Being just the four of us this year, we decided to give ourselves the best possible chance of a white Christmas, and travel to the beautiful little town of Aviemore in the North of Scotland. (As it turns out we would have had a white Christmas in Edinburgh!)

Far far away from our usual Melbourne Christmas… which is admittedly not always hot.. but absolutely NEVER covered in a blanket of snow, Aviemore is a wee winter wonderland….

A gorgeous 3 hour train journey took us North through the Scottish country side to Inverness Shire. Aviemore itself is located about 10 Miles NW of the Ski fields in the Cairngorms National Park and is also only 50 miles East from LochNess.
The snow fell almost the whole way, giving only glimpses of blanketed villiages, frozen streams and heavily laden trees.
I have to say, it was absolutely dumping when we arrived and hauled our luggage (more than we had for our original trip overseas I think!) accross the platform and out into the ‘big snow’. D was having a ball in knee deep (for him) powder as we got our bearings (sort of) and found a taxi. R wasn’t so sure .

Our first ‘local’ encounter was with a taxi driver grumping about the weather… (live somewhere else?) who also succeeded in confusing us, in what eventually turned out to be a fairly simple trip from town to our accomodation. (thats a whole other story).

That aside… we arrived safe and sound with our white Christmas a certainty…YAY

From that first day, it snowed buckets everynight, and cleared most days…. perfect.

There is a lot to do around Aviemore, such as the Steam Train, Wild Life Park, Brewery and Funicular (transport to the tobagan park ‘up the mountain’). They also had some very Christmassy events throughout the town. We didn’t do any of that though….. why? Mainly the weather. The boys just didn’t cope with being out in the cold for very long… despite snow suits and thermals… too long meant tears. We spent our days building snowmen, sledging, throwing snowballs, and of course finding yummy places to eat. The rest of the time we spent in our lovely, large, warm apartment, taking in the views (and the odd Christmas drink!) The boys also had enough baths for the next six months! In fact I think the bath tub may have been R’s highlight for the whole trip ;D. (he pronounces it ‘bart’)

Christmas eve we had an early tea and watched some beautiful carols on the TV. After making sure the milk and shortbreads were left for santa, and the carrots for the reindeers, the wee boys were easily off to bed. The snow was falling as we wrapped the last of the gifts, enjoyed a drink or two and chatted to friends and family back home (where it was already christmas day).
And finally off to bed to eagerly await the pitter patter of little feet

Fancy a wee look?…….. The best pictures are at the bottom

Welcome to Aviemore

D Just loves it

R is not so sure!!

Chistmas Eve

Hanging the stockings

Christmas Morning

Opening Presents

Christmas Lunch

Our wee Christmas Spread

And the afternoon in the snow

Dashing through the snow

The Scenic Tour

Getting to Aviemore

By Train

Trains Depart Edinburgh and HayMarket Stations approximately 2 hourly throughout the day, with more frequent departures during peak times. The journey takes about three hours and there are comfortable seats and refreshmets on board. For more information please visit the National Rail website.

By Car

According to GoogleMaps the drive from Edinburgh to Aviemore is 127 miles and takes just under 3 hours. Given the recent conditions, I would leave more time to travel, and carry with you a shovel and a bag of sand.

For more information on Aviemore go to VisitAviemore.com

My personal recommendation for accomodation is Aspen 198

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The Venue is Casa Grande do Bachao, and the event is a family wedding.

The afternoon wears on, and no one really thinks about food… some bread, ham, and crisps get passed around, but nothing too substantial… thats OK, it should be dinner time soon…. shouldn’t it?

We’re in Spain now… Dinner is served at 9 o’clock (ish)

Oh no it was dark this morning when we had room service breakfast at our hotel (was that this morning?) and the kids are hungry thirsty TIRED! From dusk onwards, its all a bit of a blur, a haze of jetlag and wine and waiting for dinner. The boys go to bed, they just can’t make it (looking forward to another midnight snack) they’ve had a massive few days.

I vaguely remember roast meat and potatoes, and there was cheese there too. What I do remember is the fact that it was exquisite… perfection… and definitely worth the wait. There are also vague recollcections of conversations…but I just wasn’t up to it. My head growing very heavy I shuffle to my bed.

Nighty night

xx

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We’re here…. But are we… Two years of so called planning and we didn’t plan for this…

Let me start at the beginning

We had to wake early, I can’t remember the exact time, it was definitely dark and definitely early. We had ordered a room service breakfast……. toast, cereal, fresh juice, yoghurt, COFFEE, best idea ever!! We ate and repacked our mountain of luggage (It’s surprising how much you have to unpack just for one night) ready for our morning flight. We catch a bus with fellow bleary eyed travellers and haul ourselves, children and luggage onto the bus, off the bus and into Stansted Airport. My concern at this point is the luggage allowance. Long hall flights generally allow more than budget flights and I’m thinking we’re gonna be handing our credit card over to pay excess!! Luckily no… so our first obstacle out of the way.

Our excitement is building as we find some fellow wedding guests and dear friends in the check in line. (Imagine big cuddles, a bit of jumping around, lots of talking.. you know)

The flight is pretty smooth. It’s my first experience with the dash for seats on a ‘no seat allocation’ flight. It’s pretty funny, and a little stressful when you need to sit in a four! As it was, we got our four seats and our friends sat accross the aisle, so a very fun flight. Those of us who weren’t directly responsible for children (everyone but me) drank spirits out of little bags (baggies) at around 9 am!

Upon landing we gather all the paraphenalia we seem to need to entertain D for the flight and head for the terminal. For some reason our passports aren’t checked, and are feeling pretty lucky as we go to collect our luggage.

Still feeling lucky as all eight of us find all our luggage with none lost or damaged.

There’s a bit of mucking around as we get money and figure out where we are, where we’re going and how to get there. We are going to a Spanish Villa 20 miles (ish) from Santiago de Compostela and the best possible (actually only) way is by Taxi.

This is all so easy… there are masses of taxis waiting for us just outside the terminlal and…… none of them will take us…

We don’t have a baby seat…..

Neither do they…

We decided against taking one as the majority of our travels were going to be in planes and trains…. NOT automobiles.

Oh no we are literally stranded at the Santiago de Compostela Airport.

While trying to decide our next move we make our first attempt at ordering Spanish food, a baguette with ham and cheese (the cheese turned out to not be cheese, but the fat on the proscuitto) which I had to replace with the jam I’d pilferred from the room service tray (yes I’m a food hoarder!).

Our tummies are taken care of… but we’re still stuck.

We walk along the massive line of taxis asking if they’ll take us….. but alas….. none want to do the ‘wrong thing’ in front of all the others.

We wait,

We think,

We discuss the idea of hiring a car…. Turns out to be far more expensive than we want to pay at the very beginning of our open ended journey (especially with the added extras like CAR SEATS…)

We have a ‘Hello’ moment,

We’re not here alone…. there are numerous friends and family descending upon Santiago de Compostela for this wedding… why don’t we call someone?

(I told you…’Hello!!’)

It was another while, but they came, and bundled me with the boys into the car, while the rest of us took a cab.

After a surreal (and rather jet lagged) drive, watching my cousin drive in the wrong side of the car and the wrong side ot the road, we wove our way along the dirt driveway surrounded by the most beautful… Eucalyptus trees? Hang on, I thought we had just travelled for 2 or 3 whole days away from Australia……?

The Day Before

The Next League

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Smile, Dance, and Enjoy the rest of your day

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LEAVING AUSTRALIA

FreeDigitalPhotos.com

Well here we are, …..on the day we chose to change our lives forever.

The day of departure for our very first overseas journey. YAY

This journey has been two years in the making, and to be honest we haven’t really planned that much. You see over half way through the planning process we changed our minds, and decided to go and live in Edinburgh for twelve months INSTEAD of taking a five week holiday! (most of my time subsequently was spent packing the house into the shed)
Between us we have 2 large backpacks, 3 small packs (one for nappies, one day pack and one for electronic equipment) 2 strollers, another ‘carry all’ bag, oh and 2 kids. Master D who is 3 and Baby R who is 9 months. I don’t think anyone believes we can lug all this around, I have a plan though…. hope it works….
We’re at the airport for about 5pm for the obligatory airport takeaway dinner. Our flight is at 9pm so we have to feed the kids beforehand (well thats our excuse anyway!!).
Everyone has come along to see us through the ‘big doors’, and by now I’m feeling a little scared and a little nervous, but mainly excited. BRING IT ON. The kids are already in their PJ’s as we bumble onto the plane and into our seats. We are flying Emirates and they are awesome with the kids, so the flight is seamless. (if the kids are happy, the whole plane is happy!) We have a bulk head seat so there is plenty of room and a basinet for the baby, which is GREAT.
We are fed and watered almost too regularly (picture expanded cheeks) and they even have special meals, toys and snack packs for the kids. Being used to Australian budget air travel, this is total luxury for me. We land in Dubai after 13 hours flying in the dark!
Dubai Airport is a sea of white robes, pits of gold and an Irish pub which is full at 5am (Probably with Aussies).

We have 2 hours, enough time to freshen up and make it too the next gate.

The second flight is almost as seamless. The kids are more restless, ‘cos it’s day time and they’ve been in transit for soooo long. Its only another 5 hours, so its all pretty smooth. Arrive Heathrow Airport at lunch time, but there’s no way we can fit lunch, so we spend our first GBP on coffee and get ready for the next league…….

The Next League

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