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Over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself wanting to visit more and more places with the kids before they grow up and leave home. But it wasn’t until last year that I actually found the confidence to just jump on a bus or train and take them away by myself. Crazy, huh? Anyway, back in January 2018 we sat down together and made a list of 12 places we’d love to visit over the course of the year. And although we only ticked a few of them off of the list, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the places we did visit.
This year, we decided to make a list of our top 10 travel goals for 2019. And even though I honestly don’t think we’ll be able to cross them all off the list before the year comes to an end, we’re determined to give it our very best shot! So, without further ado, let me tell you about all the lovely places we’d really love to visit this year!
OK, so the first place on our list is actually exactly the same as it was last year! And that place is the Calypso Cove Waterpark in Barnsley. The waterpark can be found in the Metrodome Leisure Complex, and it has 3 different pools for the whole family to enjoy. I’ve been promising the kids we could visit Calypso Cove for so long now, but we’ve still never been. However, I know for a fact that we’ll be visiting this year as I’ve organised a coach trip from our home town during February Half Term. Eek!
As well as having the 3 different pool areas, Calypso Cove is home to 3 amazing looking flumes, a slide that’s perfect for little ones to use as it goes down into the shallow end of the pool, and a fantastic four-lane open slide that’s great for racing down with your friends! There’s even a diving board made to look and feel as if you’re about to walk the plank. How cool is that!?
After your swim, you can enjoy a tasty treat at The Hideout poolside restaurant. It looks like they do some really delicious snacks and meals, and I’ll definitely be taking the kids to eat there when we finally go for our swim. I’m really glad we’re finally crossing this off our bucket list of places we’d like to visit this half term, as like I mentioned before, the kids have been wanting to check it out for years. I can’t wait to see their little faces when we arrive! Priceless.
Next up on my list of places I’d love to travel to this year is the Greek island of Crete. My kids have never been abroad before. And, if I’m honest, I can’t really remember what it feels like to travel out of the country myself. It’s been that long! When we were looking at booking a foreign holiday last year we came across the TUI Sensatori Resort Atlantica Caldera Palace in Crete, and it looks like an absolutely amazing place to stay for people who maybe haven’t been abroad before and want to make everything as easy as possible.
The resort can be found in Analipsi, a traditional village that’s home to a handful of cafés, bars and beach shops. And as it’s all-inclusive, it means we wouldn’t have to head out every evening to find someone affordable to eat. It has 6 pools, a spa with 23 treatment rooms, 7 restaurants and lots of different areas to keep the kids entertained. It even has free wi-fi so I could even take my laptop with me and do a bit of blogging if I wanted to … nah, who am I kidding!? If we were lucky enough to stay here I’d definitely want to be relaxing rather than working!
I’ve been reading up on Crete a lot over the last few months, and it’s the biggest of the Greek Islands, with lots of lovely things for families to do there. I think Oscar would love to take a Pirate Ship Cruise. And Stacey would be in her element exploring nearby Chrissi Island. I really hope that we can visit the island later this year as I know the kids would be in their element.
It will be Oscar’s 6th birthday this May (I know, I know! Where has the time gone!?) And the one present he’s asked for is to take a trip down to LEGOLAND! Now, I only really wanted to visit for the day, as it’s quite an expensive place to go. But due to us living in the middle of nowhere, we’d most definitely have to make a weekend of it or we’d only be able to spend a couple of hours in the park.
LEGOLAND is somewhere both myself and Stacey have wanted to visit for a long time too. So I know we’d all enjoy spending time there. There looks to be lots of different LEGO ‘Worlds’ to explore once you’re inside. And I reckon Oscar would love NINJAGO World and Pirate Shores, and Stacey would definitely enjoy Heartlake City. She had loads of LEGO Friends playsets when she was younger. And, me? Well, as long as there’s somewhere I can sit and build for half an hour or so I’ll be a happy bunny. I mean, I like to think of myself as being quite the master builder!
If we did manage to travel down for Oscar’s birthday, I’d really like to stay in one of the themed rooms in the LEGOLAND hotel. If you hadn’t already noticed, he’s crazy about pirates, so I think one of their pirate themed rooms would be right up his street. They’re all decked out with pirate bedding, curtains, wallpaper, and more! It would be a real birthday treat. Keep everything crossed for us with this one, guys.
The next place on my bucket list of places to travel to in 2019 is The Algarve in Portugal. And this is somewhere I’ve been wanting to visit in what feels like forever. In fact, I’ve mentioned it so many times here on my blog in the past that I’m sure you guys must be getting sick and tired of hearing about it! LOL.
It would be my dream to stay in a lovely villa in The Algarve with the whole family, although it’s absolutely huge, so I’d probably need a private jet to get us there. LOL. How much does a private jet cost to rent? Does anyone know? Anyway, I’d preferably like to hire a villa with a private pool so the kids can go for a swim whenever they wanted. And I could take lots and lots of lovely photographs of them enjoying themselves without having to worry about being told off because I might get other people’s children in them.
As well as spending lots of time just relaxing, and splashing in the pool, I’d love to check out the local area and maybe go on a boat trip or something. It looks like The Algarve has a lot to offer, and I’d really love to explore it. I know that Stacey would enjoy it too, as she’s always saying how much her friends love their foreign holidays. I’d love to take my two abroad just once before they grow up.
Another place I’d love to visit outside of the UK is Iceland. And I’m not gonna lie – this is mainly because I’d love to see the Northern Lights! I mean, who wouldn’t? The Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon that doesn’t always appear when you might expect them. So I definitely wouldn’t travel to Iceland just to try and see them. Which is why it’s a good thing there are loads of other things to do out there.
The first thing on my list would be to go waterfall hunting, as I’m absolutely mesmerised by them! I just think there’s something breathtaking about watching the water plunge from a great height into a stream or river below. And Iceland is said to be full of jaw-dropping waterfalls that are amazing to see. And I’d also like to snorkel through the Silfra Fissure – the only place in the world where you can swim through two tectonic plates – the North American and Eurasian continental plates. Imagine how cool it would be to one day tell the grandkids about that time you swam between two continents!? Amazing!
Visiting Iceland would be an absolute dream come true for me. And I just know I’d enjoy every second of my trip there. I think it’s the ultimate travel bucket list destination at the moment, isn’t it? It’s most definitely a place that’s increasing in popularity each year.
As we’re lucky enough to live on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border, I thought it would be nice to try and take the kids out to explore the local area more this year. And I’d love to start by taking them to the wonderful Lumsdale Valley in Matlock, a true hidden gem that can be quite tricky to find!
Lumsdale Valley is the perfect place to visit if you enjoy walking as not only is it absolutely beautiful, but it’s steeped in history too. The recommended walking route begins at the top of the valley, in Upper Lumsdale, in the layby opposite the carpark entrance to Highfields Upper School. The trail takes you past remnants of buildings from a bygone age, and there are information boards at poignant locations telling you all about the valley’s industrial past. These capture the history of the area perfectly and really bring the trail to life.
The trail also takes you past some beautiful natural waterfalls, and the scenery is just so breathtaking that it’s definitely not a place you’ll want to miss visiting if you’re ever in the area. It really is a beautiful place to explore, whatever the weather. And I’d really love to go back again this year.
Another place that featured on last year’s travel bucket list that we never got round to visiting was Disneyland Paris! There was actually a very selfish reason for me wanting to go to Disneyland Paris last year. And that was because Stacey was supposed to be going on a school trip to Paris with school this year, and one of the places they were going to be visiting while they were there was Disneyland. And since I always imagined that I’d be the first person to see her reaction if we were ever lucky enough to visit, I wanted to try and take her before she went with her friends. That’s so bad, isn’t it!?
Anyway, shortly after writing up my post on places I’d love to take the kids last year, I came down with pneumonia and was really poorly. So instead of going to a friends party one Saturday night, she decided to stay home and keep me company. And that was when some of her so-called ‘friends’ started bullying her. The bullying went on for months and the school refused to do anything about it.
So, in July, I applied for a place at a local college who were happy to take on children under 16 to do their GCSE’s, and she was accepted! But she’s obviously missing out on the trip she was looking forward to now, so I’m determined to get to Disneyland this year. Even if it’s only for the day. I just know both she and Oscar would love it as we’re kind of Disney crazy in our house.
If any of you guys have been to Disneyland Paris before and have any tips for booking a trip away, please let me know in the comments below. I always think the booking process looks super scary, and I don’t want to mess it all up if we do finally get the chance to go!
08. Cherry Tree, Great Yarmouth
Every single year Nathan and I find ourselves booking a holiday to Hemsby, near Great Yarmouth, because we love the area so much. But we’ve both admitted that we’re getting a little fed up of being in the same place now. So we’ve decided that we’re going to stay at a Parkdean site called Cherry Tree this year instead.
We’ve been to Cherry Tree in the past, and the kids love it because there’s a nice big pool, a fancy dining area, and a kids club to keep them entertained throughout the day. Stacey once made a monkey pizza at the kids club when she was younger. It looked awesome!
There’s always loads to do in Great Yarmouth, which is why we go back year after year. The kids love walking around the Model Village, going on the rides at the funfair and taking boat trips on the Norfolk Broads. And Cherry Tree is a great place to stay as it’s not too far from all the action! This year I’ve been reading a lot about places such as Holkham Hall and Wells-next-the-sea, which we’ve never been to before, and I think I’m going to suggest to Nathan that we visit them both during our stay as they sound just lovely.
Last summer, Nathan and I took Oscar to a place called Sundown Adventureland for the day. And we all thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so, in fact, that Oscar has already asked to go back several times this year! Sundown Adventureland (formerly known as Pets Corner), is an under 10’s theme park based in Retford, Notts. And even though it’s slightly rundown and in need of an update, there’s something charming about it that you can’t help but love!
There are loads of different rides and attractions to be found at Sundown, and Oscar loved that it’s home to an awesome Angry Birds Activity Park! We found that we could go on the majority of rides with him, which is always good when you’ve got younger children, and the ones we couldn’t go on were more than suitable for his age and ability. And it has an absolutely huge indoor play area as well. It was absolutely red hot when we visited last May, so there weren’t many kids in the play area, which meant Oscar could play safely on his own.
As well as Sundown having lots of rides and attractions, there’s a lovely little cafe where you can grab a bite to eat at a reasonable price too. I think this made a big difference to our visit as we were expecting to spend a small fortune while we were there. The food was delicious too. We will definitely be taking him back later on in the year, and I know he can’t wait!
And last but certainly not least, I would love to take the kids on a Disney Cruise this year! We all love being out on the water, so I think a cruise would make the perfect holiday for us. And one that comes with a little added Disney magic would be even better. Don’t you agree?
Disney Cruise’s combine a trip around lots of different destinations, but are made extra special by having the added Disney element! For example, you can meet your favourite characters on board. And have certain meals with them, just like you can at Disneyland. The cruise ships look absolutely incredible, and there are plenty of dining options, kids clubs, and evening entertainment to keep the whole family happy.
I just know my two would be over the moon if I ever announced we were going on a Disney cruise, but I have to be honest and say it’s likely to be the one thing on my list that we won’t get to do this year. Purely because they tend to be quite pricey. A girl can dream, though. Can’t she!?
And there you have it, my top 10 travel goals for 2019. I hope you enjoyed having a read, and that it’s inspired you to check out a few new places this year as well.
Have you ever visited any of the places on my list?
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments below.
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