A decade ago, my life changed completely when my gorgeous girl made her appearance – and I’m torn between marvelling at the fact that a whole decade has gone past and at what we’ve packed into those 10 years.
After shooting up an inch in the past six weeks, there are definite signs that you’re growing up: officially a tween, I get flashes of the teen I think you’ll become (and reminders that while you think you’re practically an adult, you’re still not quite as grown-up as you believe).
Looking back at the birthday post I wrote last year, the world has changed so much once again, and after the upheavals of 2020 and 2021, it’s a relief that this time I’m writing a much more upbeat post.
Then, you were missing your party thanks to yet another stint of self-isolation after a Covid bubble burst. This time, we’ve not only been able to celebrate as planned, we have several trips lined up for the summer – and while travel still isn’t plain sailing, there’s not a single test or scrap of paperwork to be done.
It’s hard not to think what might have been over these past two years, time I’ll never get back, but as ever I’m feeling glad we seized our opportunities.
Last summer, we finally made it back on a plane again, for the first time in 18 months – a return to Lanzarote, the very first destination you visited overseas as a baby. It felt apt to retrace our footsteps for another first.
Check out my guide to the Canary Island with kids for more tips for family holidays
And in between a flight which came with paperwork galore and multiple Covid tests, including one for me carried out in a villa via video call, we got a taste of that blissful holiday feeling – delicious food cooked by someone else, walks by the sea, a pool to splash around in, even a little exploring. Sheer joy.
With that first tentative escape behind us, each successive one has seemed easier: at October half-term, a return to Greece, to Kefalonia where the weather and the villa might have been mixed, but the Greek welcome was as warm as ever.
Check out my guide to Greece with kids for more tips for family holidays
The paperwork and testing was already more relaxed, the beaches were golden and sandy, and we even braved a drive through the twisty mountains roads to see the glorious Melissani cave. The route might have been occasionally hair-raising but nothing beats the freedom of an island to explore.
But while I started November discussing the possibility of trips beyond Europe, confidence went before a fall – while Christmas and New Year plans with family and friends went ahead, a new variant saw France closing its borders and a planned ski trip being postponed, and yet another gloomy start to the year.
I do wonder when we’ll feel confident enough to plan well ahead, to look forward to treats on the horizon – I feel like we’ve both got into the habit of barely daring to trust that what’s in the diary will actually happen, although you’re bouncing back faster, my resilient girl.
As 2022 has gone on, we’ve pushed on determinedly and still fitted in a whole string of new overseas trips – twice to Portugal, once to Spain, even a mini cruise, as well as another holiday in Greece just a few weeks away.
It feels like each time we’ve tackled a new challenge of sorts: those first paperwork-filled sunny villa escapes were followed by a city break – to Lisbon, one of my favourite cities.
Staying in a gorgeous apartment in the centre of Lisbon, we packed our visit full – a day at the Oceanario aquarium, a Hippotrip amphibious tour and a cooking class, a day exploring Belem and another day in Sintra.
The next challenge? Beating the flight chaos – as Covid restrictions, airlines and airports rapidly became overwhelmed, while ferries had their own problems, trains were hit by strikes and petrol prices pushed up the cost of road trips. I know, I know, I promised this post would be more upbeat…
But after a hideously early start and a stressful check-in, we managed our second trip to Portugal of the year at Easter – to the Algarve, for easily the nicest villa of our recent string of beachy holidays, with James Villas.
Check out my guide to Portugal with kids for more tips for family holidays
From playing mini golf to eyeing up intricate sand sculptures, plus several boat trips, including to the Benagil caves and in the Ria Formosa to the quiet islands off the coast, it was another reminder that each year we can find more and more adventures.
A few years ago, I can’t imagine us scrambling over rocks between little sandy coves, to see if we could work our way along the coast: admittedly this little jaunt ended up with my trousers ripping almost completely off me and your shoes nearly getting washed away, but when I said we’d look back on it and laugh, we were in fits of giggles before you’d even got your soggy trainers off.
It would be fun to try another bigger adventure too, but the ease of just setting off without needing to take all the paraphernalia required when you were younger, or knowing you can stay up a bit later to go out to dinner all helps to make holidays even more relaxing.
Our next challenge? A family cruise – and you caught the cruise bug too during our May bank holiday trip to Guernsey as well.
If the sushi restaurant and intricately carved chocolates on board were a couple of your favourite memories (along with a day in St Peter Port), one of mine was seeing you embrace the independence of being on board ship.
Living in London, it can be difficult finding the balance between safety and helping you spread your wings – we’ve tried to do this more over the past 12 months, and the cruise felt like an opportunity to let you soar solo (at least in manageable chunks) which you embraced enthusiastically.
Then on a work trip in Andalucia for half-term, your first visit to the mainland of Spain, you were suddenly the big girl who all the younger kids followed around at the kids’ club – while I was reminded of just how much you have changed over a few years, you revelled in being the leader.
After a string of good luck – the trips which went ahead as planned, flights which weren’t cancelled, even our luggage arriving on time – our good fortune slightly ran out with a 5+ hour delay to come home.
There are definitely worse places to be stuck than Malaga airport, even if we did miss the start of the Jubilee, and I counted my blessings that I had a nine-year-old rather than a two-year-old.
While I still haven’t managed my goal of venturing beyond Europe (yet), this past 12 months seems practically an embarrassment of travel riches. Not only have we managed to travel during every school holiday, we’ve had a string of trips and days out in the UK as well.
Our self-styled ‘Grand tour of the north’ took us to York, where you loved everything from Vikings at Jorvik to trying your own hand at an archaeological dig, embracing the city’s Harry Potter links and stepping back in time at York Castle Museum.
Then a long wished-for visit to beautiful Northumberland where it was a running joke that every day would include a castle – including Alnwick Castle for more Harry Potter, Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne, Dunstanburgh and Warkworth – and usually a beach as well, not to mention Alnwick Garden, Hadrian’s Wall and a boat trip to see puffins.
Plus another city break in Leeds to complete the trip, after a visit to the Yorkshire seaside and Whitby, including the Royal Armouries, fascinating Thackray Museum of medicine and a day at Harewood House.
Firmly making up for lost time, the new school year didn’t slow us down much, squeezing in a day in Cambridge and another in Oxford, plus a weekend by the beach at Camber Sands, staying at a gorgeous seaside cottage and exploring Rye on an unexpectedly sunny autumn day.
With a half-day at school, we raced into central London to see the Harry Potter photo exhibition (my memories of mounting a broomstick only slightly tarnished by getting pinged by the Covid app on the way home).
I even managed a couple of days away before Christmas in Cheltenham, staying at the Queens Hotel – and escaping home just as the first winter snow hit Gloucestershire. With so much to do in Cheltenham with kids, it’s definitely on my list to return to with you as part of a family holiday in the Cotswolds.
The sun shone on our pre-Christmas trip to the seaside at the Beachcroft Hotel, and while it was a (mostly) slow start to 2022, we ticked another few places off the wishlist – a day at Waddesdon Manor and a visit to Bletchley Park, spurred on by your fascination with Alan Turing and codebreaking.
I love the fact that you still think I have the answers to everything: trying to explain how the Enigma machine worked and how it was cracked definitely tested my ingenuity though!
Happily I was better at the puzzles in the escape room on the Golden Hinde – your first escape room, it was a big hit, and you threw yourself into the problem solving, spotting several things which I’d missed entirely, much to your satisfaction.
Then two days in Devon felt like a proper escape from real life, staying in a gorgeous treehouse at Dittisham Hideaway, heading to Blackpool Sands, one of my favourite beaches in Devon, and spending a day exploring Dartmouth.
Next, it’s a return to Dorset – fulfilling a promise I made to go to Brownsea Island after our first attempt was thwarted by storms, just days before the second Covid lockdown in 2020.
Full of excitement at the possibility of seeing red squirrels, I couldn’t help laughing when you got the names muddled and called it Red Sea island: maybe next year will be the one where I finally get to Egypt with you, and fulfil the plan I’d tentatively made (but not booked) for Easter 2020.
Plus another Greek island first for you, with two weeks in Crete – the first time I’ve been abroad anywhere for two weeks since about 2017 I think, and where we’ll be indulging your love of Greek myths at Knossos.
And possibly a short break in Kent as well. In fact, I’ve filled our time so full that I’m not sure we’ll even have chance to check out much of what’s on in London during the summer holidays!
It feels like the clock is ticking though. Next year is year 6 and the end of primary school, the big decisions about secondary school and a string of tests to look forward to – while I know you’ll fly through those, it’s a reminder that a new chapter is not far off.
I sometimes wonder to myself what the sweet spot is of family travel: old enough to be beyond the years of sleep schedules and five-minute attention spans, young enough that we can still plan a holiday around your social life and myriad activities. Perhaps it’s this summer?
But then again, I’ve been vaguely pondering this question for a while and each year, travelling with you only ever seems to get better. There’s nothing quite like a milestone to make you take stock, and to remind you to make the most of every minute.
What a decade we’ve had, my wonderful girl. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
Images copyright MummyTravels
