“Well Hello!”
It’s been a while! I hope you’re all doing wonderfully well.
First let me explain why the blog has been collecting dust this past couple of years… 3 little words – full time job!
Yep, you read that right. After the world paused from the you know what, I had a little mid-life wobble and instead of running away to some far-flung desert island, I decided I needed to put all my efforts into gaining some sort of career.
So off I went and got myself a full-time 9–5 job.
Life suddenly got very hectic and settling into working family life barely left any room to continue with my passion of travel writing and sharing on Instagram.
Routine took over and before I knew it, 2 years had passed without 1 single post.
Realising this made me quite sad and most of all disappointed in myself for not keeping it up.
Fast forward to the now – I’ve worked to find a little more time so I can squeeze in what I actually love doing. Sharing my thoughts and information I’ve gained during our trips with you guys!
Our YouTube channel is growing strong – I can’t quite believe we’re in the YPP now! Crazy! But so, so grateful.
Instagram has changed a lot since the early days and I’m still trying to figure it out – if you’re on there, please do come say hi! I love a chat!
You might have found us recently through YouTube, or maybe you’ve been with us since the early Instagram days – either way, thank you. It means the world.
Back to the blog – I’m so excited to be writing again. This honestly gives me so much pleasure, even if nobody reads it, I love getting everything out of my head and sharing what I’ve learnt. There’s something quite therapeutic about it. Well, to me anyway!
So for my first post “officially back!” I would love to re-introduce us all and actually tell you everything we have in store for you!
We are a family of 4:
– Nikki (me, mum, hi! 🙋🏼♀️)
– Mike (Dad)
– and two very fastly growing boys — Spencer and Charlie.
Charlie will soon be 12 and Spencer is 16.
Let me break us down a little more…
Nikki – Always busy dreaming, whether it be holidays, business strategies, family activity plans, houses (always on Rightmove!). Loves art and design but the real passion is travel writing!
Destinations on the top of the wish list are:
• Maldives
• French Polynesia (particularly Tahiti & Bora Bora)
• Sri Lanka
Mike – The down-to-earth one, always keeping me grounded and doesn’t let me get carried away while I’m dreaming up the next plan! Always makes us laugh and keeps everything ticking along.
Mike’s top 3 destinations are:
• Australia
• Costa Rica
• Vietnam
Spencer – Officially a school leaver! He’s just completed his GCSEs and he’s now off to enjoy the summer, no doubt he’ll spend his days gaming with his friends. Whatever happened to socialising out of the house?
At the minute his top 3 destinations to visit would be:
• An African Safari
• Antarctica to see the penguins
• Japan for all the tech
Charlie – Another gamer in the house. Doesn’t like school with a passion, loves to swim, likes tennis (he’s pretty good!) and LOVES pizza — in fact, anything Italian come to think of it.
His top 3 destinations are again:
• An African Safari
• Japan
• Alaska to see a bear!
Harley – Our pretty little Cavapoo (when she’s groomed!). She’s very loving, follows you everywhere, and happy at home or at my brother’s… as soon as she gets outside though, that’s another story completely. She’s very anxious, loves to bark at everyone and everything (even leaves!)
We still love her to bits though and we have the best cuddles.
Her top 3 destinations are:
• Home
• Nannan’s
• Uncle Dan’s 😂
A bit of background to how this all began (the short story).
After having children I worked part-time. Charlie was around 2 and I needed something other than playing and cleaning to keep my mind busy, distracted — however you’d like to put it.
I’ve always liked writing and sharing photos so started sharing on Instagram. As that grew, so did my enthusiasm, and I thought it would be an excellent idea to start a blog. I’d be able to write more than just a short caption and the information I shared would be timeless – for families like yours and mine, being able to search and find the details they need any time, even years down the line.
Instagram is great but every post has a very short life span (unless a post goes viral – but that is very rare… in my case non-existent). So the STWWTK blog began (at least an older version anyway).
During 2020, while the world was quiet, I decided to add to our portfolio and launched our YouTube channel. Making videos of all our travels we had been on previously (although my video clips were very limited at that time – I mostly took pictures and very short clips the wrong way round! Iykyk).
I found a new love of editing videos – see, I’m a very creative person. The only thing is, when I start something I like to finish it, so I ended up stopping up late just to get as much as I could done. This didn’t help when it was time to start my full-time job – but more on that another time.
So that’s a bit of how this all began. Which now brings us to: Why?
Why did I have that urge to share this exciting part of our lives?
Well, most people don’t know (not even Mike will remember me saying this!) – I always wanted to work in the travel industry. I took a Travel and Tourism course after leaving school and thoroughly enjoyed it!
When the course was coming to an end, I went for a job in a travel agent – Lunn Poly (blast from the past – ay?!) There were so many people that went to the interview. I obviously didn’t get it. My confidence was rock bottom and I ended up taking a hairdressing apprenticeship. I know, right? Totally different.
Turns out those years were so much fun and I don’t regret that decision one bit.
During this time Mike and I planned our first holiday abroad together. Browsing brochures and magazines I turned and said to him,
“Do you know what my dream job would be? – A travel writer.”
He laughed it off like I was joking, but deep down I was completely serious!
Fast forward to 2016(ish)… blogging was the up-and-coming way to share your thoughts for the world to hear and I thought to myself: what a great way to share family experiences and perfect hotels and resorts we’d recommend staying at.
I decided to start a family travel blog. My first step into travel writing!
So that’s it — Here we are again.
Older, a little wiser & still dreaming.
We’ve got so much planned and to plan, and can’t want to bring you along with us for the journey.
We’ll be sharing our upcoming travel plans, excellent places to stay with children (and teens!), family experiences both in the UK and the rest of the world, top tips and travel accessory recommendations, and honest reviews.
We’re not a family who travel full-time or worldschool.
We’re just a regular family trying to make the most of school holidays, annual leave, and spending as much quality time together as we can.
At the end of the day, that’s all that matters — a whole heart full of love and a lifetime of memories.
If you’ve made it this far – thank you so much for reading. I’d love to hear from you, whether it’s in the comments, on instagram or over on youtube.
Let me know any of the following as it’ll help me shape the vlog around what you actually want to hear about :
• What kind of posts would you love to see more of?
• Where are you dreaming of going next?
• Have you been following us since the early days?
Don’t be a stranger! Come say hi! 🤍
See The World With The Kids 