Don't pay the ferryman

“Who put Cork on this?”

I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have done it. My husband was hunched over the laptop pricing ferries, tents, flights, car rental and roof racks and beside him sat our eight year old “helping”, with an outline map of Ireland. He had asked me to put dots where Dublin, Kerry and Cork were located so he could assist with the journey plan. His Dad looked over his shoulder and looked at Cork. I had to own up.

 “For god’s sake Lucy, that’s where Limerick is.”

I launched into a long excuse about my disinterested geography teacher and before he could answer with a withering glance, changed the subject and barraged him with queries about tents and ferry berths. Quietly cringing, I decided it was time to get maps for the children’s bedroom walls “Just so they know where everything is.”

My eldest is getting a street map of Dublin and one of Ireland. The middle two boys will get the world, when I find one big enough that I like and can afford. My plan is to get them dry-mounted (way cheaper than framing but still looks nice. I think it will even work with the cheaper folded version) and every time I dig out the pyjamas, I can familiarise myself with the exact location of the cities of Munster. 


Check out http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peters-Projection-Early-Learning-Geography/dp/0721709338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341650939&sr=8-1 or http://www.easons.com/display.asp?K=9780007320721&nat=false&sort=eh_sort_bs%2Fd&stem=false&sf2=facet&sf1=kword_index%2C+ref_no%2C+barcode&st1=map&m=6&dc=5000.

So, yes, it’s the beginning of July and we still haven’t booked a holiday. I think it’s because both myself and my husband are challenged when it comes to decision making. Neither of us wants to bear the recriminations of the other when we sit in a rented house in Sligo, surrounded by sodden wetsuits watching cheap DVDs from Heatons, or roasting in the south of France, trying to get our four, fair skinned boys to sleep in an airless tent. Each option we look into seems to be one we both start dreading before it is booked.

Currently, we are either getting the ferry to France from Rosslare, or from Cork or, getting a different ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard, then driving to Portsmouth to get another one to France. Then we when will drive south until we find a campsite that is sunny and near a beach or drive north and camp in Holland. (Holland was my idea. I'd imagined the weather would be nice anyway. Although my husband went all geography-ish again and pointed out that "it is the North Sea, not the Mediterranean.")

And we have to buy a tent. Or rent a  mobile home or rent a house. I think we are both leaving all these decisions so late that there will be no decision to make. All mobiles and houses will be rented and most of the ferries will be booked out.

We just need one evening when we are both in a reckless, devil-may-care mood to actually type in the credit card number on any ferry website and then I think we will be ok. Or we will at least be travelling somewhere. Heres hoping anyway.

And in my defence...what am I saying, there's no defence. It's Cork for god's sake!