Such a privilege to visit this incredible country that still feels so magical & undiscovered. We began this trip on the beach at Ngapali, then travelled to Mandalay. We then took a long road trip to Bagan via U-bein bridge. We visited an elephant sanctuary in Kalaw, & spent a few days on Inle lake before heading home via Yangon. We have so many highlights from this incredible three week trip, but here are the kids...
Archie - my favourite things about Myanmar was lots of swimming, seeing the Bagan temples at sunrise with Mum & LOADS of family time.
Milo - my favourite things were learning to swim like a nemo fish & looking after the ELEPHANTS!!!! (Especially the little elephant called "naughty boy" - he was my favourite!)
Lottie - I loved cuddling lots of babies & making new friends.
A fabulously fun, caffeine fuelled, city break to New York. We were only there 4 days, so decided to use LonelyPlanet kids as our guide. We got a birds-eye view of the city from the “Top of the Rock’; spent a blissful day in Central park; visited the Natural History Museum; the Museum of the Moving Image; and spent a day on a water taxi viewing New York from the river Hudson.
“I loved our view out of our bedroom window - all day long it changed. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was also amazing” Archie, 8
“I loved going to ‘Ess-A-Bagel’ for breakfast - best bagels in the whole world” Milo, 5
“Yellow cars!!!! That was my best. And we saw some green ones too” Lottie, 2
A special little girls trip to Byron Bay to hang out with some of the Cousins.
We loved backpacking Thailand! We explored some of the beaches around Phuket, stayed in three jungle tree houses in Khao Sok national park; took a long tail boat to the remote island of Koh Yao Noi, and then stayed in Bangkok with friends.
"Snorkeling off the tiny islands was amazing - it was like seeing another world under the sea" - Archie, 7
"Living in a tree house was my favourite bit, and sleeping under mossie nets with Archie every night!" - Milo, 5
"A cheeky monkey ate my pens!" - Lottie, 2
Sri Lanka is a tiny island but packed full of amazing things. In 3 weeks we saw jungles, mountains, tea plantations, went on safari, ate so much yummy food, and stayed on the most beautiful beach we have ever seen.
"My best memory was climbing Sigiriya rock with my friend Evie. There were 1200 steps. It was really hard, but the view from the top was amazing" - Archie, 6
"Sri Lanka has all the best drinks. Coconut milk, 'Milo' milk and Sri Lankan tea! I loved everything about it!" - Milo, 4
This wasn't a backpacking adventure - but it was a special holiday all the same. We've been to Cyprus 3 times, but this was the first time that we went as a family of 5.
We went to New Zealand to see two special friends get married on the North Island. We then travelled round the South Island in a campervan visiting Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Wanaka, QueensTown, Fox Glacier and many other amazing stop offs in between.
We flew to Bali for Auntie Chucky's wedding. Milo was just a bump in Mummy's tummy. We stayed in and around Seminyak and Nusa Dua, and spent lots of time with family.
Archie's first backpacking trip. We went to visit a project 'Hope Missions', that is still very important to us.
These are some of our favourite travelling memories pre-children...
