5 Day trips with kids from Brussels (part one)

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 heading for lunch in Koekoek Tavern (delicious roast chicken served with apple sauce and bread -no cutlery!). The day we visited Ostend, Disneysand Magic exhibition was still going on (held from June to September), so we went to see the most amazing sand sculptures of Disney characters and castles, which, our first-born absolutely loved. A few kilometers from Ostend is another coastal town De Haan, which we visited with our dear friends. With a cute playground on the sand for the kids, it's a fun place to visit even in the winter.

2. Bruges, in West Flanders

Distance from Brussels: 97 km
Duration of travel: 1.5 hours by car, or 1 hour by train
If your kids love boats like ours, Bruges is the place to go in Belgium. Bruges is known as the Venice of the north. It's also very close from Ostend so technically you could combine the two together. It's probably the most touristic city in Brussels though, so if you're not fond of popular destination with crowds of tourists, you might want to avoid this city. However, the city is absolutely stunning, and our kids really enjoy the boat ride on its canals. The boat ride costs €8 per person and it lasts around 45 minutes, with English speaking guide included. The architecture of the buildings along the canal is beautiful, and if the weather is sunny too, you'd get amazing view of the city from the canals. Our younger wanted another round of ride after our tour ended!

3. Dinant, in the Wallon Region

Distance from Brussels: 105 km
Duration of travel: 1 hour 10 minutes by car, or 2 hours by train
Much different from touristic Bruges, Dinant is a charming small town, unknown to most non-Belgians. Try to google it, and try not to be smitten by the pictures of the town you find online. With the river Meuse and the steep cliff as its background, Dinant is picture perfect. Not to mention it's also the home of Belgian beer Leffe. One must visit the Citadel of Dinant, a fortress located on the cliff. With kids, one of the most exciting things in Dinant is riding the funicular uphill to the Citadel. Dinant is also rich with history from the World War I due to the Battle of Dinant, and the Citadel has been converted to a Museum with the portrayal of the battle equipped with awesome catacombs your children would be thrilled of.

 4. Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée

Distance from Brussels: 331 km
Duration of travel: 3.5 hours by car, or 2.5 hours by train
Disneyland Paris was our first day-trip outside Belgium. It's only 331km from Brussels, 3-and-a-half hour drive by car. There is also a regular train connection and a train station exactly at the entrance of Disneyland Paris. I wrote about our trip to Disneyland here, where we also wrote our tips-and-trick to survive (and enjoy) Disneyland with small kids in one day!

5. Maastricht in the Netherlands

Distance from Brussels: 125 km 
Duration of travel: 1.5 hours by car, 1 hour 45 minutes by train
Maastricht might not come to one's mind when looking into the idea of a day-trip destination from Brussels with kids. But wait until you see Boekhandel Dominicanen, a beautiful bookstore inside a church in the center of Maastricht. Most kids I know love books, and this bookstore has a big children section. Although mostly the books are in Dutch language, they do have several shelves of english books for children. Our kids enjoyed the place, and undoubtedly, we did too. The church makes an amazing setting for the bookstore. We visited the city during the pre-holiday period, so we got to visit the charming Christmas market with a Ferris wheel and a skating ring as well.

And if you're not intrigued enough by our first five day-trip destinations, do wait for the second part of the post, where I'd feature five more destinations to do a day-trip from Brussels with little kids.

Disneyland with small kids: 7 tips and tricks

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 therefore, it is always crowded here. If you can afford to take a leave, or your kids are not in school yet, go on a working day. If you're like us –the weekender, with kids in school and no vacation day for the adults, at least go off season, not during the summer holiday. We went on the second Saturday of October, and while the queues were still big for the attractions, the park (also means the toilets, the restaurants, the benches and the passages was not over crowded).

2. Save time and buy your ticket online

Whichever date you choose, buy your ticket online and print at home. The online price is not cheaper (€79 for adult and €72 for kids older than 3) but you'd save an hour of queue at the ticket office. If you have your tickets printed at home, you can go directly to the entrance passages and scan the barcode by yourself.

3. Check the Disneyland Park map online and briefly plan your route

I'd been in Disneyland in California back in 2007. But for my husband and the kids, this time in Paris was their first time being in Disneyland, so I wanted them to have the best experience they could have. Know that Disneyland Park is divided into four big sections: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Discoveryland and Frontierland. Briefly check each section and their attractions, they're also rated as „Fun for the little ones“, „Family adventure“, „May frighten younger guests“ and „Big thrill“. Unfortunately you won't make it to take all rides in the park, so better focus on ones you think are more suitable for your family. Since we have a 4.5-year-old and a 1.5-year-old, we focused on Fantasyland. We did the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Mad Hatter's Tea Cups (our younger loved it), It's a Small World (must-do), Princess' Pavillion (waste of time, skip it!), Dumbo the Flying Elephant (our firstborn loved it), Pinocchio's Journey and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (a little scary for them). Then we moved on to the Adventureland and went to Pirates of the Caribbean. It's not too big of a thrill, but it terrified our kids (roller coaster in a boat ride –you get wet). We took a break at the Frontierland and they loved the playground at Pocahontas Indian Village. In the Discoveryland my husband did the Star wars Hyperspace Mountain by himself (big thrill).

4. Download the app to check waiting time and the program

Once you're there, use the official app. I installed it in my iPhone so I can see the map and check how long is the waiting time for each ride. As much as we wanted to do the Peter Pan Flight and the Big Thunder Mountain for example, we saw it was 80 minutes wait so we decided to skip it. We mostly did everything with waiting time of 30 minutes or less. The app also tells you when the parade is and where it is held, so you can plan well if you wish to see the parades.

5. Prepare your children for the wait for rides

Kids are impatient and that's normal. Prepare them well for the wait. Have a lot of snacks and drinks so they get something to eat and drink if needed while waiting. Our rides had waiting time ranging from 10 minutes to 60 minutes, and we had sandwiches, croissants, packed crisps, waffles, bananas, juice boxes and bottles of water for them. You can also bring small toys like cars and figurines so they could play while waiting. It's fun to let them wear costumes too, because most kids are in costumes. Our firstborn was Elsa from Frozen and she enjoyed so much meeting other Elsas, Ana, Rapunzels and Snow Whites in the queues. 

6. Plan and manage naps, so you get to see the illumination show

The famous Disney illumination show doesn't start until 10pm. And this is very late for most kids. If your kids need naps, try to manage time well. We drove from Brussels to Paris from 7am to 10am and both kids mostly slept, so the firstborn didn't need anymore nap in Disneyland. She held on until the show. Our younger though, still needs a lot of naps. She slept twice in the Ergo carrier while we were walking around or doing rides. Bring a carrier or stroller for naps, or rent a stroller at the entrance if you want. For me personally, the illumination and firework show was the best part of reliving my childhood, so get in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle before 10pm, get your seat (on the ground –so bring scarf or blanket to sit on if needed) and enjoy the show.

7. Relax and enjoy the magical family day!

It's easy to get nervous when you have to wait for an hour for everything, especially with cranky little creatures. But try to relax, it's one of the rare moments you actually have time to talk with the whole family about everything while waiting. Choose a nice restaurant (they have lots!) and get a little break for lunch or dinner. Treat them (and yourself) an ice cream or a crepe from the little stalls around the park. Relive your own childhood while watching your children enjoying theirs. Check your iPhone or Fitbit how many steps you made that day and be proud! I walked 10.2 km that day! 

10 tips for camping with kids

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 equipment

Don't buy tent in a department store or supermarket. Make a trip to a specialized shop for camping and outdoor sport and get them to help pick what you need. Buy high quality tent, air mattresses, camping chairs and table, and kitchen cupboard or shelf if you need. We've got this Quechua 4-person tent with two bedrooms on each side. Each bedroom fits a 140 cm wide mattress, so four people can fit comfortably. Grandma slept in one bedroom, my husband, the baby and I in another, and the toddler slept in a snug space between the bedrooms that is normally a living room. There was a thunder storm with very strong wind the whole night the fourth night we were camping, and the tent proved to be sturdy and completely waterproof. The height of the tent is around 2 meters, which means most people can stand normally inside it. I'd suggest you to get another tent or a pavilion where the family would gather during the day to avoid toys and food flooding the sleeping tent. We had this basic pavilion to fit a dining table and four chairs, a hanging toy rack for the kids and one cooking station and a little fridge.

Our lot was by the beach, at around 120 meter square in size

The kids were busy exploring and playing immediately

2. Search for a suitable camping site and research it well

We opted for Arena Camp Medulin at the south of the Istrian peninsula. It's 3-hour drive from Zagreb where we live, and is close from many attraction we wanted to visit. Unless you want to camp in the wild, search for a campsite with good facilities. Sanitary facility is essential. Ours was clean and well maintained, with showers, baby tub, toilets (even for the small ones), sinks and dish washing sinks. The camp provided several spots for barbecue, car wash, laundry facility, water-park and playgrounds. If you're a first time camper, don't be afraid of the hygiene and sanitary facilities in today's camping ground! We keep joking that it's mostly cleaner than our home! After some research, we plan to try Camping Straško on Pag Island for next summer.

Sanitary facility closest to our parcel, consist of shower, toilets, baby bath and dish washing section

Baby bath, small toilet, low sink and mirror, they thought well about the kids!

3. It's okay to not go electricity free

Don't hesitate to make use of the electricity. Most campsite offers electricity plug on each parcel. We didn't want the hassle of a stove with fire and gas bottle, so I brought along a small induction cooktop from IKEA. With the convenience of home, we could cook regular meals. Stunned with the efficiency of this cooktop, grandma wanted to buy one for herself. We brought a small portable fridge and table lamp to lit the dining area at night, although we brought solar lamps for the ground and LED lights on battery for around the tent just for the romantic feel.

Choose an induction cook top over a gas fire stove for better security and convenience

4. Create a packing check list and a meal plan before you go

It's very probable to forget things when you pack. And when you go camping, there are a very long list to bring along with you. Create a check list to help you packing, dividing it to sleeping necessities, cooking and eating necessities, lounge and seating needs, hygiene, medicines and mosquito repellent, kids' toys including bikes and beach toys, and electrical equipment including cable extension, adapters if needed and lighting. A meal plan will also guide you through what to pack and what to buy from day to day. A shop inside a campsite tends to be very expensive, so you probably want to make a trip to the city for groceries shopping. We lived on regular breakfast like at home (pancakes, french toasts, bread and spread, cereals), different kind of salads for lunch (tuna salad with pasta, Caesar chicken salad, mix vegetable and beans salad) and mostly barbecues for dinner that my husband made at the public barbecue place.

5. Make space in your car for all the stuff

We added a roof rack and a roof box to the car to bring all the things we needed. You can also add a bike carrier if you want for taking bikes. Some people tow a smaller trailer to take even more stuff if they plan to stay much longer. Don't forget to take things to keep the kids occupied: coloring supplies, board games, playing cards, bubble wands and balls. Most kids we saw in the camp is gadget free, and they're open to play with other kids. Our kids enjoyed things as simple as pine-cone. When they're outside in the woods 24/7, every little thing is interesting. During the day they spend most of the time in the sea anyway.

What to do when you get there:

6. Pick a preference and your priority

Once you check in, you will need to choose a lot. We booked our lot in the premium zone, but we had to pick the exact number of lot when we got there. So here you need to decide on what is important: proximity to the beach, or proximity to sanitary facility? Shade or sun? Do know that the wind is stronger when you're closer to the beach, and weaker when you're deeper into the woods. We picked a lot that is immediately on the beach with enough shade for both the kids and grandma in the afternoon to rest, but enough sun in the morning for sunbathing. It was around three minute walk from the sanitary object and the toddler was able to go by herself and back.

7. Get a schedule of kids' activity program

Ask the reception what kids (and adult) activities they offer. Our camp organized sport activities for adults (pilates, aerobic, etc) in the morning at 10am while also organizing mini club for the little ones. We didn't do any activities in the morning because we'd all be in the water then, but the kids enjoyed the evening activities a lot. At 8pm they organize mini disco, magician show and games. There was also teen club for older kids.

Mini disco held every evening

Evening games our toddler enjoyed a lot

8. Give each child a task to do

One of the good things about camping is the kids learn to be independent. There are many chores to be done in the camp and it's a perfect time to delegate suitable chores to the kids. Our kids are too young to independently wash the dishes, but we saw many kids older than 8 washing dishes at the sanitary centers for the whole family. Our toddler was assigned to collect dirty dishes and wipe the washed one dry. They could also get fresh water for the canister, take out the garbage, mop or wipe tent base, go to the shop for foods or help in food preparations.

9. Break the routine by exploring nearby attractions

Our family is not used of being stationed in one place for 9 days straight, so we needed some refreshment along the way. We took the kids to Pula Aquarium and gave grandma a day for herself at the beach. The kids enjoyed the amazing aquarium placed in an old fortress of Verudella. On the last evening, we all went to Pula for dinner and evening walk around the Colosseo.

At Pula Aquarium inside Verudela Fortress

Night stroll around Pula Arena (Colosseo)

10. Make friends, share beers with your neighbors and respect camping etiquettes

Camping is fun, and don't forget about that. It's less stressful than staying in a hotel or private accommodation. People are in bathing suit 24/7 and everyone is open minded. The beach in your front yard also means no need to carry millions of beach necessity with you every time you go for a dip. We didn't have clocks, we didn't care what time of the day it was, we did thing because we wanted to, not because it was the time. And that finally felt like a real holiday. We shared a couple of beers with our neighbors, the kids played together although they didn't speak the same language. It's also wise to talk about camping etiquette with your kids on the first day, such as not to walk across someone else's lot, not to be noisy at sleeping hours, clean after themselves especially in sanitary objects, leave the campsite clean and put the lamps dimmed or on low light late at night.

Now that you're ready to go on an adventure with the kids, enjoy!

 

A little piece of heaven on earth

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 had slow breakfast at home, the headed to Bled. A little earlier than noon, we're already at the resort. The loveliest staff let us know that our tent wasn't ready, but we're most welcomed to be at the resort and enjoy the pool. Once we saw the pool area, the kids freaked out. The view was just breathtaking. It's an Eco-friendly and non-chemically treated infinity pool with natural ecosystem in it, with a beach-like entrance. The water was a little chilly for June, but nothing stopped the kids to jump right into it. There is a kids' park across the pool as well with swings, slide, sandbox and kiddie picnic table with large wooden building blocks.

The pool was full of tadpoles and froglets, which was an absolute hit for the kids. My kids and other kids hop around looking for tadpoles and froglets, learning about different stages of frog lives. The kids also realized how amazing it was to dive into the fresh water, which didnt't burn their eyes like the salt in the sea water and the chlorine in the public pools.

The kitchen of the restaurant opens by 1pm so we ordered lunch on site. Not only the make good meals, most of the ingredients they use are fresh from their own garden and green house. If you happen to be in Bled but staying somewhere else, do know that their restaurant is open for public, so you can grab delicious lunch or dinner and enjoy the place. You'd have access to the pools, terrace and the bonfire area, but you won't be able to go to the tents and tree-houses area.

By 2pm our pier tent was ready and we're settled in our tent. Here is a hint: the pier tents and the tree-houses are located in the part of the resort where the creek is. Basically, you'd sleep on the creek full of fish with private beaches equipped with lazy deck chairs. This also means you'd hear the creek the whole day and night, which could be annoying for some people. We, however, loved the sound. The glamping tents are located on the other side of the resort, on the dry area with no creek, but with individual jacuzzi for each tent. 

 

There's basically just a double bed in the pier tent, with night stands on each sides and table lamps on each stands. On the deck of the tent though, there's a lockable chest where you can put your stuff, a pair of comfy chairs, coat hangers and a fridge. There's a padlock for each tent so you can leave your tent locked. LED lights are built in along the deck to lit the way at night, and there are two sets of bathrooms, toilets and sinks shared by nine tents. On each set, 2 toilets and 2 showers are available, so it's basically never crowded even when all nine tents are occupied.

Some of the tents have a private access to the creek with ladders coming down from their personal decks toward the creek. Not all tents have it, so if you'd like a private access, notify them at reservation to give you the specific pier tents with the ladders. Otherwise, everyone can go to the common beach which we enjoyed a lot.

After spending the whole day swimming, we decided to actually go to Lake Bled in the evening for a walk and for dinner. Although basically there's no need to get out of the resort because you absolutely have everything here. Honestly, I just really wanted to get my favorite Bledska kremna rezina, or cream slice of Bled, which is absolutely delicious. The only way to have it is at the Hotel Park on the hill foot of Bled Castle, so we ate the cake there. You can rent bikes from the resort to cycle around the lake, or if you prefer boat ride, one of two docks of the Bled traditional boats is located near the resort.

Since the capacity of Garden Village is not too big (which absolutely is a strength of the place), it might be hard to book a tent or a tree-house for your preferred dates, but it's worth a try. A tree-house is definitely a better option if you have bigger kids or larger family. We aim to come back and try the tree-house sometime next summer since the kids enjoy the place so much. The toddler got stung by nettle leaves when trying to pick up a snail on it, but hey, that's part of the learning isn't it? If you're not afraid of cool water and chilly air, in October they have special offer where you pay for one night and get a two-night stay.

5 Tips for guilt-free mom trip (and London itinerary, too)

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 idea of us going to London several times now. So I thought I'd use this chance and visit London. If it would've been up to my taste, I'd do Marrakesh, Istanbul or La Valletta; but then he and the kids would want to visit these places, too, so I'd rather not take that from them. I started asking (girl)friends, and two more moms finally joined us: my sister-in-law and a good friend who's also my husband's friend (I'd call her Mary). Each of us got two kids, so we're really entitled to a getaway. Although, to be fair, I get a me-time quite frequently. Just recently Poppy and I and two other friends got a private spa time for ourselves. But hey, we don't get what we deserve; we get what we negotiate for!

The days of London had finally come and the four of us enjoyed ourselves in London. Despite the frequent pumping and swollen breasts (Poppy and I are still breasfeeding) and the fire alarm that went off at our hostel and scared the life out of me, we've got three-and-a-half day free of kids and husbands, three nights of undisturbed sleep (f**k you fire alarm), many rounds of beers and uninterrupted lunches and dinners. We've even got the luxury of going to the National Theater, watching Macbeth in London!

I personally think that moms' getaways are necessary. We need to recharge ourselves to come back fresh to the husbands and the kids, be it a spa weekend of London. I know for a fact that I make a better parent when I'm a happier person. Now for a guilt-free mom trips, these are my tips:

1. Get your partner on board. You need your partner's support for this. In return, your partner might also need his (or her) personal getaway. Don't forget that it's also beneficial that the kids have one-on-one time with their dad only, as well as with their mom only sometimes.
2. Build a support system. Create a network around yourselves and your family so they could function well without you sometimes. My husband could easily stay alone with the kids. However, during the week, his long hours at work mean he'd be late to pick up the kids from the daycare. In this case we call my mother-in-law and she'd stay home with the kids for the days we'd need her to. Poppy got her mom to come and help while her husband was working, Mary combined the help of a neighbor and her sister. My sister-in-law lives in the same house with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law so she had a solid support. We even have a babysitter for the times when my mother-in-law is unavailable.
3. Go with friends, make a group. If you still feel guilty and don't think you deserve a little me time and getaway, call friends to join you. They'd probably convince you to get a little break, and feel they'd join themselves. I made a little group of moms so no one needed to explain themselves why the needed the getaway.
4. Explain about personal time to the kids. If your kids are like mine, most probably they'd feel sad of not going on trip with you. They love traveling and they're used to the fact that we always take them. Poppy's son asked her whether it's forbidden that kids go to this place called London, when he's wondering why she hadn't taken the kids. Upon arrival, do something fun and interactive to wrap up your getaway. I got "This is London" book by Miroslav Šašek which is basically a London city guide for kids full of classic 60s illustrations. For my younger, I got a board book called Busy London with interactive pages.
5. Plan well, of course. Pick days that are not too busy. No painting class or french class for the kids during the days I was gone, no business trips for the husband at those days. I made a big pot of beef ragu so my husband and mother-in-law can just cook pasta and heat the ragu when they don't manage to cook proper dinner. I also plan the arrival to be on Sunday, because my kids love picking me (or their dad) up at the airport, so I planned my arrival to be on the day when my husband wasn't working and they made the trip together to the airport.

In the end, this is our three-day itinerary during guilt-free mom trip in London:

First day: we landed in Heathrow in the early afternoon, checked in to our Clink 78 hostel near King's Cross, then we took coffee-to-go and see the Buckingham Palace. We walked through the Green Park toward the Big Ben (that is under reconstruction -therefore is not visible!), crossed the the Westminster Bridge and got to Southbank on the other side of the Thames. Passing the London Eye, we strolled on the promenade and decided on having two rounds of beers and a Mexican dinner at Wahaca Southbank before heading back to rest.

Second day: we started the day at King's Cross station for Harry Potter 9 3/4 Peron, got scotch eggs from a local market at King's Cross for second breakfast (after the one at the hostel), then went to Kensington gardens and saw the Kensington Palace from afar. We strolled across the Hyde Park heading to the Park Lane, where we took our Megabus tour bus (cost only 2 pounds) that took us see most of London. Starving after the bus, we had lunch at Rose&Crown Pub at Park Lane, where we had baked potatoes and shepherd pie and a round of beers. Later we went to the London bridge, and had nice hot chocolates at Rabot 1745 at Borough Market. We walked toward Tate Modern from there, enjoy the view of London from the observation deck, and went see the exhibition at Tate (free entrance!). We settled on Chinese dinner at a restaurant nearby Tate (can't recall the name) where we had warm udon and Chinese beers before heading to the hostel.

Third day: we got up early and had full English breakfast at a bistro close from King's Cross station which also had vegetarian version of full English breakfast (Poppy is vegetarian). Then we headed to Covent Garden and Jubilee Market. It was too early for English afternoon tea, so we headed to the National Gallery at Trafalgar. We enjoyed the collections (free entrance!), then slowly heading to the National Theater at Southbank for Macbeth. Poppy got us ticket for the play for 15 pounds each and we got upgraded to great seats worth 50 pounds each. We had lunch and prosecco at the theater before the play. In the evening we headed to Camden, bought some souvenirs and sat for rounds of beers at a traditional pub the Oxford Arms at Camden Town. Of course, then we're hungry. We settled on Indian dinner this time, and headed back to King's Cross and eat at the Indian Lounge. To wrap up our trip, we had rounds of drinks at the Water Rats before heading back to sleep, because the next day we've got a very early flight :)

Do a weekend trip with 6 kids. Because you need chaos in your life.

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 with six kids. And there are the other six of big kids adults (read: us, parents).

So the Metallica tickets were sold out already last year. But my husband never has ticket in advance for any concert anyway. He's overly confident that he'll get one on the spot. I was doing the kids-activities planning. All of us have been to Vienna anyway, so I focused this trip on kids entertainment: the infamous Viennese zoo (the oldest in Europe, with giant pandas), the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs, anyone?) and the Prater area for a ferris wheel ride.

I found a big apartment for all of us, a duplex with three bedrooms so all of us stay together. I was initially planning to get us three separate studios, but my husband said, let's go all out and put us in one common space! Thing is, our firstborn is crazy (she's brilliant, but she has the energy of three toddlers). And so is the firstborn of another family which is of the same age as ours. The worst thing is, they're best friends. Since birth. Put two 4-year-old that have been best friends since birth in one roof for three days. Stimulate them with new experiences like dinosaurs, huge zoo, metro rides and foreign language. You know what happens? Super excited and tired toddlers running around up and down screaming to each other, showering each other and makes floods in the bathroom, annoying the other two older kids of the third family (they're significantly older) and resulting in one thing: a neighboring guest knocked on the door on Easter Sunday morning threatening to call the cops if we can't make them calm down. They were up since 6am.

Now that I wrote about the messy part, ask me if it was worth it. My answer is YES. It was definitely worth it. I think we (at least I) do need this kind of chaos in my life anyway. The kids gained experience they can't buy with money. Adapting to other people's habit, synchronizing with other families' rules, and just being in a group that is doing something new together. The zoo was great, the giant pandas were okay, but they enjoyed riding in the wooden carts (that was something new!). They enjoyed being in the zoo together. The dinosaurs were a hit, but my kids did half the museum and they were done, we went out to grab lunch while the two other families did the rest of it. Only one family did Prater in the end, ours didn't because the kids were far too tired.

On the last day we did Bratislava, and we met my friend who has an older son. And the older kids from the third family finally had their peer and it was fun for them. The toddlers? They were just being their crazy selves in another country. We don't do much of touristy things and we don't take many pictures and selfies, but in the end of a trip we always ask our firstborn what she liked the most about the whole experience. And her answers were: the aquarium at the zoo, the time when I made pancakes with her and the other toddler, the times when she's playing with the older kids of the third family, and her ice cream that we ate by the Danube.

Was it a crazy idea to invite so many people? It was. Would I do it all over again? Probably. At the end of the trip one of us said "we should do Prague now. But for a week". Now if you decide that you also need a little bit of chaos in your life, I've got some points to pay attention to:

Go with families with kids with similar age to yours

It's much easier for kids to enjoy each other if they're at similar age. Our firstborn is 4, the other toddler is 4. We have babies too but they don't really play yet. Then the other families have a 7 and 9 year old. Small kids are fascinated with big kids. They like them and they want to be like them. They'd run around the big kids and climb on them and touch them and hug them and, well, some big kids don't think it's cool, which is normal. They also play different kids of games, and they might even have gadgets of their own. Of course it's not a definite no no if you have to travel with kids of different ages, everything is manageable!

You have to be very close personally, and know each other well

It's commonly known that we should never, ever travel with someone we're not that close with. Even friendships break up sometimes during traveling time. It's really hard to find a good match in traveling (I did find my match and I married him!) For some reasons, the chance of a fight is much bigger on the road than at home (yours or theirs). So be prepare for it. If you're close enough with somebody, you actually can fight with him/her. You argue and in one second you fix it and laugh about it. And it will happen again. If you can't manage to fix a problem and sweep everything under the rug, the trip will be filled with lots of awkward moments.

Plan everything well, but be okay if you can't stick to the plan

I did a full three day itinerary for all of us, and it helped us all coordinate and orientate with time. We didn't force ourselves to convoy all the time (we had three cars), but we have some planned meeting points and specific times. We managed to stick to most plans, but we had to give up and made changes for specific needs (meal time, afternoon naps, toilet breaks), which was okay.

Focus on the experience, don't aim too high on the touristy side

The key? I would say don't focus on sight-seeing and see as many places as you want (and document them), focus on your kids' and your family's experience. The dining together, the tasting of local foods, the trying of public transportation, the togetherness. Or as my husband always put it: I just love the act of traveling (read: he hates taking pictures and buy souvenirs).

By the way...

About the Metallica concert? He got a ticket and went in. He went with the other toddler's dad, they managed to find a couple who was fighting and decided not to go to the concert and sell their tickets. The guys bought the tickets at much lower price than they initially were. Sometimes I can't understand how the universe functions.