“Can we go now?” I asked impatiently. We were going to drive down to Germany that night but it was 10pm and mum and dad were still filling in the dog sitter even though we left her a 5-page essay on what to do. I had to practically drag them out the door. My sisters were already waiting in the van and had already dibbed the working video players. I didn’t mind though.

Around 11pm everyone was getting tired. We stopped at a petrol station, went to the bathroom, and my middle sister jumped in the front to help keep my dad awake through the night because he was driving and we weren’t stopping. At 6am we arrived at the Eurotunnel. It was great because we got breakfast and went to the van to prepare to get on the train. But guess what? 6-HOUR DELAYS. We didn’t actually get to France until about half past one!

The rest of the journey was smooth sailing until we missed the turn to Saarsburg and spent 2 hours driving round Germany looking for our campsite. Eventually we got there. It was about 10pm we actually had tea but it was worth it. This was going to be the best holiday ever.

It didn’t start out that way though. We had failed to account for the weather. We had picked the rainiest day to go walk about in Luxembourg. We were looking for a cave that turned out to be a really cold castle. We walked about for two hours and tired ourselves out, only to discover that we had walked 2 sections out of 10! We decided to just go to this nice chocolate place that we saw instead. I had chocolate cake and stir in hot chocolate, then we walked through the rain, back to the van. The rest of the holiday was sunshine and rainbows, even though the nights were stormy. My dad and I sat out in thunder and lightning. It was great.

The campsite had a toboggan around the mountain, which ended on disaster. I crashed into the back of my sister then my other sister crashed in the back of me. We were going to go on again, but the owner of the ride wouldn’t let us on again. Then we went next door, and had the worst pancakes of our lives.

After going swimming in every pool we could find, we moved on and began the 4-hour drive to Belgium. Halfway there, we stopped at the ultimate swimming pool to stretch our legs. It was so cool. The slides were as high as a skyscraper and the rapids were so fast that it resembled a tsunami. We tried to stay together but it was too difficult. There was this giant Jacuzzi that had giant jets in the middle. By the time we arrived at the campsite we couldn’t be bothered pitching a tent but if we wanted somewhere to sleep that night, we didn’t have a choice.

Bruges was one of the main attractions of Belgium and we went there almost every day. We went on carriage rides and boat rides down the canals, got ice cream and got crepes and waffles in the blazing sun. Back at the campsite. We decided to go for a walk around. We stumbled across a caravan park where we stroke this super cute dog. We went to the beach and saw the gigantic slides into the lake.

We had to go a day early, but before we packed up, we went down to the lake and had a laugh. We went on the slides and dove into the lake. But all good things must come to an end, and we began the 10-hour trip back to the house.

I’m really glad we got to go on holiday abroad. I feel more cultured and that I am more confident about making conversation in foreign countries and feel as if I can expand my knowledge of other cultures.