Staying Positve about the Dark Months (otherwise known as Holiday Planning)

Oh Hi October

Thanks for welcoming us with your grey skies and rain.
I never signed the blogger contract that said 'bloggers must be cheerful' so I'm going to come right out and say it. I DO NOT like October and it's my birthday month too… I don't really like birthdays either - well not mine anyway.

In all the autumn excitement, back to school resolutions, blue skies and garden harvests that September was so generous with I kind of forgot about my vague dread of October. But when I woke up this morning and opened the blinds to see the grey and the rain I thought 'oh yeah, thanks for reminding me how **** you are October'

For me October marks the beginning of the dark months, the squeezing kids into coats months, the months where the garden is viewed from indoors more than occupying us outdoors, where rain often calls off play (or like this morning means there to be 50% more cars on the road making cycling with a small person that bit more dangerous). Of course there are lots of things to look forward to and those precious bright days are often so needed. It's days like today that I look at my Mrs Elliot Books print and nod at the words 'and it will be sunny again tomorrow'.

Last night, obviously in some sort of subconscious move to prepare for the coming months, Hugh and I spent the evening looking at holidays; both fantasy ones (flights to Costa Rica for four are a little out of our price range) and ones we might actually organise... I'm thinking that having plans for holidays and fun will help get me through.

1. Top of the List: London - Venice overland by train in Spring.
This was a plan that was hatched earlier this year when we were looking into our summer holiday, but we decided that cities and summer didn't go so well together for a family holiday. We generally love the idea of traveling overland, and by train even better. Whenever we visit Hugh's Mum in Edinburgh on the train we really enjoy the journey, we chat, read, eat. I love looking out of a train window and day dreaming, plus I think it's great for the children to understand distance and see changing scenery.
We were/are seriously thinking about the Thello train which runs overnight from Paris - Milan but are being completely indecisive about it...
Pros: The children will love the idea of sleeping on the train and it might be our last chance to try this kind of thing as lots of sleeper service routes are being canned.
Cons: We won't actually get to see much (in the dark, while we are hopefully, sleeping) and after reading numerous awful reviews on Trip Advisor we weren't feeling like it would be the most luxurious experience (and it's not cheap) and more worryingly it seems trains are sometimes cancelled at short or no notice. Plus The Man in Seat 61 has some pretty amazing things to say about traveling the scenic route across the Swiss Alps...

Coco is very excited about the prospect of seeing Paris and Venice - Plus, pizza. Obviously.
I'm quite excited about putting some time into researching the best things to do so that we don't end up dragging the children around sights they are not interested in.

So it's back to a few more evenings of train research...

2. A Close 2nd Place: Morocco in February - Just like last year.
As soon as we got back from Since our Moroccan trip in February we thought that we'd definitely go back next year - we loved that holiday. However as summer emerged we forgot about how amazingly welcome that February warmth was had started to think that maybe returning to the same place when there are so many other places to see would be a shame. So we are torn between repeating something that worked or trying something new.... Any great tips for February half term?

3. 3rd Place: Christmas Breaks
We are, probably a bit late in the day, thinking about hiring a big house for Christmas to celebrate with extended family without having to invade one families house... so I was looking on airbnb for houses that sleep 17... it's brilliant how that website has taken off. We used them for the first time this year and had a great experience. I've sent off a couple of enquiries, so fingers crossed.

I was also fantasising about camping next summer and winter weekends away in Cornwall maybe, or on the Kent coast... OK I'm going to stop now. Maybe winter isn't so bad.


Coming Up:
Reasons to LOVE autumn... whilst writing this post and having a bit of a moan I've thought of lots of things that I'm looking forward to during THE DARK MONTHS!
Oh, and it's completely brightend up since I've been writing this. Phew.