I shouldn't worry, but as a mother I do.
She's met this incredible guy (her words) on Facebook who is into her stuff and she's into his.......i..e. all this enviromental and health type stuff guff (obvilously, nobody is convincing me yet).

And she's booked a flight to Gatwick and a train and then a taxi to some place I' think is made up.

Anyway, she tells me not to worry and it's all sorted out.

Yeah sure. She didn't even know what to pack in her bags for the jungle. She told me she''s got loads of shorts, t-shirts and a few dresses packed.. I thought WTF........drresses??? I asked her if she had wellies and a hooded jacket? Reply was no comment!

And after these little beginners, I start to probe the guy whom she's going to meet.

I ask her what she knows about him. She says he's the most wonderful amazing guy she's NEVER met!

I should be gobsmacked, but my daughters do this to me all the time these days.

So I say.........okay.....what are you looking for when you meet him?

She says so long as he's as goodlooking and as free as he is on Facebook, she knows she'll just love him.

I say what do you mean by as free as he is on Facebook?

She says like everybody loves him.

I say, so when he's surrounded by females falling at his feet, how are you going to feel?

No way....he said I'm special.

[Alarm bells ringing in my head]

I say, what makes you more special than anyone else?

[she's getting annoyed talking to someone in the background...tells me she'll call me back]

Rings me back and tells me that I'm far too judgemental and should understand her need for exploration and to trust her to make her own mind up if he's an asshole or not.

Okay...what can you say?

She tells me she's booked the flight and train tickets to get to her destination.

Cool, I say.

Yep, once I get there, somebody from the camp will need to come and get me because I'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere and the destination will be some forest.

[Gulp]

Are you sure you want to go through with this honey?

Yes, I've spent a fortune and not wasting a penny of it.

But what if he's a total psycho when you meet him?

Mum........I can't believe how disbelieving and untrusting you are. You think bad of everything.....[infinite]

So the summary is that she's off first thing in the morning to her new fantasy.

I can't even describe how scared I am that she's taking on this adventure and yet I probably done much worse than she did.

I want her to be safe. And I guess we as parents can only sit in the background much of the time when we see our childrren leap out of our reach.

Man that's a toughie.
Have you tried googling the place you think is made up?

feather wrote:
Yes, triied loads of Google maps etc. Thanks feather, but no, unfortunately your suggestion doesn't work

hey its fair enough your her mum and its natural to worry. they dont always make the right desicions, but we learn from our mistakes. just make sure you get all her info/addresses/destinations and have her call you each night. if somethings amiss, we'll send abs to go sort em out.

yeah whats this made up place name?

Sorry to hear you got a bad case of the worry o'rourke. I hope that everything pans out alright and that all of your fears are for nothing! And as batou has said, just make sure you keep in as close a contact as you can, as often as you can so that there's a current and consistent line of communication between the both of you!! If you need to talk, you know you have us guys here!!!

Ashdown Forest?

This must be really difficult for you, o rourke - I know if I were in your situation I'd be worried sick. I'm not sure what you can do, though, other than as phem says above and keep the lines of communication open. I think it's really important for your daughter to let people know exactly where she's going, and to make sure her phone is on at all times. I really hope things work out OK. Please let us here know how it all goes!

Mandy

Funny enought it does start with an 'A'

Will be phoning her this morning to get more details of her destination

It's horrible being a parent at times isn't it!

Look at the postives first, your daughter is telling you what her plans are, she obviously trusts you and you have a good relationship with her. She could just have gone without letting you know and that would be worse

I'd say not to worry too much even although I know that's not easy.

You mention it's a camp so I am guessing there will be other people there too, not just him and her?

Hopefully the worst thing that will happen is her love bubble will get burst and she'll feel a bit daft having travelled to London to meet someone who turned out be a pillock.

Or everything might go swimmingly well .

Try not worry too much as there really isn't anything you can do

o_rourke wrote:
The Ashdown Forest isn't too far from Gatwick and it's quite a big place. Ashdown Forest Info
If she needs to make a bolt for it PM me and I will pick her up and get her to the airport.

good man, frog.

frog

That's ace, frog!

Mandy

Frog wrote:
That is so kind of you Frog. However, I don't think it's Ashdown. It's Arundel or Arunel...or something like that. It's some kind of Eco project that's taking place. Anyway, I'm so grateful that there's people like yourself that would go out on a limb to help out should a crisis occur. Hopefully, it's just me being an oversensitve and overprotective mother.

Thanks dawnbreak. I think it's just me that's overreacting to the whole thing now that I've calmed down a bit and trying not to be paranoid.

hadabusa wrote:
Hads you always make me laugh and that cheered me up no end

o_rourke wrote: You wouldn't be a mum worth having if you didn't react similarly.

Arundel is a lovely place - there is an eco village built at ford which is v nearby - might be that.

Totally natural to worry - I echo others sentiments in that she is being upfront about it all.