At the weekend I took a little blogger jolly to #blogsummit, a bloggers get together arranged by the Tots100. It’s a serious event, as you can see from the delegate shots they take.
There was a challenge to swap guest post with an envelope and the post below is a fab one from Louise at My Gorgeous Boys: My quest to be a travel blogger! Considering we were picking out envelopes from a huge pile, it’s fairly funny she is hosting one from the person I have to send one to. It’s a blog-love-triangle!
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This post has been inspired by last weekend’s Blog Summit when I drew the wonderful Patch of Puddles blog in the envelope challenge! Thank you Merry for letting me guest post on your fantastic blog
When our first son arrived we promised him an adventure. At the time we were thinking of all the fun things we would do and cool places we would go to. Little did we know then the kind of adventure parenting really is on its own!
Six years on and another little boy to boot I think we have done him proud. We have had city breaks with them to Barcelona and London, chilled out on the Italian beach in Puglia, met Spiderman at Universal Studios (OK he was one year old but still!), Legoland, Drayton Manor, met Santa in Lapland, got in the festival mood at Harvest At Jimmy’s and had stacks of camping adventures and lots of local day trips exploring the delights of the Midlands, Yorkshire and Cornwall to name a few.
Then again watching Kirstie’s (from the Family Adventure Project) talk at Blog Summit dwarfed all our attempts at adventure to microscope proportions.
Kirstie , her husband and their three children have been reporting with their own unique style on their adventures around the world for the last 10 years. They have amassed a huge amount of fantastic experiences and a wealth of knowledge about travel blogging.
Here are just a few of Kirstie’s travel blogging pointers:
- Find original ways of writing and reporting about places and events.
- It isn’t all about freebies, there are lots of hidden expenses you will have to pay for yourself.
- It is very hard work!
- Look out for events or places you would like to cover on your blog and contact the company or PR directly with your pitch. You have to be as creative as possible as there is lots of competition particularly against single travellers.
Other sources of information
- Attend The World Travel Market event in November
- Sign up to Travel Bloggers Unite
- Register with Travmedia for daily press releases
Blogging has opened up lots of fantastic opportunities and different experiences for us. At the moment I love writing about our experiences as parents, as well as places we go and things we do. However, hearing Kirstie’s talk I cannot deny how awesome it would be to translate this into letting your imagination run wild and experience some amazing travel possibilities.
For now though we will continue on our adventure and enjoy the ride.
Here are my top tips for making a great family day out.
- Plan for the journey – be prepared for lots of games of motorway bingo, eye spy or bring the iPad for emergencies.
- Preparation. Check out the website for maps, pushchair friendliness etc, read reviews or ask friends for recommendations. I think researching where you are going beforehand helps enormously in planning your day and your enjoyment of it. You know your family and what everyone likes to do so make sure there is something for everyone.
- Look out for any special events or interactive things going on on the day you are there e.g. animal petting or feeding times if a zoo, farm or aquarium and note the times when planning your day.
- Look on the voucher websites (VoucherCloud, MSE etc) for discounted entry to attractions
- Practicalities – check out where to find toilets, baby change, café etc.
- Check out there are picnic facilities are indoor and outdoor and bring your own picnic (otherwise bring plenty of cash!).
- Take your own multipacks of drinks and snacks to keep energetic hungry children happy between meals.
- Set expectations before leaving the house. Everyone in the family will no doubt want to do different things to make sure everyone is aware of the need to take turns and have patience when for example Dad wants to spend hours In the garden centre.
- Decide before hand if children are going to be allowed a treat from the gift shop. If so let them know how much they have to spend and if not try to avoid the gift shop altogether.
- Have fun!
