Travel Loving Family
Travel tips

My favourite sources of family travel inspiration

When was the last time you booked a holiday via a travel agency?  I honestly cannot remember the last time I called into a travel agency to pick up holiday brochures to browse through for family travel inspiration.  For the last few years our family holidays have been predominately inspired by stunning snapshots captured by other families and shared on social media.

Hand on heart I had never heard of the Glénan Islands until seeing photos by Nell at The Pigeon Pair and Me on Instagram.  It’s really not surprising that it was the first place to spring to mind when we started discussing our family summer holiday in Brittany, France.

Glénan Islands with kids | Brittany, France
My favourite view of the Glénan Islands.  Thanks for the inspiration Nell!

I’m not sure I even knew where the Isles of Scilly were in the UK until I followed the island hopping adventures of Katy from Otis and Us and her family there last summer.  I also know for sure that if I hadn’t seen the spectacular photos of Lake Maggiore featured on Jo’s Instagram account we would have continued to return back to our long time favourite places in Italy and missed out on the opportunity of exploring the incredible Italian Lakes.

Ride in a bucket lift - Things to do in Lake Maggiore with kids
My knees still knock together when I think of this cable car ride down the mountain side. The views of Lake Maggiore were SO worth it though!

I particularly love spending time scrolling though Instagram accounts and reading short travel tales of fellow family travel bloggers, particularly those who have kids with a similar age to mine.  Below I’ve shared a few of my favourite instagram accounts for family travel inspiration…

My favourite sources of family travel inspiration

Maria, One Tiny Leap

I got to know Maria during a press trip to Costa Barcelona.  We bonded over the regions amazing wine and the fact that we both have a son of the same age… 7 going on teenager!  Maria and her son Charlie lived in Lisbon for a few years so she is particularly knowledgeable about family holidays in Portugal. She also spent a year travelling around the world a few years ago so if you’re looking for long term family travel ideas she is the lady to ask!  IG profile – @onetinyleap

View this post on Instagram

I can't believe it's already been three years since our round the world trip 😫 Our first port of call was Florida where we spent a month discovering that there's a whole more to the sunshine state than Orlando, including the utterly beautiful (and empty!) St Joseph's peninsula (pictured) and Manatee Springs 😍 Have you been to Florida's less known spots? Which was your favourite? . . . . . . #childhoodunplugged #ukftb #traveldeeper #suitcasetravels #lonelyplanet #abmlifeisbeautiful #abmtravelbug #passionpassport #instatravel #bbctravel #guardiantravelsnaps #travelstoke #passportready #beautifuldestinations #travelmore #beautifulplacesonearth #livetravelchannel #travelphotography #tbin #ftb100 #travelblogger #familytravelblogger#florida

A post shared by M A R I A (@onetinyleap) on

Cathy, Mummy Travels

Cathy was the first family travel blogger that I ever stumbled across online.  Her travel tales with daughter Minnie entertained me during many late night feeds with my youngest son!  A year later I met Cathy in person during my first travel blog conference, Traverse where I bombarded her with a zillion questions about blogging and social media.  (Thanks Cathy!)  Cathy’s IG feed is full of stunning beaches, bright blue skies and the adventurous pair’s travel tales from around the world. IG profile – @mummytravels

Jenny, TraveLynnFamily

I started following Jenny and her family during their recent adventures in Asia.  They’ve since been on an epic African road trip before setting up home in the Peak District so that their eldest son could start school.  (I reckon at just age 4 he has more stories to share with his class mates than all of the teachers in the school!)  An inspirational family and definitely an Instagram account to follow. IG profile – @travelynnfamily  

Charly, Pod Travels

Charly shares her overseas travels and UK adventures with her 7 year old daughter and husband.  Charly’s photographs are absolutely STUNNING!  Her IG feed focuses on places and people with discovery, exploration and family adventure at the heart. IG profile – @charly_dove

Laura, Have Kids Can Travel

Laura and her photographer husband document their family adventures across the UK & Europe.  As home schooling parents of four kids they have a lot of enviable adventures!  Her account is full of outdoor action, big skies and as many mountains as they can walk up. IG profile @havekidscantravel

Chloe, Picture Taker Memory Maker

Chloe is passionate about showing her three young girls (11, 10 and 8) the world and loves documenting their adventures on camera as they travel as a family.  What I really love about Chloe’s IG feed is she shares not only beautiful photos but also the chaos of travelling with kids too! IG profile – @picturetakermemorymaker

Monica, Mum on the Brink

I love looking at Monica’s photos as her family are into similar holidays including family boating holidays and road trips in a camper van.  She also shares tips about how living with less allows them to save up and travel more.  (A very useful life tip!)  IG profile – @mumonthebrink

Daisy, Dais Like These

Daisy and I recently reviewed a villa in Tuscany together.  She is truly as bubbly and lovely in real life as she is on her IG feed.  She has three gorgeous kids and an IG grid full of pictures of them enjoying everything from a local day out to a enviable recent long stay in France. IG profile – @daislikethese

Susanna, A Modern Mother

I’ve had the pleasure of travelling to both Costa Barcelona and Lanzarote with Susanna over the last couple of years. She is a travel mad USA mum of two teenage girls, who has lived in the UK for years but still enjoys regular trips back to her home state of California.  If you’re looking for family travel ideas which will be a hit with teens Susanna is your lady!

View this post on Instagram

Yee haw! Last week we stayed at Twisted Horn Ranch in West Sonoma County. It’s a small family-owned cattle ranch just an hour north of San Francisco. It well exceeded expectations set by its AirBnB listing (it’s so hard to photograph!) We stayed in "The bunkhouse" a roomy 2 bedroom 1 bath self-contained cute apartment on the ground floor of the main Ranch House. The best bit was waking up to birds signing and longhorn cattle outside our window! The ranch raises and sell it's organic beef, and hosts exclusive "experiences", such as a 12.5 mile dinner (food sourced within 12 miles). This part of Sonoma has become a real foodie area, where you can visit the farms that provide the food.m! Very cool and memorable, you need to visit! #sonomacounty #twistedhornranch #snaphappybritmums #ranchlife #ranch #travelblogger #travelbloggerlife #myhappyplace #myhappycapture #littlefierceones #bgtw #visitcalifornia #airbnb

A post shared by Susanna Scott ~ family travel (@amodernmother) on

Chloe, Sorry About The Mess

I love Chloe’s IG feed because she shares honest accounts of travelling with her 3 boys aged 7 and under, (with photos of her lush outfits.  How does she find the time with three kids?!)  As well as lovely family photos she publishes visually engaging travel videos that capture the essence of why family holidays should be treasured.  IG profile – @mostlychloe

View this post on Instagram

It’s OK not to have a tangible ‘mum village’ in real life. It’s OK to feel isolated in parenting and that everyone around you has solid friendship groups where you might not. I don’t have mum friends. I’ve been a parent for almost 8 years and I’ve never had that group of local mum friends to hang out with and do stuff with. The closest I got was NCT with my first child, but people move away and go back to work. I’m an introvert so I find the initial effort of making new friends exhausting. It doesn’t come easy to me. I live in a transient part of London, meaning many friendships have come and gone. Looking back, there are friendships I wished I’d taken more time to nurture and grow. But parenting, working, staying afloat, is exhausting. It’s really hard to do it all. (Work, friendships, family – you can focus on one or two of those areas but it is impossible exceed in all 3 areas at once – who was it that said that?) My point is that this is the norm for many parents and if you’ve been reading all this stuff about mum villages and feeling like you don’t have that, you aren’t alone. #iminyourvillage Part 2. THE INTERNET MUM VILLAGE: I am so thankful for my really close knit group of school and uni friends. But when I became pregnant at 24, I knew no one else with babies or young children. I joined pregnancy forums. I started my blog with the specific idea of connecting with other parents. Twitter was amazing. And then, a few years later, instagram arrived. Thanks to the internet, I’ve always had a ‘mum village’ online. Even if I technically can’t call you friends in the traditional sense of the word, even if I’m not close enough to pop over for a cup of tea and a chat, throughout the last 8 years there have been many times and many conversations through many evolving social platforms that have helped make me feel less alone. I love the internet.

A post shared by Sorry About The Mess (@mostlychloe) on

Cotswolds travel inspiration

For inspiration of where to go locally I love the Cotswolds Bloggers IG feed. Even though my hubby and I have lived in Gloucestershire for nearly 8 years we’ve visited many local spots for the first time after seeing them featured on this account.   IG profile – @cotswoldsbloggers

View this post on Instagram

Who’s going for a colour-splashed weekend? We’re hoping the weather hold until next weekend when we visit @realflowerpetalconfetti – anyone else been yet? #Repost @cassiemaie ・・・ Feeling a little whacked having spent all day in the sun. But the @realflowerpetalconfetti has opened today. . . Open for 10 days only. Based in Wick, outside Pershore, Worcestershire. Such a gorgeous place to visit, especially on a clear day like today. A must visit, but don’t forget you suncream & hat! . . #livethelittlethings #thatsdarling #abmlifeiscolorful #wanderfolk #flashesofdelight #todayslovely #abmhappylife #artofvisuals #todays_simplicity #discoverunder10k #darlingdaily #makemoments #pursuepretty #worcestershire #lbloggers #photography #darlingmovement #ukblogger #blogger

A post shared by Cotswolds Bloggers (@cotswoldsbloggers) on

Travel Loving Family

And of course, last but not least.  My Instagram account!   I tend to shy away from sharing our daily lives on Instagram (no one wants to see me stressed out and running late getting my boys to school!) and just focus on our weekends and family travels.  We love all types of family holidays from camping and music festivals to self drive boating holidays and luxury family cruises.  Please do pop along and say hi! – @travellovinfam

View this post on Instagram

Absolutely LOVED our holiday cruising along the Nantes – Brest Canal in Brittany with @leboatvacations 💙🇫🇷❤️ 7 nights in 7 different marinas, 18 locks and 35 hours of cruising (without anyone falling in 🙌 and me only using a few rude French words due to my terrible rope throwing skills 😂). It’s a holiday Richard and I have wanted to take for years but waited until our boys were old enough to enjoy it safely. It’s fair to say they now have the boating bug too and I fully expect boating to play a major part of our family life from now on. We won’t be moving back onboard a narrow boat (their toys won’t fit 🙄) but we’ll certainly be taking more boat holidays whilst we save up money to buy our own! I’ve shared lots more photos and videos over on my IG stories if you fancy popping over and taking a look. Would love to know if you’ve ever been on a boat holiday like this and if you have any cruising regions to recommend for our next one? ☺️#presstrip #loveleboat #whosonboard #brittany

A post shared by Travel Loving Family (@travellovinfam) on

 

 

FacebooktwitterFacebooktwitter
Follow:

3 Comments

  1. Chloe: Picture Taker Memory Maker
    8th October 2018 / 5:52 pm

    Thanks so much for adding me to your list Lisa – I feel honoured to be included amongst such wonderful family travel bloggers. It was your blog about Lake Maggiore that prompted us to book our trip there this summer! I love using Instagram for travel inspiration.

    Reply
    • Lisa
      Author
      10th October 2018 / 4:03 pm

      Yes me too! Although it’s a very expensive hobby;)

      Reply
  2. Cathy (Mummytravels)
    6th October 2018 / 7:48 pm

    You’re so right – I can’t think when I last went in to a travel agent. And thanks for including me, I hadn’t realised I was the first family travel blogger you came across! I do remember our chat in Cardiff castle though :)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: