Take 12 trips – 2016 in travel

I love end of year round-ups – reading other people’s and looking back over my own trips for the year. Somehow October seems a long time ago, let alone January (or my memory is getting worse) so it’s a fun reminder of the good bits of 2016.

And with just over 24 hours to go until 2017, I’m finishing my third Take 12 Trips challenge – we managed nine UK trips in the first three months, from Brighton to Winchester via Cornwall, six more by the halfway point including our amazing ‘big’ holidays to Burma and our California road trip, plus another nine by the end of September, with a jaunt to Portugal among the south coast beaches.

To complete the challenge, we still needed to have at least one trip per month for October, November and December though. And with Minnie at school from mid September, I wondered if we might find that a bit trickier. With a tally of 10 trips or days out in three months, I think that’s a definite no…

October

After our half-term plans to go to France fell through (the third time a planned trip to France has been cancelled this year! 2017, I am determined to get back there), I made last-minute plans to head to Devon. Which proved to be a fantastic plan.

I snapped up a last-minute AirBNB just outside Topsham which was perfect, both for style and as a great base to explore. After stopping in Salisbury en route, where my daughter got to see the cathedral and Magna Carta (and discover just what people used to write on before paper), we dodged the rain on day one with a trip to the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth.

We’ve been steadily working out way through England’s aquariums (not to mention the fabulous Monterey aquarium this summer) and this is one the country’s most impressive ones. Definitely worth going, even if there’s broad sunshine.

Thankfully the weather did improve so we made the most of it by following a treasure trail around Topsham itself. Set right on the river, it’s a lovely place to amble, enjoying the twisty streets, the old buildings and (if you’re not with an easily bored four-year-old), the lovely waterfront pubs.

Sticking with the history theme, we spent our last day at Powderham Castle, trying out the activities and spotting deer as well as exploring inside the Earl of Devon’s home.

Completing the month was a return trip – for me and my husband – to the place which seems perfectly designed for us, Brooklands Hotel in Surrey.

This time, we got to discover that it was just as a good if you have a miniature companion, before all indulging a few transport daydreams at the Brooklands Museum – for me, it has to be Concorde.

November

I had thought Burma and California were going to be our only two long-haul trips this year – both ones I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so I’m still so happy to have finally got to both.

Which meant that our November trip to the Caribbean was the distinct icing on the cake.

There are still more posts to come on our stay at the wonderful Beaches Turks & Caicos in Providenciales but if you need more tempting than the words ‘all-inclusive family-friendly luxury in the Caribbean’, here are my nine reasons you should seriously consider it.

From the food to the stunning beach, the endless choice and the wonderful Sesame Street activities, neither of us wanted to come home.

Even better, I’d managed to persuade my daughter’s school to grant us an authorised absence (with the promise of lots of phonics on the beach, among other things) but I suspect that’s going to be rare from now on. You can guess how glad I am that we didn’t miss this particular experience though.

And to cheer us both up as we landed back to winter and real life again, there’s always Christmas. Our day at Willows Activity Farm Santa Spectacular may not have had palm trees and Elmo, but it did have the chance to make a husky toy, the Peter Rabbit adventure playground, lots of festive activities and a toy from the man in red himself.

I was also reminded just how easy it is for us to get to this piece of Hertfordshire, just outside St Albans. Somewhere else I need to explore properly…

December

Once we start feeling festive, we don’t stop easily. Two Christmas markets in two weeks got December going with a tinselly swish – first up, Winchester Christmas market which is always one of my favourites, set right in the grounds of Winchester cathedral.

It’s actually Minnie’s second visit as we headed down there two years ago when she was just a toddler.

And because some things bear repeating, we also headed back to the South Bank Christmas market – the site of two happy date nights with my husband in previous years, but Minnie’s first visit. Not quite the traditional style (although there is mulled wine), it got me wondering what exactly makes the perfect Christmas market?

With school over for the year, I made the most of our time off too. First, a big get together with friends in Oxford where we headed to the Oxford University Natural History Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum, both return visits for Minnie too. 

Although I have a never-ending list of places I’d like to see, I do enjoy returning to some nearby favourites with her and seeing how different she is in a relatively unchanged setting.

The Pitt Rivers museum was the site of our first day trip out of London, so if I ever need a reminder of how far we’ve come from the early baby days, it’s the perfect place.

Another museum closer to home next, the Victoria & Albert Museum. For some reason, I’ve always overlooked it in contrast to the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and British Museum but after we explored and tried out a couple of the kids’ trails, I realised this is definitely somewhere we want to return to.

Last but not least, a final bit of seaside as we headed to the Essex/Suffolk borders. We only got back a day or two ago, so that review is going to have to wait for 2017, but after blowing away the Christmas cobwebs on the beach at Frinton-on-Sea, we discovered a rather gorgeous family-friendly hideaway thanks to i-escape.

The Mistley Thorn has a fantastic restaurant and gorgeous little ‘cottage’ for us to stay in, as well as the animals and play areas of Jimmy’s Farm to discover around 20 minutes away across the Suffolk border.

Definitely a way to end the year on a high. And a grand total of 34 trips or days out for 2016 – including 18 separate English counties, eight new days out for either myself or Minnie (or both of us) and six other countries in three continents, from Wales, Spain and Portugal in Europe to the Turks & Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, California in the USA and the wonderful year highlight of Burma in Asia.

We’ve had some amazing adventures – and looking back, as I did for year one and year two of the Take 12 Trips challenge, I can see that not only are we exploring more, we’re fitting in some bigger, more intrepid adventures too.

School slow us down? I don’t think so. The only question now is… what will 2017 hold?

If you fancy being inspired by Clare from Need Another Holiday and joining in Take 12 Trips next year, do let me know how you get on! Happy travels.

Main image courtesy of Depositphotos, all other images copyright MummyTravels

LIKED THIS? SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL NEWSLETTER