How I Plan Trips: Initial Steps

I recently asked on the Arrows Sent Forth facebook page if any readers were interested in hearing more about how I organize our travels and plan our trips. I (happily) answer lots of questions from family members and friends about this, but haven't written much about it.

Some of you experienced travelers may read this series of posts and roll your eyes. What I do is pretty basic stuff. And certainly, there may be better ways. This is simply what works for me and my family. For those of you just starting out in family travel, I hope this is a helpful starting point.

Step 1: Choose a Location

Sometimes this is the hardest part! Prior to moving abroad, we often based trips around things we had going on. Maybe we tagged along on my husband's business trip. Or road tripped it for a wedding. Other times we were craving sun and warmth, and just looked up where the cheapest direct flight to Florida was.

One of our favorite family trips was to Iowa for a big family wedding! (Look at that cute ring bearer!)

The Day Being an Expat Got Easier

I've been pretty up front that the first few months of life as an expat were difficult for me. I think I managed it pretty well and usually had a smile on my face. But I also refer to this time period as "the blur." I barely knew what end was up most of the time, and each day seemed to present a series of challenges I could never anticipate. I have a lot of fond memories from this time, too, don't get me wrong. But I'm happy to be past that initial "settling in" phase.

Because at some point, it just gets easier. This seems to be true for almost every expat I know. I'm not sure there's a definitive timeline to that. For some, it's probably just a few weeks or months. For others, maybe a full year or more. I can clearly picture my moment of serenity in my mind.

I was hiking on a footpath just a couple of miles from my home.

Tips for Visiting Kylemore Abbey

I've seen a lot of gorgeous old buildings in my travels. And I've seen a lot of beautiful, natural landscapes too. Rarely have I been lucky enough to witness the two merge together quite like they do at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, Ireland.

The Abbey is nestled into the bottom of the Twelve Bens, a mountain range in this northwestern part of the country. As if the building and its setting at the base of a mountain that is blanketed in green trees weren't enough for your eyes to feast on, it is situated directly in front of a lake. I think Mother Nature knew this view was so special, it needed to constantly show off its own reflection.

Visiting Connemara, Ireland

If I were handing out awards Oscar-style to the different portions of our trip to Ireland this summer, here's how it would go:

Most Luxurious Moment: Adare Manor
Best Cinematography: Cliffs of Moher
Best Surprise Performance: Connemara Region

My husband wanted to visit the Connemara region because he never had the chance to come when he spent a semester living in Ireland. It was the one part of the country he hadn't been. Quite honestly, I assumed there was a reason for that, and thought we might be a bit underwhelmed by what we found there. And because my husband requested that I not plan too much for our days there, I hadn't even read much about it in advance (somewhat unheard of for me).

But take a look at what we found. And I think you'll agree that it was definitely worthy of our three days there.

It was everything you hope for in an Ireland vacation: remote villages, charming cottages, rolling hills that fall into deep blue water, sheep dotting the fields. We even saw mountains and beaches.  It even rained the entire time we were there! And what we loved most is that it still seemed a bit undiscovered. Sure, there were fellow tourists there admiring the views just like us. But it wasn't overrun with travelers like some areas of Ireland.

More on the rain and how we didn't let it stop us still to come...

This post is a part of Friday Postcards at Walking on Travels.

Cliffs of Moher: A Dream Fulfilled

I'm not really big on regrets.

But if I could do my college years a bit differently, I would have studied abroad. In fact, sometimes I think that this opportunity to live in England is my second chance at having that experience (albeit with two little kids instead of a carefree college lifestyle...)

When my husband returned home from his own study abroad experience in Ireland, I spent a lot of time looking at his photos. Of all the amazing places he went, I got completely fixated on the Cliffs of Moher. We hadn't been able to travel to this spot on the west coast of Ireland when I visited him because the logistics just didn't make sense. But ever since, I have longed for the chance to see it.

Falconry Course at Adare Manor

I'd love to say that my kids are always up for an adventure. That they're brave beyond their years, happy to try new things. But that's simply not always the case. I suspect that's true for most children.

For some reason, both my boys are quite scared of animals. I'm sure that's partly because we don't have any pets (Big Arrow is terribly allergic to dogs and cats.) When we were asked to participate in a falconry course at Adare Manor in Ireland,  I was relatively certain it was just going to involve lots of hysterical crying and two boys clinging to my legs while I tried to get them to participate.

So to convince them that this was a good idea (indeed, one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities), I had to dig deep into the parenting bag of tricks and drop the ultimate incentive.

Harry Potter.

Big Arrow has been begging us to read the Harry Potter series to him for a year now, so when I told him HP has an owl and that we were going to get to hold some owls, his initial look of terror transformed into a "how quickly can we get started" look.

5 Things to Do at Adare Manor with Young Kids

If you're a lover of Ireland travel (and who isn't?), you may have heard of Adare Manor. It is widely considered to be one of the finest hotels and resorts in the country... a country known for its fair share of fabulous places to stay. When I had the opportunity to experience a stay at Adare with my family in July for a review at Ciao Bambino, I was a bit intimidated at first. My boys don't exactly sit still with their hands in their laps for even 5 minutes. I wasn't sure we belonged in a property as luxurious as this.