What would be at the top of your must-not-forget list for a round-the-world trip? Passport? Currency? Insurance? How about bronzer? Daughter No 1 may arrive at the check-out with no documentation, or at her destination without a shekel to her name, but, boy, will she look tanned and fit for some beach action.
After a tough first year at university, she is travelling to Australia to meet two former school chums who have been teaching in Melbourne for their gap year. There they will set off for New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, LA and New York. Around the world, b
efore her 19th birthday.
What a generation of well-travelled teenagers we have spawned. At a party last weekend, the host's son had just returned from a spell in India. At a dinner the next night, my friend's daughter was in Colombia. The daughter of another guest was just about to depart for five weeks in Korea, ending up in Japan.
As my wife never tires of telling us, the only trip she enjoyed as a teenager was a school trip to the D-Day landing beaches. There she was billeted with a French family whose patriarch took out his glass eye – "C'est la guerre" – and placed it on the dining table before every meal.
I hope such deeply shocking cultural experiences await Daughter No 1. Sadly, the wonders of the internet and instant pictures have brought reality winging 10,000 miles back home. There she is at a party with her mates. Oh, there she is at another party with her mates. Hey, look at that one; she's at another party with her mates. Not a didgeridoo in sight.
I was luckier than my wife. My parents took my brother and me away to the Med in an era when package holidays were still a gleam in a travel agent's eye. We existed on a diet of castles, churches, flamenco in Torremolinos (a tiny fishing village) and fado evenings in Portuguese nightclubs. We ate funny food and sent postcards to our grandparents.
So it's probably my fault that my daughters have inherited my wanderlust. And I am pleased that they are out there discovering the world for themselves before the pressures of earning a living start to bear down. But I wonder if the mysteries of travel will still be a thrill to them when they reach my age. Where will their children be able to go to instil excitement, and a little bit of envy, in their parents? Hi, Dad, just arrived on Jupiter. Sorry, got to dash, got a party to go to!
Jeremy Watson is Scotland on Sunday's senior writer
The full article contains 450 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
