“It’s Wheldon! Dan Wheldon has won the Centennial Indy 500!” Came the call. I jumped up and down in excitement, arms raised, ecstatic that my favourite driver had won, but still stunned at the dramatic final moments. Wheldon had only led the race for 100 yards, but he’d crossed the line first with Hildebrand’s wounded Panther car limping over the line in second. Unbelievable!
Just 140 days after that moment, as I sat watching the aftermath of that crash in Las Vegas, I knew he was gone.
Starting the year off on a positive note, I thought I’d list the challenges I’m attempting in 2012. I’m doing this in the knowledge that I wasn’t successful with some of those I set myself for 2011, yet managed the cycling challenge I threw in later on. I don’t know whether that makes me more realistic or not, but I intend to have a bigger spread of challenges this year all the same.
After selling our house a month or so back, I began to wonder if I could attend the Indy 500 in a way that wouldn’t be completely selfish. Doing this involved fitting a family holiday in Florida alongside my trip to Indianapolis.
Initially, it didn’t appear as if it would be too difficult, with the hotels around Miami not being prohibitively expensive at the end of May. Some of them were a little further north than we would like, but most of the ones we looked at put the beach within walking distance. That aspect was somewhat critical for the four days I’d be up at the race, so that Fliss & the kids could get to the boardwalk with the minimum of hassle.
However, another problem was that as well as the date of the race being a fixed point, we had to be back on the 1st of June with Fliss having a wedding shoot to do on the 3rd. That left only a couple of days upon my return from the race to enjoy what was left of the family holiday.
The more we tried to make it work, the more we came to the realisation that too many compromises were being made on a holiday that was getting too pricey by virtue of that.
Fortunately, as my accomodation in Indy was being taken care of by an internet friend, it means the price of my trip is relatively low – flights and whatever I spend. So the solution we came to was to have a seperate holiday for the family about a month before I go to Indy.
The family holiday fits well with the “free” holidays I get at Easter and for the royal wedding – two events I’d quite happily avoid to miss their symbolism and hype.
After some brief research by Fliss, we decided on a week in Salou, having fond memories of the place, as we’d taken our first holiday there together nearly 12 years ago. A a nice family holiday resort has been built there in the meantime – complete with child friendly pools and activities that should provide entertainment across their five year age gap. We figured it was ideal, and cheaper than a week in Centre Parcs would be.
The only downside is that there are Spanish air traffic controller strikes planned for the same time. We’ll fly out on a day with no strike scheduled, but there’s one pencilled in for the day we return unless they come to an agreement. All we can do is hope they’re as quick at coming to a solution as we’ve been!
It’s great to have two holidays booked up for so early in the year. Our first holiday as a family of four will be memorable for sure, and I’m so much looking forward to attending my first Indy 500 on the 100th anniversary of the first race.