We’ve been travelling around over the last week, starting with a trip to Glasgow and back by train last weekend for my friend Gillian’s wedding. We had one night at home before flying to Amsterdam on Monday to spend a couple of days there before heading to Luxembourg by train to go and visit Sophie and Thomas’s cousins who live there.
Sophie and Thomas were excited about going on a plane for the first time and enjoyed the flight. I get quite anxious about flying so didn’t enjoy it quite so much – at least it was only a short flight though!
Hubby’s working in Amsterdam this week so we flew out with him but have mostly been on our own since then. I’ve quite enjoyed exploring various places with Sophie and Thomas although it would have been even nicer to have had hubby with us too.
We’ve had a few stressful moments thanks to train delays and cancellations which have meant nearly missing the train for the next part of the journey, or having to get a later train. I was a bit nervous about the journey from Amsterdam to Luxembourg on my own with the children as we had to catch three trains to get there and trying to find where to get our train from wasn’t always straightforward. It made me realise just how limited my German speaking skills are – especially when one train was cancelled and I was trying to find out if our ticket was still valid on the next one. We got there in the end though and Sophie and Thomas were so excited to see their cousins.
Travelling around Luxembourg has been very pleasant though. We’ve been getting around by bus, tram and train and the best thing is that public transport is free within Luxembourg so there’s been no worries about having to get tickets – we just hop on and off as needed. If only public transport in the UK was like that!
What I’ve been grateful for this week:
- Day 216 – I am grateful for gin.
- Day 217 – I am grateful for being able to share the joy with this lovely couple on their wedding day. Huge congratulations Gillian and Kenny and wishing you many happy years of married life together.
- Day 218 – I am grateful that we managed to get to Glasgow Central station just in time for our train home after an eventful journey there thanks to train cancellations, buses not arriving and a very slow response to our request for an Uber.
- Day 219 – I am grateful that Sophie and Thomas enjoyed their first plane journey.
- Day 220 – I am grateful for a lovely day exploring Amsterdam.
- Day 221 – I am grateful to have arrived at our destination – three trains across three countries on my own with Sophie and Thomas was a bit stressful at times (especially when the third train was cancelled!) but we made it!
- Day 222 – I am grateful that Sophie and Thomas have had a fun day out with their cousins at Parc Merveilleux.
Other things that have made me smile this week:
- Finding some tree swings while out on a walk.
- The beautiful carved benches around Kilmardinny Loch.
- Sophie and Thomas joining in with the ceilidh dancing.
- Thomas asking for a “flat white” when asked what drink he wanted at breakfast in the Premier Inn. We went with apple juice instead!
- Finding a geocache in each of the countries we’ve visited this week.
- Seeing how much Sophie and Thomas enjoy spending time with their cousins and how well they all get along together.
Oh wow! What a busy week of travelling you have had. How exciting for Sophie and Thomas to go on a plane. It sounds like you have been having a lovely time exploring. Well done you for travelling alone with the kids. The public transport in Luxembourg sounds amazing! I wish it was like that here too. x
We had such a great time. I love that Luxembourg has free public transport – it’s such a wonderful way of encouraging more people to use public transport.
A very busy week of travelling. A wedding is a nice way to start. Well done on navigating your way around in different countries with children. I find navigating my way around my own country difficult enough. It would be nice to have free public transport though! I hope you get plenty of rest time after all your travelling.
Thank you – it was such a fun week 🙂
Busy week with lots of transport. Free public transport sounds amazing! Nice to have time with cousins too. Lots of cousin time here as well (although slightly closer as they’re within 2 miles – except one who moved away)
Oh how lovely to have cousins living so close. Nearly all of ours live at least an hour away.
Wow sounds like a busy and fantastic week with all that travel with the children, well done to you taking it up on your own, it’s been a long time since I’ve travelled with anyone else, including my husband, it’s less stressful on my own.
It was definitely more stressful with the children than it would have been on my own, but I’m glad we did it.
I am so impressed that public transport is free within Luxembourg! I never knew that, what a great initiative! Sounds like such a wonderful week and lovely photos. Glad the children enjoyed their first flight.
Thank you. The free public transport is amazing – such a great way to encourage people to use public transport more.
Ooh well done on the international geocaches! I hope the kids enjoyed their first flight and weren’t scared (I’m terrified of flying and haven’t been abroad in 20 years). #project65
Thank you. I’m scared of flying too – it’s been 12 years since I last got on a plane and I did have a panic attack on take-off but Sophie has been desperate to go on a plane for ages so I wanted to do it for her. I couldn’t have done it if my husband wasn’t there for the flight – hence getting the train for the rest of the week and for going home!