Today, right now, I should be in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the mother. We should have flown there with Qatar Airways, in their amazing business class, my first time in Qsuite. But I’m at home, in Yorkshire. I’ve been to Lidl. And hoovered.

But never mind, we’ve rebooked for November. Fingers crossed that trip will go ahead. In the meantime, I’ve been reliving some of my favourite moments from Travelling with Mother.

Freezing our tits off waiting for the northern lights in Iceland.

Like penguins, huddled to keep warm, the freezing Atlantic winds are blasting from all directions, the lighthouse barely protecting us. Taking it in turns to stand on the outside, we crane our necks skywards hoping, wishing, for some movement. Read more.

Bitch face in New York.

We spend some time at the 9/11 memorial waterfalls. Saddened and humbled by the white roses and little USA flags. I’ve visited this site on every trip to Manhattan and I’ve seen how it’s changed over the years, but I’m still overwhelmed by what happened here. We’ll never forget.

We take the elevator to the 100^th floor and we’re instantly wowed! I won’t say how, I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise but it’s pretty impressive! We take a walk of the floor and spot Lady Liberty looking like a tiny doll in the distance. Mum poses for a picture and some woman decides she wants in too. Mum’s face is classic! Read more.

A sneaky surprise in Las Vegas.

The limo picks us up and whisks us to McCarran International Airport. Virgin Atlantic has kerbside check-in at McCarran but I want to check-in at the main desks for the big reveal of my surprise, so as the bags are lifted out of the car, I rush mum in to the departure hall and start making my way over to the check-in desks. Read more.

Near death on a mountain in Peru.

Now look, I’ll be honest. I had no bloody idea what this climb was all about. There are 2 climbs at Machu Picchu; Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain. Huayna is very challenging, very steep and not for people with a fear of heights. I know mum isn’t great with heights, so I ruled that out. Machu Picchu Mountain I read as more sedate, still a challenging walk but easier than Huayna and the views would be “picture postcard”. The climb was meant to take about 3 hours round trip which I thought sounded fine. How wrong I was. Read more.

So Vietnam has a lot to live up to. If we ever get there!