I realised that I’ve shared a couple of exotic holidays with you, I do want to share some more pictures of these holidays but for now I’m going to share this one. This is me and my younger sister on holiday. My holidays abroad have not always been exotic. For years, probably about 11 we went to Malta as a family. Sometimes just the four of us and other times with the extended family of my nana and grandad, auntie and cousin.

When we were growing up my mum and dad didn’t have a lot of money, not that we were ever aware of this fact. We didn’t start to go abroad until I was 9 or 10 and even then we got there the cheapest way my parents could. They would book an apartment in Malta privately and then we would book flights separately when there was a good deal on Teletext closer to the time (Do you remember Teletext? I remember checking the weather on it when I was younger and there was this quiz game we used to play. We also used to tease my dad, who is colour blind and he couldn’t see half of what was on there.) We used to take soups and noodles and sometimes even a cool box full of food to keep cost down whilst we were there. I remember one year we had to eat 2 boxes of crispy pancakes ’cause my parents didn’t want to waste them or bring them home! My mum used to treat us to a travelling outfit. When dungarees were fashionable we both had a pair, we got from the big outdoor market in Liverpool. They were normally very similar in style, she liked to torture us by dressing us the same  (I’ll share some of this pics with you) until we were old enough to choose our own clothes.

I must be about 12 ish in this picture, things didn’t really go according to plan. We had booked the apartment, one we had stayed in previously, and the flight. It got quite close to the holiday and the flight company went bust, meaning we had no way of getting there. I remember my parents frantically trying to get us flights to leave on the same day but there wasn’t any available. We even went to the airport on the departure day to get on the standby list for flights that were leaving that day, it was an adventure for us, spending all day in the airport but unfortunately no luck!

We ended up flying out 3 days later. This of course meant we had no accommodation for 3 days at the end of our holiday!

I can only imagine how much stress my mum and dad must have been under. Obviously me and my sister were completely oblivious! They did well to keep this from us and let us still have fun. My mum and dad looked everywhere for somewhere for us to stay, but with it being peak holiday season, there just wasn’t anything and they were running out of time.

We used to go to a little bar at night, the beer was very cheap, for my mum and dad not for us, and they had karaoke, which we loved. I learnt some classic songs hogging the karaoke in that bar. Living Doll, Silver Linings, Trailers for Sale or Rent, House of the Rising Sun and My Way. I can’t sing a note in tune but I know all the words! We had been to the bar in previous years and because we had been there quite often on this holiday the owner recognised us. We called the bar Johns, although I really don’t think it was the name of the bar or of the owner.

One night, with only a few days before we became bedless, he got talking to my parents. John, our holiday saviour, had a small apartment above the bar. It wasn’t really a holiday apartment, it was pretty small but it was perfect for the last few days of our jollies! This picture is from the bedroom of that apartment, as you can see it was more like staying in somebodies house that the all white sheets of beds usually abroad.

My mum and dad could finally relax and we got to tell our friends we were allowed to stay up late in the bar every night. The karaoke really was pretty loud when you are trying to sleep above it!

I’ve linked up to Whats the Story?

Make sure you go and see what other pictures people are sharing