A visit to Egypt — the primary my brother and I took as adults with our parents — quickly went off the rails.
After spending Christmas within the Sinai Peninsula, we drove our rental automobile back to Cairo. On the hotel, a well-dressed man, whom my father mistook for a hotel valet, offered to maneuver our automobile. “Thanks,” my father said with a smile, handing over the keys. The one thing that the imposter left was a 10-foot skid mark.
That automobile heist unleashed a bewildering series of encounters. First, we needed to persuade the automobile rental agency that we weren’t attempting to swindle a Toyota from the corporate. Then we needed to battle the police — who arrived on the hotel at 3 a.m. — armed with dusty books stuffed with hundreds of mug shots — who insisted on baksheesh, or a small bribe, before issuing the crime report.
Then we had to rearrange for the bare necessities, like buying underwear, since our luggage was stolen together with the automobile. A minimum of we could get comfortable Egyptian cotton.
We considered going home, but as a substitute we accelerated our visit to Kenya, the second destination on our itinerary. I’ll always remember the astonished response of the Kenya Airways staff when the 4 of us produced a small plastic bag of garments as our sole check-in “luggage.”
A photograph taken in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam in 1999, which Todd Miller said was his family’s first trip to Asia.
Source: Todd Miller
That first African adventure became the template for 20 years of globetrotting with my parents.
We ventured to unfamiliar places a minimum of once every yr — often twice. Significant others, friends, and later my son, joined a few of these vacations, which ultimately spanned greater than 40 countries.
The one rule we followed was to do something recent each time. In doing so, we soon noticed a pattern: We Millers are magnets for mishap.
Stairway to Heaven
Our second African adventure was much more disastrous.
In Zimbabwe, we decided to raft the mighty Zambezi below Victoria Falls. This area is taken into account amongst the largest and baddest whitewater rafting destinations on this planet, with multiple Class V rapids with names like “The Mother” and “Oblivion.”
We were hanging on with white knuckles and clenched teeth as our raft navigated a nasty section called “Stairway to Heaven,” which drops 30 feet over a 50-foot distance.
Then our raft capsized. The one thing worse than taking place the Stairway of Heaven in a raft goes through them without one. My stepmother and I were swept downstream. I used to be too preoccupied with avoiding the boulders scattered throughout the churning river to care concerning the crocodiles that populated the waters.
The moment that the Miller family’s raft capsized within the Zambezi.
Source: Todd Miller
Then it got hyper real. Pulled into the powerful whirlpool, I gasped for air and struggled to remain afloat within the swirling vortex. I didn’t think that death was inevitable, but I immediately acknowledged it as a possibility.
I do not understand how but by some means the vortex spit me out. I then swam to calmer waters and located the raft and the remaining of my family.
That episode happened 25 years ago. Ceaselessly seared into my brain is the memory of my father atop the capsized raft, his angelic white buttocks shining high above the water, which had stripped him to the ankles.
The very best investment
That ravaging rafting trip was an accident, but none of those family adventures happened without intention.
Each jaunt required serious planning and scheduling to occur. I had a demanding corporate profession at a significant Hollywood studio that involved frequent business travel. So sometimes I piggybacked family trips on top of labor trips; other times I forced a spot in an otherwise crowded calendar.
The Millers riding horses in Guatemala. “My parents survive a horse farm in Kentucky, and we frequently incorporated horseback riding into our travels,” Miller told CNBC Travel.
Source: Todd Miller
Normally, I planned a yr upfront, ensuring to dam off time for family first. We were dedicated about traveling together. This quality time with my parents is, by far, one of the best investment I’ve ever made.
These shared experiences immeasurably enriched our lives and strengthened our relationships. You grow to be a distinct family, a tighter family, after road tripping across Central America. The enjoyment, laughter and tears that emanated from our trips are core to our family fabric.
We still laugh about Cairo. We can have lost our belongings, but we gained something much more helpful.
Mayan misadventures
Trips have a way of upending family dynamics and hierarchies. At home, it is straightforward to fall into familiar patterns, many set in childhood. But on the road? It’s an entire recent universe. Role reversals between parents and kids are common.
Normally, I proposed trip ideas — and my parents were open to almost any adventure. Conversations typically went something like this:
Me: Have you ever been to a camel fair?
Parents: They haven’t got those in Kentucky.
Me: Should you only visit one, I hear Pushkar’s the place.
Parents: When are we going?”
Then we’d shift to planning mode. We favored offbeat and distant destinations, often combining multiple countries and authentic experiences into one trip.
I covered every surface area on my body, head to toe, with clothing before going to bed that night.
Todd Miller
Media executive
But sometimes things got too authentic.
At Tikal in Guatemala, we booked a jungle lodge near the traditional Mayan ruins. We were stunned after we opened the door to a sparse room with two metal-framed beds, dirty concrete floors and a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling.
The bed linens were stained dark beige and sweat rings adorned the pillows. It was decrepit — a shock amplified by our last hotel, the luxe Blancaneaux Lodge within the Belize rainforest and former retreat of film director Francis Ford Coppola.
I covered every surface area on my body, head to toe, with clothing before going to bed that night — noting yet one more Miller misadventure within the making.
Road trips to nowhere
We still laugh a few road trip in Cuba, where our try and drive the length of the island — from Havana to Santiago de Cuba near Guantanamo — resulted in hours of driving in circles.
The Miller family crammed into a neighborhood “coco-taxi” in Havana, Cuba.
Source: Todd Miller
These were pre-GPS days. There have been no road signs, and everybody pointed us in numerous directions. We went round and round looking for the then-two-laned “national highway.” The humor of all of it nourished our resilience to hold on.
Then there was the mother-of-all-camel fairs, a celebration that happens every November within the small town of Pushkar within the Indian state of Rajasthan. Every yr, temporary but impressive tents are erected to accommodate visitors.
Todd Miller’s parents with their driver in India. “We toured Rajasthan, including the Pushkar Camel Fair, in a vintage Ambassador automobile,” he said, referencing the Indian-made automobile produced by manufacturer Hindustan Motors starting in 1957.
Source: Todd Miller
We stayed within the luxurious Royal Tents with ensuite baths and butlers, and we enjoyed lavish meals in regal tented dining halls. Pushkar was an unusual trip for us because, for once, every little thing went right.
A limited window
We began these family flings after I was in my mid-20s and my parents of their 50s. Because the many years passed, the adventures became less daring, occurred less often, and happened closer to home.
Then the adventures stopped.
Thank goodness we made the hassle to explore the world together after we did. The truth is: There’s a limited window of opportunity, and that window often closes before we predict.
Phang Nga, Thailand, was the Miller family’s “last big international trip with the entire family, including my parents, my immediate family and my brother’s immediate family.”
Source: Todd Miller
This holiday season, if your loved ones rhythms are drifting right into a default setting, and when you’re interested by the world, here’s a thought:
Mix it up.
Make life interesting.
Get out and about together with your family members.
Transcend your comfort zone.
This may not occur by chance, and it would take some effort. But chances are you’ll be eternally grateful when you do.
