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.

Marrakesh - the Magic of the Souks and Snakes

Marrakesh with family is a magical place. The childrens’ awe at the unfamiliar just emphasises the disbelief of adults’ minds at the wonders of what they are seeing. There is no point in preparing for what you might see, smell or hear – it will just hit you as you get lost.  Plenty of people will tell you that the hygiene makes it an unsuitable location for family travelling, but that’s madness – there is nowhere quite like it to challenge yours and their perceptions and stimulate their imaginations. It’s Aladdin made real.

The central Square of Jemma el-Fnaa is the starting point for most visitors. This vast square, partly a market place, partly a performance area, partly a refreshment zone, partly an enormous crossroads that mixes ancient produce-laden donkeys with gleaming black Mercedes, struggling through the throng. At each turn, something else attracts your attention; water sellers with their complex hierarchy of cups, toothless beggars pleading for your tourist cash, vibrant colours of singers and dancers in competition rather than harmony; it’s a continuous string of amazed yells of “look!” with arms outstretched to point at yet another extraordinary vision. Scattered around the squares are various trailers selling freshly squeezed orange juice. We know they are freshly squeezed because the children did the squeezing with some rather elderly looking machinery. Luckily no fingers were added to the mixture, so the taste from the huge sun-ripened juicy oranges was delicious. Take care with the cost though - the price quoted is around ten times what they expect you to pay at the end of the haggling process.

 Snake charmers abound beneath sunshades around the square. This is the oddest Arabian vision; the turban-headed charmer sitting cross-legged as if in a trance, playing a quite mesmerising form of music to entice cobras from their basket to an unreal semi-standing posture, swaying eerily with the music.  They will also entice you in, draping water snakes around your neck, and quoting an extortionate price for photos (again somewhat negotiable). I hate snakes, the children are more enthusiastic on this point.

The major souks lead off the square through a series of narrow passageways. You might have somewhere in mind, you might even have a map, but either are pointless as the maze of streets, alleyways, and narrow passages will lead you where it will lead you. Seemingly broad thoroughfares end in a dead end, seemingly abandoned alleyways suddenly open up into a sports hall sized market-place, stacked floor to ceiling with perhaps rugs, maybe brassware, possibly pottery. A dense canopy of lamps in all colours  hangs from the ceiling of the glassware soul. The colours of the olives and spices in their respective souks defies belief. And in between them all shops the size of phone boxes sell cloths, souvenirs, jewellery, anything really. Craftsmen turn wood on hand operated lathes, they will shape a pendant while you wait, the smell of the sandalwood filling the air as the rope shapes it. 

 Just as it all seems to be getting too much, a sign in English appeared to suggest drinks are available somewhere. We followed it into a narrow shaded passageway lined by a pair of tall featureless walls; featureless but for a single small door on one side. Tentatively we pushed it open, and stepped into such a beautiful small indoor courtyard with a small pond fountain in the middle. It was suddenly and surprisingly cool after the heat of the souks. The inner walls were quite decorative, with ornate gilded carvings in the masonry and brickwork. From a hidden corner somewhere a lady suddenly appeared and led us to a table - turned out she was English and has abandoned a mundane life like ours to run a riyadh in Marrakesh. Seemed like a good idea, but for the moment we needed sustenance, so out came the water and coke. Suddenly everything felt better.

Most visitors to Marrakesh stay in riyadhs like this, however the small rooms and lack of interconnecting doors mean that the search for something suitable for a young family is tricky. In our case, we had booked far too late anyway, so stayed in a family suite in the Sofitel, which is more of a resort style hotel between the city and the airport. Whilst this meant that travelling into the city involved a taxi, the pool was very welcome at the end of each hot day exploring. There was plenty for the children to amuse themselves with all day, with a tennis courts and playrooms close to the pool. 

A particularly fun feature of the resort  was that the hotel entertainment staff joined us at our table each evening to improve their knowledge of English and our knowledge of Morocco. Its unusual to have the chance to really talk to local people informally like this, and really added to the experience.

We came away thinking that we really needed to see more of Morocco. Marrakesh was a magical introduction to meet the country, enticing us to see the mountains and beaches on a future visit.

Cannes with one baby, May 2003

When our first ever holiday as a family almost got cancelled twice, we might have wondered if this was just not meant to be. Just as any other aspect of living with a baby compared with living as a couple, travelling with a baby seems a daunting prospect. Ours had the added complexity of cancelling a trip to Hong Kong at short notice due to a severe outbreak of SARS (Avian Flu), then our baby coming down with a nasty stomach bug just before we took our replacement holiday to the South of France. 

The doctor’s advice? He’s got a stomach bug wherever you are, so you may as well be in a nice place.

This was possibly the first piece of really good travel advice we had. Whilst the journey itself involved enormous quantities of baby wipes, spare clothes and muslin cloths, its much easier looking after a sick baby in pleasant warm weather. The practical aspects helped of course: tiled rather than carpeted floors, and the ability to run around with less clothes, which also dried quickly. And of course after a couple of days he was fine anyway and the proper holiday began.

The Cannes Film Festival was in full swing when we arrived, an occasion filled with the kind of glamour that one rarely associates with travelling with a small baby. However this does mean that there is lots going on – babies like people watching as much as the rest of us. The other great advantage is the enormous quantities of staff in the beach-front restaurants to take care of our very need. At one point, our baby had 3 waiters all to himself, one to adjust his high chair, one to adjust his personal sun-shade, and another whose responsibility seemed to be to just fuss around him. We were quite entertained just watching this.

As our first trip, it was quite a revelation to see how children are welcomed into restaurants in Continental Europe compared to the UK, even somewhere as smart as Cannes. We also found that going into the foyer of a five star hotel foyer to find somewhere to change a nappy was quite acceptable, staff pointing us in the right direction and even passing me wipes in the way that those chaps in nightclub toilets inexplicably pass you a towel to dry your hands on.

We have a general principle of not going back to the same place twice, on account of there being rather a lot of the world to see. However we have stayed in apartments in the South of France several times since this first holiday as our family grew. We generally fly Easyjet to Nice, and take a bus to Cannes or Antibes where we rent an apartment.

One of the great aspects of this area is the train line running along the Mediterranean coast. Not only is it immensely scenic, but it conveniently links numerous good days out. On this trip we stayed in Antibes and tended to take a train to Cannes, but also whizzed up to Monaco, as well as exploring the pretty harbour and streets of Antibes itself.

As a first trip, this was a marvellous confidence builder. We had really doubted going after the earlier hitches, and had been pretty negative about the end of our selfish holidays as a "young" couple. But we ended up with a new found confidence to explore more as the family grew. Which it did, rather more quickly than we expected!