PRE TRAVEL CRAZIES
Have you ever done one of those last minute, late night google searchers for random things, just before you head off on your well deserved, long awaited family vacation and just come up with the same boring shitty blog posts and travel threads? Created by families that travel professionally and go into the most minimal of details?
Yep? Well so have I and let me tell you, it frustrated the hell out of me. So I am putting my hand up to write about my latest travel experiences and I hope you get some small nuggets of info and inspiration!
HAVE KIDS...WILL TRAVEL
Travelling with kids doesn't need to be hard, it is certainly stressful at times yes, but I strongly believe it is all in the prep work that we do before hand. And I like to prep hard, like real hard. I need to have all the things, and I feel as if it is my duty, from one desperately in need of a holiday,exhausted parent to another.
So who the hell am I, and why are you reading this? Well I am a mama of two beautiful boys, who have been travelling with me and my husband for many years. My 7-year-old has a beautifully diverse and impressive passport, and has become a well adjusted season traveller, but we still need to make sure that we are prepared with some serious entertainment, food and a good pair of headphones. Cause even a 7-year-old gets fidgety!
FLYING
I am not a travel blogger. Gasp!
I generally specialise in natural skincare, green beauty and essential oils, and I am normally pretty invested in the wellness of my mind body and spirit, but I also know that shoving a lollypop in my kids mouth during an 6-hour flight to Bali, and buying myself some time while the damn food trolley makes its way to my location is a totally awesome idea.
So what are my top tips for flying you ask? Well its pretty simple, basically kids love new shit. I don’t care how old they are, from 6 months old to teenagers, kids just love something new. Here are some examples, and you can go as budget as you like, or lash out and get that iPad that you have been thinking about. Cause lets face it, as much as I often hate technology, it’s the only thing that is going to keep bums in seats and give you 5 minutes to process the fact that your flight isn’t serving alcohol and those cookies you were eyeing off on the crappy menu have sold out.
As I mentioned before, headphones, preferably kid ones, are a must, especially ones that don’t go up too loud and blow your kids eardrums, as the pressure on the plane is going make your kid scream like all hell. These headphones are amazing for the IPad, for movies and apps, and for the iPhone, for music and scrolling through the 8000 photos you have on your phone. Then even better, if your flight allows it, they will fit the entertainment unit in front of your seat, that your little ones have already been using to ring for the flight attendants for the last 20 minutes. Yes this did happen. And no they were not impressed. Whatevs...
So here we get to the second big tip. Remembering that being prepared is tip one, well tip two is having options! As many as you can. Utilise your gadgets people!
My other flying tips are pretty standard. And mostly consist of treats, (remember those lollipops I mentioned) and comfort objects. My second son is 3 and still loves his dummy, so we bought four new ones and he was in dummy heaven. Don’t judge the dummy, he wont have it past 4 and for now it makes him happy, which makes for happy parents.
Try and remain calm guys, airports and flying can be boring and stressful and probably my biggest must have during any stressful situation, that involves kids and being thousands of feet in the air, is a good calming item. Choose what works for you, 10 years ago I would have had a prescription happy pill, but now I choose to ease my anxiety with a good essential oil. Think Lavender and Roman Chamomile, rubbed into my pulse points and also on the kid’s feet and back of neck. I cannot stress enough exactly how freaking powerful essential oils are and they will feature a few times throughout this blog post, including all the other amazing natural products I used on my latest trip.
HOW TO DO BALI WITH KIDS…DUH!
Ok so we have covered flying and parental sanity. Now we can move on to the other things you have most likely been researching obsessively. Which is probably where the hell am I going to stay, as there are soooo many option! And if you are anything like me you will be looking at ways to stop yourself and your kids from catching the dreaded Bali Belly!
I too scoured the internet in search of information on how TO DO BALI with kids, and it was super generic, and completely unrealistic and dare I say batshit boring?
Basically if your kids are like mine, they just want to swim, eat, play their iPad, (cause, you know, its my holiday too, and I need some fucking peace and quiet) and swim again. If you can provide your kids with an adequate pool and accommodation that gives you delighted feelings in your tummy when you walk in, then you are already ahead of the game. I will fill you in on where we stayed for context and because I LOVED them! But first continue reading.
WHAT TO BRING…NATURALLY
What to bring. Ok here is the fun stuff! And as a natural mama, who is VERY conscious of what I put on mine and my families skin, I was not going to just buy any old shit off the supermarket shelf, so if that is your jam, then you can totally skip this section.
GUT HEALTH
First up, get yourself and your family onto a good probiotic. Start taking 2-3 weeks before you leave, and get any and all shots that you need. I may be natural, but when I travel I prefer not to die of malaria. So far I haven’t needed to worry about shots for the kids, as
we generally travel to Malaysia and Bali, with the occasional Hong Kong visit. Fucking lucky kids, I say!
That probiotic is going to be strengthening the gut, in prep for all that amazing food you are going to be eating. Chow down friends! Bali has so much good Makan! Nasi Goreng everyday!
I had two types of Probiotic, one for me, and a dissolvable one from Doterra for the kids. These were so easy and apparently tasted yum.
However, if you do eat something that isn’t sitting well, then I have some great additions to your medical travel kit!
Imodium is a must, use when your bum-tum is sad and crying.
Hydra-lite pills, great for the whole family, when you feel flat and dry like an old shoe, definite signs of dehydration.
Doterra’s Digest Zen Roller Touch, for cramping and tummy pain. My life saver.
Tea Tree Roller Touch, for bites and itchy things that happen on holiday. Great for spot treatment for pimples too!
Your favourite vitamins, I take Vitamin C+D and Magnesium, Probiotic and any other meds you need.
Adults and Kids Pain relief, I choose to use essential oils for most ailments, but always travel with kids Nurofen for emergencies.
Anti histamine for emergencies, again I rather use essential oils, but love being prepared. Then if you don’t them, then awesome!
Band-Aids, pretty self explanatory.
WATER
Let’s chat about water. Don’t drink it, unless it is from a sealed bottle. Resorts are not safe in this area, except for the ice, which is imported, but I was even hesitant with the ice, but in the end had no problems. Even the Resorts will advise against drinking the water, that is why they supply so many bottles of free water to your rooms each day. Use them for everything, brushing teeth, removing makeup and bathing your kids.
And really bathing the kids is a whole different issue, as many of us are concerned about their children drinking the bath water. Mine included!
My 3-year-old loves to fill his mouth with bath water and spit it in my face. Cute hey!
So I bought some water treatment pills from the chemist and every 3rd day, I would pop both boys in the bath, add about 6-7 pills and fill the bath to ankle deep water, and basically sponge bath them with a face washer and squirt of Dr Bronners Castile soap. Which is like a magic multi use product that you need in your life. It can be used to clean hair, skin, clothes, bodies and is natural, ethical and organic. Quick easy and safe. And some sweet lazy parenting too!
BEAUTY AND THE ESSENTIALS FOR PARADISE
As a green beauty blogger you can find me here
Of course I wanted to look for the most effective, low tox products to take away with me, but they also need to work. Sounds reasonable right?
Two things you need to know about me, well three actually. One is I am pasty white.
I may be covered in tattoos, but underneath them I am translucent.
And when I am on holiday I want to be anything but, so I needed a hella good natural fake tan. And as a pasty person, I also burn, which fucking sucks, because my handsome husband and two boys brown up nice and good. I look like the white sheep of the family. At least they love me.
I also needed a good sunscreen. And lastly the third thing you need to know about me, is that mosquitos love my taste. I mean they really love me. I get eaten alive in tropical countries, so I need to step up my repellent game.
On of my favourite brands Eco Tan, make all of the products I was looking for, a easy to apply, lovely smelly, non streaky natural fake tan, and an amazing 30 plus sunscreen and outdoor bug repellent. ECO TAN, legit everything you need to protect your skin during your tropical holiday!
They are organic, amazing and they ALL worked. I didn’t get bitten once while wearing the outdoor repellent. I didn’t say I didn’t get bitten, because there was one or two times I forgot to apply it, but my tea tree oil fixed that right up. And the sunscreen was great for me. I did however need to repurchase sunscreen over there that was not natural but worked really well and was really easy to apply for the kids and that was from Neutrogena. That was so hard for me to admit, but I am a huge advocate for full transparency. And we cant be perfect all the time. I also bought a minimal amount of DEET repellent too, in case the eco tan did not work. Luckily I didn't need to use the DEET repellent as it is not an ingredient that I enjoy using on my body, however I would happily bathe in DEET if it meant nobody contracting Dengue fever. Life is all about Balance yeah? Some of my other favourite beauty products for travel can be found below, just incase you were interested. It is my special passion after all!
STAYING IN BALI
JIMBARAN
You have made it! You are finally in Bali, your hotel/villa/resort/cocktail and pool is waiting for you! Getting though the airport is now all that stands between you and paradise! Our most resent visit was pretty incident free, and as we had bought a super cheap ass stroller for Little Man it was a breeze to just wiz through. Our first stop was straight to the Movenpick in Jimbaran. Having never been to this part of Bali before, we were very excited to check in and get our relax on. Expectations were very high, as we had heard amazing things, and can I just say, each of our expectations were met. Amazing rooms, staff, food (especially the pastries...OMG the pastries) and the kids club at the Movenpick was the best we have ever seen and the boys loved it. The ages are 4 and up, but we hired a nanny to look after our little man.So Handsome man and I could have some special time together. Plus the hotel was right next to a rad new shopping arcade with some snazzy new restaurants! Super convenient!
Handsome man and I enjoying a child free stroll through Samasta Village Jimbaran The pools were incredible, with Premium Room guests receiving extra bonuses such as reserved cabana (but can I just add here, that being nice to the staff is a must, many times I saw rude guests, treating the cabana boys with contempt and complaining about the towel system, and I was horrified) by the pool and yummy chocolates on our pillow each night! So wonderful to come back to a spotless room and welcomed with chocolates!
Movenpick tip. If you have toddlers and or children that enjoy falling down stairs, then do yourself a favour and don't book the Family suite, the stairs are scary. But would be totally fantastic for teenagers! We lashed out and upgraded to the Premium Suite and life got even better, we were treated like royalty, and the rooms easily catered the four of us. We got inventive and squashed two daybeds together and they were super comfy! Check it out! Look at the cute towel sculptures! And they even left cute notes on the boys beds! Dreamy! sooooo cute!!!
NUSA DUA
Next we headed off to Nusa Dua, and its like a different world to the rest of Bali, quiet and secluded behind a beautiful gate, that houses some of the most luxe resorts. We were staying at the Nusa Dua Hotel and Spa resort, and enjoyed some beautiful dinners on the sand by the ocean, some beautiful swims and saw some cute squirrels. It was a little quiet for us, so we actually decided to head over to Seminyak early and get stuck into the real Bali!Beautiful pool at the Nusa Dua Hotel and Spa, the hotel has multiple pools, for adults, toddlers and teens, boys also enjoyed the kids club. Although it was very quiet. Maybe a little too quite for us! But still so beautiful!
SEMINYAK
I fucking love Seminyak, its busy and bustling with great food and people. It hasn't been touched by tourists as hard as Kuta, and it is exciting and colourful with some amazing shopping! But there are soooo many villa's and hotels. Its pretty overwhelming when you begin your search for accomodation. What do you choose? Location? Price? Kid friendly with all the mod cons? Well you are in luck because Seminyak has all of this and more! .And most websites will allow you to do pretty specific searches and if you are like me, you get a thill out of scouring the internet for the perfect villa. We purchased a scoopon at the last minute for our last 5 nights, and we were so happy with our choice! The Jineng Villa's were secluded, within close distance to most places we needed to get to, and we had everything we needed. The pool was amazing and we literally didn't spend a cent on food except for lunches which we purchased from the cute restaurant Cafe Karma across the road. All the rest of our meals were brought to us in our villa, by the wonderful staff, who looked after everything we needed. We did get a nanny for one night, who was amazing, and recommended from a good friend of mine. So if you know of a trusted babysitter, through word of mouth. Use them! Having a night out in Seminyak is loads of fun. The variety of food, restaurants and bars is endless. For more in places to visit with kids in Bali see my other posts!
GETTING AROUND
Getting around Bali doesn't have to be hard! With some practise and some low expectations it can be really fun! We purchased a $20 crappy stroller from Target and it was a life saver! if you have kids 4 and under, I totally recommend this! It was lightweight, folded in a flash, and when little legs get tired it was a blessing!It is also recommended to stick to trusted taxi services and we always use the blue taxi's. They run on the meter and don't try to rip you off! The Villa Jineng was amazing, as they offered a free drop off for anywhere in Seminyak!
Check out my other blog post on cool places we took the kids, and my spiritual journey through Ubud
streaky natural fake tan, and an amazing 30 plus sunscreen and outdoor bug repellent.