Travel Once Again

Yeah I left town again, this time with family. We went up north for another one of my med interviews, though Dad decided to extend our stay so he could count it as a Christmas holiday. You might think it's cheap (I thought it was pretty cheap too) but I'm quite happy that I don't have to go anywhere with my family any time soon. Like, I knew travelling with Mum and Dad- oh, and my baby sister- was going to be a pain in the ass, but when I actually experienced it, it was more horrific than I imagined.

So even before we leave, my parents make a massive hype about packing EVERYTHING. Like, every fucking little thing, like we're moving house. They even planned on making every single meal. FFS, we're out of town, can't we just eat at whatever place we find, instead of bringing packed food? It's not so much the food I mind, it's more how my parents COMPLAIN about having to prepare the food whilst refusing alternatives.

Then comes the dreaded car trip. I drove the first hundred kilometers--- no drama, EXCEPT DAD WOULDN'T SHUT UP IN THE BACKSEAT. I know I've complained about driving with Dad half a dozen times at least but HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT WAS SO BAD because I put up with it for an entire hour. So I rage, stop the car, and switch over. Except in my rage I forgot that despite me being less-experienced, I'M THE BETTER DRIVER IN THE FAMILY. So my parents are now sitting in the front seat, screaming their heads off about what to do at each turn, whether they're going too fast and when to overtake etc. At least now I know that Dad doesn't discriminate against me, he's equally annoying towards any other driver that is not himself.

After many long hours of tedious driving and heated arguments in the car, my weary self and my angry parents arrive at our destination. Turns out that Dad did a "I'm feeling lucky" thing when he did the bookings, and the only luck Dad has seems to be the luck of the Irish. So naturally he booked us into some dodgy lodge that he didn't even recognize himself when our GPS said "destination". He then accused the GPS of lying to him. You can imagine my exasperation.

We go inside, my mother immediately complains about the lack of a washing machine and a dishwasher. I'm not quite sure I remember ever staying at a lodge with a dishwasher and washing machine, but never mind.

--------------And that was only the first day.

The second day, my parents wanted to "go places". Well, we were up north, but it was more like home town with a beach as opposed to metropolitan heaven. So to the beach we went, except my parents complained about it being too hot, yet the water was too cold, and the Sun was too harsh or w/e. Well then I don't know what else you can expect at the beach. My mother insisted on finding a shopping mall, but since none of us knew the place I used my GPS. Now my GPS doesn't actually tell me the size of the mall, so we ended up in some shit-ass mall with something like 5 stores. At least they were large stores. My mother wasn't terribly happy, and she went to great efforts to make it clear. Then my parents refused to eat at every single place, claiming it was too expensive. Finally they settled at an Asian noodle house.

So I ordered first. My parents, being the unimaginative people they are, told the waiters to get another 2 servings of what I'd ordered. Then when the good came Mum was like, "omg, you should've ordered [something else] instead! It's so boring, having 3 of the same thing!"

...And I was all like, wtf.

Then my mother ventured on the complain about the food 3 times for every bite of it she took. To be fair the food tasted like crap, but I didn't pick the venue. Okay, maybe I ordered a bad dish, BUT IT'S NOT LIKE I ORDERED FOR THEM. I was fine with what I ate- it was only tolerably bad.

When we drove back the lodge, my mother managed to run a red light. See, there was this strange traffic light at a roundabout for some reason, and my mother happened to ignore it completely. I did see it, and I saw that it was red--- and the only reason I didn't tell Mum was because she slowed down at the roundabout and stopped the car completely. Then waited for like 20 seconds. So I thought she must've seen the red light. But noooo, she was only giving way to traffic--- she then proceeded to run the red light. I was scared as fuck, and Mum hit the brakes, and I had to yell at her to go on because we were now in the middle of the roundabout.

Then we got back to the lodge and my father decided to be very smug about my mother being a bad driver. Probably because I made a point about him being the most annoying passenger ever, and he's sort of rubbing it in now, defending the fact that he doesn't know when to shut up. Because my mother is pissy and does not like admitting she is wrong even when she is, my parents fought over it. In fact, I think they're still fighting over it.

Mum's all like, "WELL I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO BE THERE. WOULD YOU SHUT UP, YOU'VE ALREADY SAID ENOUGH." Then she turns to me and starts blaming me, because I should've seen that she had her head turned the other way trying to give way to cars, which meant that she didn't notice the red light, meaning that I should've totally told her and that it's also my fault.

Well look, I can only say that I wasn't the one driving.

------------And that was the second day.

The third day? Well I had my interview, which I'd rather not remember. Then a hideously long drive home, that was pretty much a repetition of the first day. My parents are still playing the blame game. In my opinion Dad should just learn to fucking let it go, and Mum should accept the fact that yes she was wrong, and she did run a fucking red light, instead of getting so defensive about it.

Though of course no one in this family gives a fuck about my opinion.

And that concludes my Christmas family holiday for 2012.