3 Kids and Us

Spending Christmas in Exeter

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Christmas is right around the corner, and this year it might be time to visit a criminally underrated and under-visited place in the UK. Full of charm and personality, Exeter is primarily known as a cathedral city in the south west, but it’s also so much more.

Exeter has many attractions, and because of the city’s modest size, they’re all in a moderate walk distance away. Make sure to check out the best Christmas party venues Exeter has to offer, because you’re guaranteed to have a splendid time.

The Exeter Cathedral

Known as one of the oldest and exquisite cathedrals in all of England, it’s located in the centre of the city, and it’s stood there for almost one thousand years. The original Norman Cathedral was replaced in the 13th and 14th century, but the looming towers still remain from the original structure, while the rest of the gothic cathedral has remained mostly unchanged.

The Cathedral is the crown jewel of Devon County, and it’s the seat of the Bishop and the Mother Church of Diocese. It’s a remarkable feat of engineering, design, and craftsmanship, and is a history lesson all on its own. It’s served as a pilgrimage spot for centuries, and remains one of the most visited places in the West Country.

Do some Christmas shopping

As it is always the case with Christmas, you might want to do some shopping that goes along with the season. Well, if that’s the case, then Exeter has you covered. There are plenty of shopping venues to choose from, and they often organise dedicated Christmas shopping weekend, and sometimes even full weeks depending on the year. Places like the Fayre and the Christmas Markets offer some fantastic Christmas shopping that can rarely be matched anywhere else. 

Visit a Christmas Event

Every year there are several Christmas events to choose from, and almost all the time they also act as charity fundraisers for various charities and causes. You can attend the many parties that are being thrown all across the city, or if you’re a fan of wrestling, then you see the Christmas wrestling show, or even visit one of the many lively rave parties that regularly happen on and around Christmas. Whatever you choose, you’re bound to have tonnes of fun.

But that’s not all about Exeter, in fact, the city offers plenty of other low-key activities due to its ripe culture and history. It has an amazing library for those that prefer something more academic in nature, but also unique and interesting museums like the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. If you’re a family with kids, then you might want to check out the Crealy Great Adventure Park and its rides – it’s fun for all groups and ages.

But best of all, spending Christmas in Exeter is almost always a trip that’s definitely never going to be forgotten. It’s a place filled with love and warmth that you’ll want to visit over and over again.

How To Guarantee A Fun Family Vacation

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There are no guarantees in life, not even when you’re going on vacation. That means it’s up to you to make sure everyone’s set to have an amazing time and minimize the risk of any issues. It’s all about what you do or don’t do prior to leaving and your attitude while you’re onsite.

Make time to arrange, organize and prepare well before your travel dates. Remember that spending a bit more in travel, like chartering a private jet, can go a long way in turning your trip into a more comfortable and enjoyable one. Read more about these private jets and their average costs. Get all of your family members involved, so everyone knows what’s going on. Create a priority list to help you ensure you have the most important items covered first. See how to guarantee a fun family vacation.

Choose the Location Wisely

It’s a good idea to research your destination options and know what you’re getting into ahead of time. Reconsider automatically booking the vacation that’s the cheapest. Get input from the family to hear where each person would like to travel to and why. Weigh a variety of factors before committing to one location. The better fit your selection is for the entire group, the more fun and less friction you’ll encounter once you’re on your trip.

Get the Right Luggage

Secure the right luggage for the destination and each person. Determine if it’s doable to take carry-ons along or if you’ll be needing more space in your suitcase. Pick out designs and patterns that you can easily spot once you’re in the airport gathering your luggage. Having the proper bags will make your travels that much more enjoyable. It’s worth investing in a set that’s going to last you a while and get you to where you’re going in style.

Shop Ahead of Time

The fun part of going on a trip is the new clothes you get to buy for the vacation. Help yourself out by shopping online at a store like Vingino. The Dutch fashion company convinces with creative children’s fashion, which thrills parents and children alike. To give the kids a lot of freedom of movement, the store relies on simple cuts and casual silhouettes. Your children will love the clothing, and it will make them that much more excited to leave for your trip. Shop together and agree to items you both can get behind.

Have A Family Meeting before Departure

It’s important to all be on the same page before you take off. Have a family meeting to go over the trip details and rules for when you’re on vacation. Allow everyone to discuss concerns and ask questions. Share the details you have planned out, so the entire family feels included and knows not to expect any surprises. You can even go as far as to print out an itinerary and review each day as a group. You’re more likely to have fun and experience fewer issues when you take time to lay it all out on the table for everyone.

Plan Activities in Advance

Don’t be afraid to plan activities before your arrival. This way you know exactly what you’re doing on which days. It also promises you spots or tickets for specific excursions and activities, saving you from disappointment. Once again, ask for input from the family before you start booking reservations. While it’s nice to have plans some of the days, it’s probably best to leave some free time during your trip. Part of having a fun family vacation is getting time to unwind and being granted personal time to yourself outside of the house. It’s all about balancing out your time together and giving each individual a voice.

Unplug

As the parent, it’s a smart idea to be a good example for your kids and unplug the majority of your time on vacation. Work ahead at the office and only bring with you what you must attend to while at your destination. It’s also a good idea that everyone makes it a habit to check phones and computers once a day and not be constantly glued to them. You’ll all have a much more enjoyable and relaxed time when you’re not always staring at your devices. Observe the nature, sights, smells and sounds around you and soak up the beautiful scenery. It’s likely you’ll all regret spending too much time connected and not enough of your trip being in the moment.

Have Meals Together

Use vacation as a chance to have meals together, especially if you’re usually too busy to at home. Make it fun and allow each person to pick a restaurant or food group to try while you’re away. Mix it up and go casual one night and dress up another evening. Come ready with conversation and to discuss what each person believes to be the highlight of the trip so far. Everyone should look forward to a nice meal together after having some alone time during the day. This is also a good chance to discuss any other activities the group wants to participate in or adventures that you’ve become aware of since arriving.

Document your Favorite Memories

One way to have a little fun is to take pictures of your family members enjoying themselves on the trip. Get a mix of action shots and posed pictures and return with a lot of great images to share and keep. Make an album or create a video when you get home and be glad you have these memories that you can cherish forever. Pictures are an excellent way to remember all the fun you had and be able to look back on your trip after you get home and time passes.

Conclusion

Your family vacation won’t be same if you decide not to plan and prepare. Get organized and excited about all of the enjoyment that’s to come. Remind everyone that traveling is about bonding as a family, having new experiences together and allowing yourself to relax. Of course, there may be situations that arise and obstacles to overcome, but don’t let that stop you from having a nice time. This is how to guarantee a fun family vacation.

Three Tips for Planning a U.S. Road Trip with Your Kids

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Taking a road trip through the U.S. with your children in tow might seem like a daunting task, however, when planned properly, it can easily turn into the adventure of a lifetime. If you’re hoping to do as much exploring as possible as a family for your next trip and want to stay at home in the U.S., then a road trip could be the perfect alternative to traveling abroad. With so many different sights to see and things to do in every state, the hardest part is going to be getting your itinerary right! We’ve put together some top tips to help you plan the best family road trip ever.

Tip #1. Include the Kids from the Beginning:

Even the youngest of children can have some of a say in the type of things that they’d like to see and do on your family road trip (within reason, of course!). Giving your little ones the chance to speak up and offer their ideas for your trip will make it more of an all-inclusive family experience, and of course makes it easier down the line by ensuring that everyone gets a chance to do the things that they’d like. When your children are involved in the planning process, they’ll probably be also more likely to be excited about helping and being a little more cooperative since they’ll be more invested. One good idea is to offer them suggestions that are already parent-approved, to avoid deviating too much from your own plans.

Tip #2. Start Saving Up:

Chances are, you won’t actually be taking the trip for some time – it takes a while to plan and ensure that everything is ready to go before you can set off. So, it’s a good idea to open a designated savings account and start putting aside some money for the sole purpose of your trip. Even if you’ve already booked accommodation at hotels in Kingman, AZ such as the Best Western Kingman and have all your other expenses taken care of early on, it’s a good idea to have some money aside for emergency expenses as you never know when you might have to dip into your wallet for an extra cost that couldn’t have been predicted.

Tip #3. Start Planning:

Whilst taking a road trip with family, it’s important to have a structured plan in place so that everybody knows where is next on the list. Get the whole family together and look at your various options for travel destinations, stops along the way, and activities that you can take part in, then discuss which ones you’d like to do and which ones can be missed out. This will help you to put together an awesome travel itinerary that everybody agrees on and is happy with because it includes all members of your family. Then, create a list – or even a spreadsheet – that maps out exactly where you’re going and what you’re going to do and when.

Did you enjoy these tips? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

The Top 4 Architectural Wonders of Barcelona

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Barcelona is a city known throughout the world for its unique buildings and architecture. From the incomplete Sagrada Familia to hidden architectural icons. The city has made (and is still making) a global impact on architecture.

Palau de la Musica Catalana – The Palau is a UNESCO world heritage site and has been labelled by many as a masterpiece of Modernisme. It’s one of the most iconic buildings of Barcelona and a great place to see the unique architectures of the city.  The building is only accessible via a guided tour, you can discover the wonders of Palau de Música by BGB guided tour. You can get tours in various European languages, so don’t worry if you aren’t a fluent English speaker.

Sagrada Familia – Still incomplete, this masterpiece is set to be completed in 2040 at the current rate of construction. Once completed it will have taken longer to construct this church than the great Pyramid of Giza. This church is known the world over for its otherworldly looks but is actually a working building, holding catholic services. It’s open regularly for visitors and holds regular worship on a Sunday, which visitors to the city can join.

Park Guell – Gaudi has left his mark on the city and one of the most iconic pieces of Catalan modernism can be seen at Park Guell, originally designed as a private park this park later became a municipal park. At the park you can find the Gaudi House Museum which is listed as a historical artistic monument of national interest and is well worth visiting. The park is world famous for it’s iconic mosaics and viaduct within the hillside.

Església de Santa Maria del Mar – Barcelona is not only famous for modernist work, this is a unique medieval building built in a Gothic style but with a unique Catalan twist. The church is renowned for its purity and unity within the design.

Barcelona is a great city to visit but no visit is complete without visiting some of the architectural wonders that the city has to offer. There is a huge amount to see and it will leave you feeling amazed and inspired. Barcelona isn’t just a hotbed for modernist buildings but there are a huge amount of fantastic architectural wonders from earlier times too. Barcelona has always been a world leader when it comes to building cutting edge buildings which push architectural limits of the time.

Top 5 Cool Hiking Locations for Families with Kids

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Hiking is great for kids, it develops lots of skills and abilities, it teaches them how nature works and how they should behave in a group. If you want to take maximum advantage of all these lessons and fun you can have, you need to pick the right spot. When a hike becomes too difficult, too easy or too boring for your kids, you might see your plans shattered forever.

Goose Rock, Deception Pass State Park

Located on Whidbey Island, Deception Pass State Park has a lot to offer in terms of scenery and adventure. One of the trails you can try with your kids is the roundtrip to Goose Rock.

Children can have a quick swim before the trip seeing as your journey starts near the beach, on the western shore of Cranberry Lake. You’ll follow the North Beach Trail which gives you the chance to teach children a thing or two about the Great Depression since you’ll cross a beautifully engineered bridge from the 1930s.

The trail is amazing, you’ll see many wildflowers and lush green vegetation, you can admire Mount Baker and Cornet Bay, finding your way through grassy areas. The vegetation includes wild currant and Madrone trees that are really old. If you go there during the autumn, you can even taste some of their wild berries.

You can also see remnants of the last ice age that has sculpted the landscape at the place called The Balds. There are meadows here with mosses as well as other plants, and once you’ve admired all of them you can continue your way up to Goose Rock, where you’ll have an awesome view of the surroundings.

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Cape Disappointment, Southwest Washington

This is a great location that can be visited throughout the year. The place is near the ocean and the weather is generally very pleasant. Your kids will fall in love with the waves hitting the shore, and even the storms can offer great opportunities to learn more about the local weather. However, it’s best to teach the kids how to waterproof boots, if they’re going to be chasing the waves.

A cool hike for you and them is that to Cape Disappointment. You’ll start at the North Head Lighthouse, where there’s a quick and interesting guided tour. The most amazing thing about the place is that it was all covered by the ocean, but building the dam is how the campsite was erected.

After that, you can hike to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. You can tell kids the story of Captains Vancouver and Gray analyzing the layout of Columbia River and how they didn’t sail it in the end. That’s why you’re now climbing up to Cape Disappointment instead of Cape Content. The trail itself can be tackled either by foot or by car, but it encompasses terrific views well worth it.

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

This National Park has plenty to offer both kids and adults. For instance, the Giant Logs Trail is an awesome hike for the whole family where you’ll be in awe at all the huge trees you can see. The biggest of them all, Old Faithful, has a length of 170 feet and a diameter of 9 feet. You can admire its growth rings and teach children how you can measure the age of trees using these growth rings.

There are also lots of programs and events you can take part in with your children. Most of them relate to fossils and their importance to us from an evolutionary standpoint. Some of these fossils are actually from the Triassic Period, there’s a paleontology lab and you can see scientists at work if you’re going on a guided tour.

Besides, the Petrified Forest is another great place to visit. This can take you as far back as 200 million years ago, and your kids can learn all about dinosaurs and how the landscape looked then. You can also hike to Crystal Ridge where there are plenty of archaeological artifacts, sites, and pueblos to admire.

Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland/Virginia

There’s lots of fun to be had here too, this is a wonderful seashore park. The island between Maryland and Virginia is home to herds of wild horses and your kids will enjoy seeing them run free. But there are plenty of other activities and guided programs that you can take advantage of during your stay.

One of these things is camping. You can stay on the beach and enjoy the sun, maybe even squeeze in a swim. The Ranger Programs are amazing since they teach you all about the barrier island landscape, or you can take wildlife photographs. But show your kids how to make a paracord neck lanyard so they can carry their cameras more at hand.

Apart from that, your kids can enjoy exploring the environment on a bike, you can try a little family canoeing or kayaking, and of course, there’s the awesome horseback riding.

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Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia

Also known as the Little Grand Canyon, the whole trip is about 5 miles and of a moderate intensity. There are sandstone canyons here with abrupt walls and of different colors, and the trails themselves are sandy. That might make them more difficult to tackle, but they offer stunning views.

These walls meander their way around the canyon floor and you have miles and miles of trails you can do. The array of nuances from white and pink to intense orange and purple is a great chance for you to explain to kids how this landscape came to life.

The Canyon Loop Trail is one of the hikes you can do with your kids because it offers diverse landforms. Walking through a dark forest and a sandy riverbed, there are many sinuous canyons you can explore made out of fragile, crumbly sandstones.

Have you made up your mind?

With so many wonderful places to visit, we’re curious where you’ll be setting off to next. What great location will you choose and why? Let us know in the comments.

Author Bio

Rebecca lives in USA, but loves hiking all over the world. Her favorite is Everest Base Camp Trek in Nepal. It usually takes 16 days, but she likes to slow down, enjoy mountains, company of other adventurers and take more pictures, so it took her 28 days last time. Another of her passion is the ocean, so all short and long hikes along the ocean shore bring a lot of joy. She also writes for HikingMastery.com

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We left our home in Sydney, Australia many moons ago in May 2012 and, other than a brief stint back in Perth for Christmas and a wedding in early 2014, we have been travelling the world nomadically ever since, running a business from our laptops and we’re here to show you how to do it!