This is my life right now:

  • 35 weeks pregnant
  • 15 month-old biter toddler
  • builders doing bathroom renovations
  • carpenters building cupboards
  • gardeners clearing the garden
  • painters painting
  • preggy brain
  • 35 weeks pregnant (did I say that already?)

So when Travelstart asked me to think about my childhood for Youth Month, I was more than ready.

I’m a proud 80’s baby. I was born in ’82 so really got to enjoy the late 80’s and early 90’s. I mean, I know it wasn’t the 60’s and 70’s but today’s kids will never understand the freedom we had back then. All the stupid stuff that we did, and the only people who will ever know about it are our friends who were there – because we couldn’t selfie it or gram it or snap it or whatever, and the photo quality was so bad all those photos are long gone!

I must say I’m especially glad there is no record of me wearing my favourite outfits back then – cycling shorts, oversized tees and Sketcher boots were my fave, but we can’ forget to mention jellies, wrap skirts and tie-dye. (And if you have to ask what any of those are then you’re not finding this post very funny, are you?)

Here are some other great memories from my childhood:

  • waiting for 3 o’clock for KTV to come on TV
  • taping the Top 40 off the radio but trying desperately not to tape the ads
  • the noise of the internet dialup (ok, more frustrating than great but you’ll never forget that noise)
  • playing with the telephone cord while talking on the phone
  • Playing California Games

and, of course, all of these:

Oh those days when I didn’t have to think about shower heads and nappy bags and dog food. When it didn’t take me 20 minutes to leave the house. When I could leave the house and be totally unreachable and that was normal. When my biggest problem was to make sure I was home in time for MNet Open Time.

And the holidays. Do you remember those holidays? 6 weeks over Christmas! (Do they even do that anymore?). 6 weeks of solid summer. Days spent sleeping and swimming and doing not much else. And our annual holiday to Gordon’s Bay.

I could do with  a holiday round about now. Damn you, Travelstart, for taking me down this road! But, if you’re feeling a bit like me right now – and let’s be honest, who isn’t? – you should go and check out their new competition The Paper Jet Challenge. All you have to do is forget about your adult life for a second, make your best paper jet, take a video of it flying (if it can fly!) and post it to social media.

(Be sure to check out the competition page to make sure you tag and follow all the right people).

What can you win?

  • Travelstart vouchers
  • a Ryze Tello minidrone (don’t ask me what for)
  • a holiday package to Zanzibar worth R25 000

Did you hear me?

a holiday package to ZANZIBAR worth R25 000!

ZANZIBAR – beautiful white-sand beaches, clear blue water, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Stonetown’s Old Quarter, spice plantations an dhow trips. I’ll be honest, a holiday to a tropical island wouldn’t go unappreciated round about now.

So don’t just Google cheap flights to Zanzibar, enter the competition, win the trip of a lifetime and send me a postcard – which I’ll read while breastfeeding the baby and running after Baby J with dirty hair and my favourite pair of maternity panties on.

Closing date for the competition is 7 July 2018.

Disclaimer: this post was written in collaboration with Travelstart but all the memories are my own!

Featured image:  by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash

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