2016 in Review – A Year of Family Travel

2015 saw the arrivals of both our crazy greyhound puppy and baby number three to our family. You can’t really blame me for thinking that travel might not be entirely possible with such a big family brood, but 2016 has truly proved me wrong and as well as an abundance of family day trips and visits (I will find time to blog about them all too one day!) we have actually been on many exciting adventures further afield, some with all three kids and the dog!

So what did we get up to in 2016? Here are our adventures in review:

New York City

In March, when Baby DaisLikeThese was 5months old, she and I headed off to New York City for 5 days. Mr DaisLikeThese was out there on a work trip, and with enough air-miles to get us out to join him we booked a very last minute trip.

Despite being extremely nervous ahead of what was a very out of comfort zone trip for me, we had the most amazing time. With unseasonably warm weather, I was able to walk for miles on end with the buggy, exploring the city, we somehow managed a ‘night out’ at a baby friendly bar in Brooklyn with stunning views back over to Manhattan, and after a week at work I got to spend a day sightseeing with Mr DaisLikeThese before heading home.

This trip really opened my eyes to the possibility of family travel – if I could take two flights alone with a five month old baby, then I could do anything!

Limoges – France

In June we loaded up the car with kids, dog and all the required family travel paraphernalia and headed off for a week to attend a family party in Limoges, France.

This was our first trip abroad with Buddy, our greyhound, and so we needed to make extra preparations for his travel, including getting a passport for him. As we were staying with family in a dog friendly property we felt this would be a perfect opportunity to test out travelling to France with a dog.

Despite it raining almost every single day of our holiday, we had a great time, exploring a part of France that we were not familiar with. It gave us the confidence to take Buddy back to France with us later in the Summer.

Ardèche – France

As Mr DaisLikeThese’s grandparents live in the Ardèche region of France, we tend to visit at least once a year. It is a beautiful part of the world with so much to do that we never seem to tire of it.

On the back of the success of our trip to Limoges with Buddy in tow, we decided to bring him along once more.

We stayed in an amazing property with a pool that we seemed to spend most of every day in! This was just one of  5 Child and Dog Friendly Places to Stay in France that we checked out this year alone!

Our return journey to the UK saw us stopping over in Reims, which is a great family friendly city not too far from Calais.

Milan – Italy

Another month and another work trip for Mr DaisLikeThese, this time to Milan, and once again we decided to head out to join him. This time I had to take all three kids on both the outbound and return flights alone, I have to say I was dreading it! But they did me so proud and behaved impeccably.

Despite only having two days in Milan, I totally fell in love with it. With stunning architecture, delicious food and wine, and even a visit to the football stadium, we all enjoyed a fabulous weekend away.

Bruges – Belgium

I’ve wanted to go to a European Christmas market for a long time and when I realised how easy it would be for us to get to Bruges in Belgium, I booked some last minute tickets on the Eurotunnel.

Despite the kids being very ‘off’ all weekend, we managed to see and do lots. With Christmas decorations adorning every shop and building, and the scent of Glühwein hanging in the air, it certainly made me feel very christmassy!

Devon – UK

For Christmas this year we headed off with my side of the family to spend a week in Devon.

We hired a massive property with 10 bedrooms, a games room and hot tubs, and had a week of food, drink, country pubs and days out exploring. It was the perfect end to an adventurous year!

Here’s hoping that 2017 will be as adventurous, if not more so, for family DaisLikeThese!

What have you been up to this year? I’d love to hear about it.