Our Top Travel Moments Of 2016

With a fresh new year upon us, it feels like time for a change...

I want a new challenge and new adventures for us as a family. 

In the reflective state I always find myself in when a new year rolls around, I spent some time thinking about the highlights of 2016 for us...and (except for the birth of our third little boy, of course!) they were all travel related.

And so I decided to come back to this neglected little space I had started a while back and breathe some fresh life into it...to start using it to record our travel experiences and share our travel tips and advice with other families of young children.

Today I want to share a little look back over our 2016 travel experiences.

Butlins Minehead

In May, we had our first holiday of the year when we headed to Butlins Minehead as part of our role as Butlins Ambassadors to enjoy their Just For Tots break.

 It was our first experience of a Butlins holiday, and after being apprehensive about what to expect from the accommodation and food I was both surprised and delighted to discover that the standards were exceptionally high and the week ended up being one of the happiest of the 2016.

When I think back to our time at Butlins my mind is filled with memories of lazy beach days, fun exploring the many kids activities on offer, endless entertainment and long relaxing yet fun filled days spent as a family...just perfect!

You can read our full review HERE

P & O Cruises Aurora

2016 was the year we took our first cruise as a family (Jon & I having first experienced cruising before the children came along!) and we chose P & O...it was a bit hit and miss in all honesty but we did love the cruise experience, and have booked another cruise holiday for 2017...however we chose a different cruise line due to feeling a bit let down by P & O with this experience.

We would try a bigger P & O ship in the future in the hopes of a more fun atmosphere & itinerary, but we found the Aurora much too stuffy for a family holiday...however, we still made the most of it as we always do and had a wonderful time!

Read our full write up on our P & O Cruises experience HERE

Norway

Our cruise took us through the Norwegian Fjords and we had a fantastic time exploring the best of Norway...with day trips to Stavanger, Bergen, Olden and...my personal favourite...beautiful Flam, we had an absolutely magical time.

Norway is one of the most tranquil and beautiful places I have ever visited and I would love to return to Flam for a longer stay in the future...just breathtaking.

Read all about our time in Norway HERE

St Ives

In September we headed back to one of our favourite holiday spots, Cornwall, this time to stay in St Ives which was a new area to us and we were 100% sold on it...the weather during our stay was perfect and we spent plenty of time on the beautiful white sandy beaches and exploring the grounds of the stunning Tregenna Castle Hotel...read all about it HERE

BATH

In October, we enjoyed another few days Staycation exploring a part of the UK that we hadn't visited before...Bath!

We enjoyed a stay in an absolutely stunning city centre apartment courtesy of the fabulous Bath Boutique Stays and the mini break gave us a real taste for the city - unfortunately it coincided with a period of mega-tantrums from the mini people and our lack of forward planning meant we struggled to see much thanks to our massive double buggy, but we have already said that we would love to visit Bath again this year as a couple to really make the most of everything the beautiful city has to offer!

Read more about our stay HERE

Disneyland Paris

And finally, October also brought our first ever long-awaited trip to Disneyland Paris!

A trip I had been desperate to take since my own childhood...we finally ventured there for Halloween season and had the most memorable and enjoyable 4 days that I can recall ever having.

We stayed at Hotel Santa Fe, and travelled by Eurostar from Ebbsfleet - everything about the trip was faultless and it's hard to say which one of us enjoyed it most - we all talk about going back every single day and would love to be able to visit again in 2017!

Read more about our Disneyland Adventure HERE

We had such amazing and unforgettable experiences in 2016, it really was filled with adventures and we hope that 2017 will be filled with many more.

Watch this space!

To follow our travel adventures this year, don't forget to follow our blog!