To holiday or not to holiday? That is the (very easy) question.

Big A and I come from very large families, each with very different ideas on holidays... he would go away most years, he especially remembers with amusement and fondness the 3 years in a row when 7 of them would pile into a 5 seater car (his eldest brother had a ride with family friends). 

They would travel all the way from the North-East of England to the South of France - hours and hours squashed into their Vauxhall Cavalier, before the days of air conditioning, and piled high with luggage and enough food for weeks. His spot was in the space in front of the back seat, but just behind where the driver and passenger seats meet... so one might think he'd have very negative associations with family holidays. But no, he loved it. A total of 3 weeks away, camping in Tours, France. 

He had also been away on caravan holidays, trips to Disneyland, and other places, meaning that every year they went away together as a family.

My family... not so much. I can distinctly remember the only 3 times we went on a family holiday. Once to my Grannie's childhood home in Coldbackie, North Scotland; 

another when we rented a 12 berth barge and sailed around the Midlands' cannals for 5 or 7 days (lucky we like each other- that's a long time in such close quarters!!); 

The last holiday was actually just 7 of us (I'm from a family of 10) as my older 3 siblings were away and/or married. My Grandpa had decided that it was high time we had a holiday and so rented a house for us in Sheringham, Norfolk for 2 weeks.

All 3 of our holidays are remembered with great fondness and great memories.

In fairness to my mum, we lived in a beautiful part of West Wales, that many would pay hundreds of pounds to rent a holiday home in... 15 mins from a beach, incredible countryside, and an amazing family home:

** This really is my childhood home (from age 18 months to 19 years when I went to uni) ... yeah... I was pretty lucky!**

Also... let's be honest, if I had 8 children, I'd probably want to stay put! In fact, I imagine I'd just book myself a week's solitary confinement each year!

Anyway... my point is, we came from very different attitudes towards family holidays.

When Big A and I first got married, we decided that we would follow in his family's footsteps. Both children had passports within their first couple years of life. Little JJ had his at 3 months (it'll be fun attempting to get him through airport security when he's 4 1/2!)

We've had varying amounts of money through the years, but have managed to get some real bargains and lovely times... our holidays have been to:

2008 - Honeymoon in Lefkas, Greece :

Gorgeous weather, delicious food, 2 boat trips (including one where we didn't realise we were supposed to bring swimwear and were the only numpties fully dressed at a beach stop!), we thought we were getting a 3 bed villa, and ended up with a tiny unkempt studio apartment with twin beds and a random wet room ... fun times! 

2009 - Visiting Big A's sister in Calgary, Canada

Calgary zoo, the incredible Banff - swimming in hot springs and slipping over on icy paths, climbing the Calgary tower, Cardston LDS temple and all you can eat ribs

2010 - Caravan holiday in Betws Y Coed, Snowdonia

My first experience of a caravan, train to the top 1/3 of Snowdon (thanks to high winds we didn't get all the way to the top... we tried to walk the rest, but I nearly got blown off a cliff!), amaaaazing chip shop (seriously... go if you're ever within an hour's drive!!), finally going to the town with the longest Welsh word (llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - yes it's real), Powys Castle, immense ice creams at Beddgelert and the wonderful experience of having to clean out the toilet canister! (We've always gone to a static caravan since that one!)

2011 - Spa hotel on Isle of Wight

I was 4 months pregnant, so I mostly remember feeling/being sick... but other than that: ferry boat rides, gorgeous coastlines, thrashing Big A at miniature golf, swimming, weird craving for fish at a fancy meal (I hate fish), slushies on the beach, riding a WWII anti aircraft gun (even though there was a sign directly next to it saying not to climb on! - we had permission... honest)

2012 - Holiday home in Coldbackie, North Scotland

Squashed 12 hour car drive up, random stop off at a maize maze (where the maize wasn't fully grown, so it only came up to our chests!... not the most complicated maze we've been on!), incredible sweeping beach, mountain behind the house (literally), sledging down sand-dunes (great fun!!), using our coats as parachutes to get blown around by the high winds (so so so funny - highly recommended), a date night out (we were told there was this fancy restaurant close by... as it turned out, it was basically someone's big conservatory on a council house looking home with tables and chairs... can't fault the food though ;) )

 

                                     

2013 - Holiday house in Wimereux, France:

Brugge, Lille, free zoos, beach BBQs, weird and awkward sunburn, 5 of us packed into a 2 bed tiny house (we went with my sister Bethany and her husband, Lewis), patisseries .... ooooh the patisseries... how I loooove the French patisseries................. 

2014 - Caravan park in Champagne, France

One of our all time favourites - really wonderful caravan site, we hope to be able to get back there again one of these days. Plus, lots of crepes, croissants, nutella... (can you tell we are into food in a big way ;) love it!)

2015 - Caravan park in New Quay, Ceredigion:

Lovely boat trip where we saw a dolphin and her calf, lots of beach days and pool trips, meet ups with childhood friends (some literally randomly bumping into them)... I'd imagine lots of yummy food too - we usually do!

2016 - Caravan park in Carnac, Brittany, France

Just got back from a lovely sunny fun filled time. I'll do a separate blog about it at some point (ironically, this one was started with the intent of it being about that holiday only... ah my scatty brain!)

One fun thing from it to wet the appetite though...

We went to the beach one day, we were meeting up with Bethany and Lewis who were also holidaying in Brittany (I'll explain that one in the next blog!) They'd had a beach recommended to them, and as it turned out, it was a HUGE beach with lots of different stop offs. We found one, attempted to ask a couple leaving in broken French whether this was the way to the beach... they took longer to answer than a simple "oui or non", but we thought, "what the heck, it sounds like a yes... plus we're pretty sure we can see the pathway to it.

We got there... and weren't overly impressed with the spikey shell like sand, but stayed put, had a paddle, a walk and a picnic. Whilst there, we kept noticing one or two people who seemed very confident in their own skin... their naked skin! We figured it was just some "French exhibitionists", and carried on. We even noticed someone fly fishing in the nude! (careful with those hooks buddy!), we walked quite far down and when we eventually made our way back it was crawling with nudies... we were quite shocked and embarrassed (and highly amused), and thankfully we were on our way out anyway. 

On the pathway back to the car, we noticed a sign... a sign that we really should have read on our way to the beach... it even had an English translation for heavens sake!! 

Oops! 

In closing... the answer to my original question - to holiday or not to holiday - yes, absolutely, 100%, whenever possible, go on holiday! They are wonderful... The memories made are totally worth the money spent... plus just grab yourself a last minute bargain - that's what we do... other than Greece and Canada, none of these holidays cost more than £200!