BUDAPEST, HUNGARY | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

Out of everywhere on our trip, I was most excited about Zermatt and Budapest. It was also where we finally caught up with David and Sylvie - a week was a long time without seeing her little smushy baby face and Viv and I were both so excited to catch up with them. 

Vivienne and I arrived in Budapest first, about 4pm, and checked into our AirBnb which was really central and had a 24 hour shop across the road for us to stock up on crisps and beers for when Dav arrived. We met them off the bus from the airport in the evening and luckily Sylvie had slept for the entire flight and Dav wasn't too frazzled - I think he'd been anticipating how it would go but it ended up being pretty straightforward. We dumped our things, turned around and went straight out to dinner to catch up.

The next day we packed up the buggy and walked straight through the city to cross the river and climb up to a good vantage point to see the view. One of our favourite things to do in a new place is to explore by foot, and Budapest is quite sprawling but small enough to walk around from point to point too.. We walked up towards the Citadella, and hung out at the kids' park for a bit, then walked along the river towards Budapest Castle, where we got the funicular up to the top. The views over the city were amazing, so pretty and just what you'd imagine - the parliament buildings in particular look so iconic on the skyline.

From there we crossed back over the river, and there was a Spring festival happening, where we sat and ate some amazing Hungarian street food, had a few beers, and looked around the craft market. It was so colourful, and there was a park nearby with a sunken bar area - the girls hung out on the grass and we took it easy for the afternoon - all tired and needing to relax after travelling in the days before. We decided to take the rest of that first day easily, and hung out back at our accommodation before heading out for tapas on the night (which, it's worth mentioning, was so, so cheap and so good - about £35 for three of us including wine and beers..).  

I was so glad that I booked Budapest for three nights, as it meant we had two and a half days to explore, and we could take it all at our own pace. We were really keen to go to a spa but we were a little limited in our options as some places were adult only, and some wouldn't allow babies. We eventually found one on Margaret Island - Palatinus Strand Baths - which had indoor and outdoor pools, thermal saunas and baths, hot and cold pools, a kids' pool.. it was perfect, and we spend a few hours there (I could have stayed there all day, but it's a little less relaxing with the kids!). 

The walk back from Margaret Island into the centre was past the Parliament Buildings - even better close up - and we decided to head to the Jewish Quarter. Honestly, I immediately wanted to come back without the girls. The ruin bars are really something else.. So bizarre and amazing. Viv loved exploring them too, but with Sylvie being a toddler and kicking up a fuss we couldn't stay for long. The Jewish Quarter, with all it's bars and restaurants, is amazing, and you could easily kill half a day here wandering around. We stopped for some lunch, before talking a slow walk back, stopping to look at graffiti and take photos too.

We had a few hours to kill on our last day, and decided to head to Városliget Park, where there was plenty to explore and see. We stopped near the old ice skating rink for food, and let the kids blow off some steam at the play area ahead of our flight. It was such a pretty place, and had Castle Vajdahunyad Vára Castle, museums and a zoo as well as the famous Széchenyi Thermal Baths to visit too. 

We all had the most wonderful time in Budapest, and loved exploring and being reunited, but I think by this point we were ready for some home comforts too - there's nowhere like your own bed, is there? The flight went well, Sylvie slept all the way home (thank goodness), and Dav drove us back from the airport while I slept (sorry for being shit company). 

A few days after being home I was itching to head away again.. the travel bug/Wanderlust is real. I'm hoping to get away just me and the girls in the Summer for another adventure.. this really has been magical memory-making stuff.

  You can see a different variety of photographs from our time in Budapest over on my photography blog here.

NEXT STOP - HOME

VIENNA, AUSTRIA | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

Oh Vienna! We both loved Vienna; it was beautiful but gritty, our accommodation was amazing and finally we were out of Switzerland and back in a country with normal prices.. We stayed in Vienna for two nights, in a rooftop room that overlooked the city and the Naschmarkt, which is a huge area for food and market stalls.

We arrived mid-afternoon after spending the morning in Bratislava, checked in, and went straight back out to explore. We looked around the flea markets, and then headed further into the centre for a few hours to hunt out one of the Easter markets I'd read about.

The Easter markets are similar in set up to the Austrian and German Christmas markets, there are goods, food and drink stalls, some entertainment.. but for the Easter market there are also thousands (literally thousands) of hand-painted Easter eggs for sale. In Europe we noticed that people decorate with an Easter tree, and hang eggs off the branches. The eggs above are all real empty egg shells (as Vivienne discovered when she squeezed one..) but we picked up a few painted wooden ones as souvenirs too. 

We grabbed some foot at the market including a caramel and custard waffle for Vivienne, I had a few glasses of wine and it really felt like Spring had arrived. We walked back as the light was disappearing to our accommodation, which was hosting a party to celebrate their 7-year anniversary. There was a band on in the bar, which also had games and pool tables, and we lay on a day bed under the stairs hanging out for a while before heading up to bed. 

Next next day - our only full day in Vienna - was Easter Sunday! We got up early and headed out to Prater - a permanent fairground a little outside of the centre. We started by going on the huge ferris wheel which overlooks the entire city, then a rollercoaster (Viv's eyes were tightly shut the whole time!), looked around, then wandered back to the centre. We explored a little more before stopping for lunch. Viv and I had a deal that she would try some new foods while we were away, so she and I shared Goulash, Schnitzel and Sacher torte for lunch. We weren't far from the Easter markets ad couldn't resist popping back, Vivienne had some crazy chocolate-covered marshmallow thing, before hanging out and resting for a little while playing cards because it was getting pretty windy out there.

We also headed up to the museum quarter that day, but I think the past week or so and never really stopping was beginning to catch up with us and we were starting to flag.. At the same time everything around us started shutting early because it was Easter Sunday evening, and we were both happy to head back, play pool and have a bit of an earlier night (joking.. we watched more Fresh Prince..) Viv was pretty excited to be heading to Budapest the next day and finally see David and Sylvie again..

We had a few hours before we were due to get the train to Budapest the next day, so got a quick taxi over to Hunderwasser House and village - an area designed to promote living in sync with nature. You have to apply to live there, and can't live there for long. The idea is that you embrace it then move away to spread the gospel about living together with our natural environment.. We'd left suitcases at our accommodation, so slowly walked back, grabbed some brunch, and got ready to catch the train to Budapest!

  You can see a different variety of photographs from our time in Vienna over on my photography blog here.

NEXT STOP - BUDAPEST!

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

It dawned on me, a few days into our trip, that I had a spare travel day on our Interrail passes. Our pass meant we could travel 5 days out of 15, and, with the night train having to be booked separately, we'd only planned to travel on four. I literally looked at a map on a train journey and thought "Hey! Bratislava is about an hour from Vienna, maybe we could pop over for a few hours when we get off the night train from Zurich?"

So that's what we did. We left our luggage in storage in Vienna train station, went for a quick coffee (it was 8am at this point which still feels early..) and got on the next train to Bratislava's central train station.

I'll admit, first impressions weren't great. I think Google Maps took us on a bit of a questionable route through an undesirable residential area which didn't help.. but we walked the half hour walk up towards Bratislava Castle, which is at the top of a hill meaning the views over the city are beautiful once you reach it. 

We looked over the river, and down over the rooftops of the Old Town, before making our way back down into the city.

The Old Town area was the prettiest part of Bratislava that we saw - some of the buildings were beautiful and there were plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants once you reached Michael's Gate. Vivienne got a piece of Oreo cake to take away, which meant she loved Bratislava and it was a big tick in her travel diary.

I'm glad we visited but also glad we didn't stay there and make it a larger part of our trip - a lovely few hours out, but it wasn't long before I was itching to get back and start exploring Vienna.

You can see a different selection of photos from our time in Bratislava over on my photography blog here.

NEXT STOP - VIENNA!

A SHORT FILM | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

So! We're back from our Interrailing trip and we've been home for a few weeks now; the Easter holidays are over we're getting back into the swing of the normal routine. 

It was *so* good. It took a lot of planning and going over and over details and checking the logistics of everything, but it went so smoothly and it was one of the most special things I've ever done with Vivienne. I'm working to put together some blog posts and organise the photos I took along the way, I'm going to be breaking the trip down into places to really go into detail about what we did in each place; but, for now, here is a short film I made of our travels. It was put together on my phone, and it's a little rough but it shows snippets of our travels and I hope you enjoy it!

THE MAGIC OF A BIG AGE GAP

A bit of back-story for anyone not 'in the know' - when we realised Vivienne was on her way it was a huge surprise (AKA it was unplanned and we were shitting it). I was 20, David was 21, we were both in Liverpool at uni and it was *not* something we were expecting, to say the least. I guess the full extent of that chaos is best saved for another day, but in short we became parents long before we expected to. 

Nevertheless, it only took for Vivienne to become a young toddler before some people started asking when we were going to have another, even though I was only 22/23.. and it never really stopped since. For all the women out there (who probably aren't reading this family-centric blog) who don't want children and are sick of being asked about it - even women who *have* kids are constantly asked about whether they're planning on getting pregnant soon.. even, on one occasion, with one woman in Sainsbury's telling me I was a cruel mother for not planning on 'giving' Vivienne a sibling. Nice. 

Anyway, fast forward six and a half years and batting off hundreds of questions about our plans (we didn't even *have* plans about more kids up until this point), we decided to go for it and try for another.

When I fell pregnant Vivienne was a few months off seven years old and when Sylvie was born she was seven and a half. She was old enough to be patient and understanding when I was feeling crap and irritable during pregnancy, and also old enough that if I wanted a break or a nap for half an hour on my own then she was responsible enough to be completely safe in that time.   

When Sylvie was born she was old enough to understand that, although we loved them both equally, Sylvie often had priority and her needs had to be seen to before Vivienne's. She knew how to get herself ready for school and could (most of the time) pack and check her own bag, do homework on her own, and help a bit around the house. There was never a hint of jealousy or feeling a bit pushed out when Sylvie arrived; we thought the novelty of having a baby at home might wear off a little and she would want to spend some time doing her more grown up child things when at home but it hasn't been the case at all.

As it stands the girls adore each other, they gravitate towards each other in the house and only have eyes for each other when they're reunited after school at the end of the day. Vivienne is an amazing help, we don't push her when she's not feeling like it but most of the time she loves little responsibilities like getting Sylvie ready for the day or watching her for me while I sort things out. Life consists of a *lot* more juggling with two little ones but with Vivienne being older it makes the baby stage so much less intense - they really do entertain each other every day. 

There were many reasons that we had a big age gap, and we never really 'pined' as such for baby number two - we were often close to deciding to only even have Vivienne as she got older and things became easier. We were young, working on careers, moving house and moving house (we moved about six times in as many years..) and there was too much going on without throwing more chaos into the mix. We could easily have stuck at one baby but Sylvie seemed to arrive at exactly the right time for us - even being born out of wedding season exactly as we'd hoped for.

Any baby books I read seemed to list negatives for big age gaps, "they won't bond as well", "you'll have to rebuy all your baby equipment", "the eldest will be jealous after being an only child so long".. but forgot some amazing positives such as "childcare costs a fortune and you'll only ever have one in pre-school care at a time", "you can comfortably get a shower or have 15 minutes to yourself because there's someone to responsibly watch the baby", "your eldest is more independent and can get ready/eat/wash so you're only wrestling with one little person each day" and "only one bloody massive car seat to wrestle with at a time".

Maybe everything just happens for a reason? (Maybe that reason is that in seven years we'll have one that can babysit the other..?) Whatever led to this point and whatever made us take a little longer than average, it's worked well and I can't imagine it any other way.

Big age gaps are the way forward - and we have these two to prove it.