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Seasons and Journeys

Join Us on a Virtual Journey of Discovery

There are many ways to explore the content on our site.  Use this page to navigate your way to collections of posts we have written that are connected by a common theme. Sometimes it’s a journey we’ve done, other times a collection of posts on a place, a type of travel or destination we have explored in more depth.

Interrail to Istanbul

Summer 2018 and our mission is complex. To go from home to Istanbul and the Greek Islands by train. With five folding bikes. It’s a journey of 22 days with 24 trains, 18 stops in 12 countries, to cycle in towns and cities in the furthest reaches of Europe.

Castle Hostels

Summer 2017 and we’re exploring Germany on an unusual roadtrip, visiting five iconic German Castles that are part of the German Youth Hostel network. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to stay in a castle and there’s lots to explore while you’re there. We’ve researched fun family things to do in the area around each hostel and produced some cool free ebooks you can use to plan your own trip. Check out this trip taking in Colditz, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Eifel, Blankenheim, Bilstein, Koblenz, Stahleck and more.

Emilia Romagna

Summer 2017 and we’re road tripping in Northern Italy. We may be in an old Citroen Picasso but we’re dreaming of Lamborghini, Ferrari and Pagani on this trip which includes a tour of Motor Valley, some time making gelato, cookery lessons from Italian grandmothers and a chance to visit some of Emilia Romagna’s coastal resorts, theme parks and food producers.

Wintersports in the French Mountains

We spent a couple of winters exploring French Mountain resorts including La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand. It’s not all about skiing though, there’s lots happens off the downhill pistes and we not only check out the cheese but try activities like ski biking and biathlon. We welcomed 2017 in the French Mountains, exploring the winter sports offer at two family friendly resorts, Valmorel and La Rosiere. Beyond skiing it’s a chance for us to try our hand at a few new sports like paret sledging and ice hockey, with mixed success.

Summer in the Mountains

Summer 2016 is a summer in the mountains, visiting five different mountain areas in the Alps sampling mountain life and trying a variety of different mountain activities including hiking, downhill scooting, mountain biking, glacier walking, paragliding, canyoning, white water rafting, canyon swinging, blobbing and Via Ferrata and more. Includes Area 47 in Austria, Flaine and Chamonix in France, Les Diablerets and Lausanne in Switzerland.

Traversing the Pyrenees

Summer 2015 and we’re heading to the Pyrenees, on bicycles. Our mission is to try and traverse the mountain range from the Atlantic to the Med, a challenge we don’t know if we can complete and that leads us to explore not just the popular parts of the Pyrenees but some of the wilder and less visited parts too. Let’s just say there are a lot of ups and downs.

Japan Road Trip

Road Trip Japan

Summer 2014 and we’re lost in Japan, immersed for a month in a crazy road trip that takes us all around the mainland, visiting cat cafes, art islands, robot restaurants and getting caught up in a protest against the controversial Taiji dolphin drive. It’s a road trip like no other, captured and shared through regular blogging and also in a novel Japan in Haiku daily travel diary.

The Philippines

Summer 2014 and we spend two weeks in The Philippines as part of a project to encourage tourists to return after the devastating typhoon. We visit the islands of Cebu and Bohol, meet local people and projects and profile some of the family adventure options available for visitors.

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Dubai and the UAE

Spring 2014 and we’re off exploring Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. It’s our first taste of the Middle East and we’re on a mission to find out more about the man made wonder that is Dubai and to experience the sands, desert and mountains that lie beyond.

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Stories of Snow

Winter 2014 and we’re off in search of stories of snow. We’ve heard great things about how family friendly the Catalan Pyrenees can be so we’re heading there to explore five resorts in as many different ways as we can. All involving snow, of course.

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Balkan Adventures

Summer 2013 and we’re off to the Balkans. It’s a European road-trip like no other, heading first across western Europe to explore beautiful Slovenia before heading further East to leave the car in Split, switch to bicycles and see what happens when you try to cycle through Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro on a journey to try and reach Albania.

Costa Brava Costa Culture

Costa Brava is Costa Culture

A season of posts exploring another side of the Costa Brava. We joined a group of parent bloggers #incostabrava to discover what lies beyond people’s preconceptions of this popular Spanish holiday destination.

Sleepover Season

Sleepover Season

A season of posts on family sleepovers with a difference. You can’t say you’ve slept out under the stars until you’ve slept out without a tent. In this series of posts we’re sleeping out using tarps and bivis in a range of different environments.

Orlando Theme Parks

Mums in Orlando

Kirstie and Cameron spent a week in Orlando, sampling the very best of the Florida big five theme parks and a few little ones too. Which are the coolest coasters? And how many can you do without being sick?

Algarve Adventure

Algarve Adventure

People think the Algarve is just sun, sea and sand. Well with 70+ blue flag beaches it is that. But there’s much more for an adventurous family as we set out to prove.

Fairy Tale Berlin for Families

Fairy Tale Berlin

All childhoods begin with a fairytale so we figured a visit to Berlin would provide a perfect opportunity for a family to get up close to the Brothers’ Grimm. We arrived at the same time as the Snow Queen..

Lake District Winter Walk

Lake District Winter Walk

We spent New Year 2013 on a walk across the English Lake District. 6 days of family winter walking across the Central Lakes, each day with a different theme to contemplate. And all without a car. What a wonderful cold, wet and wintery start to the year.

Barrier Free Germany

Accessible Germany

A series of posts on accessible travel in the Rhine cities of Mainz, Koblenz, Dusseldorf and The Eifel National Park. Barrier free travel is as much about families as “disability.”

London Jubilympics

London 2012: Beyond Jubilympics

2012 really was London’s biggest ever year with the Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee taking centre stage. And while we weren’t able to join the main events, we did join in with events locally and then, when the party was over, went to London to see the Queen and explore the capital’s post Jubilympic legacy.

Iceland and Faroe Islands

Iceland & The Faroe Islands

We spent Summer 2012 touring Iceland and The Faroe Islands; two incredible Adventure Island destinations. Delve into this season to find out more about all manner of family adventures in these wild places. And find out what we got up to on the way there, driving across Northern Europe in search of active fun.

Cumbria Adventure Capital

Cumbria: Family Adventure Capital

An ongoing season exploring Cumbria, the UK’s self proclaimed Adventure Capital. What is an adventure capital? Does it live up to the hype? And what is there to do for families in search of a little active, outdoor adventure?

Twin Theme Park Adventure

Twin Theme Park Adventure

We’re not all about active outdoor stuff. For this adventure we spent a long weekend checking out two brand new attractions in a Battle of the Theme Parks. It’s Harry Potter Studio Tours vs Legoland and Star Wars.

Titanic Tour

Titanic Tour: Liverpool & Belfast

On the anniversary of the Titanic sinking, we spent a long weekend exploring two Titanic Cities, Liverpool and Belfast, visiting Titanic attractions and exhibitions and trying to figure out what lessons Titanic has for us today and for us as a family.

C2C Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast: Ride across Britain

In February 2012 we spent a week cycling Coast to Coast across England on the classic C2C bike route. In the deep mid-winter, as a training mission for Iceland. And what a mission it became…

Reykjavik Childrens Festival

Reykjavik Children’s Festival

In Spring 2012 we spent 5 days in Reykjavik at the Children’s Culture Festival trying to figure out what a festival by children, for children and with children could teach us about Icelandic culture. A lot, as it turned out.

Liverpool Wonderland

Liverpool Wonderland

Christmas 2011 and we spent an Alice in Wonderland weekend in Liverpool, returning to the city of Kirstie’s childhood to see how it had changed. And how it could dress itself up as a winter Wonderland.

Blue Danube Tour

Blue Danube & so much more

Summer 2011 saw us cycle from Munich to Budapest along the Danube, then north across Slovakia and the High Tatras to Poland on a musically inspired tour of Central Europe, learning to play the recorders as we went.

Baltic Madness and Moomins

Baltic & Moomin Madness

Summer 2010 and inspired by the Moomins 60th anniversary we set off on a journey involving 19 ferries, 7 countries and 1000km of cycling to get to Moominworld via the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Boats, bikes and Moomin madness.

Italian Job

The Italian Job: A ride across Europe

Summer 2009 saw us ride across Europe. Our mission: to eat Italian Ice Cream. In Italy. Starting from Amsterdam we headed south following rivers and Roman Roads until we hit the Alps. Then it was up and over to finish with a gelato in another great city of canals; Venice.

Pedalling Pilgrims

Pedalling Pilgrims

Summer 2008 and we headed to Spain to become pedalling pilgrims, following in the footsteps of millions on a historic journey with a thousand year history, to visit Santiago de Compostela.

LEJOG Challenge

Lands End to John O Groats

Summer 2007 and we took on a UK challenge ride, the famous Lands End to John O Groats ride. Could we really ride from one end of the UK to the other with toddlers and still get back in time for school?

The Big Trip RTW with kids

The Big Trip

In 2004/5 we took 9 months out for the Big Trip. A round the world adventure cycling end to end in New Zealand, spending a month eco touring in Samoa, road tripping in the West Coast USA, and taking the train across Canada and the States. All while pregnant!

Honeymoon Adventure

A Honeymoon Adventure

This is where it all began. Back in the last millenium. Just married but committed to keeping the adventure in our lives we set off for a South American biking adventure. To ride to the very end of the world in Ushuaia.

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We're Kirstie & Stuart. We share an adventurous spirit, a passion for indie travel and 3 kids. The Family Adventure Project is our long term experiment in doing active, adventurous things together. Find out more...

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