Travels with a child – four years on
I have a photo of my daughter on the beach in Whitstable on our last trip. She is shining with joy and glee, a huge smile on her face as we played on the shingle. One thing people have commented on is how grown up she suddenly looks.
And it’s true: she’s more independent than she was just a few months ago, can do so much more. With her fourth birthday behind her, there’s no escaping it…. my baby is a proper little girl.
It feels like far less than four years since she arrived to turn my life upside down – I wouldn’t be altogether surprised if I blinked and she was suddenly 15. Looking back, we have come such a long way.
From our first nervous flight together when she slept most of the way, to our biggest travel challenge of Burma, seeing the world together just as I had originally hoped.
And many of those changes I noticed last year have already come to pass. We’re a proper little team exploring together, even if the team doesn’t always want the same things and half of it has intermittent meltdowns (you can guess which half).
She’s more strong-willed, chatty and funny than ever, and ice cream is now firmly a holiday essential. Colouring has taken over from stickers as one of her favourite things to do on a plane (or anywhere). And she’s as finicky as ever about food.
We can do so much more now though, jump in the car spontaneously to the seaside or manage long-haul flights more easily. I have to worry less about naps and meal times than when she was littler: I still like a plan but there’s room for some flexibility.
It feels like something of a milestone, the end of an era. When I began the blog, I could never have imagined quite where her first four years would take us. But if I did look ahead, I don’t think I looked far beyond her starting school – something which is now on the horizon.
On one hand, it’s the start of a new chapter, as she grows up even more (not toooo fast) and a new travel challenge for me to tackle when term times and local authority fines start to play a bigger role.
But how will it work? What will we do? I don’t know. Perhaps one silver lining will be fitting in a bit more travel myself now I have fewer childcare costs and restrictions – but I’ll miss my little sidekick.
At least I can look back on quite a tally, so much so I’ve lost count of her overseas trips (15? or 16?).
After year one saw us get from the nervous early days to our first taste of jetlag, year two stepped up the pace with two Caribbean trips, a string of European jaunts and the discovery I could cope (just about) with illness on our travels, year three saw us sticking to short-haul flights, I’ve fulfilled my intention of making this final year count.
Four *big* long-haul trips in the last 12 months, for starters: from Florida’s Gulf Coast, where we saw dolphins and manatees and I survived a three-year-old with jetlag to another Caribbean jaunt, this one to Antigua, where we saw stingrays and I survived yet more three-year-old jetlag.
Then my long-awaited, long dreamed of trip to Burma where we visited temples, met Burmese cats and hit the beach to mention a few highlights, along with another long-planned trip to California, for a mini road trip along the Pacific Coast…
No European breaks for her this time (how remiss of me) although I snuck off for a break without her to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana (and a jaunt to Winchester and Cardiff, good practice for next year).
But I also managed some of my wishlist for London and the UK: the glorious Isles of Scilly were a real highlight, this time meeting seals, more animals in Cornwall, a succession of marine life in Brighton, a very curious giraffe, at Woburn Safari Park and otters again at the London WWT.
Away from the wildlife, we revisited the Natural History Museum and made it to the British Museum and Horniman Museum for the first time, along with the Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
And if I still haven’t got to the London Transport Museum (or the zoo), we did go to the London Transport Museum’s Acton Depot on its open day.
Our National Trust passes got a workout with a birthday celebration at Mottisfont in the sunshine, Nostell Priory in Yorkshire (where we also found witches), Polesden Lacy, Osterley Park, a brief stop at Tyntesfield and an Easter Egg hunt at Cliveden among others. English Heritage wasn’t forgotten with a windy day at Dover Castle.
No wonder I feel a little worn out. Unlike my lovely girl, scampering off ahead, curious to discover what’s around the next corner.
So am I…
Main image courtesy of Depositphotos. All other images copyright MummyTravels
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You’ve both been so busy! It’s so much fun travelling with children! Great that you’ve managed so many trips, big and small, over the last year. My kids love the little trips – impromptu trips to the seaside, exploring a local castle – nearly as much as the big trips to European cities or the Far East. Looking forward to reading what you’ve both got in store for the next year, Cathy.
I rather enjoy the round-up posts, both for her birthday and the Take 12 Trips challenge as it always surprises me a bit when I come to look back over what we’ve actually done. And I agree, my daughter loves the idea of a quick break away or an exciting day out too: the concept of a ‘mini mini holiday’ has cauhgt on!
Seems like time goes so fast sometimes. I remember when I started traveling with my husband. We used to say we were on our third or fourth honeymoon. Now, we have lost count of how many trips we have taken together. I am delighted to read all the travels you have been able to do with your daughter. I find that very inspirational. People like to tell us our travels are going to die when we have kids. Well, I think you are the best example of how that is not true.
It really does speed past – and thank you, that’s so lovely to hear! That’s exactly what I hoped when I started the blog. It’s incredible how ready people are to tell you you’ll have to give up the things you love. No-one would pretend having kids doesn’t change things, but how better to see the world than with them and through their eyes too.
Wow so many travels Cathy and so many wonderful memories, they will create the backdrop for so many stories from for years to come.
It is fascinating to see which bits she remembers – and it’s a lovely few years to look back on. Whenever she sees a picture of the Eiffel Tower, she now proudly announces that she’s been there… despite being 18 months old at the time, so there’s no way she’d actually have a memory of that.