Last summer I had the opportunity to take my Abuela on an adventure through two of my favorite cities: London and Paris. While the purpose of the trip was to attend my graduation in London, I turned it into a non-stop, once in a lifetime trip for her.
My Abuela was born and raised in Puerto Rico, only leaving the island to come and visit us in the United States throughout the years for a couple of weeks at a time. As I started to travel more and visit all of these new, exciting places I would always joke with her and say she has to come with me one day. She would always just laugh it off and tell me everywhere I went was too far. When I moved to London I would call her weekly to just check on her and fill her in on my London adventures. Our phone calls always ended up on the topic of me living so far away and her asking questions about the Queen. My response to that was to always joke about how she has to come visit and see the Queen herself. And the perfect opportunity for this arose when my mom and I decided we would fly over together to attend my graduation. We thought why not have Abuela tag along with us?
We got to planning and sorting everything out, but the most difficult part became apparent pretty soon in the process: convincing my Abuela this was a trip she could not miss out on.
My Abuela isn’t the biggest fan of traveling unless it is absolutely necessary so it took a tag team effort between my mom and I to convince her to go. We told her it would be a wonderful opportunity to spend time together, get to see places she’s never been, and most importantly it was a trip to celebrate another milestone for me. The moment we got an OK from her, we purchased our flights and there was no turning back. The result was better than I could imagine. This trip was full of laughs, mishaps, and moments that I will cherish forever. And I know despite my Abuela’s complaints about having to travel so far, she enjoyed the trip the most. Here are some of the highlights of this 3 generaciones adventure.
London:
Paris:
In the end, she rode in ubers and stayed in an airbnb for the first time; tried foods she probably wouldn’t have otherwise, and kept my mom and I in check about keeping our souvenir shopping under control (or at least she tried to). To this day, my abuela excitedly talks about this trip and how much she enjoyed it. Next trip I have in mind for her: Rome! :)
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