Highlights of 2013
You can’t move for reviews of the year in newspapers and magazines at the moment… so who am I to buck a trend? Looking back on our travels in 2013, here are my highlights.
1. We kept travelling!
Five more overseas trips – Minneapolis, Lanzarote, Portugal, Denmark and the Caribbean – plus several short breaks around the UK.
For me, the fact I’ve managed even that after the pregnancy predictions of doom is a result.
2. Surviving long-haul… twice
Even better, we managed it without the rest of the plane wanting to kill us. And hopefully, as Minnie gets older and has an attention span longer than 13 seconds, that will get easier too.
3. Fun in the Caribbean
After two tricky European trips in a row, thanks to illness and teething, I was starting to feel like travel wasn’t much fun any more.
Then came our Caribbean cruise – Minnie got her first dip in the sea off Grand Turk, I got some adrenaline thrills in Jamaica, and managed cocktails and dinner while she obligingly slept in her buggy.
4. Trying AirBNB
We’ve barely set foot in a hotel this year, sticking to self-catering or our cruise, but finally trying the option of staying in someone else’s property for a city break has converted me.
Unfortunately, cities around the world (including New York and Berlin) seem to be cracking down on this, so I should get travelling again pronto…
5. The occasional luxury
The gorgeous Hambledon House in Surrey, Martinhal in the Algarve, the spa at Bluestone in Wales. A bit more of this would definitely be welcome for 2014!
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Travel lessons learned: 2013
As 2013 draws to a close, it must be time to look back at the things I’ve learned over the past year.
Things I have not learned how to do include…
Make my daughter nap if she doesn’t want to, stop her throwing cups/toys/books etc (although that’s getting a bit better), pack lightly enough that I don’t need my own personal sherpa…
On the upside, I now know…
1. Sticker books are a lifesaver. Minnie may not be able to stick them in with any degree of precision, and occasionally attempts to eat one, but a bumper book fits nicely in hand luggage and takes up a pleasing amount of time on a plane.
2. Milk powder is a good (temporary) substitute for finding the fresh stuff during journeys – only for babies over one, obviously.
3. Heathrow has soft play areas in all terminals, albeit sometimes hidden away.
4. Valet parking isn’t just for LA… If you’re driving to an airport, it’s not much more for someone to whisk your car from drop-off and return it on landing, rather than negotiating shuttle buses with a toddler and suitcase. I’ve used Meteor and booked via APH.com.
5. Some gadgets have become travel staples – my portable battery charger, my bargain but brilliant baby spoons, my travel high chair – others less so (including one Graco travel cot that actually reduced me to tears).
6. Nothing will go quite as expected. A nice relaxing week in the sun? Nope, not when teething and colds are thrown into the mix. Long-haul with babies is always sanity-destroying?
Nope – I won’t say it’s a barrel of laughs but not as bad as I’d feared. So far. I’m still trying to remember to be flexible – for every panicked moment where she runs a temperature, there’s another where she naps beautifully in her buggy.
Would be nice to know in advance what’s going to happen when though…
Image courtesy of Depositphotos
