Three generations boys trip I: Peak District

Multi-generational holidays are apparently one of the biggest growth sectors in the travel industry. I can't really see the appeal of travelling with extended family. Too many people to involve in the detail of eating, sleeping, travelling and days out. However we tried it on a small scale by eliminating women from our trip, and it was so much fun that we repeated it twice more.

The formula was simple, I would drive with to my parents home with all the children, swap my daughter for my father, and carry on the journey into the Peak District. We rented a marvellous B&B in the turret of a house close to Edale, with a room on each of the 4 floors - one for the men, one for the boys, one sitting room, and one dining room.  Wholesome English breakfasts were thus sorted, with the landlord additionally making enormous packed lunches for our daily striding over the mountains.

Grandad time is marvellous for boys of any age, even with me in the party. We trekked over Mam Tor in the early evening, seeing the where the road had plunged down the hill with a few cottages, killing the occupants. As darkness and mist descended, my father terrified the boys with the ghost stories of the victims, and those that had met the ghosts when lost on the hillside. We staggered on through the mist.....

Next day was rather clearer, and seemed ideal to tackle Jacobs Ladder and cross the bizarre peaty landscape of Kinder Scout. I was expecting Jacobs Ladder to be a hearty climb for all of us, but small boys have infinite energy of course. They kindly carried our bags up the steps at quite a pace, waiting smugly for the old men at the top. The enormous lunch then vanished inside us as we looked down on Manchester. For reasons not entirely clear, boys listen to Grandfather's telling of the great Kinder Scout Trespass above my more interesting stories, and on that stunningly clear afternoon you could see what a marvellous day out that must have been.

Then it's compass time across the featureless landscape at the top of Kinder Scout.  The peat bogs sucked down the heavier amongst us, while my youngest son seemed to float confidently over the top.... until he didn't, and sank down like the rest of us. Eventually we could see down into the valley of Edale again, and carefully descended the steeper side of the mountain, not terrifically aided by bifocal lenses. A magnificent pub dinner topped off the day.

And so it continued over the next few days - another day - another mountain - and another view of the others side. We looked down on the beautiful views above the forest across Derwentwater, another opportunity for a Grandad story, this time about the Dambusters. We strode along Stanage Edge viewing the spectacular views of the valley below. We ate very well, 3 times a day. We played wholesome board games in the evening, like scrabble, draughts, and monopoly. We had lots of fresh air, and we all slept very very well!

Most of all though, we talked to each other. We learnt lots about each other and from each other, solving most of the world's problems. This is the positive of a multi-generational holiday, it was a lovely celebration of each other's company.

Pelican Beach, Belize

“Well, I have to admit, you definitely got this one right”.

These were the words of Mrs _H as she stood under the palms on the soft white beach of the tiny island we had to ourselves looking across the clear Caribbean sea with only the reef surrounding the lagoon in front of us in sight. In the distance, a few similarly tiny palm covered islands could just about be made out. 

This was long intended to be our trip of a lifetime, and the resulting discussions of where to go, what to spend, had been lengthy, as had the actual journey to get there. But once there, this was the ultimate paradise island. There were so many things that made Pelican Beach Resort so perfect – the setting, the size, the service, and so on – but the ultimate thing is that while we were there, this felt like our own secret island. The resort has only a handful of rooms, each in its own separate chalet, all named after the local bird-life. With August being the low season, we were the only guests, so had the entire island with its facilities, and a bunch of attentive staff to take care of us. The freedom that the children had to run around was absolutely unique, there really was very little option for them to get into trouble.

Active excursions might have seemed thin on the ground. There was no concierge desk to book us onto a series of planned activities for the week. However we managed to busy ourselves with a series of trips out on the boat owned by the resort, captained by the brilliantly named Ishmael, and occasionally joined by his cousin Nelson (honestly, I am not making this up). They happily took us out snorkelling and fishing. Whilst the children managed to hook up numerous little fish off the reef, I was assisted in catching a barracuda one afternoon which we took back to the island to eat. Nelson meanwhile inadvertently hauled a nurse shark on board (which we didn’t eat).

The lagoon created by the reef outside our chalet was perfect for shallow swimming and snorkelling, or canoeing when we felt energetic. Even here we saw numerous colourful fish in the crevices of the reef, seahorses and jellyfish lurking under the little pier, and one on occasion another Nurse Shark.  Our regular evening canoe trips revealed more, looking for Turtles a huge Manta Ray surfaced under the front of our canoe. The boys delighted in the deadlier animals, Ishmael pointing out a Reef Shark in attack mode on one trip (fortunately a good distance away), Ospreys were nesting in the tops of the palms and on the tip of the reef, and the staff of the hotel delighted in sharing stories of previous guests and deadly stingrays.

This was a holiday that we were all sad to reach the end of. But the journey away was still an adventure in itself, Ishmael’s trusty craft taking us to the sister resort on the mainland, where we transferred to the smallest airport to catch the smallest plane that we had ever been on. It felt like an estate car with wings, pulling out from a small shed. I was terrifically excited, but our 5 year old slept through the whole flight.

It will be the beach that we will always remember. I would not describe myself as a beach person, and for this reason had generally avoided the Caribbean. However this was the trip to demonstrate just how it feels to be completely, utterly, relaxed.

Belize Rainforests: Wildlife to terrify and fascinate us

If there is one holiday that threw us straight into the unfamiliar the moment we left the airport – this was it. We went into this stage of the trip with some trepidation, not really having much idea what to expect from a country we had barely heard of, and that seemed to be remarkably uncovered by most of the routine travel literature. This made the holiday that bit more exciting, it felt like our own little secret venue, yet exceeded so many expectations for adventure and wildlife.

All the logistics had been arranged by Reef & Rainforest, who I think are probably the best travel agents we have ever used, specialising as they do in family trips to…. Reefs and Rainforests. They had arranged for us to be met at the Airport by Francisco, a guide working for Pook’s Hill Lodge, the fantastic but tiny hotel in the thickness of the rainforest that we were due to stay in. Over the next week, Francisco was to become our greatest friend. His vast knowledge and enthusiasm for the wildlife, Mayan culture, and scenery of Belize was matched by his patience with the children.

Francisco suggested stopping at the Zoo on the way to the Hotel, as it was quite close to the airport, but when we arrived there it wasn’t remotely like the European City Zoos that we were used to. Fransisco parked the van next to a couple of old pick-ups in a small clearing in the jungle which looked more like his mate’s farm than a visitor attraction. Then the excitement began. I hate snakes. The boys love them. Filled with dangerous ideas from TV wildlife shows of Boa Constrictors and the Fer de Lance (one of the largest and most deadly snakes of Central and South America), we were greeted at the gate by a chap with a boa constrictor in his arms. He draped it round the shoulders of the gleeful boys, while they asked whether the zoo had a Fer de Lance. The not so re-assuring answer was that they did, but it had managed to get out of its enclosure a couple of days previously so they weren’t sure where it was!

As it was, the zoo was a lovely informal collection of creatures hidden and not so hidden in the trees around us. The zoo was very much in the thick of the jungle, with a vast variety of some of the local larger cats, including Jaguars and Ocelots (fortunately separated from us by secure enclosures). We also so the very odd-looking Tapir, often hailed as Belize’s national mammal, huge numbers of vividly coloured shrieking birds, more crocodiles than I would usually choose to associate with, the odd snake scuttling across the path in front of us  - all in all this was a great way for kids to start a visit to a new country!

We continued on to the hotel, the excitement rising as we eventually turned off the main road into the driveway. However this was no ordinary driveway – 5 miles of rutted track later and almost an hour since we’d left the main road – the jungle cleared and a stunning collection of thatched huts appeared in a little clearing. Separated from the rest of the hotel by a tiny footbridge, our room stood on stilts above the valley floor raising it to the level of the rainforest canopy. This enabled us to be level with plenty of birds and animals. Loudly growling howler monkeys were a theme of the night and early morning, we also saw a huge owl, numerous toucans and humming birds and the occasional group of bats from our balcony. Lower down on the ground next day, Francisco took us for a walking tour of the grounds, extracting rubber from the rubber trees, showing us more wildlife hidden in the jungle, more snakes. Later on we repeated the walk after dark to see the shining eyes of the nocturnal animals reflected in our torch beams, and tarantulas coming out of the holes in the forest floor.  Back again the next day, we drifted in rubber inner tubes down the slowly meandering river that bordered the grounds, after a warning to watch out for crocodiles. We made clay models from the clay in the river bed, hardening them in the sun.

Our major day out from here was to visit the vast Mayan ruin of Xunantunich. Rising 130 feet from the jungle floor, this was quite an effort to climb to the top in the heat, with howler monkeys giving a steady amused commentary on our progress. Francisco carried our 5 year old daughter most of the way up, after that they were firm friends. The view from the top was amazing, dense jungle covered mountains in every direction. We were less than a mile from the Guatemala border here, marked by a river hidden somewhere beneath the trees. The site is huge, it must have been a vastly populated thriving city in the centuries before European invaders. We toured the remains of numerous buildings and paved spaces across it, Francisco explaining many of the customs, beliefs, and games, including a version of volleyball where the losing team would have been beheaded. The boys were keen to start a game but it was a bit hot and humid for us all to join in.  

We continued on to the small town of San Ignacio, having a look around the town and a good wander through the market. We finished off the day with a canoe journey up the river with 2 guides to help us paddle the canoes and spot the wildlife. This was where we saw the hideous 4 foot long dinosaur-like Iguanas. They perched perfectly still on the branches overhanging the water, so much so that they were hard to see until we were almost on top of them; at which point they would clumsily and surprisingly quickly retreat crashing through the forest. We disturbed a colony of bats in a cliff overhanging the river, that flew off in a dense swarm, did a quick loop of the river and returned to exactly the same spot.

The final day we were so sad to leave, it had been a really wonderful stay after such trepidation in advance. As we sullenly munched our breakfast in the dining room, Francisco suddenly ran in to grab the boys with the news that a King Snake was lying on the driveway. They ran off to see the last horrifically deadly animal of the trip before we returned to the van and headed to the seaside for the next stage of our adventure. Before we went to Belize, all the children were addicted to the adventures of Steve Backshall and his “Deadly 60” series, in which he hunted out deadly creatures around the world. In just a week, we managed to cover plenty of these ourselves, but right there, in the wild, and in person rather than the safety of a sofa in front of the TV. This was the trip where the unfamiliarity made the excitement of travelling.

Miami - All bodies beautiful

There are strong opinions across Britain about what is suitable clothing for people of a certain age and physique when riding a bicycle; the same discussions could be extended for riding a motorcycle. Whenever the topic comes up, I always think of our journey into town from Miami airport behind a lady of considerable proportions riding a Harley Davidson. She was huge, and proud of it. The weather, as one might expect in Florida during August, was beautifully warm and sunny. That clearly influenced her decision to confine her lower garments to a simple G-String and high-heels, allowing her ample tanned buttocks to droop low either side of the seat. “Welcome to Miami” goes the song – that was the start of it.

Normally a meticulous researcher of our destinations, our planning for Miami was non-existent. The visit resulted from a brief conversation that as we had to change planes there in the way to Belize, that we had both enjoyed Miami Vice as kids ourselves, and so we may as well stay a week and have a look around. We had never taken the children to America before, and it seemed worth stopping a while to experience the food and anything else that we might enjoy together. So it wasn’t until we started to flick through a guide book on the way, which stressed the hedonistic, body-beautiful, anything-goes culture; that we questioned whether this was the ideal family destination. The welcoming sight of our friend on the Harley was very funny for the children, but a little more concerning for us.

We soon found that these were the crazy thoughts of over-worried parents. Miami is stunning. The spectacular art deco buildings lining the long South Beach make a beautiful scene. The American concept of service and friendliness enabled us to take sand-coated children into the most spectacular hotel foyers in the world for a quick pee. The shops on Lincoln Road were outstanding for a casual wander, quite different to the car-ridden stereotype of American malls. The appropriately named Books & Books was such a lovely combination of books and café that we spent half a day here, foolishly loading ourselves up with a huge pile of literature to carry around for the next month.

And then there’s the Everglades. Just a short ride out of town with one of the numerous tour groups takes us into a spectacular area of natural wilderness. The organisation is excellent – off the bus and onto the airboats, where the guides steer you through the water channels pointing out the rather numerous grinning alligators swimming alongside. This was followed by a remarkably interactive and entertaining talk from one of the naturalists showing us the Alligators close up, as well as scorpions and bullfrogs amongst various other slightly disconcerting creatures.

It hadn’t occurred to me before that eating with kids in America was so easy. The boys (then 8 and 10) had wisely perused the area through google maps in advance and sniffed out mega pizza across the road and various burger joints. But nowhere is off limits and all food is a child’s dream. The final day saw us in a traditional American diner for breakfast, the children amazed that we could have pancakes with syrup for breakfast, and by just how tall a pancake stack actually is!

Miami is so much more than a stopover to somewhere else, the situation along the beach is stunning, the architecture outstanding, and the people are welcoming. Definitely a destination to return and explore more thoroughly.