We arrived at the airport and were picked up by a beautiful water taxi that virtually flew across the water towards the mainland, and we sped past the larger boats and Vaporettos in the warm light of the winter sunset. The photo is our view out the back, and it was a bumpy ride but exhilarating all the same. After 20 minutes we were on the labyrinth of canals sweeping under the wooden footbridges and past the world-famous gondolas. To say we were excited was an understatement especially when we arrived at our hotel and stepped out of the boat into the canal-side entrance.

The Liassidi Palace Hotel where we stayed is a beautiful old building which is adorned with art throughout and boasts regular art exhibitions on the mezzanine floor. The concierges were always helpful, they lent me an iphone charger as I had forgotten mine, but breakfast was a different matter and we were scolded every morning by one of the staff and the food was always cold – but the coffee was great.

As Venice is very small, it’s great to get out and explore and we walked for several hours a day. It’s easy to get lost but pretty easy to get back on track. There are 122 tiny islands which are patched together with elaborate footbridges and travel is by foot or water.

We were very near St Mark’s Square and visited the oldest, and most expensive, tearoom, Florian which first opened its doors in 1720. The decor hasn’t changed and it was great to be in there to have impeccable service and chamber music. The prices are very high and a dessert cost around 15 Euro but as a one off, it was worth it.

Window shopping takes on a new meaning in Venice. There are hundreds of shops which sell carnival masks. One in particular stood out, it was along the canal from our hotel and we decided to have a nose around and there was noone but us inside and loud classical music. With all the masks and costumes inside, we began to feel swept up in an historic drama and nearly squealed when the owner appeared. Such is the atmosphere in Venice that you feel you could walk through a doorway or turn a corner and easily step back in time to a century, or even two, ago. The shop windows are lit at night like the one below.

In my next post, I will cover off some of the amazing art we experienced and visited, in the meantime, here are some of the travel details.

Getting there and back:

Flights:
We flew with easyjet from Gatwick and flying was cheaper because it was on Thursday and outside of the school holidays. Our tickets were £85 return each and booked a month in advance.

Trains:
Gatwick Express had problems with it’s booking engine so I didn’t get our first class tickets and instead took the train from Clapham for a quarter of the price. It cost £13 return for both of us using a Family Railcard discount card.

Taxi:
We usually cab it to Heathrow (it’s 15 minutes by car) and Stansted (2 hours at least by train and 90 minutes max by car) but Gatwick is a doddle for us by train. We tend to shop around for cab prices and find Green Tomatoes is about 50% cheaper than Addison Lee for account and cash bookings.

To say that Miniminx was star struck was an understatement and she’s been talking about it ever since. She’s on first name terms with them all and has bagged their autographs too.

Big thanks to the Disney team for a massively memorable and fun weekend and more to follow on what to do and where to go while you’re there.

We’re in Disneyland Paris for the grand unveiling of the Christmas extravaganza. Susanna from Amodernmother is here and so is Liz Jarvis from Livingwithkids.

We’re staying at the Hotel New York which is a short walk from Disney Village and the Walt Disney Studios and of course, Disneyland Park. It’s an altogether different experience being here at the tail end of Autumn. Toyland is now open in the Walt Disney Studios and it’s great to see the film Toy Story come alive. There’s a few rides to try out, my daughter wimped out of the Parachutes but we tried the Slinky Dog – which is a mini (I mean micro) rollercoaster.

We arrived yesterday on the direct train from Kings Cross – it’s great to have a one stop journey and we had lunch in Annette’s Diner in Disney Village before heading into the attractions. This is our third visit and only the first time we’ve bothered with Disney Village. It’s well worth a look; it has the Hard Rock, Rainforest Cafe, Starbucks and a Disney Store and also a Disney Store Boutique.

I bought some converse-style Disney high top sneakers as I arrived in heels and had forgotten my trainers. They’re were 35 Euros so pretty easy on the pocket. Let’s hope they last through the today’s rain.

Miniminx chose a funky belt – there was a diamond missing from it so we have to change it. The clothes are either very cutesy for under 5s or quite gothic for the Emo crowd – I have amassed quite a few bags and nick nacks over our last three visits here and if you really want to get some unusual merchandise, Main Street in the Disneyland Park is the place to go.

Prices for 2 night/3day including Eurostar from £412 adults, £178 children (7-11) and £65 for 4-6 years.

As women, we are told we play many roles in our lives and this is very true, one of them for me is as a business woman who sometimes travels for work. As I discovered last week, this makes you invisible to some parents, in fact, you are merely wallpaper to them.

Last Friday I took an early morning commuter flight and was quite surprised to see so many children on the flight. Doing the best mental gymnastics I could at the early hour it was (and egged on by a strong latte) I realised, oh yes, it’s school term and that these were definitely preschoolers. I love flying with kids because they treat the whole experience like an adventure and tend to whoop and cheer at all the right (and wrong) times, plus it’s a great distraction.

Well, that was my take on it and that’s all bunkum now. For the first time in over twenty years, I’ve had one of those ‘kids are a nightmare’ journeys and I feel really sad about it. I have no problem with letting families on the plane first or putting up with kids screaming at take off and landing – it’s what happens and we’ve all had embarrassing moments while travelling. But there’s no excuse for a lack of manners. It appears the basics of travel etiquette have diminished into thin air.

So back to my flight. It was early, it was busy, it was a short hop and there was time to read up on a few things and drink tea. Or so I thought. As I took my seat, right at the back of a completely cramped plane, I could see a family sat ahead of me. They looked really nice and they settled into their seats. And then to my horror, one of the children walked up to me and put his nappy on my lap – yes, his nappy on my lap, it wasn’t even wrapped in a nappy sack. I looked down, and no, I hadn’t put on a Norland Nanny outfit on that morning as I dressed in the dark, I was actually wearing clothes that didn’t mark me out as a granny/childminder/general nappy catcher.

As my jaw hit the floor, there came a very loud ‘Well done! Well done son!’ screeched by the mother. I looked down at a soggen lump of nappy on my lap, to say I was extremely dismayed is an understatement and I expected at least an acknowledgement or an apology. Neither was offered. The nappy was briskly scooped away by an air hostess. It was 8am, I couldn’t speak. But no one else said a word. I would have been mortified if my daughter had done the same thing, I would have made eye contact with the nappy recipient, I would have left my seat, I would have made some awful joke about social gaffes, but obviously she wasn’t me.

After my working day I got back to the airport and loaded my laptop into the plastic security box, my clear plastic bag, shoes and handbag and was about to walk through the security when I was accosted and mugged of my walk through. Flabbergasted again, I watched the scene unfold before me, like I was in some kind of daydream.

A man held back my stuff and then began to load his stuff on right in front of me. He had two sons with him. It took ages. They had belts and shoes to remove, then backpacks. I was ready to go through and had been for ages, but I had to wait. Then they all went through security and had to have handheld scanners run over them. I waited and waited. Again, there was no eye contact, no excuse me, no thank you or anything. In a similar situation, had the roles been reversed, I would have let another traveller through – security is just a glorified supermarket checkout after all – you have one item and the other person has a trolley – they let you go first, it’s just basic stuff isn’t it? Well obviously not.

After a quick look around myself and I could definitely tell that I wasn’t wearing an invisible suit. But that’s how I felt on both flights. And I felt unable to speak up and say anything either. It was awful so short of wearing a t-shirt saying I AM GOING TO WORK TO SUPPORT MY CHILD what else can I do?

What are your views on flying with or without your kids?

We’ve just spent two days at Disneyland Paris and two days recovering have now had our Disney fix for another year or so.

I am a lover of anything kitsch and pop, so Disney really does it for me – you can’t beat the iconic images of Mickey Mouse around the place and the great retro signage on Main Street. That said, I’ll go to any lengths to avoid crowds, queues, tantrums and wasps – which of course is quite a challenge in a theme park.

My main concern was to make sure we got the best out of a short trip, with as little stress and as much fun as possible. Our group consisted of my daugther (10), her 8 year old friend and her Mum – an expat American – so it was a well balanced. We took the Disney Express train from Kings Cross which brings you straight into the resort so you don’t even have to worry about transfers and taking the train is a lot less hassle than flying. Last time we went direct to Paris and stayed the night there so we could do some sightseeting, then we got the TGV the next day. Both times we travelled using Leisure Traveller which means you get fed and watered and have more space.

My top tips:

Travel Smart
Make sure you put on suncream and have water with you. Take a back pack, sunglasses, change and a fully charged camera. Ask at your hotel what park services they offer such as restaurant bookings, so you can save on queues when you’re there and plan out where you want to go. Don’t be afraid to take five minutes or so and get your bearings; it’s a big day out.

Hate Queuing?
Buy a Fast Pass Premier ticket; it’s 60 Euros each but if you weigh up waiting time in the heat versus going to the front of the queue and getting on the rides you like a couple of times it is well worth it – especially if you are short on time. Some rides have over an hour waiting time so if you want to pack in the experience it’s worth the investment.

Don’t like fast food?
We nipped out of the Park and into Hotel Disney where we had drinks and supper in the bar; you don’t need to be a guest to go in there and the bar snacks are ok too. Best of all there were no crowds and the hotel is intensely Disney, so you can shop inside and of course use the nice facilities. It’s a good way to rest before the evening Parade as well.

Want to see the fireworks?
Head over to the Disney Castle about 9.30pm and park yourself there for the Parade and then turn around for the fireworks show. It’s quite a sight to behold and a real treat if you have girls with you. It also means you don’t get stuck in the rush to leave the park when it closes.

Want to have dinner at Disney?
Make sure you book – you can book restaurants in the hotels or at the station and you will not be able to get in anywhere other than the fast food places if you don’t.

Meeting Characters
If you want to collect autographs and do meet and greets you will spend a lot of time waiting around. It’s not really my daughter’s thing so we didn’t bother.

Getting to your hotel
There are lots of free shuttle buses to the Disney hotels and they’re really good in the day but very crowded when the park closes, so you might want to grab a taxi home. There are no queues and they will cost about 10 Euros.

Day 1
Our first day was a leisurely but packed. After checking into our hotel and grabbing a lunch time snack, we took the shuttle bus to the park and arrived at around 4pm. Sounds late I know, but I wanted to see the fireworks and the evening parade which meant leaving at closing time so we still had six hours.
As you arrive at the park, there are no marauding crowds at the entrance and the walk is staggered by a park and large pools which means it’s nice and shady and cool. The rides at that time are generally easier to get on to, so we went on Pirates of the Caribbean twice and It’s a Small World (a song that you can’t get out of your head for days after either!). My daughter still really likes the Alice in Wonderland labyrinth which seems a lot more popular than last time, possibly due to the film.

Day 2
We bought Fast Pass Premier tickets from the Disneyland hotel and set out to go on as many rides as possible. It was really hot so we were slowed down by the heat and we didn’t have time to take the Disney train around the park or go to Frontierland – so looks like we’ll be going back again. We did a brief tour of the Disney studios which is good for shopping because it has an air conditioned mall with cafes. It tends to attract a much younger audience and we still love the Monsters Inc. area which has Boo’s door and also scream catchers to measure your screams. The New Generation attractions are under construction and look like they’ll be great fun – especially if you’ve just seen Toy Story 3.

We’re not really into white knuckle rides so we chose Buzz Lightyear, Pinnochio and Peter Pan – we were too late to get on some of the rides at the Disneyland Studios.

The good, the bad, the ugly
What we loved about the park is that there is so much to do and it’s not overly crowded. The rides are really good but there’s plenty to look at as you walk around. The staff are not all as helpful as they should be. Some of them were incredibly charming and helpful but the security guards around the Disney Castle were rude and aggressive which was not appropriate around children. We wanted to sit down after the fireworks and wait for the crowds to disperse and they wouldn’t let us. I think there should be a paragraph or two in the map explaining the security and where to look for help. The Disney guy on the Disney Express train was really helpful.

The Hotel

We stayed at the Radisson Blu hotel which has it’s own shuttle bus. We had to get taxis because the bus was not often around. The service in the hotel was really bad; we had booked a family room and had to have it changed because it stank of cigars. Some of the staff were quite rude and unhelpful; the breakfast was a pain since we got a table and by the time we got food, someone had nabbed it and there was no service, just staff running around and not helping. We also got our cab nicked by a guest and when we were trying to get some assistance the concierge made no bones about the fact she was not going to help us, so the experience was not what I would expect from a Radisson.

The hotel pool was nice and we had a relaxing morning swim on our second day. Last time we stayed at the Dreamcastle hotel, which is on the bus route, and it’s much more fun and vast as well. It’s got loads for kids to do around the place so much more family friendly so check it out.

Thanks to Eurostar customer service for walking us through our ticket booking and Disney for the passes.

Why France?
If you’re in need of a cultural experience and don’t want to travel too far, especially with young children in tow, this area of France is a great place to start. With an onsite golf course and two beaches within easy walking or cycling reach, there’s lots to do without going to the effort of an day trip outing or major excursion – you are on holiday after all!

We’re regular visitors to France and tend to wend our way around the country over the Summer. I love exploring the wine regions and the purple and yellow striped countryside as lavender and sunflower fields bloom and waft aromatically at the height of summer. I don’t drive so and I always try to fly as little as possible so I was intrigued to visit Belle Dune, the eco resort in Picardy, which is an hour or so away from Calais.

Getting there

We managed our door to door trip from London to the resort in three hours by going on the early Eurostar train from Kings Cross to Calais Frethun (which is not the main port) and then got a taxi transfer. Eurostar trains are carbon neutral and the journey was only 1 hour ten minutes – much quicker than taking the ferry. The lady cab driver was waiting outside the station and greeted us off the train which was brilliant because it was only 7.30am UK time, we were still quite bleary eyed. When we arrived at Belle Dune, we had a look around and found ourselves in a haven of peace and tranquility. There are lovely houses surrounding a lake, they are two storey and set among treelined walkways.

It’s an easy check in process in a beautiful setting. We spotted quite a few fish languishing in the lake as we walked over the wooden footbridge to the reception area.

Settling in

At the bottom of our garden we discovered these newly hatched cygnet chicks.

And the proud parents guarded them jealously; they were behind a cordon so I took these photos at a safe distance using a zoom.

This duck waddled happily around the garden too and seemed very unbothered by us.

Our next stop was to get some bikes so we could travel around freely. There is an onsite bike hire shop which has childseats and trailers. We used the bikes alot throughout our four day stay and didn’t get in a car until we left. There are no cars on site either so you can walk around freely without worry of cars, which is great if you have young children.

Thanks to Pierre et Vacances for inviting us on the trip.

Thanks to Eurostar for supporting our travel.

Transfers may be booked by holidaytaxis a partner of Pierre et Vacances which you will find on the homepage. You will need to allow a few days to get your quote and finalise your booking.

Luckily my daughter was with me too and she had a hoot – what’s not to love about the juxtaposition of nature, beauty and the arcane when seen through the eyes of a 10 year old?  The prison guards curators, were very typical hot headed Europeans and yabbered on their mobiles very loudly as we walked around on tiptoe and in awe.  We were after all walking in the same house, or rather castle, that Picasso lived and worked in.  I got told off for taking photos, but ironically, after I’d snapped the whole show at length.

I found the visit incredibly inspiring and have started working again; that means painting and sketching.  It’s one of my great loves Art albeit an elusive one at times. I seem to have grasped it again, for some time I hope, and all in the face of the volcano no less.

Picasso-Museum (Antibes)

Chateau Grimaldi
06600 Antibes, France
04 92 90 54 26

Sorry for the bad joke but I just couldn’t help repeating it all day long. It’s just a mask for the fact that I’ve been having kittens about being stuck abroad and have had to keep my pecker up for the last few days and make it all seem like fun for my daughter. Actually, scrub that, it’s been an adventure of great magnitude and instead of coming home feeling a bit sad the holiday is over, we’ve both experienced a huge rush of appreciation for all things domestic, friendly and well, just our own doorstep.

Having told the world and his wife that we were delayed and unable to return from our holiday until next Monday, instead of last, things took a drastic turn for the better when the flights to the UK were announced again.

It would be an understatement to say that we’ve been in a state of crazed delirium for the last 24 hours. Having swapped Cote D’azur for a far chiller London W4, it feels brilliant and a bit lunatic.

I don’t know what it is about the human spirit but it has a homing device that propels the heart and mind in tandem towards reaching that destination against all odds, just to be there.

Last night after Miniminx and I had skyped,tweeted, texted and called everyone we possibly could from our French outpost, we found out before going to sleep that the skies over the UK were reopening. I did a celebration dance and downed another glass of wine then spent the night sleeping very badly as my daughter did her usual holiday prank; shrieking with laughter in her sleep throughout the night. It was all good, we could travel and get back home, lack of sleep permitting.

Not to be outdone by the general somnambulent squawking and whimpering, it was my turn to wake up with a fire in my belly at 5.50am and skittle around the room turning lights on and off, before settling at my laptop screen for some airline ticket motivated search action – I was determined to get us home.

As I flicked between tabs and screens and the abundance or search items, the flights were all coming up fully booked, and every few minutes there would be a change, prices would wobble, new airlines would be appearing, it all seemed a bit crazy.

‘Psssssssst, darling, do you want to go home this morning?’
‘Yeszzzzzzzz, but ….Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I just need sleeeeeeeeeeep. Let’s go later.’

I was tempted to go back to sleep myself but I couldn’t. I was mad awake. Just the thought of being away from home with no good reason for a day longer was driving me a bit loopy. I let her sleep, and kept refreshing the flight screen. Two flights – oh no, gone already. Another one, at £1500. Another £386 with one stopover. Then after another 20 minutes, bingo. The 9.30am flight out of Nice, after the fourteenth try, had availability.

‘Wake up – we’re leaving in … oh quick, in 15 minutes, we have a flight to catch. Brush teeth, get dressed, close suitcase, do a room sweep*’

It was 20 minutes actually, but in that time I had to call reception to prepare the bill, shower, pack (yes for two) and dress and panic, oh and buy the tickets. The merry dance began and within 15 minutes we were out of the room and finalising the hotel bill and leaving, not before drinking a massively strong coffee. Our taxi arrived and I prattled on in French to the driver. It turned out his wife was stuck in Frankfurt, unable to return. Everyone had a story about some loved on somewhere, our waitress at breakfast had a boyfriend stuck in Thailand.

Determination and sheer bloody mindedness are one thing, but navigating the nuances of local traffic are another thing altogether. Needless to say as we lurched through the early morning traffic, 7.45am is never a good time anywhere, there was still a chance we would miss the check in period so it was all a bit touch and go. We arrived at 8.20 and had to go to the ATM to get the cab fare then to the check in desk, we had 8 minutes to spare. We got through the whole process, very smoothly in fact and boarded.

The flight was amazing, we arrived 30 minutes early and got back across town in good time. Arriving home was perfect – the sun was shining and London is full of Spring blooms. We are very very happy to be back.

So home and back to the grindstone it maybe but the simple pleasure of cooking an evening meal and having neighbours pop over to say hello is just the bees knees.

I’d always believed the old adage that travel broadens the mind, but it also emboldens the home loving heart much more than I imagined or remembered.
I wonder how long it will last?

*a room sweep is what I do after packing, moving around the hotel suite with military precision to check cupboards, wardrobes, shelves and drawers and underbeds for anything and everything I might have left lying about

We are away so have yet to benefit from this experience. In fact we are on the flipside of it, far from home with no way to get back at the moment.

It’s a little bit too chilly on the beach so we’re ensconced in our hotel room for the timebeing to warm up a bit. There’s a great programme on tv called Les Perles – bit of a TV Burp Euro-style and it definitely beats the goose bumps. We’re not just hiding away from the sunshine though, it’s more a habitual check in on the latest flight news every few hours to see what the latest is. It’s a habit that we’ve swiftly developed since we realised we might be unable to return home.

So far it’s not looking good and we are staying in France for maybe a few days longer than planned. I’ve never felt homesick on holiday but this time I have. What started out as a short trip to see friends and then a jaunt by the coast has become an epic adventure of sorts.

We left the UK on April 13 and headed to Auvergne. It’s not an easy journey if you don’t drive but I love travelling across France by train because the extremes of the countryside take you from mountains and valleys and from coast to coast. With just seven days to get around we flew to Lyon St-Exupery, a sprawling modern airport which has grown massively since I first flew into it over 12 years ago.

We took a taxi to Lyon Part Dieu station, it’s smaller than Perrache and I thought I’d discovered a shorter journey that would save us a couple of hours. I booked a ticket but the train failed to appear on the departure board. There were long queues at the information desk but we joined one. The lady hastily wrote down a new route for us. But still the train did not appear so we went to join another queue. Tired and slightly ratty by this point, it was not easy.

It was then that we found ourselves in the midst of a French train strike. That meant a two hour train journey became a 45 minute detour and then a two hour coach journey, and with still another leg to go until we reached our destination in the deepest countryside and a beautiful town called Blesle. Arriving at Clermont Ferrand station, we camped out in the station restaurant and ordered a plate of frites which arrived and was surely a mountain of chips? Oh, the irony of being the English abroad was not lost on me but certainly was adrift as I watched my 10 year old daughter tuck in.

It took a few fraught phone calls and timetable rechecks to realised we were stranded…and some. We were lucky enough to get picked up in Clermont Ferrand and driven a further hour to our orignial destination and arrive at 10pm – very late for dinner but not too late for Miniminx since we benefitted from the hour time change between the UK and France. We put the stress and strain of the day behind us, Miniminx by dancing and singing with her friends and me by drinking a glass or four of red wine with mine. A perfect way to arrive in my book. We had three nights and two days of great food, wine and fun in the countryside. This included being chased by wild horses, discussing alcoholic phd tutors over dinner, eating far too much rare red meat and downing copious amounts of wine from a very early time in the day.’Happy days’ was the catch phrase of a very short but appreciated time.

As we hoped for the train strikes to cease, so the second stage of our journey to Antibes would be easier, we found the news online of the volcanic cloud but thought little of it. Not wanting a rerun of our journey into Massiac, I’d already booked us a taxi to the tune of €130 and internal flights (I won’t scare you with the cost) for our ongoing journey. This would reduce 14 hours or so of chaos and disruption to a mere 3 hours. I was then left with the unsettling feeling that we might not be able to fly. Sacre blue (or much worse words to that effect I’m afraid to say).

For us to make light of our new arrangements, we had to take the taxi at 8.15am. It turned up. I was starting to wonder if the flights would be for real as this was all becoming a bit far fetched for my liking. The journey took an hour through beautiful countryside of hills and valleys and spring blossoms which looked magical as the morning dew slowly rose in a swirling mist as the sun warmed the earth.

Arriving at Clermont Ferrand airport, we were amazed at how small it was; tiny in fact. There were hardly any people and no queues, so I checked us in. All good so far. I loaded up the luggage. No cries of derision from the check in desk. I breathed an internal sigh of relief and was still quite unsettled by the rapidly changing landscape of our holiday. Should I really be getting on a flight with all this chaos and uncertainty?

The announcements board showed a full set of flights, it was only 9.30am. Just half an hour later, cancellations began to apear. I knew that CDG Paris was closed and was hopeful that we could still fly although fearful at the same time. I hadn’t been this scared to travel since the aftermath of 7/7. I kept telling myself, if it wasn’t safe, we would not be taking to the air. Our flight was fine, great in fact. We arrived at Nice airport which was deserted. We both felt very lucky and relieved that we had managed to make a swift and uneventful exit from our first part of the holiday.

We remain in the dark about whether we can get home tomorrow night. We just want a safe journey.

Holidays are great but real life is even better. Here’s to getting back to the UK tomorrow…or sometime soon x

Armed with backpacks, sleeping bags, cameras and sunglasses, we headed off from Heathrow and from the moment we left our front door the nine day adventure began.

We arrived in Ouzazarte a day before rest of the party, since we’d checked in our hotel at 2am we really needed that day to chill out and adjust. We spent it by a hotel pool and hung out in cafes.

As we sat and watched the world go by, out of nowhere, a small boy about five years old ran by with a cigarette tucked behind each ear.

‘Mum! Look at him!’
‘Don’t point!’ I said laughing.
Miniminx gave me that widemouthed, wide eyed look of disbelief. I smiled to myself, I knew this trip was going to be quite an education.
The irony was all on us in fact since we were odd ones out. People were actually stopping and staring at us. A mother and daughter in a strange land.

The next morning we met our travelling companions for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised that we were all women with young girls. We already had a lot in common. Our first stop was a kasbah in Ouzazarte, it was strange and fascinating. Our guide began to tell us about the great films that have been shot there, Gladiator and Babel, but we were more interested in the locale and the people there.

On our drive we stopped to take photos and a farmer welcomed us and shared his date harvest.

The girls spotted a cute frog and chased the poor thing around the field.

Heading off in a truck towards the desert, we were going to camp in Bedouin tents that night and as you can see, it’s quite a fairy tale existence. The food was great too, lovely soups and tagines and very sweet mint tea. We were awoken several times first by the birds and crowing cocks, then early morning the call to the mosque, followed by the braying donkeys and then by the sun.

There was an empty pool on the camp site and our four little girls found a tiny scorpion in it. There was another one in the shower too – none of the girls screamed and we were assured it would not harm us.

The evenings when we camped were very sweet. The girls all played together as the Mums chatted and as we all went to bed around the same time, bedtime stories became a shared experience.

The next day was the start of a two day camel trek across the Sahara with a night in the desert. We all had to learn how to put on a shesh. It was fun and it was also hard work, Miniminx did not like being on a camel so ended up walking. I discovered my daughter is quite the tough cookie and walked happily for hours, which was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise.

The highlight was camping out in the Sahara and watching shooting stars in the night sky. We all laid out on thin mattresses after dinner and watched the slow moving drama of the heavens above. Waking up the next morning was great too. It was so wonderful, even if the camels do snore (well I hope it was the camels).

There is something very hynotic and mesmeric about the Sahara, I was suprised that a desert I had imagined to be barren had quite a few trees and weird looking plants.

Our guide recommended that instead of buying our carpets and rugs in Marrakech, it would make more sense to go direct to a co-operative. This meant we could buy from the local people and not have the added commission which would be added in the souks. We bought some amazing stuff there and I was delighted (so was the owner of the co-op).

With the bright sun and still air, there was a sense of calm and ease of being that is a great antidote to London. But this was really a non stop whirl wind trip. Staying in a different place every night, we unpacked and repacked daily and dealt with all manner of things. I was the only person who didn’t get a 24 hour bug.

We spent a night near the kasbah of Ait Benhaddou. I loved the homemade advertising – see photo below.

The drive through the Atlas mountains was stunning and we all chatted and sang our way through the dizzy heights. I still look at these photos a lot, it really was a special journey.

There was mounting anticipation about our arrival in Marrakech – the journey was four or five hours. The road signs were getting bigger as we got nearer.

And we got there eventually with a big all round cheer and headed to the main square and spotted the snake charmers. It was like going back in time.

The early morning view of the city sprawl from the hotel window was pretty atmospheric. We went on a four hour walking tour with a guide and then had the rest of the day free to shop and explore. We had our final meal together that evening and the kids were all very sad to be going home.

About a week after we got back we had this funny conversation.

‘Darling, you were really good about the scorpions.’
‘Yeah, well Mum, they did scare me a little bit.’
‘Yeah, I was surprised you didn’t say anything about them in the tent that night when we went to sleep.’
‘I thought you’d be a bit cross with me if I said I was scared.’
‘Well I thought if I told you I was a bit worried there were any in the tent, you’d hit the roof.’
We both looked at each other and smiled.
‘What a couple of scaredy cats we were!’ I said and we laughed for a very long time.

For anyone looking for a holiday that’s definitely off the beaten track, I’d definitely recommend a trip like this. It was hard work and tiring but so magical and such a great cultural experience, I’d definitely go again.

For the full itinerary go here