“All I know is that I've ruled out wearing fairy wings. When I was nine I wanted fairy wings .... now I realise that's not cool anymore.” Isla Fisher
When I was little I wanted to be a fairy. Not because of the standard little girl wishes for pretty dresses and wings (though I did wear them) ...but because I really wanted to go about granting wishes. Wish fulfilment was very important to me when I was a little girl.
My favourite Aunty when I was small was my Dad’s sister who lived in the USA. I doubt if my selection process was sound... [as a more discerning adult I switched allegiance in a heartbeat to another Aunt (who was in fact my Dad’s cousin) based solely on the content of that Aunts character]... but as a child it was my American Aunt who was my favourite. This was purely because she could grant my wishes... starting with a great big panda bear that was five times my size. She was my good fairy and I wanted to be just like her. Like I said I got older and discovered that there are more important things than indulging a little girl with huge and impractical toys in lieu of spending time. My Dad’s cousin proved always available with her time so she rapidly became Aunty no 1. As I got older, I drifted away from American Aunt and her fairy like powers of granting wishes. I am ashamed to say that I have not had much to do with my fairy aunty for over a decade and a half. I won’t be too hard on myself...we all outgrow our childhood fancies.
Or do we?
Wish fulfilment does seem almost a right when you are a child, but as an adult we accept that most wishes are just dreams...pie in the sky. We accept that just because you want it and think you deserve it doesn't mean to say you will get it. However this rationale goes right out the window in just one area of our lives. In this one area we feel that if we can purchase the magic ticket...then all our wishes can, will and must be granted.
There is no place where wish fulfilment is higher on the menu than in the world of holidays. We all feel a sense of entitlement to this when we pack our bags and take a break. We all believe that the purchase of a ticket to somewhere else, the securing of a bed somewhere else, the very act of being somewhere else entitles us to happiness, and good healthy doses of food, laughter, sleep, and sex. When we set off on our holidays the sense of anticipation is almost overwhelming... we are about to have our wishes fulfilled.
There is an element of that childhood belief in good fairies granting wishes when one engages the holiday industry to make our dreams a reality.
So it was no surprise to many that in various guises, my working life has been linked to the holiday industry. I’ve written about places that aren’t home, I’ve packaged places that aren’t home, I’ve marketed places that aren’t home and I’ve sold places that aren’t home. I’ve dealt with millions of peoples wish lists and fed and sated their desires to be somewhere else so that they can get their entitlement to wish fulfilment.
I got to be a good fairy.
It's not entirely selfless. The perks of being this kind of fairy aren’t too shabby. You get to travel to the sorts of places where wishes may be fulfilled, you get to sleep in accommodations that are all about wish fulfilment and if you are a very good fairy (as I was) some nice airlines and cruise ships let you occupy the cabins where wish fulfilment is the order of the day.
So it comes as a great surprise to many that I hung up my good fairy costume some time ago and have no intention of putting it back on. I'm often asked how on earth I could turn my back on such a glamourous way to earn a living.
I can only answer that for me flitting about being this kind of fairy turned out to remind me of my American Aunt... of little substance when the chips were down. Like the great big panda she bought me, everything was a pale facsmile of granting wishes. All I are really did was simply furnish a path to purchasing a ticket to and a bed at somewhere else.
You may be happy on holiday, you may have good food, you may laugh and sleep, you may even have sex... but none of those things are because you have a magic ticket... none of those things are because the good fairy granted your wishes for you. You take you with you and you reap only what you sow, home or abroad. You see, no matter how it feels, there really is no entitlement to having your wishes granted by taking a holiday.
I cannot count the amount of miles around this blue planet of ours I’ve travelled. I have experienced places, people, cultures, foods and beverages that are certainly nothing like home. But there is one constant in all these travels be they to the bright lights, the crashing oceans, the silent deserts, the exhilarating mountains, the lapping lakes, the endless savannahs or the rugged prairies... there is always the same thing on each trip. It’s ME. True it’s me without the structure of home, which I am sure is beneficial on some level of wish fufilment... but I still took me with me and the only thing that really changed when I took these trips... was the scenery. All that really happened was a switch of locations, and even that was a bit of trick.
Ever noticed when you are on vacation how the place looks completely different when you arrived to how it looks on day 3? How it stops looking like a fantasy after a couple of days, how your vision retracts and it all starts to be just a little familiar? Well that’s because your expectations have settled, you subconsciously let go of thinking you are entitled to a heightened sense of being and settle down to making the best of it... because after all you are on vacation. That sense of entitlement, the granting of wishes... it was a bit of a self delusion... a fraud if you like.
I’m not knocking the holiday business... I still firmly believe that a change IS as good as a rest. But after more than a couple decades covering the business from all angles, I realised I wasn’t the good fairy after all. Like my flashy American Aunt, my experience of being a good fairy proved not to be about anything substantial. The entitlement, the dreams, wishes and endless possibilities... it all may or may not happen regardless of location.
I made the choice that my life will no longer involve jumping on planes and resetting my watch to local time every few days. It may sound dull, but in reality it is much more pleasurable to have both my feet on terra firma. It amuses me how the perception of glamour is often without substance... and how many things perceived as unexciting are in fact enriching and fun. But that’s dreams versus reality every time, there is usually not much to be gained from glamorous puff beyond appearance.
People often do a sanity check on me when they find out I have left the ‘glamorous’ world of the holiday business. They cannot understand that while heading to exotic countries and taking part in unusual activities is part of the job most of the time you are running things behind the scenes (which usually involves stoking the fires of improbable dreams). BUT when they do understand that part, suddenly the good fairy seems like a woman in a silly frock wearing wings that will never really fly.
So...my childhood wish to be a good fairy has come to an end... but like all tales that include the word fairy there is a happy ending.
Reality is a better place to be than the world of dreams (for a start you don’t have jet lag and fall asleep in your cornflakes!). So it is without regret that this fairy hung up her wings for good.
Though it is a bit of a shame about the good fairy costume going to waste... anyone know when a good fancy dress party is coming up?
My favourite Aunty when I was small was my Dad’s sister who lived in the USA. I doubt if my selection process was sound... [as a more discerning adult I switched allegiance in a heartbeat to another Aunt (who was in fact my Dad’s cousin) based solely on the content of that Aunts character]... but as a child it was my American Aunt who was my favourite. This was purely because she could grant my wishes... starting with a great big panda bear that was five times my size. She was my good fairy and I wanted to be just like her. Like I said I got older and discovered that there are more important things than indulging a little girl with huge and impractical toys in lieu of spending time. My Dad’s cousin proved always available with her time so she rapidly became Aunty no 1. As I got older, I drifted away from American Aunt and her fairy like powers of granting wishes. I am ashamed to say that I have not had much to do with my fairy aunty for over a decade and a half. I won’t be too hard on myself...we all outgrow our childhood fancies.
Or do we?
Wish fulfilment does seem almost a right when you are a child, but as an adult we accept that most wishes are just dreams...pie in the sky. We accept that just because you want it and think you deserve it doesn't mean to say you will get it. However this rationale goes right out the window in just one area of our lives. In this one area we feel that if we can purchase the magic ticket...then all our wishes can, will and must be granted.
There is no place where wish fulfilment is higher on the menu than in the world of holidays. We all feel a sense of entitlement to this when we pack our bags and take a break. We all believe that the purchase of a ticket to somewhere else, the securing of a bed somewhere else, the very act of being somewhere else entitles us to happiness, and good healthy doses of food, laughter, sleep, and sex. When we set off on our holidays the sense of anticipation is almost overwhelming... we are about to have our wishes fulfilled.
There is an element of that childhood belief in good fairies granting wishes when one engages the holiday industry to make our dreams a reality.
So it was no surprise to many that in various guises, my working life has been linked to the holiday industry. I’ve written about places that aren’t home, I’ve packaged places that aren’t home, I’ve marketed places that aren’t home and I’ve sold places that aren’t home. I’ve dealt with millions of peoples wish lists and fed and sated their desires to be somewhere else so that they can get their entitlement to wish fulfilment.
I got to be a good fairy.
It's not entirely selfless. The perks of being this kind of fairy aren’t too shabby. You get to travel to the sorts of places where wishes may be fulfilled, you get to sleep in accommodations that are all about wish fulfilment and if you are a very good fairy (as I was) some nice airlines and cruise ships let you occupy the cabins where wish fulfilment is the order of the day.
So it comes as a great surprise to many that I hung up my good fairy costume some time ago and have no intention of putting it back on. I'm often asked how on earth I could turn my back on such a glamourous way to earn a living.
I can only answer that for me flitting about being this kind of fairy turned out to remind me of my American Aunt... of little substance when the chips were down. Like the great big panda she bought me, everything was a pale facsmile of granting wishes. All I are really did was simply furnish a path to purchasing a ticket to and a bed at somewhere else.
You may be happy on holiday, you may have good food, you may laugh and sleep, you may even have sex... but none of those things are because you have a magic ticket... none of those things are because the good fairy granted your wishes for you. You take you with you and you reap only what you sow, home or abroad. You see, no matter how it feels, there really is no entitlement to having your wishes granted by taking a holiday.
I cannot count the amount of miles around this blue planet of ours I’ve travelled. I have experienced places, people, cultures, foods and beverages that are certainly nothing like home. But there is one constant in all these travels be they to the bright lights, the crashing oceans, the silent deserts, the exhilarating mountains, the lapping lakes, the endless savannahs or the rugged prairies... there is always the same thing on each trip. It’s ME. True it’s me without the structure of home, which I am sure is beneficial on some level of wish fufilment... but I still took me with me and the only thing that really changed when I took these trips... was the scenery. All that really happened was a switch of locations, and even that was a bit of trick.
Ever noticed when you are on vacation how the place looks completely different when you arrived to how it looks on day 3? How it stops looking like a fantasy after a couple of days, how your vision retracts and it all starts to be just a little familiar? Well that’s because your expectations have settled, you subconsciously let go of thinking you are entitled to a heightened sense of being and settle down to making the best of it... because after all you are on vacation. That sense of entitlement, the granting of wishes... it was a bit of a self delusion... a fraud if you like.
I’m not knocking the holiday business... I still firmly believe that a change IS as good as a rest. But after more than a couple decades covering the business from all angles, I realised I wasn’t the good fairy after all. Like my flashy American Aunt, my experience of being a good fairy proved not to be about anything substantial. The entitlement, the dreams, wishes and endless possibilities... it all may or may not happen regardless of location.
I made the choice that my life will no longer involve jumping on planes and resetting my watch to local time every few days. It may sound dull, but in reality it is much more pleasurable to have both my feet on terra firma. It amuses me how the perception of glamour is often without substance... and how many things perceived as unexciting are in fact enriching and fun. But that’s dreams versus reality every time, there is usually not much to be gained from glamorous puff beyond appearance.
People often do a sanity check on me when they find out I have left the ‘glamorous’ world of the holiday business. They cannot understand that while heading to exotic countries and taking part in unusual activities is part of the job most of the time you are running things behind the scenes (which usually involves stoking the fires of improbable dreams). BUT when they do understand that part, suddenly the good fairy seems like a woman in a silly frock wearing wings that will never really fly.
So...my childhood wish to be a good fairy has come to an end... but like all tales that include the word fairy there is a happy ending.
Reality is a better place to be than the world of dreams (for a start you don’t have jet lag and fall asleep in your cornflakes!). So it is without regret that this fairy hung up her wings for good.
Though it is a bit of a shame about the good fairy costume going to waste... anyone know when a good fancy dress party is coming up?
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