A survival guide for travelling with small children

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. – Mark Twain

One of the hardest things about travelling can be finding the right travelling companion. Often it seems like a wiser move to go solo, therefore avoiding the arguments of differing opinions and opening yourself up to the possibility of meeting new people and embarking on new adventures within an adventure.

The best advice one can give when deciding on the perfect travelling partner is pick someone who best compliments your travelling style. My recent adventures in Greece with my family was priceless – a mix of crazy fun and sometimes just pure crazy. I will treasure the memories of the travels with my brother and his family and hope one day we will create new memories and explore a new location together.

During our adventures I learnt some valuable lessons on travelling with small children

1. Small treats, such as lollies are recommended to carry on person
2. Said lollies should not be given to small children to carry upon their person as you walk from point a to point b as it will make the journey take twice as long as children stop to unwrap lollies at each bin you pass
3. Organisation is the key – pick the top things on your list of must do and fit them into your schedule and then let the rest of the agenda be figured out according to moods and tiredness levels
4. Be prepared for tears
5. The same goes for yelling, punch ups and flying objects
6. Patience may be a virtue, but is a daily requirement
7. A combination of laughter and love are the best medicines
8. Daily hugs remind you they are truly sweet angels, even when their behaviour suggests otherwise
9. Communication is important – ask those questions to get the real answers
10. Remember to step back when you need a break, a nice cold beer in the evening can help melt the worries of the day away
11. Enjoy every moment for what it is, because it will be over before you are ready
12. Children saying something is ‘lame’ is just a way of them expressing their tiredness and frustration. Remember tip 9.
13. Things wont always go as planned, but they can certainly get better
14. Ice cream for breakfast washes away the problems of the previous evening
15. Simple tasks become highly amusing and full of entertainment
16. You wont find a more honest travelling companion.

Whilst I didn’t enjoy the flying objects (which to be fair weren’t actually aimed at me, but both managed to find a target in my hip) or words of anger (that on occasion were aimed directly at me), the good moments far outweighed the bad. The rockstar status that is associated with being the flavour of the month and the preferred option to sit next to at dinner or share a room with is pretty legendary and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The belly shaking laughs provided by my nephews and niece meant there was never a day without a smile on my face. After a year and a half of being partially absent from aunt duties, it was nice to resume them with pillow fights, letting them secretly stay up watching tv for an extra half hour and reading stories to eager ears.

Would I do it again?…In a heartbeat.

Moments like these remind me of how grateful I am to be a part of my family. They are warm, caring and make life interesting – especially when they leave me contemplating my sanity.

Thank you LABCREW for inviting me to share in your adventures.

The beauty and the beast of Greek hotels

Whilst I have no first hand knowledge of a drug den and therefore my conclusion is solely based on what I have seen watching ‘The Wire’, I am fairly confident that is exactly what we walked into upon our arrival of Athens. Under the disguise of a hotel, it was easy to see where the confusion was created. Despite all the walls in the hotel saying no-smoking there was a thick waft of lingering smoke in both rooms. The room, my charges (for the night) and I had, was the slightly more luxurious of the two – given that we didn’t have remnants of someone else’s blood on our sheets and that our window closed so the children wouldn’t fall straight through.

My brother was worried, when he came down to see us late that evening and found a large group of men smoking right outside my door. The night was full of the sound of loud voices and people knocking on random doors. I reassured my charges and took the bed closest to the door ready to give anyone who dared knock a serve. After a night of my scared niece snuggled closely to me, I was glad when my brother made the call in the morning that we were relocating. He had spent the morning on the phone to the travel agent in NZ who he had booked the hotel through and they were horrified by what we had found. Legendary he had also managed to find us a new hotel and this one had a pool.

In comparison, the Novotel Hotel was stunning. The rooms looked and smelled fresh and clean, they were spacious and we managed to nab two rooms right next to each other. The rooftop bar with the pool overlooked the Acropolis and Mount Lycabettus. The best part of it all was the kids felt safe and relaxed – they were extremely excited by the pool and the xbox kinect in the lobby and the light-up yoyos the kind lady at reception gave them upon checking in.

Likewise, Sydney Hotel in Kalambaka was stunning with the views it provided of the cliffs at Meteora and the monastries that perched upon the peaks. The owner was a kind man who smiled at the children and allowed them to fill their pockets with lollies when he found them taking one.

At the two beauties, breakfast was amazing and plentiful. At the beast, otherwise known as Soho Hotel, we didn’t stick around long enough to find out and ended up having an ice cream brunch later.

The waking hours

6.58am on a Saturday morning and I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to board.

I have not been to bed.

In fact, apart from a 4min nap on the bus and a 20 min kip on the train I have not had any sleep for 24 hours.

Before they left London, I joked with my brother that I would wait to see how his children were faring before deciding whether I met them in Athens or decided to sneak past. Alas I fear it may be me they wish to avoid. Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to comatose during the flight.

Despite my tiredness, I’m really looking forward to this week away. It couldn’t have come at a better time – it has been a crazy couple of weeks and I’m craving a bit of family fun and tlc.

It’s a numbers game – a deconstructed marathon

Around 9.10pm on Saturday 27 September 2014 I made the first few steps across the starting line of the 26.2 mile journey for the Cancer Research Shine Night Walk – Full Marathon.

Like most things in life, each experience impacts us all differently. Here’s my deconstructed marathon:

• Twenty Six Point Two – miles walked, or roughly 42.2km for those of you who like me understand kilometres better.
• One – gate smashed into whilst being distracted by the awesomeness of my race wristband as it flashed different colours
• Two – amazing friends made
• Twenty – minute wait on average to use a porta-loo at one of the pit stops
• Two Point Five – drinks drunken
• One – groin muscle strained
• Five – pit stops visited
• One – shiny medal received for crossing that finishing line
• Two – wonderful people waiting for us at the end with an assortment of treats
• Countless – memories made, a truly unforgettable event.

From the conversations about travels and jobs to the more serious topics such as zombie survival tips – Lianna and Meloni, you are both gems and made the endless miles much more enjoyable. The sing-alongs eased the dull monotomy of crossing through Oxford Street multiple times. I believe (given the number of people that joined in) that the crowd favourite had to be the Sound of Music songs that we blazed through.

Lianna, your parents are amazing. Their thoughtfulness truly warmed my heart.

For anyone preparing do to a marathon, my top five tips are:

1. Decide in advance what you want to achieve
2. Train to prepare your legs for the distance
3. Keep hydrated and energised – bananas are amazing
4. Have a good support network – whether you meet them on the night, or they are waiting at the finishing line
5. Enjoy yourself.