“What’s a fun vacation with two bigger boys and a baby?”

Ellen is a counselor in secondary special education, a thriller author at publisher De Fontein, mother of Lewis and Miles (11 and 8) from a previous relationship and recently gave birth to daughter Sophia with her boyfriend Nils.

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a fun and happy holiday season. It was hectic here, but very cozy and we enjoyed it. 2022 was an exciting year for us with many changes, which we look back on with a special feeling. Of course the birth of Sophia was a super beautiful highlight, but for me the birth of a new family – with Nils there – was perhaps even more special. Now there are five of us and Sophia is the connector.

Book summer vacation

It is now January already, time flies and we look forward to the new year. I work in education and have a lot of holidays, just like the children, but Nils doesn’t. Last year I booked our holiday in February and now we may need to be even earlier. The question is… what are we going to do?

I’ve been booking our holidays through my regular travel agent for years (tip! Really do it!). I tell her what I have in mind in terms of costs, transport and destination and she then comes up with a number of options. Ideal for me, because I hate to search the internet myself. Not only because I can no longer see the wood for the trees, but also because – once you have found something nice – you have lost hundreds of euros more once you have clicked a little further. Oh, you only pay this price in March. Oh, you only pay this price if you go to Lanzarote with your own transport. Yes, let’s go cycling. Oh, the final cleaning, bed linen, tourist tax, administrative costs, dishwasher tablets, towels, toilet rolls, etc. are also added, five hundred euros extra. I don’t feel like those states, so I outsource it. Everyone is happy and I don’t pay anything for it. We have been going on holiday for years with great satisfaction and every time I am happy that everything has been arranged.

Also read: ‘When I came up with the names for my children, I thought these things were important’

Holiday wishes for different ages

Every year my parents have a seasonal pitch at a nearby campsite. Wonderful for the children. From March it is actually already a kind of holiday and the boys like to go to the campsite, romping around with their nephews and nieces. But that’s the pre-season. Last year Nils and I celebrated our babymoon in Sicily in the summer and the boys went on a football stadium tour in London with their father, then we went to Denmark with the boys for a week. We had wonderful holidays, but two holidays are very luxurious. This summer it will be just one. Of course I will put our wishes to the travel agent, but I do not know what the wishes are with two bigger boys of almost twelve and nine and a baby. What’s fun?

Priceless ideas

We drove to the south of France with Lewis when he was ten months old. That was fine. When Miles was a baby we lived on Curaçao, then we just went on holiday to the Netherlands (and those ten hours of flying were so unique, so I will leave that out for now). When I ask the boys what they want to do now, they name all kinds of priceless things. Preferably very far away or something with football. Nils and I also like that very much, but with a baby a football trip is not convenient and we prefer something closer to home. Europe within driving distance is fine. Swimming is always good, sun is nice. Just staying in the Netherlands is also okay, but the prices here are bizarre these days. We prefer to discover something new.

What is the golden tip?

What are the ultimate tips for holidays with children of different ages? Are there certain parks we must see? Resorts? Campsites with nice houses or mobile homes? Hotels? We’ve already seen a lot in Europe, but maybe we’ve missed something and I’m completely out of it when it comes to holidays with babies. Who has good experiences? Personal experience says more than anything to me. If you haven’t had a good time somewhere, don’t recommend it to someone else. Hopefully there will be nice ideas and we can go to the travel agent with a more specific package of wishes.

In any case, next week we will enjoy ourselves in a house at Center Parcs. We are very much looking forward to that. Maybe that’s exactly what we’re looking for!

Until next time!

More Ellen? Follow her on Instagram. You read her previous columns here back.

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