Trey&Katy

Click on the image above to watch the first of our Family Holiday V-logs on our YouTube Channel.

Just before Christmas we all went on a short 3-day trip to Lapland.

We thought it would be just fun for the kids but turned out to be an unforgettable and magical winter wonderland!

(Click the picture to watch the video!)

Ok so it’s not a 5 star hotel in Barbados BUT an airport hotel can be just the right start to a holiday.

There’s nothing worse than starting a family holiday all stressed out, tired and late. And in our experience, whenever we’ve had to do super early flights our holidays always began like that. It’s the getting up at a stupid hour, it’s still dark out, the kids are groggy and moody, you can’t find the long term car parking, then you JUST miss the shuttle bus plus it’s all the lugging around of luggage, car seats etc. NOT fun.

This time we decided to stay the night before at the Gatwick Hilton. It was SO worth it. You get to park at the hotel where your car stays til you return from holiday; you have a relaxing night in a hotel; the kids eat for FREE; and all you have to do is walk through a tunnel to get to the airport. The kids loved it. It’s like the holiday begins early.

The Gatwick Hilton do all types of park and stay deals, as do a few other airport hotels. But the key is staying in one where you don’t need the dreaded airport shuttle. Yes it’s a little more than just paying for long term parking but not much. And definitely well worth the extra cost!

Watch the video HERE!

Okay this may be a bit of an odd one on a ‘Family Holiday’ blog/vlog site as kids (under 16) are not permitted at the resort (Though the age drops down to 12 and over during summer, Easter & Christmas)- but this place was SO amazing that we had to mention it. Plus I think it’s always great to take a break from the kids once in a while and have some couple time. It gives you a chance to rediscover yourselves and also makes you better parents as you always get back home fully recharged and crazily missing your kids!

We went to The Body Holiday for “work”. We were shooting a competition for Daybreak on ITV. And though the shooting schedule was pretty full on, it’s always going to be incredible and relaxing if your office is a 5 star resort and beach in St. Lucia! It’s such a gorgeous place to be.

Trey can only sit on a lounger reading a book for so long so this place is just perfect because EVERYTHING is included in the price. Usually when you’re at a beach resort and think ‘Hmmmm… I fancy trying a bit of sailing (or some tennis, or windsurfing, or diving or ANYTHING)’  – you end up NOT doing it as it’s usually some outrageous fee for 15 minutes of fun. At The Body Holiday you can do whatever takes your fancy … and there’s such an incredible amount to do!

On the flip side, if you’re more into chilling and being pampered, there’s that too. There’s a massive and luscious spa area where they do every treatment under the sun (sometimes literally!). To top it off, each guest gets a treatment a day for their whole stay!

The times we’ve been to ‘all inclusive’ resorts it usually meant sub par restaurants, buffets and bars as well as not really being all inclusive. Not having  wine or beer sir? Extra supplement. Cocktail at the bar sir? Extra supplement. Cappuccino instead of black coffee sir? Extra supplement. Dining at the ‘posh’ restaurant sir? Extra supplement!!  Not at The Body Holiday. All inclusive covers everything. No matter what you want or when you want it. All the food and drink is top notch plus they also have incredibly healthy (still yummy!) food options, drinks and smoothies!

We’ll definitely be heading back there one day for full on NON working holiday!

Click here for some outtakes of our shoot for Day break at The Body Holiday.

Click on the image above to watch our Yurt Glamping Holiday Vlog.

I’m definitely not Bear Grylls. I couldn’t live in the wild eating ant’s nests and making shelters out of a rotting camel carcass. Where would I plug in my iPhone? How would I cook Spaghetti O’s and sausages for my kids? Thankfully we found the Suffolk Yurt holidays.

Camping in the Yurts is very much glamping. There’s everything you need and then some: a comfy bed with a duvet, a wood burning stove, a floor! Plus toilets, showers a communal kitchen area with your own cupboards, cutlery, pots & pans (sockets to plug in your i-thingies!) – and even a washer/dryer!

There are 4 yurts on site. Us and a handful of friends booked them for a couple of nights and loved it. We were all families of 4 and the yurts were perfect. It was great waking up, starting up the wood burner for a cozy morning and all the kids running outside to play.

We paid £95 a night and we think it’s well worth the money. We’ll definitely be making a return trip at some point!

Have a look at our video to get a look and feel of the Yurt camp site.

You can book and find out more from them at:

http://www.suffolkyurtholidays.co.uk/

It is a foolish, brazen and consequently soon to be single, married man that writes a blog about favourite ex-girlfriends of past. Fortunately I am only the first of those things. So instead I decided to write a blog about favourite motorcycles of past.

If you had the displeasure of sitting through the first Expendables movie then PLEASE wipe that experience from your mind. Because Expendables 2 is what it’s predecessor SHOULD have been. A super-sized, 80’s action style throw back flick that is big, brutal and  well to be frank, bad. Paper thin, colour by number’s characters acting out a dot-to-dot script.  BUT, sometimes you can have a good time at a bad movie.

Okay look, I’ll be honest. Unless director Christopher Nolan had a snifter of one of Scarecrow’s toxins and subsequently decided to put Val Kilmer back in as Batman, use anatomically correct bat suits complete with cod pieces and Bat nipples a la Batman & Robin and write dialogue circa 1997 (MR FREEZE: “Let’s kick some ice!” ) then I was always gonna love this movie.

“There was absolutely nothing about that movie that I liked.”  – my wife. Ouch. I guess I gauged that wrong when I gave my wife the hard sell to watch it. Here’s the thing though – I LOVED IT!

This movie should not work. 80’s remakes of TV shows almost never do:  The Dukes of Hazard? Nope. Starsky & Hutch? Had some moments (mainly with Will Ferrell). The A Team? Meh.   Miami Vice? Well, yes. But only because it really had nothing to with the TV series and I would full on mouth kiss any of Michael Mann’s films.

BUT 21 Jump Street works.

There’s just something about girls on bikes in films. I’m a bike nut anyway so if a bike pops into movie I always move to the edge of my seat for a closer look.

Girls on a bike? Forget it.

So in the interest of science I’ve put together a list of what I feel are the best girl on a bike combinations.