No kids for a week means a group of parents get the chance to be themselves again amid Umbria’s green hills
As usual we’re running late. Our three children help rush us down to the bus stop. They’re 24, 22 and 17, but it’s hard to remember that they’re not-kids-any-more. They bundle us on to the bus along with our suitcases and then wave and smile as if sending us off on some epic journey (we’re only flying to Rome). We wave back and then sit down next to a young French mother who has been watching the scene unfold. She laughs enviously and then says: “It is unimaginable!”
It’s unimaginable for us, too. For the first time in 24 years we are going on holiday without our children. We’ve spent the past decades building sandcastles, eating ice-cream and going on slo-mo treks on dozy ponies. They’ve been among the happiest and best holidays you could imagine, but it’s time for us to learn to be grown-ups again. And a ground-breaking trip like this shouldn’t be undertaken alone, so we round up our oldest friends, the ones we used to go on holiday with. Would they like to come on a child-free break? YES! Would they like some time to think about that? NO!
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