My Year In Travel, 2015

2015 was pretty eventful year for my family – filled with highs and lows. From an unexpected six-week trip to Chicago, a visit to Dubai and Oman, a cheeky trip with my best mate to Istanbul and a winter break in Copenhagen, 2015 has seen me take 20 flights on 11 trips and travel to 8 different countries – three of which were completely new to me. I also enjoyed exploring my home city of London. Here’s a look at what happened in 2015.

January

Our new year started on the slopes in the Portes du Soleil resort in the French Alps. Toasting the New Year with a cocktail and a ski (not at the same time), we had high hopes for 2015 and I had fully expected to return to the slopes a few weeks later with some friends for a long weekend. But, life took a bit of a detour and I ended up travelling eight hours in the opposite direction – to America. During a work trip to Chicago my husband fell critically ill with bacterial meningitis. At the end of the month I was on a plane to America with my two-year-old daughter hoping my husband would make it through.

February

I spent the month of Februray in Chicago during one of the coldest winters for years – temperatures you would never see here in the UK (and a wind chill to boot). My husband was out of the induced coma and seemed to be making good progress after heart surgery to replace two damaged valves.

I looked for things to entertain my daughter to escape the hospital and hotel and visited a lot of museums writing about my top five family-friendly activities in Chicago in winter. Midway through the month, Paul was allowed out of hospital and we even went for a belated Valentine’s meal but, a few days later, he had a serious relapse. It was touch and go but he made it! In many ways, he was very lucky! It was incredibly scary time in our lives and during those dark days my daughter was my absolute rock.

March

After six weeks in America, we finally made it back to the UK in mid-March. Paul sporting two metal heart valves. It was fantastic to return home after so long away and I made a note of the things I did NOT miss about America. In March, we should have been going on what would have been an amazing trip to Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (which has been on my wish list for a long time) but we obviously had to cancel after my husband’s illness. Instead my husband got researching alternative holiday plans with good hospital facilities high on the list.

April

We went to the French Alps for a few days for Easter. I did a bit of skiing and we enjoyed spending time with friends and my daughter liked hunting for chocolate eggs as well as doing some sledging! Back in the UK, my daughter and I enjoyed some unseasonably hot weather and discovered the brilliant children’s park in London, Coram’s Fields. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights of Spring and we also celebrated my husbands birthday at Marcus Wareing’s London restaurant.

May

We took a long overdue visit to one of our local landmarks, the world famous Kew Gardens, and I pondered whether it deserves the hype. Then we were off on our travels again. We decided to play it relatively safe and visited the Middle East for two weeks, staying at the exquisite One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai for a week. We have visited Dubai on numerous occasions and I weighed up the pros and cons of holidaying in Dubai. I also found at least ten activities available in one shopping mall! We took a short break to the adjoining country, Oman, where we stayed at the beautiful hotel The Chedi in the capital, Muscat, and took in some of the sights including the city’s Grand Mosque. A few more days in Dubai then we returned home where Summer was almost in sight.

June

My best friend invited me to Istanbul in June. I hesitated for about ten seconds before jumping straight it. Istanbul has been a city I’ve had in my sights for a long time. With my husband on the mend and a turbulent year, it was great to get away for a girlie weekend. It was my first overseas trip without my daughter. The city lived up to my expectations – despite a dodgy taxi journey from the airport. We explored all the main sights of Istanbul, including the Blue Mosque, and sampled some of the city’s restaurants and bars. When I got home, I spent some quality time with my daughter, including going strawberry picking and seeing In The Night Garden Live. I also got the opportunity to catch up with fellow travel bloggers and family bloggers at the brilliant BritMums Live.

July

In early July we headed to Spain, renting out a villa with friends just outside Barcelona. It was a fun trip and we took the opportunity to explore a bit more of historic Catalonia. As well as Barcelona, we visited Tarragona where I was impressed by the ancient roman ruins as well as Monserrat. Back in the UK we enjoyed our home city, London, and explored what is one of my favourite parks in London, Richmond Park.

August

Always a busy month with our wedding anniversary and my daughter’s birthday. At the beginning of the month we celebrated (early) our anniversary with a one night stay at the impressive Chewton Glen hotel in the New Forest. We also went to watch The Ashes at the Oval. Later that month we went back to France to my husband’s family holiday home. I realised just how much I love the Alps in Summer. We went hiking with our three-year-old daughter, visited the local swimming baths and took a trip to the stunning lakeside town, Annecy. It was then onto Mallorca to spend time with my husband’s family and enjoy a few days in the sun.

 September

After arriving back from Mallorca, we knuckled down to some work and I took some time to appreciate my local surroundings like the historic Bushy Park hear Hampton court and, with the Rugby World Cup kicking off, I explored my local town, Twickenham, proving there’s more to it than rugby.

October

A relatively quiet month, we headed up to Leeds to see my husband’s family where I explored the Wakefield Sculpture Park. To my delight, the Poppies which had been at the Tower of London were on display there in a smaller installation. We also attended the first ever Family Travel Show in London.

November

My good friend, Gen, from Singapore came to visit us in November. We had last seen her in her home country during our trip in 2014 to Malaysia and Singapore (where we ate A LOT). I took the opportunity to try out a London open-top bus tour and be a tourist in my own town. On the Big Bus Tours, I learnt a lot about London and wrote about 10 lesser known facts surrounding my home city. I also began the linky I co-host with MummyTravels, City Tripping, which we run every Tuesday. At the end of the month we headed to Copenhagen – another city I had been itching to visit. I loved it! A friendly place with a very chilled vibe. We explored its main sights on a bus and boat tour, checked out the Christmas Markets and visited the amazing Tivoli Gardens.

December

During our four day stay in Copenhagen we took a day trip over to Malmo in Sweden – it’s just a train ride away over the Osmund Bridge. Then we were in the full swing of the festive season! I found at least five things you can do in London with kids and we took a family trip to see The Gruffalo Live which my daughter thoroughly enjoyed. After working in my job in TV news over Christmas, we headed to the slopes again for New Year, spending it in Morzine, France where I saw two sides to a ski resort: sun and snow.

We’re very much looking forward to more travels in 2016. With a little one on the way (hooray!), some of our travel plans have been disrupted (boo) as I won’t be able to to fly in late pregnancy but we started the year heading to warmer climes in beautiful Sri Lanka and created a better start to 2016 after the unexpected events of last year. Wishing you a wonderful, travel-filled 2016!