Family Adventure Project

Looking for life in the waxworksOur Big Ticket family pass for Blackpool offered entry into Madame Tussauds. I’d never been to a waxworks before so we popped in for the chance to get up close and personal with some old and new celebrities. But while the waxy celebrity exhibits were undeniably lifelike and entertaining, to me they were also… Read More

Reykjavik Children's Cultural Festival 2013 What’s your view on culture for kids? A waste of time? A developmental priority? A welcome distraction from online gaming? In Iceland, it’s highly valued. So much so that they’ve hooked one of their annual city festivals onto it.  As the third Reykjavik Children’s Cultural Festival kicks off again this… Read More

Orlando’s Gatorland doesn’t have cute furry animals or spectacular rides. It doesn’t have ‘cast members’ or ‘model citizens’ to wish you a good day. Its signs look homemade and frankly, they’re a bit un-P.C. It brings you up close to some of the kings of the wild, and then serves you deep friend chunks of them for lunch. But Gatorland has a sen… Read More

Behind the scenes with Legoland Master Builders Who do you imagine builds Legoland? Kids in third world sweatshops working to blueprints drawn up in the Billund headquarters? Nope. Bespectacled professors of plastic? Wrong again. It isn't a line of people in a grim northern factory, robotically slotting heads onto Ewoks while counting the minute… Read More

Beyond the beaches: An Algarve Jeep Safari Portugal’s Algarve may be a seaside paradise but there’s more to it than sand and surf. With orange groves, cork plantations and traditional hillside villages, the interior of the region is ripe for exploring by foot or bike. And if the sun is too hot or your feet too tired you can go by jeep on a fores… Read More

I don’t normally do Disney, but Tinkerbell is different  You can’t do Florida without doing Disney. How many times had people told me that? So, despite my conviction that Disney wasn’t for me, I agreed to spend a day in one of world’s most popular theme  parks to see if might  experience the magic… “No thank you I don’t do Disney” I first said… Read More

Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin isn't your normal hotel. It doesn't always have staff, or indeed guests, it doesn't promote itself and you can't book online. But it does have coffins, and cages and upside down rooms. You see it's not really a hotel at all; it's a work of art, a living installation, a temporary exhibition space. And you ca… Read More

The spirit of adventure in a jam bagel Kirstie is out early and Cameron rushes off to school leaving Hannah and I alone in the kitchen. We are about to have breakfast together until I discover there’s no marmalade left. Normally I wouldn’t throw a tantrum, I’d just have butter. But not on a toasted sesame bagel. That calls for thick shredded mar… Read More

A Trabi Safari in Berlin One of the quirkier ways we saw Berlin on our recent Expedia Blogger Shaped Berlin weekend was by taking a Trabi Safari. Trabant cars (or Trabis as they are fondly known) were the most common cars in the East while the Berlin wall separated East from West. Waiting lists were up to fourteen years long but luckily there's… Read More

Antarctica Empire of the Penguin SeaWorld Preview Antartica is about to get much more accessible. The biggest ever extension to Florida’s SeaWorld is due to open May 2013 and will introduce visitors to The Empire of the Penguin. While in Orlando recently SeaWorld gave us ten minutes behind the scenes with one of the stars of the show, to preview… Read More

No proper tour of the Icelandic Highlands is complete without a visit to Askja Caldera, where the highlight of the trip is taking a swim in a giant volcanic bath tub. Admittedly, getting to the crater is a mission; hours spent crossing desolate volcanic deserts and lava fields where your chances of finding a petrol station en route are slim to… Read More

One person's dream can be another's nightmare. We first heard of the Icelandic 'Dream Road' from Dick Phillips, the Cumbrian Icelandic expert and each imagined our own versions of perfection. We assumed it would be overrun by cyclists, but found we had it to ourselves. And as we bumped over stones, forded rivers, crossed beaches and slipped al… Read More