flat in Long Beach to see her and meet Eleanor. The evening finished with relaxing around the firepit with my grandson and his wife. That is the other great thing about holidays: so much to do!

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