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Holiday of a Lifetime

"It wasn't even meant to be my holiday. It was a holiday that had been planned by my friends Siobhan and Tor, to go and spend a month in California, travelling around the State during July and August 2005.

They'd asked me several times while they were planning it, but I was always like, 'nah'. I'd never been away from my home and my parents for that length of time, and people were always telling me that I needed to grow up and take some responsibility (only child syndrome, they said it was).

Then finally, after months of 'yay'-ing and 'nay'-ing, I decided to just go for it, and thanks to my savings account, my boss giving me an extra unpaid week off work and some guts, I agreed to go.

It was an amazing holiday from every point of view. We saw sights; we shared experiences, and really strengthened and solidified relationships. Being free, going wherever the wind took us, and staying wherever took our fancy really gave us, especially me, a much needed sense of responsibility and independence.

As holidays do, the month went so quick, and we were home before I knew it. But also, before I knew it, I'd bought myself a new jeep (to be like the Americans), and a new flat which meant for the first time, I'd be moving out from my parents' house and living on my own.

Thinking about it, it was probably the holiday that prompted this new grown up sense of confidence and life-changing decisions to get my own place, so to me, I will always see it as the holiday that made me grow up!"

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm 23 and I live on my own - well, apart from some fish - in south-east Wales. I am a youth worker, based in colleges and comprehensive schools in Monmouthshire offering support and delivering Basic and Key Skills to young people on alternative programmes to mainstream education.

What's your story about?
Over the summer of 2005 I decided, after much deliberation, to gatecrash my friends' holiday for a month to California. It's really just explaining how, for me as a person, going on the holiday and being away from home for a month was exactly what I needed to 'grow up' and become independent enough to move out from my parents' house and into my own place.

What inspired you to tell this story?
At the time it was very current, I had received the keys to my flat but hadn't moved in, and the holiday was only three months prior so the experience was very much still fresh in my mind. And I had some nice photos to use, some of which were particularly special to me.

What did you find most rewarding about the workshop?
Seeing the final story was really rewarding, but also seeing everyone else's, because we'd all got so close during the week, that I think we all felt really proud of each other. The stories were very touching, and it just reminded me how remarkable and interesting other people's lives can be.