If you know my mom you know why I call her Mumsy. It fits her perfectly! š If you donāt know my mom let me tell you a little bit about her and why āMumsyā is the perfect fit.
To start off, my mom is *incredibly* intelligent. Likeā¦. INCREDIBLY. Sheās well learned, well read, and keeps well informed on current issues and events. Sheās also an *excellent* teacher. She was a middle school teacher for about 25 years and sheās taught in various capacities outside of public education as well: at church, with classes of Japanese students in a cultural exchange program, teaching English to foreign refugees, etc. You could ask any student my mom has had in any capacity and Iām 110% certain theyāll tell you sheās one of the best teachers theyāve ever had. Truly.
As Mumsyās daughter I know I sound biased, but sheās a great mom too. And maybe itās because of these great and āseriousā qualities about her that sheās balanced out with such silly antics. š But hereās the thingā¦. sheās never TRYING to be silly, she just is! In stressful, chaotic, or overwhelming moments her voice will get a little high pitched and sheāll put her hands on her cheeks as she says, āOh dear!ā Now if youāve heard this before or can imagine what it sounds likeā¦ THATāS the Mumsy voice. š
Traveling with my mom is always a treat. We have fun together. And there never fails to be MULTIPLE moments where the Mumsy voice and antics make their appearances. š So hereās just a few of the silly travel related stories my mom and I still bring up and laugh about regularly. š
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Of the great qualities and attributes my mom has going for her, her sense of direction is unfortunately not one of them. š One of the first trips we ever took together was actually before I became a flight attendant. We did a weekend cruise to Ensenada with some coworkers of hers. And Mumsy just couldnāt find her way around this cruise ship! So much so that any time she needed to get anywhere I had to walk her. š At one point we were all watching some karaoke when my mom decided she was done for the night. She looked at me and said, āIām ready for bed.ā I responded, āDo you need me to take you there?ā And she said, āYup!ā š Sooooo I walked Mumsy back to our room and then went back and watched the rest of Karaoke night.
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I was stung by a scorpion in Cambodia. I was perfectly fine but I came home to my parents’ house after that trip before heading to my home in Chicago. I was in my room sleeping off jet lag and food poisoning in the middle of the day when my mom got home from work. She threw open my bedroom door and said, āARE YOU OK?!?? Why are you in bed?!?!ā I told her I was tired and not feeling well and do you know what her immediate response was?Ā āItās the scorpion venom and Cambodian medicine!!!ā šš Oh Mumsyā¦ It wasnāt the scorpion venom or the Cambodian medicine. It really was just jet lag and food poisoning. š
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The first trip my parents and I took together was to Thailand. I had completely fallen in love with the country and wanted to show them how incredible it is. We visited Khao Phing Kan (James Bond island) at some point, and while we were there my dad came to tell me something. In a sort of whisper in my ear he said, āSee Mom on those rocks over there?ā (She was standing on some huge rocks along the beach and taking some pictures) I said, āYeahā¦?ā And my dad told me, āI looked over and saw a woman scrambling to climb on top of them. She was bending over and crawling but falling down at the same time while her dress was blowing around all over too. I thought, āthat woman looks ridiculous!ā ā¦And then I realized it was Momā¦ā š It may not always be the most graceful but if Mumsy decides she’s taking a picture, climbing some rocks, going on a hike, etc etc, sheās doing it. šŖ
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Our first big international Mumma/daughter trip we took after I had become a flight attendant was to Israel. I told Mumsy she could pick anywhere in the world (she STILL always gets to pick š) and that’s where she chose. And Mumsy went ALLLLL in. She made me promise that we would have a roof over our heads and a proper bed to sleep in every night, but other than that she bought a backpack and trusted me that Iād get us around and figure things out as we went. (What a leap of faith for Mumsy when she had never traveled like that before! š) This was the first of the times my dad would say some variation of this whenever my mom and I travel together, but the last thing he said to me before I got on the flight for this trip was, āHave fun, be safe, keep track of Mom.ā š We landed in Amsterdam and had to spend the night there before connecting to Tel Aviv the next morning. We needed to buy tickets for the train into the city but first needed to break our high Euro bills for some smaller change. We went to a Burger King and my mom bought a Diet Coke. Perfect. We started walking back toward the train ticket machines when all of a sudden I looked around and realized my mom wasnāt with me. IT HADNāT EVEN BEEN 24 HOURS; WE WERENāT EVEN AT OUR FINAL DESTINATION YET AND I HAD ALREADY LOST MY MOM!!!!! There was a huge crowd of people walking all around me but I slowly started retracing my steps and looking for Mumsy. And then I saw her. And the image will stay PERMANENTLY engraved in my mind! š Poor Mumsy looked absolutely TERRIFIED as she stood frozen in place looking all around for me while still wearing her backpack and holding her Diet Coke in both hands. š I called to her as I kept walking in her direction and you could SEE the HUGE wave of relief that came over her when she saw me. Apparently as we left Burger King someone got her attention to let her know she had left her sunglasses on the counter. She stopped to turn around and grab them real quick and lost me in the process. I can thankfully say Iāve never lost Mumsy for more than a minute or two and I plan on keeping it that way. š
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One must see and do experience in Israel is to hike to the top of Masada (an ancient fort on top of a mountain) and watch the sun rise over the Dead Sea. I don’t think Mumsy and I quite realized what we were in store for or properly prepared for it… š Thankfully we were wearing shoes as opposed to sandals, but that’s about all we had going for us. We didnt think to bring water, didn’t know how long and tiring of a hike it would be, and didn’t give ourselves quite enough time to get to the top before the sun came up. I don’t know how long we had spent climbing up the switch backs at this point, but we were sitting down on a rock to take a break and catch our breath when we realized the sun was starting to rise. In the most exhausted Mumsy voice you could ever imagine Mumsy looked at me and said, “It’s ok Chelsea. Go on without me!” šš You would have thought she was giving me permission to leave her alone on a battlefield or something, I swear! I told her I wasn’t going to leave her and we eventually made it to the top together. Yes the sun was already rising, but the view was just as beautiful and rewarding nonetheless.
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On that same trip in Israel my mom and I visited the city of Eilat which is right by the Red Sea. The only thing I donāt think either of us realized before we got there was how HOT it would be! Iām talking likeā¦. well over 100 degrees hot! š„µ We made it to our hotel room and my mom immediately started fiddling with the AC to try and get it on full blast. It was broken. She said, āWEāRE NOT STAYING IN THIS ROOM,ā grabbed all her things and headed to the front desk. After explaining the AC wasnāt working they happily gave us another room (with working AC š). Perfect. We cooled down for a bit and then talked about how we needed to find a place to do some laundry. We had heard there was a laundromat on the same street as our hotel but hadnāt noticed it when we came in. Mumsy volunteered to walk down the street a bit to see if she could find it. (She promised to stay ONLY on the same street as our hotel so she wouldnāt get lost. š) I donāt think she was gone for more than 10 minutes before she flung open our hotel room door, threw herself onto the bed with her arm flopped dramatically across her face as she said, āIām SMOLDERING!ā Haha yes. Not just hot, SMOLDERING. š Oh Mumsyā¦..
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While in Crete my mom and I stayed at the cutest little colorful, flower filled hotel you could ever imagine. One evening we walked down the little hill it was on to do some exploring and find some dinner. As we walked by a manās store he immediately started making friendly conversation with us. He asked where we were from, where we had been to in his country so far, how long we were staying, etc. Before long I realized this guy was totally hitting on my mom! š Like, subtly dropping compliments to her, asking her to come by his store and see him after we ate dinner, etc. The only problemā¦? It didnāt seem like Mumsy was picking up on the fact that this guy was hitting on her! š He asked where we were staying and I said, āOhhh umā¦ Iām not sure what itās called, itās a little ways away, weāve been walking for quite a while,ā etc etc (trying not to give him any specifics, right?) Mumsyās response? āOhhh itās the hotel on top of that little hill! The really pretty one with all the flowers! You remember the name of it, donāt you Chels??ā š¤¦š»āāļøšš Thankfully this guy was totally harmless and kind, (and that was the last we saw of him) but I half expected him to show up at our hotel with a bouquet of flowers or something for my mom! š
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My mom and I were traveling in Greece when the country was having some political/economical difficulties. As a result, locals were only allowed to pull out ā¬20 per day from ATMs but tourists could pull out any amount. (Tourism is a huge part of the economy in Greece, so I imagine the last thing they wanted was to drive visitors away.) My mom and I learned really quickly that not all ATMs had money in them. š³ So when we found one with funds inside, we pulled out a decent chunk so it would last us for awhile. One of the first things we did in the morning when we woke up in Santorini was find an ATM with money available. We found one(!) and then got onto a bus from Thira to Oia. It was a quiet morning and everyone on the bus was silent as we enjoyed the views from the bus windows and watched the sun come up. All of a sudden Mumsy says (loudly enough for everyone around us to hear, mind you) āI am just SO glad we found an ATM with money in it! Iām so glad we pulled out a big chunk, I feel better knowing we have a lot of money on us.ā Canāt make this stuff up, I SWEAR. š I gave Mumsy a stern look and told her it wasnāt a good idea to talk loudly in public about how much money we had. Her response wasā¦ āOh!ā š³š³ Haha oh Mumsyā¦.. š
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Mumsy and I were on a train in Paris when the car we were in really started to fill up. We were already standing but as people came in and out at each stop we got slightly separated from each other, still in eyesight of one another, just not standing as closely as we had started out. From across the train car I mouthed and pantomimed to my mom that the next stop was the one where we were getting off. She gave me a thumbs up so I knew she understood. When the train doors opened my mom easily jumped out but I was buried behind quite a few people and saying, āExcuse me, excuse me, excuse me,ā as I wiggled my way to the door. Right before I got to the door the conductor said, āDoors are closing!ā I wish I had a picture of the look of HORROR on my momās face in that moment. š I said, āExcuse me,ā a little more loudly and moved a little more forcefully to the door and managed to squeeze out before the doors closed. Mumsy was having heart palpitations. š She took a deep breath, put her hand over her heart and said, āOH MY GOODNESS!!! OH MY GOODNESS!ā We both didnāt know what my mom would have done if we had gotten separated! š But that experience inspired a new rule between us: If we ever get separated, Mumsy is supposed to STAY WHERE SHEāS AT. *I* come looking for HER, NOT the other way around. And in a situation where (heaven forbid) weāre separated on a train like that, sheāll either stay at that station or if sheās the one on the train sheāll get off at the next stop and wait for me to come to her. We havenāt had to use our plan (and weāre hoping to keep it that way š) but I think weāre both glad to have a protocol in place in case we ever do get separated on our travels.
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We visited Hallstatt toward the beginning of one of our trips together and I was still feeling some jet lag, which meant I spent the night tossing and turning a bit. If that wasnāt annoying enoughā¦. the entry way inside our hotel room had a motion detecting light! Any time my arm or leg flailed too much as I tossed and turned, the light would turn on! š© I would have closed the door that separated the bedroom from the entry area, but Mumsy had asked me to keep it open so it didnāt feel so āclaustrophobic-yā in our room. Well around 5am or so when I was finally starting to fall into a deeper sleep, I moved enough to trigger the light again. This time my mom was stirring/sleeping lightly enough that it woke her up. She asked meā¦ āChels? Did you turn that light on?ā I sleepily told her, āNo.ā After a short pause she said, āIt just turned on randomly by itself?!ā ššš I sleepily explained that it was a motion detecting light but by that point Iām pretty sure it was too late for anymore sleep. I was up. š
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My dad joined my mom and I on one of our adventures and we did a trip mostly through Germany. My dad wanted to see WWII history and my mom wanted to see castles and cute villages. š One of the stops we made was Normandy. Per usual June weather in Normandy there was nonstop wind and it was pouring rain on and off the entire day. While we were at Pointe du Hoc it stopped raining but the wind was RELENTLESS. I put my umbrella away and happened to look over at my mom in time to see that she was no longer using her umbrella as an umbrella but rather as a shield from the wind. Except it was SO windy that her umbrella was blowing inside out and she was basically getting blown away with it! š My dad saw my mom and asked, āJeriā¦ WHAT are you doing?!ā Mumsy told him, āItās [the umbrella] protecting me!ā My dad took the umbrella from her, folded it up and put it away. š Mumsy slumped her shoulders and frowned at me as she said, āHe took away my shield…ā šš In my dadās defense, I think the umbrella was doing more harm than good. š
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After exploring beautiful Cinque Terre, it was time for Mumsy and me to make our way back home to the States. We had a flight from Florence to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt to Chicago. After looking up the directions I realized getting from Cinque Terre to Florence was going to be the trickiest part of getting us home. š³ We woke up at the crack of dawn to take a train that would get us somewhere near Florence. The cobblestone street we walked on to get to the train station was wet from rain and before I knew it Mumsy tripped on a cobblestone and face planted onto the street! She was ok. No broken bones or other injuries. š We got to Florence(? somewhere near Florence? š¤·š»āāļø) and started looking for the bus weād need to get to the airport. We walked for at least a mile and couldnāt find it anywhere. I decided I needed to use the WiFi on my phone to figure out where the heck we were and where exactly this bus was. We were in the boonies. And the bus was MIA. šš¤¦š»āāļø I found another bus option that would get us CLOSE to the airport, but not directly TO the airportā¦ So weād have to do some walking. We decided that was our best bet. (Especially because we were running short on time to catch our flight! š³) When we got off the bus we found there were no sidewalksā¦ and we were walking along a highway type road. š³ I was leading the way when all of sudden I heard my mom say in her Mumsy voice, āCHELSEEEAAAAA!!!!!ā I turned around to find my mom had face planted again! I helped her up and she told me we should have found a better way to get to the airport that didnāt involve walking through the āfreeway jungle!ā šš Thankfully we made it to the airport on time and caught our flight. But lesson learnedā¦ Mumsy does best on dry, flat surfacesā¦ š
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Mumsy loves flowers. Likeā¦ LOVES them. Any time she calls my dad while weāre traveling the first thing she usually says to him is, āHow are my flowers doing?ā š And there was even a time that my dad FaceTimed my mom and walked around the backyard showing her that her flowers hadnāt died while she was away! True story. So I always knew my mom would LOVE visiting Keukenhof, a 79 acre garden outside of Amsterdam with the most insane display of tulips and other flowers. We went one year and Mumsy was hooked. She insisted a trip to Keukenhof was going to be an annual tradition from then on. š So the next year when we went back to the Netherlands to see Keukenhof again, Mumsy insisted we get on the FIRST bus of the morning to the gardens because she wanted to be there RIGHT when they opened. She also insisted we be in line for the bus an hour before it was supposed to leave because she was sure there would already be SOOOOOO many people waiting. We were the first and only people in line when we got thereā¦ and it stayed that way for about 30 minutes or soā¦ Haha Iām not kidding when I say Mumsy doesnāt mess around when it comes to flowersā¦.. š
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One of the coolest if not THE coolest things to do on the island of Mljet in Croatia is to go for a bike ride around the larger of the two lakes there. Mumsy and I did just that and it was amazing. š We kept stopping to take pictures of the scenery because it was so unbelievably gorgeous. At one point I was riding a little way ahead of my mom and came to a stop, pointed to the turquoise blue water in the lake and said, āLook how gorgeous that is!ā Mumsy turned her head to see what I was pointing at but didnāt bring her bike to a stopā¦ So she LITERALLY rode right into me! The ābestā part is that 2.5 seconds before she realized what was about to happen she screamed, āAHHHHHHHH!!!!!ā š¤¦š»āāļøš¤¦š»āāļøš Our bikes ended up tangled together, I fell sort of on top of them and Mumsy somehow fell sort of underneath them. I got myself up and pulled the bikes off of Mumsy. We made sure she was ok (no broken bones but her arm was pretty scraped up) and she asked for a minute before I helped her up. With her permission I took the pic. š (Iām not THAT horrible of a daughter š) The scrape on her arm wasnāt so deep or severe as it was BIG. We found a bandage large enough to cover it and my mom spent the rest of our trip trying to hide her āwoundedā arm in pics so my dad wouldnāt notice it and worry. š
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The crown jewel of all the silly Mumsy stories while traveling thus far is DEFINITELY the time we went zip lining in Costa Rica. Leading up to our trip my mom had told me she wanted to go zip lining. Iām usually 110% supportive of the things my mom wants to do on our travels but in this caseā¦.. itās important to know sheās afraid of heights. And not a fan of roller coaster or thrill ride type things. So I kept asking her over and over āAre you SURE you want to go zip lining?? Youāre POSITIVE?ā She was determined. We signed up for the excursion and the next morning we woke up to the windiest weather you could ever imagine. Mumsyās first reaction was, āOh, looks like we wonāt be able to go. Itās too windy.ā I told her I hadnāt gotten a cancellation email so she asked me to send the company a message to see if zip lining was still a go for that day. It was. In fact, they told me the wind was totally normal weather for the region of the country we were in. š Mumsy was a little nervous about going zip lining to begin with but add in the crazy wind and I think she was certain she was willingly signed up for a near death experience! I kept asking if she was SURE she wanted to do this and even though she was terrified she was still determined to do it. So zip lining we went. I think the pictures mostly speak for themselves on how the experience went, but in a written nutshellā¦ There was a lot of terrified screaming, nervous laughing, asking for reassurance from our guides, bargaining, and clinging onto the ropes, trees and ME for DEAR LIFE. š But she did it! And everyone in the group was so proud of her. š
Mumsy and I will never be done traveling, so Iām sure weāll add plenty more silly memories to laugh at as time goes on. š But until then, safe travels friends.
CE
