On Overseas Vacations

I was scrolling through some news articles on Channelnewsasia.com when I came across a remark which put me off for quite a while. With reference to Singaporeans going on overseas vacations, CEO NATAS Robert Khoo had this to say, "…anything below $2000 nowadays is easily affordable for Singaporeans." I think the first immediate thought that came to my mind was a calculation for such a vacation for my family. Five of us (my parents and three children), multiplied by even $1000, is $5000. Considering an average pay of $2500 a month, in a single-parent working family, that is equivalent to 2 full months of pay. That definitely cannot be easily affordable for most or even a slight majority of Singaporeans. Perhaps what he meant was, for individual working adults going on holidays, a vacation under $2000, is getting more and more affordable. But for families, I think there is still quite a long way to go, especially when you have three non-income earning but income-sucking children.

And as I was thinking, I grew to fully appreciate the almost yearly overseas vacations my family used to take when we were a younger family some 8-10 years back. Now as I am all grown up and able to afford to fly all over the world, it might be easy to think that travelling overseas is no big deal anyway. But it was a big deal. I always looked forward to the year end travels when I was younger, the airplane rides, the first time seeing Australia, China, the comfort of just enjoying the place without worrying about the luggage, the costs (which were all settled by mum and dad). It is a unique and irreplacable experience. Lucky are the children born to enjoy such moments, born to parents willing to work hard and spend the money on such moments for their children. And yet, I wonder, how many children actually get this opportunity? How many parents are there out there, who try so hard to earn money so that they can bring their children to that one end of year treat after the exams? And yet how many others, who will never earn enough to feed the mouths, much less go on holidays? If you really think about it, its not forever that you can travel with your family overseas when you are a child, at most, the opportunity time span is 8-10 years, from which you are maybr 5 to 16 years old? Thereafter, you are no longer a child, you want to travel with your friends, you think you can take care of yourself, and you are less willing to take care of your parents instead?

We used to take many photographs on our family vacations, with album after album kept at home, from Korea, to Beijing, Perth, Gold Coast, Jakarta, Hainan Island, Japan, Taiwan.....I think the majority of family pictures were taken overseas, that's not unusual as few people take pictures when they are at home, or in their home country. (A sidenote: I know friends who go overseas and start taking pictures of all meals they eat overseas, even if it is just fish and chips. I find it quite ridiculous. Why dont they take all the food they eat in Singapore then, surely it is no less good-looking.) So, I think when people look back, it is overseas vacations that surely does give many memorable moments of a concentrated period of enjoyment, relaxation and joy. I think I wrote somewhere before that all students in Singapore should be given grants to go overseas at least once when they are in school, I think I will add to that now - they should be entitled to another once, this time with their entire family. I think using that bit of taxpayers' money to reward a family with family memories is definitely a worthy cause. Quite idealist again, eh? But then again, without dreams and ideas, this blog wouldnt exist.