Summer Fun...With My Family???!!! - Surving A Holiday With Your Family

It's a popular place to go, your guaranteed beautiful sunshine and there's even an outdoor pool at  the four star hotel my parents booked. Some may call it a dream holiday to Italy, but when you are going with your parents and younger brother I would call it something different.

The previous year, two things had become clear when I was abroad, the boredom of family holidays and the constant irritation of my brother. I had told my parents that I didn't want to go, but being parents they told me I was too young (at 16/17 years old!) to look after the house for two weeks on my own. So they went ahead and booked the holiday. Perhaps my only saviour would have been the luxury of, having my own room separate from my brother. But guess what, yes, that's right, my parents booked for us to share. Their excuse was that the tour company did not do single rooms. So, I was facing a holiday, which going by last years standards, would be a disaster.

But I still tried to be enthusiastic about it. Most of my friends could not understand why I was not that excited about going on holiday to Italy, only one really understood about the frustration of family holidays and that was after a similar calamitous trip. When I told my firends I was having to share a room with my brother they all became a little more sympathetic. I think that with the experiences my parents had with one of my elder sisters, they like to be careful with me and my brother, much to my annoyance, which includes not letting me out much on my own.

Once we got there, the non-stop rows with my little bro started. They stopped after a while but as much as I tried to ignore him he kept winding me up again and again and again, non-stop. Luckily my Mum has had the experience of annoying brothers and understood, so she got my Dad to have a few words and he shut up after a few days.

The brother problem was sorted, NOW came the independence problem. Being a 17-year-old girl I wanted to go out, see a bit of the nightlife and meet some new people. Unfortunately, this was the opposite of what my parents wanted me to do. Although they would let me stay up late, I had to stay with them and I could not stay up later than my brother because if I went to bed later, I would disturb him.

During the day when we were out or lazing by the pool the holiday was fine. In fact I actually enjoyed those parts. However when it came to me going out andsocialising, I would only be allowed up to the bar with my parents and my brother and my version of peace and quiet was...well, I didn't have much. I understand why some parents are like this but sometimes they just have to understand that I'm not an awful teenager, I just want to have some fun!

Towards the end of the holiday I was glad that my parents had been there. I was quite ill one night and without them I wouldn't have known what to do. However, this did not mean that my views of the holiday had changed, in fact they were made much worse. By the end of it I was really looking forward to going home, not just because I had been ill but also because I wanted to be back in England. Italy is a beautiful country but with a family included it can turn out to be a holiday nightmare.

Once we had safely landed at the airport (I nearly cheered when the plane touched the ground) the stress of baggage reclaim and getting through the airport started. This caused yet more arguments, particularly between me and my brother, and although they weren't that bad (I think I had learned a little restraint while we had been away) it felt like it was back to normal.

As much as I love my family, going on holiday with them has become a nightmare. For next year, I have demanded separate rooms for me and my brother and a bit of a change of scene (not just going to Southern Italy) otherwise I will quite happily stay at home on my own.

Good luck to all of you going on holiday with your parents and try to have a great holiday!

-Josie