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How travelling can bring you and your family closer together

September 28, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

A great holiday can create memories that last a lifetime, and what better way to create these memories than by spending time with your family? Upon your return, you might be surprised at just how much the dynamics of your family have changed. Here are our top reasons looking at how travelling can bring your family closer together.

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You can discuss plans beforehand

Before you jet off, you might like to get the whole family together and construct a list of all things you’d like to do on holiday. This is a great way of including everyone in the preparations and ensuring that all interests are catered for. This technique promotes dialogue – something that is often hard to achieve in a busy family home where everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Bali is a destination that has something for all tastes. You can book your flights to this Indonesian paradise through an operator like Imagine Holidays.

You may have to learn as you go

If you’re planning on taking your family abroad, then it’s vital that you all work together to ensure the trip goes smoothly. For example, you may have to work together to navigate your way around a strange city or work out how to order food off a local menu. This is a great opportunity to encourage communication and teamwork, and you may even discover that family members have hidden skills that would not have been required back home.

You’re exposed to a new atmosphere

Arguments can be pretty common at home, and that can lead to ill-feelings developing among family members. A great holiday takes you away from that toxic environment and gives everyone a chance to clear their heads and focus on what’s really important. You could find that the anger that had built up at home suddenly disappears from the moment you get on the plane – allowing you to wipe the slate clean and just concentrate on making magical memories with one another.

The memories will last a lifetime

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When you return from your trip, you may find that the experiences you shared as a family are still being discussed for months later. This keeps your home filled with goodwill and preserves that foundation of communication that had built up during your trip. Even the most mundane of events could remain a talking point for years to come. Travelling is a great tool; the more you travel as a family, the more memories you make.

You learn to compromise

When travelling, you and your kids may be forced to share the same hotel or B & B room. This can present many challenges for you all to overcome. Space can come at a premium and issues may start to appear when everyone wants to get their own way. However, these conflicts will need to be sorted quickly because they could ruin the rest of the holiday. This situation, although unpleasant for a small period of time, teaches everyone about conflict resolution and compromise, and these techniques can be utilised back home to create a more harmonious environment.

Technology will not be as intrusive

Technology is a huge part of family life, and this can mean that family members become disconnected from each other because they’re too distracted by what’s happening in a virtual world. When you go travelling, the role that technology plays will surely decrease.

First of all, you will all be too busy taking in the surroundings and embarking on new challenges to worry about what’s happening online. Secondly, you could be in a remote location that does not boast an internet connection or phone signal, so your so devices will become redundant. This factor means that your family members will be able to spend genuine, quality time together – and this can only be a good thing.

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Filed Under: lifestyle Tagged With: abroad, atmosphere, beach, compromise, family, family holidays, hotel, memories, planning, travel, Trip

Blogging from the Park!

July 18, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Once again I’m still really busy so I thought I would make the most of this random break to do a little catching up. It’s Monday, after school and it’s 27 degrees, would you believe?

First thing we did after school was grab an ice cream and a drink and now we’re at the park. It’s very rare that the weather is nice enough after school (rain being fairly standard for the school run) and so we’re making the most of it! The girls have only three days left of school this term and after that Megan will no longer attend Primary School – I honestly can’t believe it.

Last week was the start of the wind down, though obviously there have been transition days too. Monday saw School Reports being released, in which both did well and had glowing comments about both their personalities and their achievements. Tuesday was a re-arranged Sports Day as it was cancelled the previous week due to rain and a wet field. Both girls participated and I went along in the afternoon to watch Lily play rounders and Megan play kingball. Wednesday and Thursday was Megan’s school play – Go for Gold. She had one of the lead parts and while probably biased, I thought she was great. For some weird reason she was cast as an Olympic Athlete which is ironic to say the least as she hates sports.

Then came Friday and this was Megan’s Leavers Do. It was basically a disco type party that only the Year 6’s would attend. We nipped home after school to get changed and ready but needed to be back in Saxilby by 6.30pm. Megan looked so grown up that I honestly couldn’t get over it and when I picked her up she looked even more beautiful than when I dropped her off – with a flush of enjoyment in her cheeks and a cocktail umbrella tucked behind her ear!

The busy week didn’t stop there as I had loads of work to do Saturday, plus we were supposed to be going to a 40th birthday party (in the end I didn’t feel well enough to go). Lily also had a birthday party to attend on Sunday and so that topped off a hectic week.

This coming week will be the same, with today as our only calm day until term breaks up on Thursday. We have a KS2 Church Service tomorrow morning, for which I agreed to walk to and from the church with the kids, then Lily has a school trip on Wednesday and Megan has a Leavers Assembly on Thursday morning. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to them breaking up but at the same time it will be the end of an era for sure!

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Filed Under: about me Tagged With: church service, end of school, leavers assembly, leavers do, Lily, Megan, park, school, school play, secondary school, Trip

52/52

December 29, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last picture of the year and it sums our week perfectly!

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On Boxing Day we caught a coach from Birmingham to Disneyland Paris, where we spent all day Sunday. We then headed home on the coach again, arriving back on Monday. It was a brief but magical holiday and it was lovely to spend some time with just me and the girls, especially doing DISNEY! This picture was taken at the beginning of the trip, just as we got seated on the coach. I wasn’t actually sat next to them but we squeezed together for this selfie.

Hope everyone who reads my blog had a lovely Christmas and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Filed Under: 52 project Tagged With: 2015, 52/52, blog project, Disney, Disneyland Paris, holiday, Lily, Megan, paris, photos, Trip

Road Trip Tips

May 20, 2015 by Bel 1 Comment

I am always looking for spontaneous adventure! Next week is my birthday and I’ve looked at so many ideas from driving to Disneyland Paris, to hopping on a ferry to Ireland or Amsterdam. There are themeparks to visit, restaurants to eat at and shops to go shopping – all of these would require me driving there and I’m absolutely fine with that. I just love a last minute decision. Age UK (charity) recently posted these tips, but I wanted to share mine with you!

For the cheapest offers, plan in advance! I know I said spontaneous adventures are my favourite, but a couple of years ago we went to Disneyland Paris and planning in advance definitely saved us a heap of money. We got a cheap Travelodge on the way out, a cheap offer on the actual holiday and also planning meant we could save! Our Travelodge on the night out, was £30 compared to the last minute one on the way back (£80!). Our holiday was £1 for the Ferry travel and £400 for the holiday, compared to the usual cost of about £1000 on the Disneyland Paris website.

Break up the journey and takes lots of stops! As with above, road trips are all very well but to really enjoy it, breaking it up (and ultimately extending the holiday) can make it way more enjoyable. Travel a large part of your journey and then do an overnight stopover. Set off early the next day fresh and ready for another good long drive. Likewise on the way home, do a good chunk of the driving but stop and sleep before finishing your journey fresh in the morning. Everyone gets tired and for the passengers in the car, they can sleep anyway. However its important that the driver definitely catches a few Zzzzs.

Always pack food and drink for the trip. Of course its always good to stop for a coffee break or even McDonalds but ensuring you have food and drink for the journey is also a good tip. Kids get hungry and thirsty easily anyway but its always good to have something to keep you refreshed. No matter where you’re road tripping to, you’re always subject to traffic jams! You don’t want to get caught out in two hours of traffic with nothing to eat or drink!

Take a SatNav or smartphone capable of navigation. Okay so technology isn’t foolproof but in this day and age its definitely a lot easier to have some sort of navigation helping you. As a driver its impossible to concentrate on the road and read a map, and road signs aren’t always that useful. A good SatNav will keep you alert and listening, while also helping you to get where you’re going. It might not be the best route, the fastest route or even the most sensible, but chances are it will stop you getting lost – or if you get lost, help you get unlost!

Keep an eye on petrol and prices! Petrol is incredibly expensive and so if you’re taking a road trip the costs can add up. Try not to leave buying petrol to the last minute as the chances are you’ll pay through the nose for it. Petrol stations near to airports, docks etc are likely to be more expensive as they know people often need petrol before immediately going somewhere or immediately coming back. Fill the car whenever you find it somewhere cheap and make the most of the lower price. Also cars tend to run better on the top end of the tank than they do on the bottom end!

Change your plans if necessary. As with all the advice above, change your plans if necessary. We originally planned our road trip to Paris with an overnight stay beforehand but a drive straight through the night on the way home. However when we got back to Dover I realised I was too tired to drive us home and instead we checked into a Travelodge (the expensive one). It may well have cost us twice as much as the pre-booked Travelodge, but it possibly saved our lives if I’d have driven tired.

This weekend we’re traveling down to London and I can’t wait! We leave at 8pm Friday night (so a day time nap is on the cards) and we’re staying Friday night and Saturday in Travelodges. We’re going to MCM Comic Con and also to see Phantom of the Opera. This is my birthday treat and I can’t wait!

Filed Under: promo, where we went Tagged With: breaks, disneyland, Disneyland Paris, driving, holiday, hotel, journeys, london, paris, petrol, Plan, Plan In Advance, Road, road trip, Road Trip Tips, Sat Nav, satnav, tips, travel tips, Travelodge, Trip, Where We Went

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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