excursions

one time, my friend and i were with our mothers and younger sisters. the moms wanted the younger sisters to take a nap while my friend and i went to the playground. to refrain from upsetting the younger siblings, my mother said that the younger ones were going to "dreamland" while we went to the park. i was extremely jealous as i thought dreamland was a theme park even better than disneyworld, and i couldnt believe i had to go to the stupid playround while my sister and friend's sister went to this magic kingdom.

Anon

Not knowing the word “tailgater,” I assumed that it must be a variety of alligator. Family trips to Colorado were terrifying for me, given that my father spent hours cursing all the tailgaters that were RIGHT… BEHIND… OUR CAR.

fjfjdv

We used to live in a farming town, and when we drove by the fields I would see barrels of hay wrapped in white plastic. My parents told me that they were giant marshmallow farms.

Anon

When my husband was in grade school he and his friend went to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. His friend suggested they split up and try to get as many autographs as they could. My husband ran up to the first man (in the stands) that he saw and asked for his autograph, the man kindly signed his glove and told him he may want to get a baseball players autograph next time.

Jenny (for my Karl)

When I was about five or six, my mother and I got into a taxicab and the driver said, "Where do you want to go?".
I thought he was talking in general, so I said, "New York!"
Note: I was living in England at the time.

Anon

When I was young, we were never able to talk when driving past a corn field. (A prank started by my parents). They would say, "Quiet, the corn is listening!", because of all the ears. To this day, I still get quite when passing a corn field.

Kempster

I didn't know how rollercoasters worked, so I thought that in order to stay upright on the track, the riders would have to bang on the sides of the cars with hammers at the right times to maintain balance. On my first trip to a theme park, I made everyone laugh by asking when we would get our hammers...I had been mentally preparing myself for the task since I found out we were going.

Anon

When I was 7 had my 5 year old brother convinced that my mom's perfume and makeup would keep the bugs away. I put it on him before we went outside for about a week before someone told my mom.

Kalena

When visiting my grandparents in Devon. I always used to look out for the 'Welcome to Salcombe' sign on the way into their town. My Grandad had told me he always put it out when he knew I was coming - and do you know, he never once forgot !

SeasideSteve

I used to think that the signs in elevators that read "In case of fire, do not use elevator," were a sort of disclaimer telling people that it was dangerous to use an elevator because there could always be a fire, and that it was wiser to use the stairs. I'd never heard "in case" used to mean "if this happens," so I thought they meant "just in case there's a fire." So I was always scared riding elevators and wondered why we were doing such a risky thing when there was a perfectly safe alternative (the stairs).

Johanna

I was born and raised in Washington, DC - the National Air and Space Museum opened when I was six years old. For an embarrasingly long time I wondered who this guy was who was so cool he got an entire museum full of planes and rockets and cool stuff. I think I was 12 or so before I stopped wanting to meet Aaron Space.

Dan R

When I was young, my mom would always take us on a car ride which would pass oil fields and windmills. When we would ask what they were for, she told us, "oil pumps make the world go around, and the windmills send it in the right direction." We believed her for years.

Anon

When my family went downtown to go to the top of the tallest building in the city I was scared because they did not tell how we would get up there. I thought we had to climb up the outside of the building and I was terrified. But my grandmother was with us so I thought if she can do it I can to. I was relieved to go up to the top in an elevator.

mark

I used to believe that in order to play crazy golf, or to go on any of the seaside rides in my home town you had to show proof that you were a tourist. My mum was very mean

James Bremner

When I was little, my mom would always scold bad manners by saying things like "What would the Queen of England think if she saw you doing that?" or "The Queen of England would never invite you to tea if you keep your elbows on the table like that."

I always wondered how my mom knew the Queen of England, and when she was going to visit so I could show her all the good manners I'd apparently been practicing for her.

Molly V.

When my sister and I were young we used to believe that the power station near our house was a playground. It honestly looked like a giant sized jungle gym to our young eyes. We were forever begging our mom to take us, luckily she never did.

Anon

Every year around the end November I would go to Manchester with my Mum and Dad. The trip was to look around the large stores, mainly to look at the toys ready for the big day, Christmas. Always without fail my mum would say to Dad, lets go to C&A's before we go home.
I could never understand why we NEVER EVER saw Anne Hayes!!!

Man of Magic Warrington

I used to believe that in the winter, when the farmers wrapped their bales of hay in white tarp, they were actually setting out giant marshmallows for the hungry giants.

Rebecca

When I was 3, my family went on a cross-country trip in an RV. The biggest thing we did on this trip was to visit every Sea World in the country (there being 4 or 5 at the time). My brother and I still thought there was only one Shamu, and that he swam through underground tunnels to get to each Sea World in time for his shows every day.

Tricia

I only allowed to play in my street when I was a kid and some older kids from further down the road told me that if you left the street and turned left you got to Disneyland. One day they all went off to Disneyland AKA the play park around the corner and I wasn't allowed to go. For ages I thought that my mum was really mean for not letting me go to Disneyland.

Anon