I was standing there nervously; I hadn’t seen her for close to a year, which was the longest time I’ve spent away from her since I was born. I shouldn’t have been nervous, but it had been ages and I wasn’t used to picking up people from the airport, I was always the one being picked up. Fast forward three weeks, and I was sad, the time seemingly flew by and I was mostly sad because I didn’t know when I would see her again. But, the time spent with my mom in Europe was special.

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They say you can choose your friends but not your family, and the same goes for travel buddies. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some amazing people during my travels, people who are genuinely kind-hearted and have become some of my dearest friends. But what happens when your family, and in this case, my mom, is your travel buddy?

IMG_3007London!

Well, Mom and I spent three weeks in Europe together after she decided to come and visit me back in June. It was her first time in Europe and I wanted to show her a mixture of my favourite places and the ‘best’ parts of Europe, according to most guidebooks. She was flying into and out of Zurich and we visited Liechtenstein, Barcelona, London, Paris, Den Haag, Amsterdam and Lisbon. Yes, it was a pretty crazy three weeks in terms of moving cities every few days, and that was something that I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do again, but it was her first time and I wanted her to leave with a good impression, whilst also taking in the most iconic sites. She was an absolute trooper, and more often than not had more energy than me!

IMG_4285-3Lisbon, Portugal

I can’t thank the Schwarz family enough for our stay in Liechtenstein. As always, they were so incredibly hospitable and I was so happy to be back at my ‘home away from home’! The mountains and the landscape blew mom away and the weather was very unlike October, with warm sunny days! Mom got along with Papa and Mama as if they were old friends, despite clear language barriers. We were also very fortunate that the good weather followed us around Europe for the three weeks; she must have brought that with her from Perth.

IMG_3908Mom with Mama and Papa

We were able to spend some quality time with my brother in London and also my aunt and uncle in Den Haag, where I learnt more about my family history in the two nights there than I had learnt in almost my entire life! We had some great chats about life and family and future plans and we also took copious amounts of selfies in front of famous landmarks; pictures of memories that I’ll always cherish.

IMG_2982My brother Hayden, Mom and I

For me, the three weeks in Europe with my mom were just special. I’ve always been close with her and the term ‘mommy’s boy’ might have been bandied around once or twice before, but it was like travelling with one of my best friends. I got to know her better and I’m sure she got to know me better, too. When I told people that the two of us were travelling together for three weeks, many were shocked and said they couldn’t do that with their mom or dad, I guess I’m pretty lucky.

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