We at wandermust family love hearing about other families inspirational family travel stories. This month we get to hear from one of my favourite travel bloggers – My Lifelong Holiday – an amazing family making the most out of school holidays and free time! 

 1. What is your family travel? Full-time, part-time, digital nomads etc.

We travel when we can but it has to fit in with school and school holidays so mainly weekends and school holidays.

My lifelong holiday family

2. How has your travel style changed since becoming a family? 

Not much really. We’ve always been into exploring; city breaks, road trips and off the beaten track and the kids just seemed to have naturally fitted into that. However, there are certain things that make them super happy so when we book accommodation we choose accordingly, for instance – a pool is something that keeps them entertained for hours. I think having kids makes you slow down a little, naturally, but this isn’t a bad thing – you get to notice things you perhaps would have rushed past otherwise, and also to see things through a childs eyes can be beautiful – they are so innocent and see people and places for what they are. Also, kids attract attention so in turn we have had many more opportunities to get to know restaurant owners and their families and being a conversation starter we have also made lots of new friends through the children too.

 3. What was your babie’s first trip? Why did you chose to go there? What were the highlights/lowlights etc? 

We took my eldest to Costa Rica when she was 2 for a whole month and it was the best thing we ever did. She was just in awe of the flora and fauna and we had to be careful she didn’t go chasing after poisonous frogs and vicious lizards – but her face when she saw monkeys and sloths and butterfly’s bigger than her head was just priceless. There weren’t really any lowlights however the only time we’ve ever had any lowlights with any travels have been when the kids get sick – it’s so worrying not having creature comforts on hand and not knowing where the local doctors or hospitals are.

 4. What is your favourite family travel gadget and why? 

Erm, the iphone! That may sound a little indulgent but all our kids have saved up for iphones and they are just the best invention around, especially on holidays! They mean a constant DJ performance on roadtrips (we let them take it in turn choosing songs), they have their own camera, we can track them if they get lost and access to any travel information (plus maps) at your fingertips. Oh, and the endless joy the geocaching app brings too. We’re an apple family – so shoot us!

 5. What is your favourite family travel destination and why? 

Portugal. We go every year to visit my parents and we know it like the back of our hand now. There’s so much to do outdoors and kids are so welcome everywhere.

 6. What is the most family friendly accommodation you have ever visited? 

My mums house!! She has every pool inflatable under the sun, plus archery, ping-pong, baggo, and a whole room devoted to crafts. Plus she does a great baby-sitting service. Unfortunately you won’t find her on booking.com<http://booking.com> 😉

 7. Family travel bloggers can be guilty of showing only the good stuff – what is your worst family ravel experience? 

We recently took a trip to Edinburgh and 4 of the five of us got tummy-bugs. We tried to plough on with our bucket lists but we had to give up and write the whole week off in the end. Such a wasted journey. Needless to say no pictures went on instagram that week!

 8. What are your top three tips for other families who wish to travel? 

1. Be prepared for car journeys : things to do, pillows, travel sickness remedy’s and a bucket.

2. Pay more for a car park next to the airport so you’re not waiting around for buses late at night.

3. Choose bakeries over restaurants – you can fill the kids for way less money and they’ll probably be happier with the choices on offer.

9. What do you wish you had known or done before starting family travel?

Tired kids are grumpy kids so make arrangements for them to get enough sleep, wether that be stopping at a hotel the night before a flight so save on waking 2 hours earlier, or putting pillows in the car, or booking adjoining rooms rather than family rooms (my kids snore and sleep talk!)

My lifelong holiday

 10. What are your future family travel plans?

This year we have a biggy in the summer, almost a month’s road-trip through France, Spain and Portugal. We are all so excited and we’ve asked the 2 older ones to research things they would like to do too, to get them more involved.

You can also follow them on Twitter at @lifelonghol and on Instagram and Facebook as : @mylifelongholiday

If you would like to be interviewed for part of the Fearless Family Travel series then leave a comment below