Kid free holibobs!

I honestly can’t believe that it’s been nearly 6 months since I made a blog entry! I have loved having this opportunity to share my thoughts and express myself and I honestly don’t think I would have kept my sanity through my third pregnancy without this!
So, let’s talk about holidays!!! We are so lucky to live in Thailand and have so many amazing resorts and countries close at hand. Traveling is one of my favourite things to do and seeing new places and experiencing new things makes me so happy... however, traveling with kids (especially young kids) doesn’t really fill me with excitement. Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling with my kids and hanging out with them is my favourite thing to do but sharing a room, early bedtime, strict nap times (baby is 16 months old), the search for food they will eat and the constant “being on” is tough. By “being on” I mean keeping them from doing crazier shit than they do at home, being hyper sensitive and aware of all strangers, constant risk assessments in your mind and generally just keeping them alive!
I know as they get older, it gets easier (please if you have teenagers just smile at this and enjoy my naivety!!) but at the moment it’s tough. But we do it as we love being with them and exploring new places.
But...
What happens when your parents come to visit for an extended period of time and it happens to be close to a milestone wedding anniversary?!! You look out your sexiest bikini, properly wax, look out outfits that won’t be ruined by vomit or tomato sauce and you book a trip without your babies!!!

For some people, this is a really hard concept to grasp and I respect that 100%. Some parents have never and would never vacation without their kids and I understand that; this time won’t happen again and you want to enjoy every single second. I , however, enjoy every single second but really wanted to hang out with my favourite man for 5 days and not have to worry about keeping anyone alive but myself!!
I won’t bore you with the details of our trip but it was the BEST holiday we have ever been on and was the most relaxed we have been in about 10 years!

If you haven’t done it before and need to be “sold”, here comes the sale pitch..

1:  You look at your surroundings and enjoy the beauty of the beach or the mountain (if I’m being completely honest, the view doesn’t even have to be that great!), it’s just knowing that you can look around and  don’t immediately examine all areas in which your child will trip and plunge into the depths or break a part of themselves. You don’t view everywhere in terms of “how far” it is as you know one of your kids will have a mental breakdown half way there as they have been walking  for 2-3minutes.

2: Food
Ah food!!! I love food but feeding myself has always been second priority for me. When it comes to breakfast buffets or dinners, it’s all about feeding the kids first and finding places that you know they’d find something to eat and not moan or make you want to scream into your napkin as they  sit poking  at the same vegetable for 40 minutes (they do that, you know!!). Whilst away, I ate breakfast, 3 course lunches and sometimes ate dinner at 9pm!!! 9pm!!! That’s what proper grown ups do!!!
One morning, we even ate breakfast in our pool.. could you imagine doing this with kids?!!! Your kids would be on that tray within minutes and using it for a surfboard and you’d be fishing  out soggy croissants and cornflakes for the rest of the trip!

3: Do whatever the hell you want!
It is the most amazing feeling when you wake up in the morning and you realize you can do whatever you want. No one else to keep happy or cater for, no schedules to stick to, nowhere to be, it’s bloody brilliant!! The most beautiful thing was not having to wear a watch as I genuinely didn’t care what time it was. We didn’t need to refer to kids club schedules or worry about feeding the children at the correct time to avoid mid afternoon sugar slumps or late night vomit sessions.. we ate when we were hungry.

We didn’t need this holiday and it was definitely not because we had to “escape” our kids. We are still young and wanted to enjoy each other’s company without always having our “mummy” and “daddy” hats on. We had the best time and our kids had a blast too as my parents spoiled them for 5 days; it’s a win win!!!

So in conclusion.... get the waxing, look out some nice clothes that you never wear as it’s too nice to wear around the kids, get babysitters (maybe even get a group of girlfriends together and take turns watching each other’s tribe), book the trip, order every cocktail, eat as much as you want, do as little as you want and know that what you are doing is exactly what you should be doing!

I have waited to write this as I wanted to ensure there were no adverse effects of our departure on our kids. I am happy to announce that they all had a ball whilst we were away and have already asked when we are going away again, ah to be loved!!!! That gives me the green light to plan next year’s Kid free adventure!

Wishing you all a great day,
Love
Kay