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- Aug 23, 2019
- ⛅ 0 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
EnglandSouthseaPortseaBasin No. 250°48’24” N 1°6’38” W
YOLO...our big adventure!
August 23, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C
As we arrive back in the UK, we are reminded of the brief conversation with another family one year ago in France, , who had been travelling Europe in a Moho with young family for 6 months. It took us about 3 minutes to decide we wanted to do it - a little longer to work out the logistics, and we are forever grateful that we took the opportunity.
As grown ups, we have seen so many amazing things that have made our jaws drop, as children they have grown in confidece with each new experience they’ve had, as a family we have grown ‘together’ and had time to learn and ‘see’ each other in a way that we just wouldn’t have had back home. Living in this tiny space has sometimes felt crazy and it took some getting used to. At first everything seemed a bit stressful as we were navigating our own ways in the small and delicate space, but we’ve come through the other side and the time has been very special indeed. Life is for living.
Learnings from 5 months on the road with children...
However long you travel for, there will always be more to see; value the time you have.
You can travel to all the glorious natural wonders in the world, but THE most important thing to a 4 year old is that there’s a park.
Amelia was given an Enid Blyton short stories book with 30 stories in - amazing to have so many different stories without having to take loads of books. Short stories are a win.
The only thing to put on sun-sensitive faces in the middle of a heatwave is Zinc sunblock.
No matter how many times you tell yourself that your children won’t watch the DVD player for the whole journey - after 8000 miles we all know you’re kidding yourself!
Heated swimming pools are essential but rare if travelling in Europe in April.
It takes 3-4 weeks for adults to learn dimensions of new, smaller living quarters and avoid head bumps with every move, 2 yr olds never figure this out.
Don’t plan too much, you’ll miss out on some diamonds.
Talk to as many at people as possible (very handy to have a husband who literally can’t not talk to people) - it’s good for the soul, but you’ll also get the best travel tips on places to visit.
After months on the road (through rain, snow, mud, forests, lakes, waterfalls and beaches) no matter how many times you hand wash children’s clothes (and soak in a litre of vanish) they will never be clean again.
The only clue as to how many creepy crawlies we were travelling with at any time was that every now and then when we put Coen to bed a giant spider or ear wig would crawl up his wall (from the garage below his bed).
If you need to escape the monotony of politics and current affairs, travelling in a motorhome (without satellite) is a 100% guaranteed way to do it.
When you’re travelling, you always wish you’d started sooner and could go on longer.
Children’s bedtimes are late and long, luckily so are their lie ins.
Wine is ridiculously cheap to buy in every single country we’ve visited (bar England).
You can buy a bottle of beer for 8cents in Germany (though Nic doesn’t recommend it), and a bottle of Prosecco in Italy for under 2 euros (and Sarah does recommend it!).
Children can eat an infinite amount of ice cream, and apparently not feel sick.
Pizza is good for any meal (including brunch) as long as it’s from Italy.
We love beaches and lakes more than cities and towns. We followed the path of water for almost our whole trip. There were only a handful of nights where we weren’t parked up next to water.
Amelia melts in anything above 18 degrees if there isn’t a pool or sea to splash in.
Biscuits solve most child problems, especially if we’ve been driving for too long!
The children’s favourite sentence is ‘I’m hungry’. They are more hungry than ever before. Except when it’s meal times and then it is impossible to get them to sit down to eat - far too much distraction eating in the wild!
What adults see and what children see is always completely different when visiting new places - we loved hearing how they described things and what they noticed.
Germans love a skatepark and they make brilliant parks all over the place.
Driving through Austria surrounded by mountains and following the longest rivers, ending up at the biggest and most beautiful lakes is breathtaking - guaranteed beautiful scenes at every turn.
Some people thought we were crazy for travelling with children, and some people wished they’d done it, some people's trips made ours seem tiny- we all have different dreams, we’re glad we took a chance on this one.Read more
