We have never taken my son on an airplane (although his big sister has flown all around the world), as he has always been a handful. In May, we went for our first overseas holiday as a family of four. We had decided to go to France, and take Brittany Ferries as it would mean we could take our car plus we could better control our five year old son. I thought that sailing to France from the UK would be the easy travel option, but it turned out to also be the fun option.

I have to say that the kids and I weren’t sure what to expect on the ferry. Luckily, the Brittany Ferries website has plenty of information and even videos of the ships. Dubz made me watch the videos about 20 times. His mind was blown to be travelling on a ship so big it could fit cars and beds and restaurants. But the ferry fits all those things and more.

Read more

For the May half-term, we packed a week’s worth of clothes, got into the car and drove to France. Okay, there might have been more to this. Like spending weeks looking at which Eurocamp holiday parc would best suit our family and then researching what one needs for a Eurocamp holiday as well as what you need for driving in France. And obviously you have to book the ferry. If you try driving straight to France, you will literally be swimming with the fishes.

I must note that this was our first holiday abroad as a family of four. Dubz, who has just turned five, has always been quite crazy a handful. But he has calmed down in the past year and we got him his first passport in May. We also thought that travelling by ferry would be a good way to ease into a holiday (I reckon we will be brave enough for plane travel in a few months).

So anyway, after much deliberation, we chose La Garangeoire in the Vendee (on the west coast of central France). I had read that there is better weather there than the northern parts of France, plus it requires much less driving to than the south of France. And we were not disappointed. While it did drizzle a couple of mornings, the weather was mostly sunny and warm. We had an amazing week at La Garangeoire, and I wanted to show you what a holiday looks like when every member of the family proclaims it to be ‘the best holiday ever’.

Read more

Alas, I am not going on a transatlantic flight. On Monday, I attended a pop-up event for Air New Zealand. I was excited to try out their immersive flight experience, and see why they keep getting voted Airline of the Year. It turns out that Air New Zealand is full of style and comfort.

First of all, there are some seriously comfortable seats. Even the Economy seats were nice. And Air New Zealand offer Economy Skycouch – which means that one button turns your seat into a sofa (the footrest comes out to create a bigger area). My daughter has been on loads of long-haul flights and she always had trouble sleeping. Only when flights were empty and she was able to lie flat on her stomach was she able to sleep. Skycouch is basically the answer to every parent’s flying problem.

Read more

I love living in London, for so many reasons. But one reason is that is makes travelling around the UK extremely easy. Although my family and I often drive to many of our British holiday destinations, we sometimes prefer the ease of the trains. I had been wanting to visit York for ages, and when I discovered that there was a direct train from London, I knew that we should head there for a mini-break.

In August, Husband and I packed the kids off to their grandparents’ house and we headed to York for a mid-week break to celebrate my 41st birthday. We had a glorious time. We ate lots of lovely meals, drank plenty of delightful cocktails and saw so many beautiful sights. I thought three days would be adequate for seeing this city. But I was mistaken. Husband and I have already discussed returning to York – next time with Moozles and Dubz. There’s still so much more to see. But I thought I would share my top five favourite reasons to visit York.

1. Beautiful Architecture

Read more