Adventuring together.
I wrote the last entry on New Year's Eve. Since then a tremendous amount of work has gone into research and planning for trips which we will be going on in 2026, continuing to book as much as possible 12 months ahead. Malta, Spain & Portugal, and Netherlands are all booked, except for flights, ferries and Le Shuttle.
The Malta trip grew a little longer than it's original 2 weeks and includes Gozo as well as mainland Malta. Our trip to Spain and Portugal was going to include Andorra and Barcelona, but the miles we would have to travel were prohibitive, so the route has been changed to make it more manageable. On all our road rips I have tried to keep the driving down to 4 hours a day, 5 hour maximum. This is partly because I will be the only driver and do not want to get too tired, and also to give plenty of time to attend to Racheal's needs while we are travelling.
There have also been some changes to the plans we had made for North America. After giving it a lot of consideration, I felt it would be safer to stay in Canada for the full four weeks rather than travelling down through USA to Florida. This meant a lot of extra work, cancelling all the USA bookings and researching accommodation and travel options in Canada. The new plan involves a 22 hour train journey, in an accessible compartment, from Montreal to Halifax, after the initial stay north of Toronto where we are visiting friends. More on the Canada trip later.
In May, I should have been working hard on our visit to Wales and SW England, but a very close friend was taken into hospital and it quickly became evident that she only had a matter of weeks to live. I was spending a lot of time at the hospital supporting her during the day while Racheal was out at school. At about the same time Racheal was allocated a new caseworker for Continuing Health Care who questioned whether it was in Racheal's best interests for us to go travelling for prolonged periods of time. The day after our dear friend died, I was on a Teams meeting finding out that the care agency will not pay Summer when we are away from home and that we had to have a Best Interests meeting to determine whether the girls' Gap Year could even go ahead. It was an enormously stressful time. I couldn't share any of what was going on with Summer as she was in the middle of her A levels. The new case worker was suggesting that I was misusing Racheal's money without even asking how our trips were being funded, and that our Gap Year plans would be raised as a Safeguarding concern if the Best Interests meeting didn't go in our favour. After all the encouragement and positive comments we had had from friends and professionals over the last two years, everything suddenly became very negative and distressing. The Best Interests meeting took place the day before our friend's funeral, finding in our favour due to the continued support from professionals who know Racheal and me well. Although I fully appreciate that professionals need to ensure that vulnerable adults are kept safe and that those caring for them are seeking the best possible outcomes, the way this was handled was far from the best for Racheal. If questions needed to be answered, they should have been raised over a year ago when I first shared our plans, and with much more sensitivity. I've been left wondering what else will be questioned in the future, and how to make sure we don't end up in a similar situation again.
Now, I'm trying desperately to catch up on our plans from May 2026 onwards, whilst putting the finishing touches to the plans for this year's trips to Scotland, Canada and Europe.
Emergency plans are finalised. We are as prepared as anyone could be if anything happens while we are away from home, with amazing friends and family who will fly to anywhere in the world if we need rescuing, and local contacts for most trips if we need help. With an experienced co-ordinator to take control if needed and a copy of the plan to carry, clearly displayed, in the car, it's a detailed piece of work I very much hope will turn out to have been a 'waste of time'!
It's very exciting to think that in four weeks we will have already set off on our first big adventure touring Scotland. Packing will begin in the next few days, before Racheal leaves The Clare School and all the friends she has shared the last 12 years with. It will be a sad parting, but we have a new chapter now full of fun and new experiences which we look forward to sharing with you .
If you would like to contribute to our GoFundMe page to give Summer some spending money for our trips we would be very grateful.
Please click on the link to be taken to our GoFundMe page. https://gofund.me/2185cbce
