A Story About Traveling with a 1-Year-Old and an 86-Year-Old

I took my 1-year-old daughter and my 86-year-old great-grandmother on a 3-day, 2-night trip to Risonare Shimonoseki.

It was a trip for three generations of women.

Even though it was a special trip, I didn't intend to pack the schedule full. I thought it would be enough if both the 1-year-old and the 86-year-old could spend the time comfortably and we could all relax.

That said, I had plenty of anxieties.

Would she be able to stay quiet on the Shinkansen? Would my great-grandmother get tired from the long-distance travel? Would she be able to walk to Karato Market?

Once I started thinking about it, the worries were endless.

But it turned out to be such a relaxing and fun trip that those anxieties were blown away.

We ate udon at Shin-Osaka and boarded the Shinkansen in the early afternoon.

Our strategy this time was to time the travel with my daughter's nap.

This was a huge success.

She fell asleep shortly after we boarded and slept soundly for about an hour and a half. As a parent, a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders at that point.

Even after she woke up, she looked out the window and let her great-grandmother hold her.

The Shinkansen travel, which I had worried about before we left, ended up feeling like it was over in a flash.

When we arrived at Risonare, my daughter immediately started running around the room.

She looked out the window and went back and forth across the room. Perhaps happy to be in a new place, she seemed to be having a great time, giggling the whole time.

Watching my daughter like that, my great-grandmother said one thing.

"She's so full of energy."

After that, my daughter continued to move around without rest, and my great-grandmother watched over her with a smile.

We spent our 3 days and 2 nights at Risonare swimming in the pool, walking to Karato Market, and running around on the hotel lawn.

We didn't do a lot of special sightseeing.

Whenever my daughter spotted the lawn, she would start running, and my great-grandmother would walk slowly while watching her back.

If we saw something that caught our interest, we would stop, and if we got hungry, we would eat something.

It was a 3-day trip where we spent time relaxing at our own individual paces.

What left the biggest impression on me during the trip wasn't the sightseeing or the meals.

It was the sight of my daughter and my great-grandmother taking a bath side-by-side.

86 years old and 1 year old.

My daughter will surely not remember this trip.

Even so, the fact that her great-grandmother held her and that they took a bath together—that time definitely existed.

There is no guarantee that we will be able to travel the same way next year.

That is exactly why these 3 days and 2 nights spent with three generations of women were such a special time.