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London Calling…

Not long after we were married, C and I took a year off work and backpacked our way around Europe. I taught in London, while C picked up temporary office work where ever he could. Most weekends and every holiday was spent travelling around England and Europe. In the process, we developed a love of exploring new places, and have had our understanding broadened in a way that only happens when you get to see new cultures and places for yourself.

While we have certainly done a few trips since those days, it has been our dream for several years now, to take the kids back to Europe and show them more of the world. We have talked about it from time to time, but for various reasons, the timing just hasn’t been right. They were too young, then we moved to the farm, then we were saving to extend and renovate the house, then we were actually renovating the house, then I was starting a new job. You get the picture.

Over the holidays we were looking at old maps of Europe and talking about where we’d like to go one day. But then I thought what are we waiting for? We only have a short time before the kids are too old to want to trail around Europe with us, so let’s bite the bullet and turn the dream into a goal. Lets put all our talk about experiences being better than things into practice and actually go to Europe with the kids. Let’s make memories with our family that will last a lifetime.

So there we go. In 2019 we are going to Europe with the kids. There is nothing like announcing your intentions to the world to kick you into action. Of course, it’s not as simple as just throwing stuff into a bag and going, but we have a plan of action. We’re putting extra money aside each month for the trip and my spare moments have been spent looking on Airbnb for apartments and houses, or else on Pinterest looking at interesting things to do with kids. We’re thinking of basing ourselves in London for a few weeks and doing lots of day trips out to places around, followed by a few days somewhere else in England, then perhaps a week or two in Italy, followed by a week or two somewhere else. We want a mix of places we’ve seen before and places that will be new to us.

We’ve been talking about minimising luggage and managing school when we are going for that long, and how to fit a long trip in among the needs of the farm, and so much else. And it’s exciting to have a goal for our family. Something to work towards and dream about. I’ve picked up a book about Europe for the kids and because I’m old school, a Lonely Planet guide to London to get me started. Last time we were in Europe, social media did not even exist! Over the weekend we watched the Royal Wedding and got even more excited!

So tell me, friends, all the advice. How to travel and manage kids schooling? What are the good things to do? The great places to stay? Good movies and shows for the kids to get them excited too? Have you done a big trip with kids?

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Next Post: Lately | June 2018 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jim McKenna says

    May 25, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    Hi Jo, sounds great, love to go back to Britain again. This might sound a bit silly but an old friend of mine told me to wash and put aside old underware don’t throw them away. Take them with you so instead of doing the laundry just Chuck them away when your finished with them. Have a great journey and adventure. Regards, Jim.

    Reply
  2. Anne Wheaton says

    May 23, 2018 at 5:30 am

    My experience of travelling with four children was only to do one thing a day. In other words, don’t visit the Tower of London and decide that because you’re in London you should go to the Natural History Museum too. But, make it exciting getting there and back by using different forms of transport. After the big thing we took them somewhere to let off steam – playground, football in the park or swimming.
    When you’re over here, London is hellishly expensive. I’d do day trips in to visit rather than stay in and do day trips out. Whatever you decided to do, what a tremendous experience for the whole family. It’s a fabulous idea.

    Reply
  3. Kathy says

    May 21, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    Sounds wonderful and yes the wedding on the weekend was wonderful. I’m not sure if you follow Brenda from “Our Family Travels” that might be a good place to start. I’ve heard from teachers that if you take your kids out of school just let them experience the place you are in and forget the homework. It sounds like you are only going for a month or so.

    Reply
  4. Nicole says

    May 21, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    Sounds amazing. We did this in September and October last year with our 4 kids (aged 9, 7, 4 and 2.5). We were away for 5 weeks and had a similar itinerary – about 10 nights in London beginning and end of trip), then Cotswolds, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and back to France (day trip to Bruges). We drove everywhere and stayed in air bnbs. It was not relaxing but well worth it. Top tips would be
    1. Use packing cubes to keep each person’s clothes organised (essential with 4 kids)
    2. Don’t plan too much for each day depending on age of kids
    3. Take fun things for plane trip and preorder kids meals (qantas website wouldn’t let me order the kids meals so I stupidly assumed they would get them anyway)
    4. Pack plenty of snacks to save money
    5. Download some podcasts and/or movies for the kids to listen to on long car rides
    6. Use 1 second a day app to create a video montage of the trip. I’m so glad I made the effort and if you’re interested I can show you mine. I took a few clips per day, not just one.

    The planning is so exciting.

    Reply
    • Jo@CountryLifeExperiment says

      May 21, 2018 at 6:53 pm

      I love planning it too! I’m going to steal the 1 second a day idea as well! Sounds awesome! Thanks for the tips.

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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Summer holidays seem a million years ago already. Summer holidays seem a million years ago already. It’s all systems go here as we try to get our rhythm going. School and work are busy, community events are coming back, and our harvest is in full swing. It’s a lot to manage. No matter how busy we are, I’ve been prioritising my evening walk. Sometimes C or the kids come with me and we talk and make plans, and sometimes I go alone, with a podcast for company. Either way, the golden hour is always breathtakingly beautiful and I snap way too many pics. None of them ever fully capture the magic, but I can’t help myself. I mean look!!! 😍
The kids have been wanting to build a raft for the The kids have been wanting to build a raft for the dam for a while. They collected some old barrels and pallets, and got some rope to lash it all together. This morning they put it together and floated it out into the middle of the dam. Plenty of magical days to be had playing on the dam ahead of us!
The orchard doesn’t stop. We’re getting basket The orchard doesn’t stop. We’re getting baskets and baskets of fruit each day and I’m running out of things to do with it all. I’ve taken quite a few to work to give away. I’ve made jams and pastes and chutney. I’ve cooked and frozen apricots and nectarines for fruit crumble this winter and dehydrated plums and apples for lunch boxes. The pantry and freezer are filling up.
I woke up yesterday and it was raining - a perfect I woke up yesterday and it was raining - a perfect time to deep clean. I dusted, de-cobwebbed, sorted, wiped, scrubbed, vacuumed and washed. Of course it will stay this way for 34 seconds, but it’s nice while it lasts.
We’re slowly (verrry slowly) getting back into t We’re slowly (verrry slowly) getting back into the swing of school and work. I think C might secretly be glad we’re leaving him each day so he can get through the many jobs that he always has at this time of year. He’s fencing and slashing thistles and drenching the lambs and a thousand other things that need to be done to keep the farm ticking over. In the evenings he often joins me on my walk and we talk about our plans for the garden and farm. We’ve had a lot of rain over the past few days and the air is so clear and the evening light is amazing. I keep stopping to take photos.
Late summer harvest is coming in. I’ve got tomat Late summer harvest is coming in. I’ve got tomatoes, stone fruit, corn, and even early apples sitting on my bench needing to be dealt with. I’ve got a big pot of tomato passata on the stove (I need to make at least 50 jars this year) and I went through our jams and pickles and made a list of what I need to make this year. Next week I will get out the dehydrator and start drying fruit for snacks and muesli. It’s all systems go!

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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