It's been a bit of a funny old weekend in that most of it didn't feel like a weekend at all. Mr C's been away in the Netherlands at a wedding, and without him about it's kind of made the days merge into last week a bit, and it certainly hasn't given me the break that I so need by the end of a busy week, especially when we're in the school holidays. The first alarm went off at 2.50am on Saturday morning for Mr C to get up for a 6am flight to Amsterdam and combining that with a couple of wake-ups from Master C - who was struggling with the heat - it meant that Saturday started feeling ... read more
Planning Paris in a Day
Back in July 2003 Mr C and I celebrated my birthday for the first time as a couple and we headed off to Paris on a Eurostar train for what was then our first holiday together. Since then, before children, we travelled extensively together (at least 20 different countries and going right around the world for our honeymoon) and we loved those trips to foreign cities where we'd explore on foot, stopping for a beer or glass of wine in a bar and people watching when ever we got tired. We both really miss travelling now that we've got kids and often we'll talk about the trips that we've taken in ... read more
Featured post: Popping across the channel to France
We're lucky here in St Albans in that we live just a short 20 minute train ride away from St Pancras International station - a gateway to Europe, right in the centre of London. When I was commuting I used to have to walk past Eurostar arrivals and departures every day and became quite jealous of all the people heading off on holiday in France, back from foodie trips in Brussels, or small children home from adventures in Disneyland Paris. When you have a look at a site like Hotel Direct and realise just how cheaply you can get hotels close to Disneyland it makes me more determined than ever ... read more
Ten things to consider when booking your family summer sun holiday
Now that Easter is over and done with and the kids have gone back to school attentions are turning to summer and in particular booking summer holidays in the sunshine somewhere. We all need something in the diary to look forward to! Booking a family holiday can be a bit of a daunting thing. Where do you go? Who do you travel with? Do you book it all yourself or go with a reputable travel firm like First Choice? Everyone's talking about all inclusive holidays to Greece, but Greece is a big country so where do you start looking? What do I actually need to book and organise? I might ... read more
A record breaking holiday?
How fast can you assemble a Mr Potato Head? And what about if you were blindfolded? How long would it take you then? Unless you've got some very strange hobbies I'm guessing that the above questions have probably never troubled you before. I certainly hadn't given them a second thought before a box arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago. In it was a Mr Potato Head, a water pistol, a colouring book, stickers, coloured pencils and some sweets. Also included were some details of the Thomson Family Holidays Guinness World Records Event that I'd been invited to a Whipsnade Zoo. ... read more
Recharging the batteries
There are times that we all need a bit of down time and an opportuity to recharge our batteries and that's exactly what the C family have been doing for the last few days. A holiday with a toddler is never going to be completely relaxing, but this one had a pretty good stab at it. We booked a weekend break at Centre Parcs Sherwood Forest, somewhere that Mr C and I visited years ago before LMC was on the scene. That visit we spent our time doing things like clay pigeon shooting and 4x4 driving - things were a bit different this time, but actually just as much fun. One of the big benefits ... read more
The Teatime Islands – Ben Fogle
Whenever I smell mixed herbs (the dried variety that come in little glass jars) I am taken straight back to the house my parents lived in when I was a young child and in particular to the bay window of the front bedroom where I used to play some sort of game where I created a den and imagined that I was on a boat sailing across the oceans to discover islands that no one else had yet discovered. I have vague recollections that I needed to take some food with me and when I asked my mum for some the only thing she gave me was some mixed herbs. Quite how I thought I was going to find new islands I ... read more
Holiday with toddler must-have items
It seems a while ago now that I wrote about our first foreign holiday with Little Miss C. We learnt so much in those few days about travelling with a little one and I therefore want to share wih you the three things that we took with us that I would encourage anyone travelling with a toddler to take. 1. Ergo Baby Carrier I'm afraid I don't have a photo of me using our carrier, but that's mainly because of the times it was useful. We flew with Easyjet from Stansted airport and I have to say that they were really good when it came to carrying baby equipment with us. We were ... read more
We survived!
This time last week I had no ideas quite how I'd be feeling today. The last four days have been full of adventure and firsts for the whole C family. We've just returned from a short trip overseas. Our first trip abroad with Little Miss C. Her first trip in an aeroplane and the first time all three of us have shared a hotel room. I'm delighted to say that we've not only survived the trip but I'd go as far as to say that we've enjoyed it and LMC most certainly has. I can't say that I've come back feeling relaxed or quite like I used to do after a holiday, but then ... read more
Travel with kids
Like many young professional couples Mr C and I loved to travel before Little Miss C came along. Together we've been to about twenty countries all around the world and even managed a round the world trip together for our Honeymoon. Since we became a family of three we've limited ourselves to staying in the UK, but now that LMC's a bit older we're ready to dust off those passports (and apply for one for LMC) and head off again. The practicalities aren't too difficult, but it's fair to say that "fear" is probably the thing that's holding us back the most (if ... read more