A few weeks ago we stopped by Flour Drum in Newtown when we were looking at properties in the area. We were desperate for food to eat on the go, and were beyond delighted with the food Flour Drumm put together for us, including an egg and bacon roll that Mr Adventure devoured, and a yogurt parfait that they custom made for me, despite not being on the menu. They were so friendly and the food so good that we had been keen to get back there for a full meal every since.
Flour Drum’s motto is seasonal, simple and fresh. The decor is rustic with a side of hip, and the ambiance is warm and welcoming.
The menu is painted all over the walls, and includes all-day-breakfast and daily specials. They have a wide variety of meals, including plenty for this vegetarian to choose from. While there isn’t a designated kid’s menu, the team are happy to whip something up for little ones – in our case, it was a kid’s serving of scrambled eggs and toast.
Out the back is a little garden area filled with things for tiny guests to discover such as a pond with gold fish, a dollhouse, and a barbie campervan when we visited. The dollhouse is particularly interesting as it’s mounted on the wall rather than being on the ground. I looked it up online afterwards and read that the dollhouse was installed to appease a possible ghost of a young girl who’s spirit was said to visit the cafe.
We didn’t encounter any ghosts (I guess the dollhouse works!) but did enjoy the warm staff and delicious, wholesome food. Flour Drum sources ingredients from local suppliers including fresh eggs delivered straight from the farm, daily baked hand-made rustic breads, boutique artisan coffee, milk delivered directly from the farm and housemade muesli, jams, preserves, peanut butters and sauces.
The cafe is very kid-friendly – as well as being accessible for strollers and wheelchairs with disabled access, a disabled wash room, high chairs for babies and nappy change facilities.
During our visit we enjoyed Free Range Eggs with sourdough ($9), avocado ($5) and tomato relish ($5). The lovely waitress was a bit concerned I wouldn’t like the relish so gave me fresh tomato too, bless! Mr Adventure Enjoyed house-made Lasagna and iceberg lettuce salad which I think it making a comeback as the new popular lettuce on the block (move over, kale!).
Oh, and don’t forget the babyccinos – they’re FREE OF CHARGE and come in the cutest little smiley mug with a marshmallow. You can’t get more welcoming than that.
No longer missing from my adventures in high tea, is the very elegant high tea at The Cortile, InterContinental, Sydney.
This is definitely the most beautiful building of all the high teas so far. The InterContinental Hotel was built inside the restored Sydney Treasury Building of 1851. The outside facade of the building is just gorgeous, with sandstone blocks and even some lions to welcome you, and inside the atrium that is where The Cortile is situated,is a gorgeous blend of old meets new. Soaring ceilings, brick archways, with modern fittings and elegant lighting. Just beautiful.
The InterContinental is in a superb position too – just a few blocks from the Sydney Opera House and across the road from Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, it’s a wonderful spot to stay for a few days, or just to experience a high tea like we did.
High Tea at the InterContinental is a truly elegant affair. It consists of a plate of sandwiches, followed by a three tier stand filled with pasties, scones and sweets.
The Three Tier High Tea Stand is served Monday to Friday from 11am–5pm and costs $55 per person (including a glass of sparkling wine).
As a vegetarian I was given a seperate plate of sandwiches and pastries which i thought was very considerate of the staff to arrange.
Sandwiches
• Club sandwich, roasted chicken with crispy bacon & tomato
• Tasmanian smoked salmon, cucumber, horseradish & lemon on laugen bread
• Paprika prawns, chili, lemongrass, green shallots, thai basil, red quinoa
Vegetarian sandwiches included mixed vegetables, a tomato, cheese and basil salad.
The sandwiches were light and fresh. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the salad.
Hot Savoury Treats
• Tuscan chicken & roasted vegetable roll
• Caramelised onion & goat’s cheese quiche
• Beef and Guinness pie
Vegetarian savoury treats included the same quiche plus a pumpkin piece and Moroccan sausage roll.
Nice bite-sized treats. The pumpkin in particular was great – a slightly spicy mix with creamy pumpkin.
My fave was the perfect creme brulee and the lemon and herbal infusion cup, with its light, fresh creaminess.
Hot Sweet Treats
• Buttermilk vanilla scones, vanilla whipped cream, cherry jam
Delicious, warm, fresh scones.
To Finish
• Green Tea Affogato; the classic Italian dessert with a twist.
The finale to this meal is a shot of Matcha poured over vanilla bean ice-cream. Our lovely waitress mixed the matcha in front of us and poured it, hot, over a large scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The fresh ice cream was the perfect way to finish the high tea – refreshing and light.
If you dine at the InterContinental on weekends, you can try the Weekend High Tea Buffet. It’s served Saturday & Sunday from 1pm–2:30pm and 3pm–4:30pm. It costs $60 per person includes a glass of sparkling wine.
I first saw We Will Rock You, the brilliant show blending Queen’s legendary songs with Ben Elton’s comic genius, in London 10 years ago. When I saw the show, I thought it was groundbreaking, hilarious, uplifting and wildly entertaining. In short, everything a good theatre show should be.
Lucky, lucky us, We Will Rock You is touring Australia right now. It’s an updated version of the production that retains the brilliance of the original, with a bit of a modern facelift and location-relevant references.
The show is set in the year 2350, where live music is banned on Earth. A rebellious few fight against their force-fed diet of synthesized pop and controlling government, choosing individualism, real-life interactions and creativity over lives lead on the internet and assimilating into assigned groups, leading pre-arranged lives.
We Will Rock You has been a smash hit show since it debuted in London in 2002. Since then it has won the Olivier Audience Award for Most Popular Show in 2011 (British theatre’s
answer to the oscars), played over 3600 performances in the UK (with over 3600 standing ovations), selling over 6 million tickets in the UK alone, and over 16 million tickets in 28 countries worldwide.
Walking into the theatre it’s impossible not to notice the wide variety of people who are there to see the show. A large group of high school students, posing for pics with their tongues sticking out, couples on dates, senior citizens. The appeal of Queen reaches all generations, with their hit songs all showcased in this lively show: We are the Champions, Radio Ga Ga, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Somebody to Love, Killer Queen, Don’t Stop Me Now, Under Pressure, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust and of course We Will Rock You.
A lot has changed in the world since We Will Rock You premiered, and the show has kept up. New cultural references pepper the witty dialogue: Twitter, Facebook, hashtags, Miley Cyrus and gangnam style all get a mention, as does Prince in the most moving moment of the show, a tribute to music stars lost too soon.
Several nods to their Australian audience also garnered plenty of laughs – Australian Idol (especially entertaining as Casey Donovan, playing the key role of Killer Queen was discovered on the show), Molly Meldrum, the Wiggles, John Farnham’s anthem “You’re The Voice” and even Canberra as a place no one wants to go.
The cast of We Will Rock You is superb and does an excellent job of performing iconic songs that had the audience cheering, clapping and waving their arms throughout the show. Gareth Keegan, in the lead role of “Gallileo Figaro” and Erin Clare as “Scaramouche” were particular scene stealers, with their exquisite vocals, dynamic stage presence, and genuine chemistry.
We Will Rock You is a show that endures because it’s not only entertaining, it’s also relevant – even more so today perhaps, than when it debuted in 2002. Yes, kids, get off social media, make a real friend instead of a Facebook one, and create real joy in your lives that makes your soul soar.
We Will Rock You is currently playing at the Lyric Theatre, Pyrmont.
Suitable from the age for 13 years and above
Thank you to We Will Rock You and Nuffnang for providing me with tickets for reviewing purposes.
We have been exploring a lot of southwest Sydney lately, looking for parks and playgrounds in particular. I was recently re-introduced to the Central Gardens Nature Reserve in Merrylands, where I spent a lot of my childhood while my parents played their weekly tennis game with friends. At the time, the gardens were closed so I never was past the tennis court. It was amazing to see the park in daylight, and open! I remember in my errant youth scaling the tennis court bathroom walls in an attempt to see the closed off garden at night – so to see it during the day brought back memories of our night time stealth mission that ultimately failed and left us somewhat in trouble as a result.
The Central Gardens Nature Reserve, also called the Central Gardens, is a nature reserve in the southwest Sydney suburb of Merrylands. The 12 hectare park features two playgrounds, animal enclosures, BBQ areas, a flat path perfect for scooters and bikes, plus a small waterfall feature.
The playground we found was fantastic, with the biggest shade cloth I’ve ever seen over a playground. It was so wonderful to visit in the middle of the day and not worry about sunburn.
Behind the playground lies the animal enclosures. It’s free to wander through them and see the very well cared for animals, including birds, particularly scary emus, wallabies with babies in their pouches, and kangaroos.
We didn’t find the waterfall this visit, but will be back to find it next time.
Do you know of any more great southwest Sydney parks for us to discover?
The Central Gardens Nature Reserve
Cumberland Hwy, Merrylands West Bathrooms: Yes Picnic tables: Yes Shade cover: Yes Cafe: No Skatepark: No Off-street parking: Yes Children’s playground: Yes Water features: No Get Directions
Southwest Sydney really has some fantastic places for families to enjoy the great outdoors. One of our faves is the Plough and Harrow Park in Abbotsbury. The park is part of the massive Western Sydney Parklands that spans across the suburbs of Abbotsbury, Eastern Creek, Prospect and Horsley Park. The entire parklands covers 5,280 hectares, and includes several playgrounds, events centres and sporting venues.
We end up at the Plough and Harrow in Western Sydney Parklands East a fair bit. It has a fantastic playground, 22 electric BBQs, parking for over 200 cars, 24 picnic shelters, a pond with ducks and other water birds, public bathrooms and a cafe/restaurant: Amoretti’s.
The big draw for us is the playground. It’s spread out across a large area, interspersed with trees and other Australian bush pants. The playground features include a hamster wheel, flying fox, sand pit, little kid play area, large climbing spiderweb, basket swing, big kid swings and a water pump feature. The park has play equipment for all different ages, so it’s a suitable venue for families with kids of all ages.
The only downside to this playground is the lack of shade. It could do with some shade cloth!
Make a day of your visit to the park by booking into Treetop Adventure Park too, which is located in this part of Western Sydney Parklands, too.
Plough and Harrow Park
Western Sydney Parklands,
Elizabeth Drive, Abbotsbury Bathrooms: Yes Picnic tables: Yes Shade cover: No Cafe: Yes Skatepark: No Off-street parking: Yes Children’s playground: Yes Water features: Yes Get Directions
Parramatta Park is one of Sydney’s most historic places. In the centre of the park is Old Government House, which, along with the surrounding pack, is one of 11 sites that form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property. The park is also notable for its Aboriginal heritage: Evidence of Aboriginal occupation from over 200,000 years ago has been found there.
Sydney-siders have been enjoying Parramatta Park for recreation for a long time – it became a public park in 1858 – making it one of the earliest designated public parks in the world.
We particularly love the recently renovated Domain Creek Playground in Parramatta Park – it’s located on the Westmead side of the park, opposite the Queens Road Gatehouse.
The playground features activities for all ages and abilities, including flying foxes, swings, slides, trampolines, water pumps, sand pits, small trampolines built into the ground and spinning carousels.
Each section is connected by ramps and walkways, making it easy for strollers and wheelchairs to get between each area.
The double flying fox is a particularly popular feature of the new park, with one of the flying foxes adapted to be used by people with disabilities. The seatbelt feature makes it popular with young children too, who are a bit scared to use the regular one.
Adventurous kids will also enjoy the slide, which requires thrill-seekers to climb up a rope ladder to the top, and then scoot along to the top of the slide. Getting up was a bit scary for little Cheese due to the lack of handholds to pull herself up at the top of the rope ladder, but she had no problem climbing it, or going down the slide, either.
Other sections of the playground worth noting include water pumps that flow into a sand pit, a climbing net that looks like a spider’s web, a second sand pit with equipment for bigger kids like sand diggers, swings, and one last sandpit in the shade that was ideal for small kids.
The playground is beautifully designed to blend into the bush surrounding it, with plenty of fun surprise activities to discover. In the bush section in the middle of the playground few discovered a bush xylophone and cubby house, and there are also small metal sculptures of native Australian animals and a few roses dotted around the park.
The playground doesn’t have a shade cloth over it and there are very few sections with tree coverage, making it a bit of a scorcher on a hot day – particularly the metal play equipment. I would suggest this playground for milder to cold weather!
Bathrooms are also scarce – the nearest ones are a good 10 mins walk away at the Parramatta park Cafes, near the Queen Gate Entrance.
Near the playground is the river and lake, which is home to many birds such as ducks and ibis. Watching the birds is also an excellent way to entertain the little ones.
Domain Creek Playground, Parramatta Park
Pitt St & Macquarie St, Parramatta
Bathrooms: No – nearest one is a few mins walk away at nearby Parramatta Park Cafe.
Picnic tables: Yes
Shade cover: No
Cafe/Kiosk: No
Skatepark: No
Off-street parking: Yes
Children’s playground: Yes
Water features: Yes (but minimal) Get Directions
We are frequent visitors to The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney’s CBD, but had never been to the Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan, in Sydney’s south-west, until recently.
The gardens are massive! 416 hectares of botanic gardens set in a hilly area of the southwestern Sydney suburb of Mount Annan. I’ve driven past the gardens many times on my way between Campbelltown and Camden, and decided that it was time to see what beautiful plants they had on offer for myself.
The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan are free to enter. They are popular place for families in Sydney’s west and south-west to visit for picnic lunches, due to their large grassed areas and excellent facilities. At the entrance to the gardens you can find the welcome centre (pick up a map!) and the public bathrooms, including a baby change/disabled toilet.
We had lunch at the on-site cafe, Melaleuca House. The prices were higher than I’d expected for a cafe inside a garden, but the food was excellent quality and apart from the “Vintage Tea Pyramid Selection” tea that I ordered for $3.90 that turned out to be a Twinings teabag dropped in water, I felt like it was a great meal.
As we arrived after the breakfast menu had finished, we ordered the Roast Pumpkin Salad (with zucchini, roast capsicum, goat’s cheese, oak leaf toasted pine nuts & pesto dressing, $20.90) Jumbo Scone (served with jam and cream, $4.90), Herb Crusted Chicken Tenders (with paprika lime dipping sauce, crisp garden salad & honey-lemon dressing, $19.90), Grilled Barramundi Fillet (served with bush tomato relish fresh lemon wedge & crisp garden salad & chunky chips, $24.90).
Kids aged 10 yrs and under can order off the reasonably-priced kids’ menu, which includes Grilled Sausage & Chips, Toasted Ham, Cheese Sambo & Chips, Cheese Burger & Chips and Chicken Nuggets & Chips. All kids’ meals cost $12 and include a Pop-Top Fruit Juice.
When we arrived the table next to ours had been waiting a long time for their meals and we were a bit concerned that ours would similarly take ages, but the food all arrived quickly, and the unanimous agreement was that it was all delicious.
Just past the cafe is a fenced playground with decent shade. It includes several climbing structures, swings and a flying fox. We had a hard time removing Cheese to go and explore the gardens, but promised her lots of rocks to climb as an incentive.
The gardens are quite spread out, and if you have the time and inclination there is a lot of walking you can do. We did a shorter route through the main gardens up and down the main hill area, climbing over rocks and running down grassy slopes. Along the way we explored native Australian plants and wandered through flower beds with butterflies dancing around us.
A flat, cement path winds around the gardens making them fully accessible for strollers and wheelchairs (it’s worth noting that the cafe area, particularly the outdoor seating, is also very suitable for large strollers or wheelchairs, too).
A new addition to the garden is the Jurassic Garden Augmented Reality trail.
Download the app, pick up a map at Information, and take a journey back through time through the garden to spot Australian Dinosaurs and megafauna next to plants that were important to them.
Once you’ve downloaded the app to your smartphone or tablet, point your device at the Jurassic Garden AR marker and watch the creature come to life.
The Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan are just beautiful, and are a welcome place to enjoy the beauty of nature in the heart of southwestern Sydney.
The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Narellan Road, Mount Annan 2567
Australia
The Garden is open every day of the year.
Autumn, Winter and Spring: 8am-5pm
Summer: 8am-7pm
Prices: FREE Online
Melaleuca House is open Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 8am-4pm.
Do you have a kid who loves climbing, heights and physical challenges? Then TreeTop Adventure Park is a must-do for your family. TreeTop Adventure Park operates three parks, in Wyong, Newcastle and Sydney – we visited the Sydney one which is located inside the Plough & Harrow Park in South-West Sydney.
TreeTop Adventure Park has courses for kids and adults, with the children’s course suitable for little ones aged 3 – 9. The next group, “Juniors”, consists of three courses for kids aged 10 – 17 who are at least 1.4m tall.
The children’s course is made up of four courses with different degrees of difficulty, and four flying foxes.
While booking isn’t mandatory, the sessions are so popular that I highly advise booking a few days in advance to ensure you can take part in the timed session of your choice on the day. One the website TreeTop advises you arrive half an hour before your timed session, and if the weather is nice you may as well arrive early to make a day of it. The Adventure Park is right next to a massive playground in Plough & Harrow Park so kids can play there until they need to put on their helmets and harnesses.
We were incredibly unlucky with the weather on our day. The skies opened and it poured just when we arrived. The session before ours climbed in the rain, but thankfully it eased up when our session was beginning to a slight drizzle. The sessions go ahead unless there is lightning or heavy winds, in which case the courses are suspended until they can begin again. I advise bringing a rain coat if there is a chance of rain, or investing in a $2 rain poncho from TreeTop like we did on the day.
Each group is restricted with numbers for safety reasons. The kids are strapped into the harnesses and helmets by TreeTop staff, and then given a very detailed talk on safety. The instructors drill the kids on the number of kids allowed on each platform, challenge and flying fox at a time, and ask the kids repeatedly to make sure the kids understand all the information.
Each child’s harness has it’s own metal pulley that is used to hook onto the wire that runs above each course for safety. They are large and heavy, making them quite dangerous for little kids to be trusted with, but the instructors had an excellent way of teaching the kids about how to use the pulleys, calling them a “froggy”, and using terms that kids would understand – like the “froggy” had to be put onto the wire “frog to the log” so he could “eat his food” (AKA the wire). The rope dangling down was called the “tail”, so we were calling out repeatedly “hold onto the tail!” and so on to describe how to get across the challenges.
The first course, “white”, was the easiest, and designed low to the ground so parents could hold their child’s hand if needs be. It also allows parents to assist kids with getting the pulley over the connectors at each platform – this, for the little kids, proved to be the hardest element of the courses. It was really difficult to swing the rope hard enough to get enough momentum to push it over the edge of the connectors at each platform. Once the kids are up on the higher courses, they must to every element on their own, as adults are on the ground and can’t reach to help.
For my four-year-old, the courses were exceptional for not just physical enjoyment, but also to help her self-confidence and resilience. Quite a few times she struggled to get her pulley over connectors, but had to work it out herself – and while she got frustrated, she managed to do it, every time. She also lost a shoe at one stage, while she was several metres over our heads. Even though she couldn’t reach her feet with her hands, and she was balancing high up on a tiny platform, she managed to use her foot to place the shoe in the right position and jam her toes inside so it was on well-enough to get to the next platform where an instructor could fasten it for her.
As an only child, Cheese is used to us doing a lot of things for her that she could probably work out herself, so this ropes course was just what she needed to realise that she was more than able to conquer many difficult things on her own. As the courses got harder, they involved more problem solving skills as well as balance, agility and also confidence! The last two courses involved a lot of moving logs and sections that were quite far apart – pretty hard and scary for little kids whose arms and legs couldn’t reach them. I was so incredibly proud of how Cheese conquered all of the four courses.
The minimum age for participation is three, with no height minimum, and, while there were three year olds on the course, there were a few who attempted the harder courses, got stuck or scared, and then couldn’t get down. The way the courses are created, you hook on at the start and unhook at the end. There is no way to unhook in the middle – AKA there’s no going back if you get scared or can’t physically finish the course. We had a moment during one of our courses where the kids all had to reverse backwards through the course to the beginning and unhook to allow a smaller child to leave the course.
On the website it’s advised that you buy or bring gloves, and while we didn’t this time, we will definitely buy a pair when we return. Shoes must be closed toe like sneakers, and I would suggest long tights for girls so their legs don’t rub on the harness.
Looking around the courses I was pleased to see that they were set up in a way so as to not harm the trees – there was no drilling used to attach the platforms, and the structures were designed to allow trees to grow free of restrictions.
The children’s course costs $28 per child. While initially I thought it sounded pricey, the you have two hours to spend on the courses. Time absolutely flies by and I really thought that it was money well spent.
Cheese finished the day feeling strong, brave and incredibly happy! She told us she had the best day ever and can’t wait to go back.
TreeTop Adventure Park
Plough & Harrow, Western Sydney Parklands,
Elizabeth Drive, Abbotsbury Online
I knew we had stumbled on one of the best kid-friendly restaurants in Sydney when we were greeted with “the kids can draw on anything!” at the door by the very friendly staff at Little Tastes Cafe St Peters.
Inside the cafe is the much-lauded play area. It’s a great size with loads of toys, and the walls and tabletops are covered in chalk paint, so kids are literally welcome to draw on the walls. I’ve heard that on Saturdays the cafe hangs paper on the walls for kids to paint on, but we arrived on a quiet Thursday during the school holidays just after a massive group, and had the playroom all to ourselves.
Our friendly server let us know that babyccinos were on the house, officially making it the best deal in Sydney. They usually come with a marshmallow, but had had an unfortunate incident on the day we arrived that deprived our kids of their marshmallow. Not like they even noticed, however, they were having so much for playing that we had to beg them to sit down to eat. As an indication of how this compares to our usual cafe outings – if a babyccino arrives without a marshmallow, it’s usually met with a turned up lip and serious attitude.
The cafe serves all-day breakfast and simple burgers, rolls and salads. They have a great kids’ menu with items like toast with jam, toasted sandwiches, the “Big Bubba Breakfast” with eggs, bacon sausages and toast, “Eggs with Toast Soldiers” and a fruit salad. All of the kids’ meals are under $10, with cheapest being $3 for the toast with jam, peanut butter or Vegemite.
All of the meals at the cafe are reasonably priced, which is another massive plus in my book. We love eating out, and often with kids you end up needing to eat out even if you hadn’t planned to, so it can seriously add up to be very expensive, very fast. With prices like these, however, we will be dropping by all the time rather than just on special occasions. The meals for adults at Little Tastes range from $6 for an egg and bacon roll to $10 for the “Budget Brekkie” (two eggs, bacon or spinach, feta on thick toast) and $17 for the most expensive dish on the menu, the “Big Breakfast” (two eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, haloumi, grilled tomato, toast).
We ordered toast with jam and a grilled cheese sandwich for the kids, and a SpanishOmelette ($14, three egg omelette with red onion, tomato, chorizo and paprika served with thick cut toast) and Smashed Pumpkin ($16, two eggs your way on a bed of smashed pumpkin and feta with bacon and tomato served with thick cut toast). They happily swapped my bacon for spinach which I appreciated too.
While we waited for the meals, the kids played and played and played. The kids’ meals arrived first, and they sat relatively peacefully at their table to eat. It was a bit of a wait for our meals, but with such a small cafe and only two staff members working there, it was understandable.
I really enjoyed my smashed pumpkin dish. It really hit the spot for me, and I loved the thick cut toast, plus the delicious pumpkin and feta. All of the dishes were very generous in portion size, too.
The bathroom is around the back of the cafe, and has a change table – hallelujah!
The cafe has both a fantastic and terrible location. It’s wonderful as it is right across the road from the massive Sydney Park, making it a great cafe to team up with a park visit. It’s also on a very busy road however, so keep a close eye on kids when you’re walking to the cafe. The cafe itself is quite small, so if you arrive on a busy day and need to sit outside, you’ll need to also keep a very close eye on little ones.
We loved our lunch at Little Tastes and can’t wait to go back.
Travel with young kids can be an exciting adventure – but also a challenge when it comes to keeping small ones happy with their need for routine, early bedtime and plain food (white-bread-butter-thats-it-please!).
Day time can be a breeze eating out with kids abroad – it’s easy to find kid-friendly cafes or grab a croissant to go. But what do you do at night time, when you would usually be at home, serving plain pasta and a single strawberry at 6pm, with the kids down by 7:30pm? We have found dinner time to be one of the bigger challenges of travelling with a little kid, and I wanted to share some tips that have worked for me, as well as a good friend of mine, Leah from the Kid Bucket List, who has travelled extensively with her two kids around the world, too.
Leah’s tips:
When we became parents and started travelling I quickly learned that all the little shortcuts and insider tips we utilised during our travels as a couple didn’t transfer across to family travel.
Skipping meals and walking all day; throwing in a late night adventure and totally winging our accommodation is a thing of the past and has required a total reframing of our travel expectations.
When we travel to new time zones we try to quickly follow the typical routine from home. We plan for three meals at fairly consistent times and bedtimes, although a little flexible at each side, are usually set at around 8pm.
With double rooms often (well, always) cheaper than 1 or 2 bedroom suites, we often find ourselves sharing a bedroom. With bedtime at 8pm for the kids this does mean tv is off as soon as their heads hit the pillow. T and I make use of headphones and our individual devices. Not really the perfect set up, but I do read a lot of books on our trips!
If the kids are tired, we’re also partial to dining in our room. Not room service, but ordering at a local cafe and taking it home. We’ve enjoyed awesome pizza, sushi, tacos and even parmigiana from the little table in our room. I also stock up on lots of snack food within the day or two of arriving anywhere so they’re at hand. Full tummies make for happy kids.
Tweaking the way you travel when kids arrive and you’ll find it is the greatest adventure of your life!
My tips for eating out when travelling with kids:
Eat out all together early: If we aren’t jetlagged, we dine together at around 6pm near hour hotel and make sure we have snacks for later for if we get hungry.
Book an airbnb, apartment or suite with a separate bedroom: This is my fave way to travel as it means we can get some basic groceries and make meals for our very fussy child at night and either make food for us, too, or get takeout once she’s asleep and shut in another room.
Get a room with a fridge: This is critical for us! See the next point.
Stash plenty of snacks in the room: I always visit a supermarket when we are staying somewhere longer than a few nights and stock up on basics my fusspot daughter will eat, like yoghurt pouches, bread, cheese, butter, cereal and milk. The long-life milk cartons are a particular life-saver. If we have any late-night food emergencies then we know she will always have something she can eat. I’ve even been known to take Vegemite from home in those small sachets that you get from hotels because they make anywhere in the world taste like home.
Bring disposable Tupperware: I like to grab food during the day that my daughter will eat, like bread rolls, a croissant, bagel etc, and store it in either a disposable Tupperware container or ziplock bags so when it comes to bedtime, I have something on hand that she is guaranteed to eat that is still relatively fresh.
Do you have any more tips for making dinner time easier when travelling?
