How a family backpacking trip taught Arlene Harris some parenting lessons

Children shouldn’t be brought up in luxury as it won’t prepare them for adulthood. This was one of the lessons Arlene Harris learnt during a three-week backpacking trip around Europe

DURING the summer, my family and I had the most wonderful experience exploring Europe by train. Spending an average of a couple of days in each destination, we crammed so much into our three week trip that it felt as if we had been away for months.

But while it truly was the holiday of a lifetime, it wasn’t without its ups and downs. Like true backpackers, we hauled our luggage around from city to city, packing and unpacking and sometimes getting up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to a new country. Some days we were exhausted while traipsing through sweltering crowded streets while trying to locate our accommodation, others we were lounging by a pool marvelling at our fortune and luxuriating in our surroundings.