Little Footsteps in the Big World

One of the things we were most looking forward to when moving to Brussels was the fact that it's a really good base city for many day-trips. The city is surrounded by many other beautiful cities reachable within two-hour drive by car (or train, if you fancy). The obvious destinations from Brussels are Paris and Amsterdam, but we decided to first explore Belgian cities before going to the surrounding countries. 1. Ostend and/or De Haan Distance from Brussels: 111 km. Duration of travel: 1 hour 15 minutes by car, or 1 hour 11 minutes by train  Our first day-trip from Brussels was to Ostend, at the Belgian coast. It was a sunny but chilly September, but wasn't cold enough to prevent our kids from bathing. In the freezing North Sea. There's no tolls in Belgium, which makes road-trip easier and cheaper. Long, wide, smooth sandy beach. Kids' paradise. Our kids loved this place. We spent hours building sandcastles, running away from waves and picking shells before headin...

When we were negotiating with our firstborn about moving to Belgium, one of her two conditions for moving was that we take her to Disneyland Paris (I know, right, what a parenting fail!). Therefore the Disneyland trip had been carefully planned since we came to Brussels. I did think to book a whole Disney weekend (meaning 2-day park tickets and 1-night hotel stay at Disney hotel) but that just came out way over our budget. So we agree to simply do a day trip. It's only a three-hour drive from Brussels anyway. A good friend of mine took a family trip to Disneyland with two kids recently so I asked her for tips and tricks. Now with her tips, and our own experience, hopefully these tips will make your Disney experience even more magical than it already is! 1. Choose a good day, and a good date   Everyone loves Disney. Whether it's Snow White or Pinocchio, Starwars or Indiana Jones, Sleeping Beauty or Pocahontas, Disneyland has something you might like. And therefor...

Yesterday we got back from a 9-day camping holiday with two kids under five on the coast. The excitement is still here, the kids are still on the campsite in their minds. They were outside 24/7, sleeping under the stars, being in the sea all day, playing with pine cones and stones, getting together with other little campers, muddy and sticky at the end of the day, eating picnic on the ground, and basically, having time of their lives. After a long time, they were TV/monitor/cartoon free for 9 days! So while it's fresh in my memory, I'd sum up our experience and write down tips of camping with kids. We've camped with the kids for a music festival before, but this is the first time we stayed for so long, and we took a grandma along. To be noted though, these tips are for camping in a tent. So if your family opt for an RV (camper van, mobile home or caravan) or a glamping tent, probably not all of the tips make sense. What to do before you go: 1. Don't save on equipm...

I had seen this place virtually so many times before. Travel blogs, sites, magazines, everywhere I looked, I'd end up reading about this place. Usually on some high ranked position in the list of "the most unique lodging" or "the best glamping place" sort of articles. Garden Village Bled , that's the name of the place. It's a small resort near Bled lake in Slovenia that offers unique lodging experience in pier tents on the river, tree-houses and glamping tents with personal Jacuzzi. I told my husband about it and he was down immediately with a weekend getaway. I booked a pier tent for a weekend in June (it's €120 a night during high season including great breakfast, although the price is lower during low season). Tree-houses and glamping tents were too big and too expensive for us, so I checked with them on the phone and they say it's okay with them that we take pier-tent (normally for two persons) for us with two small kids. That Saturday we h...

As we realized I was turning 30, my husband asked me what I was planning to do for my 30th birthday. I immediately said I'd like to go on a weekend trip, without him, without the kids. I might go alone, or I'd take friends along. Destination didn't really matter. At the time of my birthday, our firstborn was 4 and our younger just a little over 1. I immediately texted my good friend (I'd call her Poppy -although that's not her name, she just loves poppy flowers) to have her joining me. She was in immediately, before even knowing where we're going. If you remember our chaotic trip to Vienna with lots of kids , she and her family were in that trip, too. She's got two kids too, a 4-year-old boy and a baby younger than ours. We started planning strategically. Basically established the rule: the trip is girls-only, and the girls have to be moms. The trip would be a guilt-free mom time. London came to my mind. Simply because my husband has rejected the ide...

At the end of last year my husband and I were talking about Metallica concert, they're doing a 2018 world tour. He asked me one brief question: "they'll be performing in Vienna and Milan. Which city would you prefer?" My answer was sure: "Vienna. We can do the zoo too with the kids. They've been dying to see giant pandas". "Alright, Vienna it is" he added. Then we realized that Metallica would perform on Saturday, March 31, and that it was long Easter weekend. All of the sudden I got the urge to invite two other families to do a long weekend trip. And all of the sudden it was twelve of us, out of which six were children. What the hell was I thinking?? We have been doing long Easter weekend trips for ages. We just always did it. We'd leave on Friday or Saturday, bring the whole Easter breakfast with us and arrange them on the table nicely on Sunday and we'll have nice Easter Sunday somewhere new. But we've never done it wi...