Travel Is About More Than Places: A Family Journey to Djerba, Tunisia

When people ask me about my favourite holidays, they often expect me to talk about luxury hotels, beautiful beaches or incredible food.

And don’t get me wrong… I enjoy all of those things.

But the truth is, the holidays that stay with me the longest are usually the ones that create memories with the people I love.

It’s something I touched on when I wrote about why I created Voyantra Holidays in the first place.

Earlier this year, I took my wife, daughter and grandson to Djerba, Tunisia.

It wasn’t a random choice. I’d visited Tunisia before and knew what a fascinating destination it could be, but for the rest of my family this would be a completely new experience.

And that was part of the reason I chose it.

I enjoy discovering somewhere new myself, but there is something quite different about taking people you love somewhere they’ve never experienced before and then seeing the destination through their eyes.

Seeing Somewhere New Through Someone Else’s Eyes

My grandson embraced just about every part of the holiday.

He saw camels for the first time and rode them across the sand. We visited the crocodile park, enjoyed the evening entertainment and watched him enthusiastically sample food from around the world… all while making new friends from around the world.

But more than anything, he seemed to love simply being there with his family.

Watching him experience Tunisia reminded me of something I’ve always believed about travel… The world becomes much more interesting when we actually experience it.

Different cultures. Different traditions. Different food. Different languages. Different ways of living.

Children especially have an incredible curiosity about those differences when they’re given the opportunity to experience them for themselves.

Of course, not every cultural experience on a family holiday is quite so profound… Some involve your wife standing on a bed because there’s a mouse in the room.

It’s About Time You Got Back!

One of my favourite memories happened on our very first evening.

After a long day travelling, we’d finally made it back to our room. There had been a delay getting checked in, so everyone was tired and ready to relax.

My daughter and I decided to collect some food and a bottle of wine while everyone else settled in.

When we returned, my wife was standing on the bed… Her greeting wasn’t exactly subtle:

“It’s about time you got back!”

As it turned out, she had spotted a small dormouse in the room.

So there I was, on the first night of our family holiday in Djerba, chasing a tiny mouse around a hotel room while my wife and daughter laughed hysterically from what they considered a suitably safe distance.

For the next thirty minutes, dignity went completely out of the window.

Eventually, I quietly spoke to the concierge. Within about ten minutes, the hotel had dealt with the situation and upgraded us to a larger family room in an even better location.

What could easily have become a complaint or an inconvenience instead became one of the funniest stories of the entire holiday and it was mentioned almost every day afterwards.

And I suspect I’ll still be hearing about it years from now.

That’s travel for you.

Sometimes the moments that make the best memories were definitely not included in the itinerary.

Discovering Djerba Together

Once we’d settled in — thankfully without any further unexpected roommates — we could start experiencing Djerba properly.

The island feels quite different from many of the traditional Mediterranean destinations people may be more familiar with… There are beaches and resorts, of course, but there is also a distinctive character beyond them.

Djerba brings together North African, Arab, Amazigh (Berber) and Mediterranean influences. There are traditional markets, local craftsmen and communities alongside the more familiar holiday resorts, and I wanted my family to experience some of that rather than spend the entire holiday within the hotel.

For me, that’s when travelling somewhere different becomes enjoyable and interesting.

I enjoyed watching my family explore the shops and markets, meet local people, see local crafts and simply experience another culture. You don’t have to understand everything about a culture in a week or two.

Sometimes just being somewhere different, listening, looking, trying things and talking to people can change the way you feel about yourself and the world… And occasionally it creates an opportunity to spoil your family a little too.

The Moments Nobody Else Sees

I’d secretly planned quite a lot of the trip. One day I was able to surprise my wife, daughter and grandson with handcrafted gifts made by local artisans… Their reactions meant far more to me than receiving anything myself would have done.

I’m not somebody who wears my emotions on my sleeve, but inside I felt incredibly proud… Proud that I’d chosen somewhere my family was enjoying, and proud that they were experiencing another culture together.

Also, I was particularly proud that my grandson was beginning to understand that the world is much bigger than our own corner of England… That was probably one of the most rewarding parts of the whole holiday for me.

I want him to be curious about the world, and I want him to understand that every country has its own character, history, traditions and way of life… And I want him to learn through his own experiences that although cultures can sometimes appear very different, people around the world often have far more in common than we actually realise.

You can watch programmes about another country… You can read about them… Even see photographs and hear other people’s opinions of holidays… But being there yourself is a different experience altogether, and one that can change your perspective.

Why Family Travel Matters to Me

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realise that one of the greatest things we can give our families isn’t necessarily something material.

It’s our time and the experiences we share with them. Life is busy… Work, school, technology and everyday routines have a habit of filling the weeks and months surprisingly quickly.

A family holiday gives us something increasingly valuable: uninterrupted time together somewhere outside our normal lives.

Those experiences become the photographs we look back at, the stories that come up around the dinner table and the ridiculous moments everyone remembers years later.

Sometimes it’s seeing a camel for the first time, or discovering another culture… choosing a handcrafted gift… And apparently sometimes it’s watching Dad chase a dormouse around a hotel room in 30 degrees heat.

Years from now, I probably won’t remember every meal from the buffet, every detail of the hotel or every excursion we took.

But I will remember my wife’s laughter while I chased that mouse… I’ll remember my grandson’s excitement when he saw camels for the first time… I’ll definitely remember watching my family experience somewhere completely different together… And I’ll always remember how fortunate I felt that I was able to share it with them.

Because for me, that’s ultimately why these experiences matter.

Travel has never really been about places.

It’s about people… It’s about experiences…

And it’s about the memories we create together.

 

Daniel Smith
Founder, Voyantra Holidays

Luxury Holidays, Effortlessly Yours.