3 Getaways Abroad for a Relaxing Trip

Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash

{This post is written in collaboration with Emily Jones}

After a year of staying indoors and lockdowns, we are all craving some sun and a fun excursion. A relaxing holiday to an exotic location can help to relieve the anxiety and stress caused by the pandemic and will be a really welcome release for most people.

If you are planning a getaway abroad, here are three destinations worth considering -

 

1. Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Experience ultimate relaxation soaking in the geothermally heated water surrounded by breathtaking views of the Icelandic landscape. The Blue Lagoon is an artificial spa that utilizes water from the surrounding geothermal plant. The water is warm all-year-round making it perfect for soaking in even in extreme temperatures. Besides, the minerals and silica boost its healing properties, making it perfect for rejuvenating your skin and relaxing your mind.

The ideal time to vacation at the Blue lagoon is during winter if you want your skin to reap the benefits of both warm and cold temperatures. Apart from swimming in the spa, you can enjoy a drink in the swim-up bars. You can also enjoy premium services like facemasks and other treatments from the in-water mask bar at Blue Lagoon. The silica and algae masks have numerous health benefits for your skin, reducing signs of ageing and nourishing your skin.

The Highs and Lows of my Spa Day at The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne

What a lovely day it has been. I've been at the Spa with a friend and thoroughly enjoyed a workout in the gym, a swim, jacuzzi, steam, relax and then delightful afternoon tea. Can I do it all again tomorrow please?

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Jan 29, 2018 at 11:53am PST

Earlier this week I enjoyed a leisure day at The Grand Hotel Spa in Eastbourne with my friend Annie. I had some spa vouchers to use and it seemed a good idea to gift Annie half as her Christmas present. I choose the Grand Hotel as it isn't far from our homes and as it is a 5 star hotel I expected the spa to be pretty luxurious and it certainly looked good in the photos on the website.

We arrived to the hotel about half an hour before I had booked our treatment times and our first struggle was finding some free parking. The streets round the hotel generally have free on-street parking but it was super busy. You can park in the grounds of the Grand but that's £25 a day and you pay to park on the seafront as well. Luckily just as I was about to give in and pay we found a space close by and headed in to the hotel. We were greeted by a lovely jolly doorman who gave us instructions were to go. Let the fun commence!

The first impression of the hotel is fabulous, it's not called the Grand for nothing but as we headed in the lift to the basement the view gets consistently more grotty. Old carpet, plain cream walls and not a touch of glamour in the corridors or reception areas. Thankfully the staff were in total contrast to the look of the area and they were great. Really friendly, super professional and nothing was too much trouble for them.

10 top tips for a relaxed UK family holiday (on a budget)

A couple of weeks back we were on holiday in Poole with my parents and their dog and it was great, a real time of old fashioned and low-key fun.

I don't know about you but sometimes I find that holidays are a bit too full-on and constant activities can be exhausting. After a long term at school, my three kids are very ready for a break and need to chill out. They don't want to mind, but as I have the title 'Mummy', I get to make the decisons and rather than constant activities we have been enjoying time together as a family and just being in each others company.

I'm sure there are other parents like me so I thought I'd share my top 10 tips for a chilled and easy holiday away (on a budget) with the family -

1. Try out a student house. This is not going to be for everyone as you have to be quite flexible about the area you stay in and the decor of the house but basically we rent a 5 bedroom student house in Wallisdown (between Poole and Bournemouth) for one week of the school holiday each year and this costs just £400. Compare that to a regular holiday let and we save hundreds for the 7 of us to stay. It pays to shop around and to consider places you might not normally.
2. Plan ahead but don’t over commit. Have a good search of the Internet or contact the local tourist board and find out what is going on locally during your stay. There are often free events that can be enjoyed and will keep the cost down, for instance this week in Bournemouth my children have been able to help light the candles in the park and watched free performances by the beach. We have also made use of our existing National Trust membership. 
3. Don’t be afraid to leave some times unplanned. I do think it is important to have times when everyone can just relax and choose what they want to do. It is of course really good to have lots of time where we all come together but we also need to charge our batteries and different people do that in different ways. I have two book worms and a crafter and a quick visit to the local charity shop provided new books for next to nothing. 
4. Take the pressure off yourself. Within 15 miles of where we are staying there are probably in excess of twenty quality beaches that we could visit and on other times I might have pressured myself to try out new places each day and to ensure the kids went out every night but on this holiday we visited the same beach a couple of times and had a family movie night in, both of which the kids loved.
5. Take a pack of cards and some board games with you. On the first night my kids were hassling us to go into town for an ice-cream and a go on the penny machines but after a long drive, shopping and unpacking all I fancied was a cuppa and a game of monopoly. I promise you, they had just as much fun as going out.
6. Take some cheap outdoor sports toys with you. There are so many great free parks across the UK and it seems a shame not to make use of them. Of course the kids love to play in the park but more than anything I find they love to play with us, so rounders, racket ball, handball and football are all big hits. Or we sometimes create a circuit for us all to move around together - skipping, spin the hoops, get the ball in the net, scramble through a tube or use whatever is about, like tree stumps and free exercise equipment in many parks.
7. Buy some ready meals. Go on, stop being a snob and just go for it. You cook enough at home and going out each day as a family is really expensive and can be a bore if the younger ones are tired. So I like to go to a quality shop like M&S or Waitrose and buy some ready meals that can just be put in the oven and enjoyed around the table.
8. Or light the BBQ and use disposable plates and cutlery. Don't make life difficult for yourself, the kids think it is a real thrill to eat outdoors and to just be able to bin everything at the end of the meal!
9. Let them break through the boredom barrier. I often find that my kids have the best fun when I have allowed them the time to get bored. Especially JJ, as a geeky boy he would happily sit on his laptop or iPad the whole day long but when I tell him it is a tech free day he will then play with his sisters and make fun from nothing. Camps get built, hide and seek is played and they come to me with ideas of what they want me to help them do.
10. Take rainy day activities with you. It is Britain after all and it may (probably) will rain so it is best to be equipped. The house we stay in is always well equipped and during rainy stays we have painted stones we collected from the beach, made fairy cakes (or even decorated digestives when we have not had a cooker available) and created flags for our next sandcastle building day.

What are you best tips for a nice easy family holiday?

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Time as a couple #R2BC (Week 42, year 3)

It has been yet another good week, I am so lucky to have a Mum and Dad who will come and look after our kids so that dh and I can go away and have some time together. My children adore their grandparents and they had a ball and did not miss us one bit - McDonalds, walks on the beach, playing with the dog and snuggles with grandparents means they had a super time.

Happy with their Grandparents in the summer

I think it is so important to make sure you have some quality time with your other half every so often. Dh and I have not been away together as a couple for at least 2 years and we needed this break. We are lucky to get some nights out and have even stayed local to my parents for an evening out but actually getting away and having 72 hours is a real treat.

So we set off Friday lunchtime and we got up to loads over the next three days - we went to the cinema in the afternoon, had a pub lunch, swam in a beautiful spa pool, snuggled on the bed, walked Richmond Park for hours, got charged at by a stag (I kid you not!), had a cream tea to calm ourselves, went out for three gorgeous dinners, ate three decadent English breakfasts, stayed at three different places, went to Church twice and we chatted and chatted and chatted until we had no more to chat about.

I loved it and I love you Adam. xx

What has made you cheerful or grateful this week?

It could be something massive or it might just be the everyday simple things that happen. If you are new to Reasons to be Cheerful then take a look at the background to this linky and my rational for starting it 3 years ago. 

Write a post and link it up, no rules, just as long as you have written about something which is adding a smile to your face or rocking your world then I’m happy. Then link up the post, add in the blog hop code to your post if you fancy and then people can go from post to post nice and easily. 

Wishing you a fabulous week ahead, Mich x




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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

Reasons to be Cheerful - C is for... (week 24)

It’s Thursday and you surely by now know what that means – Reasons to be Cheerful!  Welcome to this week’s edition, I hope you have some super cheery things to share with us.

For me, I am continuing with the letter theme that I started a couple of weeks ago, so this week the things I am grateful for are starting with the letter C.  Here goes –

1.       Cloverley Hall – This weekend I am going for a weekend away with about 10 ladies from my Church.  There are some organised sessions but there will be a lot of down time and I intend to use this to refresh myself.  I am feeling pretty burnt out at the moment and I dearly need some down time.  A good book, a cuppa and if the weather holds up some lovely countryside walks are just what I need.

2.       Camping – while I relax in the comfort of Cloverley Hall my lovely dh will be camping with his cubs and all 3 of our kids.  Rather him than me is all I can say.  Please Lord could you let this rain ease up for them, I’m not sure how well my little ladies will cope.

3.       Counselling – As you will know I am on a journey to try and sort my weight out and I have realised that until I sort my head issues, my body has no chance, so I am trying out some counselling and have my first appointment today – we will see how it goes.

Short and sweet this week, but I am on a race against time to get everything done before I go away tomorrow. Time for you to share, what is making you happy, cheerful or grateful?  Write your post, link it up.  Take the blog hop code if you fancy and pop it at the bottom of your post and then go visit some others and leave some comment love. I promise if you comment here, I’ll come do the same and I’ll try to get to everyone who links up but no promises as I am having a computer free weekend.

Have a great week ahead.  Mich x

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Link up now -

Work-Life Balance

I have been thinking a lot about balance just recently.  More specifically getting the right balance between being busy and relaxing.  I have a crazy innate desire to always be on the go and I know this is not healthy, so my aim is to change that.  I wrote recently about making sensible choices and I think that has been a step towards my being more chilled and not so hyper.

Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans

John Lennon

When I think of balance, the term Work-Life Balance comes to mind and I started to think about this and decided it's a strange term.  Surely work is just a part of life? I suppose the term 'life' is being used in this case to describe what I think of as relaxation or fun.  I googled work-life balance and was surprised to find 32,800,000 results.  OK a popular thing to tap into then!  There were centres for work-life balance and lots of companies trying to sell you the secret formula, but I do not believe there is any secret formula, for me it is about looking for my inner peace and that all starts for me by turning my day over to God.

Reasons to be Cheerful 1,2,3 - Week 9 (Thankful for time to myself)

I am feeling so cheerful, thankful and grateful today! I have just returned from a massage and I am all sleepy and calm.  Not long until I have to pick the kids up from school, so that could well all change but for now...

1. This is my number 1 reason this week: time to myself.  In January my girls started at nursery school 3 afternoons a week and this means I get 3 hours to myself for 3 days.  Boy have I been enjoying this, today I had a massage, another day I had my hair cut, I have given blood, I have had the dreaded smear test (shhh I know TMI), I have been shopping, had a lazy coffee in a book shop and much more  Just wait until September, I will have 2 whole school days to myself...
2. I started the Spring garden clean up this morning.  It was so cold outside but I managed an hour of weeding and tidying, so feeling very proud of myself right now.
3. It is only 3 weeks until we go to Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park.  I know I am not supposed to be excited but I adore family days out and I just know that the kids are going to love this so much.  I love being a blogger...  watch out for my review and have you entered my giveaway to win a family ticket for 4 for 2nd April 2011?

Now your turn....  tell me your reasons to be cheerful this week.  Dig deep, they could be as simple as 'it is not raining'.  Take your post in any direction you fancy, as long as it is cheerful.  Don't let me pigeon hole you into just posting 3 reasons.  Go on I challenge you to be creative this week....







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Don't forget to take the blog hop code from below the linky and paste this into your blog so that new readers can jump from blog...to blog... to blog and also promote your post and the link up by tweeting with the hashtag #Reasons2BCheerful

..and before you go, I must remember to point you over to Maxabella's I'm Grateful for... link up.  Join up your reasons post there and make some new Aussie friends.

Of course Jen's Blog gems is still open too. Link up every other Sunday and air your archives.

Wishing you a fabulous week, Mich x

Silent Sunday: Bliss

Perfect Therapy!

What an amazing couple of days I have just had staying in the most beautiful London hotel.  Work booked me in for a CPD course for Weds and Thurs this week and I was not too sure what to expect.  To be honest the course was not that useful to me but the people were nice and it is always good to network......  but the hotel, well that was a real treat! We stayed at the Athenaeum Hotel on Piccadilly, Mayfair.  It is a established 5* hotel but not one I had been to before and I have been to a fair few. What I loved was that it was decadent but also quirky and unique. Nothing appeared to be copied on every floor, all the art work was different and  absolutely stunning. The receptionist checked me in and tried to get my hubbie and girls to stay too.  I convinced her I really was quite happy to stay alone and off she took me for a tour of the hotel and then onto my bedroom to show me how all the lights, air con, ipod dock etc etc worked.

One of the best things she had to tell me was that my mini bar was completely free, as was the teddy in my room!  No I did not drink it dry, but yes a few bits made it into my bag to come home with me!

One of the parts of the tour that I loved was the children's Winter Wonderland play room. Just look at it...  Any child that stays at the hotel should use the room and enjoy their stay at the hotel and use the craft, DVD's, games...  Wow, not the kind of hotel I normally stay at - let me tell you!

The service was second to none, completely discreet but extremely professional. The food was of a fabulous standard, it easily met that of the Ivy and in fact there is not one thing that I could fault about my stay. Whilst the Athenaeum is out of my normal price range I would most definitely consider coming here again for a special occasion or if I could find a good deal.

It is amazing how 36 hours without the kids can really recharge your batteries.  Sitting in the deep bath relaxing, having my divine 3 course supper, chatting over pancakes, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast and being able to watch TV sprawled across the whole bed was the making of a very happy and relaxed Mich. The indulgence of those couple of days also had the effect that I was happy to come home and get back on track with my food and come back to being abstinent again. Excess makes me want to back away form the food thankfully.  So today I am very thankful for a wonderful meeting at my Eating Disorder fellowship last night, some super friends who really build me up and support me, a loving God and the ability to give up my will and to be abstinent from the act of eating compulsively.

Yes, I am singing this hotels praises and no they have not sponsored me to do so.  You know when you just love something and you have to tell the world!

Calmer kids....

I have a twin mummy friend who has really chilled kids. They are happy to sit down and relax at times and I would love that. She tells me that they are chilled as she is chilled, which leads me to believe mine are hypo because I am! lol and I know really that is not far form the truth. So for the last week or so I have been trying to be more chilled and to be home more and just sit with the kids on the floor/ sofa and play, watch TV or chat and it is really worked, they seem to much more chilled out today.

The three of them are all sat on the sofa watching TV as I type, waiting in their PJ's to collect Daddy from the station in about 5 minutes (see the photo above). Yesterday me and the girls got in my bed together at 2pm and watched TV for an hour to relax, it seems a sensible solution to them having given up their daytime nap - they at least get to relax and be calm.