A Parenting Holiday in Quy Nhon

Quy Nhon is one of my favourite places in Vietnam, with its lovely long beach and cute Cham towers.

Thap Doi Cham Towers in Quy Nhon

Last week it was the scene of a blissful three-day parenting holiday. I left the kids and Darling Man with the mother-in-law and spent three days by myself on Vietnam’s South-Central coast.

I went to a backpacker-y type place just outside Quy Nhon called Life’s a Beach that I discovered when I was researching my chapters of the Fodor’s Vietnam guidebook.

It was absolutely perfect, even though the first two days were overcast so the ocean was grey instead of blue.

The view from my veranda

I had a two-storey bamboo house to myself, with a writing desk for working and a veranda for relaxing. I slept with the sound of the waves shusshing on the beach, and woke up and ate whenever I felt like it.

I strolled along the beach every so often, too.

Looking along Bai Xep Beach towards Life’s A Beach

Before I had kids I spent a lot of time alone. Well, alone with my dog, who wasn’t very demanding at all. I could read the newspapers at breakfast and read a book over dinner. That alone-ness of my old carefree kid-free life is something I yearn for now.

And so it was just so relaxing not to have to think about anyone else’s needs for a while. Life’s A Beach does great communal dinners, which adds to the friendly atmosphere of the place. But I mostly ate alone, reading a book, then went back to my writing desk to write, write, write.

It was a very productive writing retreat as well as a holiday from family life.

I highly recommend taking a parenting break from time to time. For me, it was three days to focus on work without interruption. But there was also an enormous mental health benefit of not being a parent for a while. I’m looking forward to taking another one soon. (I haven’t broken that news to Darling Man just yet, though.)

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By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.