How is 2017 going for you so far? International politics getting you down?

Thought so.

What you need is a holiday. Something like this:

travel secret of happiness

Because who could fail to be cheered by having a casual bit of watermelon on a lilo? I’m not sure of the practicalities of trying to eat such a large piece of fruit on water like that but hey, no one said living the dream was meant to be easy did they?

According to new research from Booking.com, over three quarters of people (77%) book a holiday when they need cheering up and 70% of us believe that travel brings more lasting happiness than material possessions. In fact, according to the results of the research, holidays top most things when it comes to happiness – 49% of the people surveyed even said they get more pleasure from a holiday than from their own wedding day!

The good news is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get the buzz. There’s almost as much happiness to be found in researching and planning a holiday as there is actually being on it – it isn’t just about lying on the beach, gazing into the sunset. (Although that bit is probably pretty nice too.)

travel secret of happiness

If you want to get the most from your holiday in terms of happiness, then planning is everything. Even just writing this, looking at these pictures and imagining where I might go has given me a little boost, and I’m not alone – nearly three quarters of people (72%) say they get a kick of excitement just from researching where to go on holiday.

If you’re thinking about booking a holiday, why not try these tips to get you in the mood and maximise happiness:

  • Make a bucket list of places you’d like to visit or create some holiday Pinterest boards full of pictures of dream destinations. Like this one.
  • Have a look at Booking.com’s destination finder. It allows you to browse holidays by interest rather than destination, so you can find places to go based on the fact that you like photography, local history, or whatever it might be.
  • Don’t be afraid to daydream. Holidays are meant to be the chance to experience something new so let your imagination run wild should you feel so inclined. I quite fancy watching the Northern lights from a glass igloo in Finland.
  • Share your holidays plans and dreams with friends and family. Dreams are more likely to come true when you say them out loud and talking about plans as a family will help to get you all excited. (75% of people surveyed by Booking.com said travelling with family makes them happier than travelling on their own.)

Once you’ve booked your holiday, then you can really get excited. You get to plan your wardrobe, look at maps, research trips – the works. Reading reviews of where you’re going and looking at other people’s pictures is a favourite way to give holiday happiness a boost and if you were going somewhere like this then you can see why:

travel secret of happiness

Once I have a holiday booked, these are my favourite things to do:

  • If I’m going by train or plane, I like to plan what I’m going to do on the way – I might download a film or maybe buy a new notebook. The travelling should be fun too.
  • Look up local restaurant reviews and think about all the yummy food I’m going to eat.
  • Pack about four different books, imagining I will read them all. (I never do – I am too busy posting pictures of my holiday on Instagram.)
  • Imagine that I will have some kind of Reese Witherspoon/Julia Roberts style ‘moment’ abroad where I suddenly find myself and the meaning of life becomes clear. (Never happens.)
travel secret of happiness

I wish this was from my Instagram feed

Belle’s favourite bits are:

  • Deciding what make-up look she is going to do for going away day.
  • Organising her toiletries into an airport friendly bag.
  • Being the first one into the accommodation – heaven forbid she doesn’t get first dibs on the key. (83% of people in the survey said that the first day of a holiday and seeing their accommodation for the first time are the happiest holiday moments, so she’s not alone there.)
  • Discovering the wifi password.

Do you enjoy planning and researching holidays? Which is your favourite bit about travelling?

Visit Booking.com for more inspiration and holiday your way to happiness!

travel secret of happiness

Sponsored post. Images – Alena Ozerova, Balate Dorin, Chantal de Bruijne, stockphoto-graf and haveseen – all from shutterstock.

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reasons to visit Lanzarote

Lanzarote has gained itself a bit of an iffy reputation over the years. Think Lanzarote and you may think Lanzagrotty – beaches packed with noisy, sunburnt tourists and poor quality accommodation – but scratch beneath the surface and head away from the tourist traps, and Lanzarote has a lot to offer – there are loads of reasons to visit Lanzarote.

I’ve got together with Thomson and come up with five good reasons to visit Lanzarote this summer.

It’s warm

…But not too warm. August and September are the hottest months, with average temperatures of 25 degrees. In fact, Lanzarote is well known for its nice weather all year round. August is the best month for swimming in the sea – average sea temperature in Lanzarote in August is 22 degrees.

The food

The best bit of any holiday surely? There’s plenty of delicious, authentic food to be found in Lanzarote if you do your research. La Cabaña takes the top spot on Trip Advisor, so is worth a look if you’re in the area. Keep your eyes open for traditional tapas and fresh fish.

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I already mentioned in my post about my £6 bingo win that we recently went away for the weekend to Ladram Baby and that it was my boyfriend’s first ever time in a caravan.* It certainly wasn’t the first time for me and Belle though, but I can definitely say that it was one of our favourite caravan holidays in a long time – we were very impressed with the accommodation, the location and the newly refurbished facilities at the park, especially the swimming pool.

Where is Ladram Bay?

Ladram Bay is in Devon, on the stretch of coast between Sidmouth and Exmouth.

Ladram Bay map

It’s very accessible, especially for us – we got there from Taunton in under an hour. In fact, it was so handy that we ended up staying the Sunday night too and leaving at 7am on Monday morning, knowing we’d be back in plenty of time for school. I think for just a weekend it’s brilliant to be able to do this – who wants to spend precious time travelling when we have such a beautiful spot practically on the doorstep? View Post

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Today I have a guest post from my sister Annabel as part of a blogger challenge for Glisten – do check out their geodomes! Also, Annabel has recently started her very own blog – Fiandmi – and that is definitely worth a look too.

“This has been the best day ever!” My son exclaims.

Score! As a mummy this is the closest I get to a good work appraisal. No meetings with my boss, no personal development reviews, just endless days trying really hard to be nurturer, nourisher, educator all rolled in to one without the merest hint of a ‘well done, you’re doing really well’ or a ‘you could try doing that slightly differently for a better result.’

I am working blind, clinging on to some faint vestiges of hope that I am generally an OK mum but no-one ever says one way or the other and certainly not to your face.

So, I take what I can and “best day ever” seems about as good as I am going to get.

“But what prompted this exclamation?” I here you cry. View Post

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We didn’t go abroad when I was a child. Money was tight and jetting off on cheap Spanish holidays wasn’t really a thing. Most of our family holidays were spent in caravans or cottages in Cornwall or South Wales, often with my Gran and Grandad in tow.

I have been thinking about holidays a lot lately though, and wonder if actually it matters at all that I wasn’t trekking the Sahara or anything, as the memories that stay with you from family holidays are often the most obscure or ridiculous things. Take our family holiday on the Gower – the only thing that I really remember from that is being in the car with my sister, Mum and Dad, and my Mum and Dad talking about all the complaining my Gran was doing. (She did like a moan).

She was particularly annoyed on this holiday as the ad for the cottage had promised ‘views of the sea a quarter of a mile away.’ We had read this as the sea being a quarter of a mile away, but what it actually meant was you had to walk for a quarter of a mile before you could see the view. Sneaky. View Post

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Belle and I have some very particular ways of enjoying ourselves. Quite often it involves classic detective TV shows. Sometimes we may have a little hot chocolate or two. Mostly Belle just likes it when I turn off Twitter for a little bit and actually look her in the eye when she talks to me.

A couple of weekends ago our fun involved lounging around in a hot tub and then pushing two sofas together, bundling them up with duvets, and making a little nest from which to watch the brand new episode of Hercule Poirit. There were also milkshakes. We are both so busy with work and school and hobbies that it feels like we really connect at times like this. View Post

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Today is the day that we all truly put Christmas behind us and start thinking about our summer holidays. It may only be the first day back at school, but today is apparently the busiest day of the year for flight bookings, peaking at about 1pm as we all rush online in our lunch breaks, desperate to get away already after only a few hours back at work.

Whether you’re going abroad or staying in the UK, deciding what to pack for your holiday can be one of the most stressful things about it, especially if you have young children. Before you start your holiday packing this year then, check out this little infographic to help you decide what’s a suitcase essential and what can probably be left at home with the kitchen sink:

Click here to view a larger version.

[Image provided courtesy of Center Parcs, specialist in family holidays.]

What are your holiday must haves? Funnily enough I don’t often forget to take my appetite with me, although I have been known to accidentally (on purpose) forget my swimming costume.

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Today I’m hosting a guest post from mum Lucy Cooper, a well-travelled writer working for Classic Cottages.

…

Choosing the best accommodation for a first family holiday

This year we’re planning our first family holiday with a one-year-old. We’ve opted for a holiday cottage as the best baby-friendly option that also allows the most scope for freedom and fun.

Comfort factor

I enjoy adventure, but even I have to admit that camping with a one-year-old is not top of my agenda. No hot running water, apart from the shower, which is usually located a distance away from your tent! No microwave to warm bottles/food quickly or to sterilise baby equipment.  For the purposes of the all-important first holiday together, I’m inclined to stick to the comfort of four walls.

Room to sprawl – and crawl

Space is top priority when you have got a little one in tow. A holiday cottage allows you a whole house to spread out. You are the mistress or master of your own domain. And you don’t need to worry about the disgruntled couple in the room next door when baby decides that 3am is wake up time.

"Bucket and spade"

Freedom and flexibility

You’re not dictated to when meal times are, as in a hotel, leaving you the freedom to eat what you want, when you want. There was a time when ‘self catering’ conjured up images of 1950s-style kitchenettes with a clapped out cooker and a dodgy toaster. Thankfully, those days are long gone. Now you can expect the kitchen in a holiday cottage to be just as well equipped as your kitchen back home, if not more so.

Convenience

Staying in a cottage enables you to make up picnics and food suitable for your baby to take out on day trips. Arranging a supermarket delivery on the first day will save you the chore of hunting around for the shops when you arrive. And it can save packing bulky packs of nappies, freeing up precious space in the car.

Choice of locations

Holiday cottages are dotted all over the place, in unusual settings and quirky little places to explore, so you needn’t feel like one of the herd. You can get out and explore new places knowing that you’ve got a comfy house waiting for you at the end of the day.

Finding a baby-friendly holiday cottage

Choosing a baby friendly property that provides some of the essentials for little ones, such as a cot, high chair, stair-gate and baby bath, makes life easier and cuts down on the baby paraphernalia on the list of things to pack. If you find a property you would like to holiday in but are unsure about its suitability for your party, contact the team at Classic, many of us in the Booking Office are mothers ourselves and appreciate how important it is to get the right family holiday location and accommodation.

Planning your first family holiday? Or are you a seasoned mum or dad traveller? What are your experiences of first family holidays and tips on where to stay with the little ones?

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Sunday evening, eight o’clock.

The children have just gone to bed and you’re about to enjoy a cup of tea and perhaps a rich tea finger or two. You sit down, ready to get comfy on the sofa, making that ‘ahhh!’ noise that proper old ladies make.

And then it hits you, and you sag visibly.

“Shit,” you say, “I forgot to wash the school uniform.”

The start of a new school term is even worse. Despite your best intentions, you leave it until the last Saturday of the holidays to make your annual pilgrimage to Clarks, and as you enter the shop, you count at least 27 other families there already, clutching their tickets, staring hopefully at the display and occasionally just throwing themselves down on the floor and crying, beating at the carpet tiles with their fists.

The children are just as bad.

These scenarios are all too familiar to me, which is why reader, when we moved to Bristol, I chose a school for Belle without a school uniform.

Forget SATS, forget OFSTED, I just want to be spared the pain of Clarks on the first Saturday in September.

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We may still have a week of the summer holidays left, but already I’m thinking about Autumn breaks. It’s a bit sad really isn’t it?

I think it’s a positive thing though – I’ve enjoyed my summer breaks so much this year that I obviously just can’t wait to do it again. It’s not that I’m work-shy or anything, honestly.

Travelling and holidays with children is always a bit of a gamble, and not always terribly restful, as toddlers don’t seem to quite get the idea of lazing around on the beach. They tend not to enjoy sightseeing tours of cities much either in my experience, unless the sights you are seeing are play areas and ice cream vans, in which case you may as well save the petrol money, stay at home, and just pop to the park in the afternoon to be honest.

Going on holiday with friends has always worked well for me – friends who have children the same age and can share the ‘work’ of the holiday with you. When Belle was about a year old, we had a really lovely few days in Centre Parcs with a friend and her one year old, and it meant that the babies could amuse each other, while we concentrated on important holiday tasks like finding the corkscrew.

We’ve continued the holiday with friends idea ever since, and it has proved a big hit. Belle is ten now, but she still enjoys having someone to play with, and this year her holiday companion was her friend Ashley. He and Belle got to sleep in a yurt, climb trees and chase the farm dog, while Ashley’s mum Vicky and I had a little lie down with a book and a glass of wine. Are you noticing the theme here?

"yurt holiday"

Our holiday home this summer

Back in the spring, we were planning our holidays. “The kids will play of in the woods or something,” I say excitedly, “and we can lie around reading and drinking!”

“Hoorah!” agrees Vicky.

You see? Simple.

The risk of course, especially in small spaces like yurts, is that the kids start bickering and your friend drives you mad, but fortunately this hasn’t happened to me so far. It may have happened to Vicky of course. You’d have to ask her that…

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This weekend, inspired by the budget, and a significant amount of time spent listening to all things financial on Radio 4, I’m having a money theme. Yesterday we talked savings and investments for families, and today I’ve written a little Slummy single mummy guide to saving money on family holidays – some top tips from the woman who, for about ten years, was too cheap to even own a passport.

Don’t do it – According to one survey, nearly 40% of us stayed home last summer, so the ultimate money saving holiday tip? Simply don’t go. You’ll save hundreds if not thousands of pounds in travel, accommodation and family travel insurance, have far less washing to do at the end of it, and probably feel a lot more relaxed than if you attempt to introduce small children to the delights of European architecture in sweltering heat. Believe me, I have tried, all they care about is when they can have a lolly.

They say a change is as good as a rest. They lie.

Stay in the UK – I was perhaps being a tad hyper-cynical with my last suggestion, as I do actually like going on holiday, I just don’t see the point of dragging small kids thousands of miles, knowing they’ll complain the whole way there about ‘feeling sick’ or being bored, when we have such a wealth of beautiful countryside and interesting cities in the UK. Staying in the UK means you cut out the hassle of foreign travel, save money on flights, and have a bit extra to spend on treating the family.

If you’re worried about looking cheap, tell the other parents at school you’re doing it on environmental grounds.

Camping for wimps – Hotels cost a bomb, and even caravans can set you back a fair bit, but seriously, who wants to spend a week with kids in a tent? Not me. I do like the idea of camping though, so for a low-cost, self-catering, back-to-nature option, we’ve spent several of our summer holidays in yurts. As a single parent, you can bring the cost down even further by bunking up with another single parent friend and splitting the bill. This year we’ll be spending a whole week yurting on the Cornish coast for just £300. Bargainorama.

Shop around – given that there are about 27 million price comparison websites nowadays, you really have no excuse for paying full price for anything, whether it be flights or flip-flops. It may feel like a bit of a faff, but shopping around really can save you loads. Just think of it as every few pounds you save meaning one extra gin and tonic in the hotel bar.

Don’t risk it – I have a very simple approach to insurance. If I could afford the consequences should anything go wrong, I don’t bother. With foreign travel though, you really don’t want to risk it. Think about how often you intend to travel during the year to work out whether a single trip or annual travel insurance gives you the best value for money, and if you’re travelling in Europe, don’t forget to apply for your European Health Insurance Card.

And there you go, that’s my indispensable family travel guide. Do let me know if you have any destination recommendations or holiday money saving tips.

This is also my entry for the BritMums Piggy Bank Tales competition, sponsored by Virgin Money

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February.

Eurgh.

Not a very inspiring month is it? It’s cold, the evenings are still dark, and you know that at some point you’re going to be forced to make pancakes that no one really wants to eat. Hardly surprising that my mind has been wandering forward to summer, imagining being able to sit outside with my lunch, feeling the warmth of the sun on my shoulders.

I’m having a bit of dilemma though when it comes to planning holidays. For a start, you know when you’re taking children with you that it’s never really a ‘break’, so you’re reluctant to spend too much money or travel too far for what will essentially be like being at home but without your own bed and favourite tea bags for comfort.

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