Miami, the home of beautiful white skyscrapers contrasted against never ending palm trees, expensive cars and an acceptable dress code of active wear.  We were not really sure what to expect on this family holiday, but I must say that we were pleasantly surprised.  I expected a lot of tits and arse and drunken shenanigans, and whilst I am sure there is plenty of that in parts of Miami, it is not the version we uncovered during our vacay.  I left describing it as the friendly and tropical version of NYC.

I thought it would be fun to share my top 5 holidays of all time and give everyone a little more insight into my travel history.  Essentially this list also reflects my fave places in the world, both for what they have to offer but also due to the many happy memories that I have made in each place.  So here we go, my top 5!

It has been well communicated that we recently traveled to the Margaret River Region in Australia to attend two VIP weddings.    Its a truly incredible part of the world – beautiful beaches, a wide array of food options from fine dining to quality bakeries, delicious wines and every type of accommodation option you can think of from glamping to high end resorts. We have been traveling to Margaret River for weekend escapes or a lazy week on the beach as long as I can remember.  Actually, the very first little trip that Troy and I took together was to Dunsborough, so it was pretty special to finally take our little girl there.  No one could have predicted the adventures we would go on or the things we would achieve together during that first visit – at that point in time we had only been dating for about 3 months.  This trip was a little different as we had a toddler in tow and we spent longer there than we usually would.  Here is a recap on our vacay to the South West of Australia.

I had been eager to travel to Dubai for a while prior to my first visit and now somehow we have managed 3 visits in the past 4 years.  Dubai is a place that likes to advertise to the world that it is all singing and all dancing – it is a great place for a stop over but it also interesting to see that it is still very much under construction.  Our first stay was the final leg of our honeymoon and the next trip was when I accompanied my husband on a work trip in 2016.  In 2017 we travelled to Dubai for the Dubai World Cup which had been a bucket list item of ours for many years.  My parents met us in Dubai (they were en route to England for a visit) which meant they could babysit whilst we had our first baby free outing.  Given that we like the heat, this is a perfect destination for us.  However, during our trip in June it was too hot, so I would personally avoid the height of summer and especially if you have a little one in tow.  Here are the highlights of our visits and some useful information if you are planning to travel to Dubai yourself!

Budapest is the best place in the world to celebrate our daughter’s first birthday, said no one ever.  Whilst Budapest is perhaps not your most obvious first choice of locations for a family holiday with a young child, I can highly recommend it.  We jetted off to Hungary for my baby girl’s birthday and to celebrate the fact that we survived the first year of parenthood and guess what – we loved it!  Its fair to say that it took a few days to find our feet, but once we got into the swing of the city I did not want to leave. Keep reading to discover why I think you should travel to Budapest yourself.

This week I am throwing it back to one of our favorite trips last year – Barcelona!!  I was heavily pregnant during this trip, so much so they questioned me when I boarded the flight and I had to show them medical documentation confirming I was safe to fly.  We were meeting our very good friends there whom were on their honeymoon as unfortunately we were unable to attend their wedding in Bali a couple of weeks earlier due to the distance from England and the late stage of my pregnancy.  But a weekend in Barcelona was the next best thing and what a fabulous time we had.  So much so that we decided to return this year for a weekend away also.  We hadn’t been to Barcelona since our Contiki tour in 2008 and all I remember from that visit was too much sangria and a very sick boyfriend on the bus ride the following day (I will spare you the details!!).