Holidays are tranquil escapes, where we forget the pressures of modern life, and connect with our inner chill.
Or at least, they should be.
We all know that sometimes bad stuff happens; typically involving memory challenged mums that couldn’t manage to cope with the endless notes from school, lastminute packing, and holiday booking chaos. Holiday memory moments can include lost passports, forgotten currency, misplaced keys, and occasionally even misplaced kids.
We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling when we realise that we’ve forgotten something crucial when we are on holiday.
I forgot my pants once; on a trip to France with my then boyfriend, now husband. Perhaps that was some sort of Freudian slip. The only pants I could find at short notice as a replacement were emblazoned with a small long-necked animal, and the words “Dim Giraffe.”
It still amazes me to this day that he didn’t pack his bags there and then, heading back over the border.
Forgetting things on holiday is a forte of mine. But NOTHING compares to the first trip we made to Cornwall as a married couple with our two beautiful little ones to experience some of the wonderful Wadebridge to Padstow railway cycle-way.
This is a perfect place to cycle with your children; just get yourself some cycling seats for the kids, a bit of power in your legs, and a willing child.
The cycle path is a former railway line; it is wide, long and pretty straight. Crucial if you are trying to make sure you don’t swerve too harshly and end up in Padstow bay.
You DO have to GET the cycles to Cornwall first of course.
This usually involves popping them on the roof, on a roof rack, after lifting them up. Something that can only be achieved easily after months in the gym.
It is then critical that you remember that they are up there.
Don’t go under any low bridges.
And most importantly, DO NOT attempt to drive into a car park with an overhead barrier.
Even MORE importantly, don’t then wonder what that crunching noise is, and try to keep going because you aren’t too sure why you can’t get the car to move.
If you should do this, it is likely that you WILL eventually realise that you have hit the overhead barrier with those easily forgotten bikes on the roof rack, and may even be stuck.
You may need some burley, but kind, Cornish men, despite all saying how easy it is to do, but actually looking at you as if they are eternally grateful that their wives/girlfriends/boyfriends aren’t THAT stupid or forgetful.
Bad holiday experiences are a regular occurrence for me, thanks to my unrivalled memory. Using a site like Luxury for Less could really help alleviate some of those bad experiences. Unfortunately, nothing can prepare you for a wife that is stupid enough to forget that she strapped bikes onto the car roof.
That is something that you really do have to leave to the experts. Like me.
I do wish I’d know about Luxury for Less sooner, because at least it would have meant that I could have stored up the brownie points with all I had organised and saved before we went on holiday. That might have meant that I didn’t have to cook quite so many stunning meals to make up for the completely new set of roof bars, and the £1700 of damage that I did to our lovely Honda Accord.
Luxury for Less is easy to use, and it suggests destinations for your holiday based on your budget, including spending money. It is sort of like a holiday matchmaker, but without the worry that you’re going on a blind date with the least attractive man in Bognor.
Since this holiday planner is also affiliated to Travelex, the site blends holiday planning with organising currency. Both of which, if you can get them sorted without headaches, you are on your way to avoiding those sleepless nights.
Next time, it might be wise if I used it, so the savings I can make will assay to costs of any more roof rack related incidents. You can’t put a price on peace of mind; Luxury for Less is free anyway.
This is a sponsored post.
Photo credits:
- Giraffe via Casey Allen on Unsplash,
- Cycling family via Dikaseva on Unsplash, and
- Bike on yellow wall via Alexey Lin on Unsplash
- Beautiful swimming pool via Cosmic Time traveler on Unsplash.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!