Long term readers may remember our trip to Lake Garda last September when Freya was a tiny 8 week old baby {I blogged all about it here}. And last week, we went back there with our now one year old. We just loved that lake so much, it ticked so many holiday boxes for us and I already know we'll go back again. 

We didn't know if we'd get to travel this summer with Covid 19 and if we did - we thought we might drive to France or have a staycation. But when we started looking into it, with my parents who were also up for a trip after our family holiday had been cancelled earlier in June, we realised how expensive the ferry crossings were and how much accommodation was booked up - I guess as August is always a peak time for summer holidays regardless of the pandemic and then from lots of people not wanting to fly. The airbridges got announced and Italy had amazing flights to Milan and some of the lowest rates of infections in Europe. My parents had their trip back in May to Lake Garda cancelled and it was their 30th wedding anniversary which we all wanted to celebrate with them. So we went for it. I know that travel is not for everybody right now and everyone has a very different take on their level of risk during this time, so I'm really not writing this blog to try and justify our decision nor try to encourage anybody to go, a lot of people just wanted to hear about our experience of travel with Freya at this age and take inspiration for the future when everything will hopefully be back to normal? Here are some photos, although they're pretty much the same as last year I think albeit with a super grown up looking toddler?! plus some thoughts... 

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Gah, Western Australia is just a total dream. We first visited for just five short days, a stop off before an East coast adventure, a couple of years back to visit Ben's uncle and didn't really know much about it. Of course, we fell in love with it and as much as we loved the East Coast, we really regretted not spending more time there. It's a completely different pace to the main touristy parts of Australia that you might think about visiting. We thought of that dream spot in Dunsborough - three hours south of Perth near the Margaret River area - where his uncle is based often, and knew we'd love to return someday. It just had everything you could want from a relaxing holiday spot, miles of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen yet hardly any people to share them with, on the whole really stable sunny weather with bigggg blue cloudless skies, you don't get the humidity or tropical storms like you do around the rest of the country, incredible vineyards, enough to do without it being overwhelming, amazing brunch spots, quiet roads, free parking, long walks along the coast. Their summer also happens to be our winter so we plotted to return someday pretty much as soon as we boarded the plane from Perth to Sydney! This January we decided to spend three weeks on the West Coast this time and it was one of the best trips we've ever had, to the point where we talked almost daily about how we could get a visa and move there as it was the dreamiest lifestyle ever {not really Mum, well kind of...}. I've talked more about the fact we had Freya, who turned 7 months old with us whilst we were there, in this post and the logistics of travelling that far with a baby. But wanted to share some details about where we stayed/recommendations in a more classic travelogue in this post for those who aren't into the baby side!...

Hi! We recently took a three week trip to Western Australia and it was the best three weeks of parenting we've experienced so far. In fact, I kind of try not to think about it too much now that we're home, save for when we bump into people we know who ask how it was and for a brief moment, I'm transported rightttt back there to those beachy happy days, because it's pretty much poured with rain ever since we've been home. And parenting on my own {during the week anyway}, when it's cold and Freya has to wear loads of layers again, is not a patch on that Australian life I can tell you! If I thought about it too much, I'd have wondered why we ever had to come home {although that's obvious, visas, work was calling, not enough money to rent for any longer out there}. But yes, it was a total dream. We booked the trip before Freya arrived, which is probably a good thing as I was a little nervous running up to it wondering how she'd be on the flight, would it disrupt her {and consequently our} sleep for weeks? The first question anyone asks us is 'how was Freya on the flight?!' since it is such a long way. But it was all so much better than I imagined it would be. This post, with a few questions, has been requested by lots of you on instagram who have some long haul travel coming up, so here are my thoughts on things that were helpful/what we did in regards to travelling that far and being out in Australia with a 6/7 month old baby. Full travelogue coming soon for those of you who aren't interested in this side of things! *ad/contains affiliate links and the buggy was gifted.*

AD, this is not a paid partnership but we were hosted with Visit Cascais for our trip and activities provided, we paid for our flights and everything else. All opinions are 100% my own // You can find Part One all about Cascais itself here.

The real magic of Cascais lies with its proximity to Sintra, a historical town up in the hills that’s often shrouded with mist and a real must visit. Lonely Planet describe it as 'a page from a fairytale' and it really does feel like you've stepped into some other worldly scene. Over the past few centuries, it became a draw to royalty because of the fertility and microclimate making it an ideal escape from the extreme summer heat for lots of Europe's rulers and wealthy artisans to set up their summer homes or palaces. They built elaborate mansions following the Romanticism movement. It’s now UNESCO protected and a world heritage site with five palaces to choose between.

AD, this is not a paid partnership but we were hosted with Visit Cascais for our trip and activities provided in exchange for this feature, we paid for our flights and everything else. All opinions are 100% my own // Ah, Cascais. That gorgeous little fishing town around the coast from Lisbon that we’ve basically referenced all of our other European trips against since our first visit. Two years ago we booked a trip to Lisbon {remember these posts?} and it was in the mid 30s temperature wise for our stay so our Airbnb host suggested we take the train to Cascais for the day to escape the city heat and hit the beach. We took her advice and it turned out to truly make the trip, we loved it so much that we hauled our suitcases there with us just to spend a few more hours there on our last day!

Ever since then, we’ve vowed to return and actually stay in Cascais this time, it’s so well located that you get that beach holiday feel as well as being able to visit Lisbon easily for the day if you wish and there’s Sintra just above in the mountains. So when the Visit Cascais tourist board asked if we’d be interested in a press trip to revisit the area, we of course jumped at the chance and booked flights for last weekend.

Last week we had a few days in Cascais as part of a feature I'm writing for the tourist board, we booked our flights in an out of Lisbon so couldn't resist adding on a couple of nights here to end the trip. A quick post with a little update to our second stay in Lisbon before I write up the first couple of days. {you can see the full guide from our first trip here}. Lisbon is known as Europe’s sunniest capital so it was unfortunate for us that our visit had grey skies and so much rain! Luckily we’d seen just how amazing it was during that first trip where we battled a heatwave. And of course, whilst not as pleasant for walking around dodging umbrellas and puddles and slippy pavements, it didn’t take away from the beauty of the city or that unique vibe it has. We still had such an enjoyable couple of days. Plus, it kind of took the pressure off slightly, especially as we’d been before, to ‘do this, must go here’ and instead we just wandered around to a few areas we’d enjoyed last time, focused on eating really great food {hello pastel de natas} and soaked up some of this precious last time where it will just be us two.

Do you remember our first trip to Amsterdam last Autumn? Where we fell in love with the city so much that we booked to go straight back before we'd even left? We wanted to combine our next visit with seeing the tulip fields that the country is famous for, and so booked flights for the middle of April hoping desperately that we'd time our trip correctly with the weather for tulip season! After lots of planning, it all worked out perfectly and was just the most incredible short trip ever. I'd love to share some photos and tips that we found useful if you're looking to visit yourself;