Last month we went to Paris for the weekend to see the christmas spectacular in Disneyland. Arwyn and I went to this a few years ago before Eva was born and loved it, so we were desperate to take Eva there. I will blog about our time in Disney on a separate post and dedicate this one to how we travelled there.
We booked the Eurostar to the centre of Paris during one of their sales and managed to get the return journey for £59 each. All children under the age of 4 can travel for free if they are willing to sit on your lap. They currently have a sale on now, so make sure you check out any offers, Eurostar. Also from May they are starting trains to the South of France, so this is definitely something we will look into later on this year.
Our train was departing at 8.31am so we new we needed to stay as close to St Pancras as possible as we didn't want to contend with attempting to travel across London during the peak morning rush to work. I have to say the thought of doing that with the suitcase, pushchair and Eva really wasn't very appealing in the slightest.
We booked to stay at the Premier Inn St Pancras which is a fairly new hotel. http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/LONSTP/london-st-pancras. It cost £130 and it was well worth the money. We didn't arrive until 11pm at night (we had to drive from Cardiff to London after work = nightmare) and by this point we were desperate to get a good nights sleep. When we arrived the staff were super friendly and so helpful. They attended to us as you would expect to be attended to staying at a 5 star hotel. They helped us use the self check in machines (very easy) and supplied us with all the information we would need. I honestly haven't come across such nice hotel staff in a long time.
The room itself was perfect. Stupidly I didn't take any of my own pictures (probably due to how late it was) but it does look exactly as it's shown on the website. We booked a double with a cot. The room was quite large which is great when you are traveling with little ones as let's face it, you need all the room you can get as their stuff tends to take over. There was a tv and tea and coffee making facilities (always a bonus!!).
We'd run out of milk for Eva, so Arwyn went downstairs to see if we could get some. Again the staff were attentive and very efficient and got us some free of charge.
The location of the hotel is absolutely perfect for travelling from St Pancras as it is literally on the doorstep. It probably took us about 4 minutes to walk there and that includes walking with the suitcase, pushchair and waiting for the traffic lights. The entrance to the station just so happens to be right infant of the entrance to the Eurostar. It couldn't have been better. We will use this hotel every time we travel on the Eurostar as we were so impressed with the experience and value for money.
The Eurostar is the ideal way to travel especially when you have children. Check in is usually fuss and stress free. The only thing you have to contend with is slight queues. Eva loved the journey. She loved being able to look out of a window (we played eye spy quite a bit). She also loved the fact that she wasn't constrained to such a small area and was able to walk through the cabins when she was getting bored. This is one of the positives of train travel over an aeroplane. We packed the iPad, books and colouring materials also to keep her entertained.
The train we took arrives in the Gare De Nord but you can get one that goes directly to Disneyland. It's normally slightly more expensive to go straight there. We wanted to go to the christmas markets that are at the start of the Champs Elysees. If you are ever looking for a christmas market destination, Paris would be a high recommendation from me. It's simply beautiful and i'm sure there are many others across the whole of Paris.
We booked the Eurostar to the centre of Paris during one of their sales and managed to get the return journey for £59 each. All children under the age of 4 can travel for free if they are willing to sit on your lap. They currently have a sale on now, so make sure you check out any offers, Eurostar. Also from May they are starting trains to the South of France, so this is definitely something we will look into later on this year.
Our train was departing at 8.31am so we new we needed to stay as close to St Pancras as possible as we didn't want to contend with attempting to travel across London during the peak morning rush to work. I have to say the thought of doing that with the suitcase, pushchair and Eva really wasn't very appealing in the slightest.
We booked to stay at the Premier Inn St Pancras which is a fairly new hotel. http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/LONSTP/london-st-pancras. It cost £130 and it was well worth the money. We didn't arrive until 11pm at night (we had to drive from Cardiff to London after work = nightmare) and by this point we were desperate to get a good nights sleep. When we arrived the staff were super friendly and so helpful. They attended to us as you would expect to be attended to staying at a 5 star hotel. They helped us use the self check in machines (very easy) and supplied us with all the information we would need. I honestly haven't come across such nice hotel staff in a long time.
The room itself was perfect. Stupidly I didn't take any of my own pictures (probably due to how late it was) but it does look exactly as it's shown on the website. We booked a double with a cot. The room was quite large which is great when you are traveling with little ones as let's face it, you need all the room you can get as their stuff tends to take over. There was a tv and tea and coffee making facilities (always a bonus!!).
We'd run out of milk for Eva, so Arwyn went downstairs to see if we could get some. Again the staff were attentive and very efficient and got us some free of charge.
The location of the hotel is absolutely perfect for travelling from St Pancras as it is literally on the doorstep. It probably took us about 4 minutes to walk there and that includes walking with the suitcase, pushchair and waiting for the traffic lights. The entrance to the station just so happens to be right infant of the entrance to the Eurostar. It couldn't have been better. We will use this hotel every time we travel on the Eurostar as we were so impressed with the experience and value for money.
The Eurostar is the ideal way to travel especially when you have children. Check in is usually fuss and stress free. The only thing you have to contend with is slight queues. Eva loved the journey. She loved being able to look out of a window (we played eye spy quite a bit). She also loved the fact that she wasn't constrained to such a small area and was able to walk through the cabins when she was getting bored. This is one of the positives of train travel over an aeroplane. We packed the iPad, books and colouring materials also to keep her entertained.
The train we took arrives in the Gare De Nord but you can get one that goes directly to Disneyland. It's normally slightly more expensive to go straight there. We wanted to go to the christmas markets that are at the start of the Champs Elysees. If you are ever looking for a christmas market destination, Paris would be a high recommendation from me. It's simply beautiful and i'm sure there are many others across the whole of Paris.
To sum up we were so happy with how Eva behaved during travelling and would recommend the Eurostar and Premier Inn St Pancras to anyone. We can't wait to use both again.
Have you ever been on the Eurostar? Can you recommend any small products to entertain toddlers? Any recommendations for how best to pack hand luggage for Eva when we fly long haul to Dubai and Australia in April? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Make sure you stay up to date with my posts by following us on Bloglovin and stay interactive with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Love Kerry and Eva xx
2 comments
We've been huge fans of sleeping bags for Eva as we have used them since she was born. We swaddled her for the first few weeks and then put her into a sleeping bag at night. Therefore, we were delighted to be sent a bag to try from 'grobag'. Grobag were the original makers of sleeping bags for babies and toddlers and safety and comfort are what they pride themselves on. They start at sizes 0-6 months and even go up to size 6-10 years in a range of different togs to suit different temperatures. You can view the full range here, Gro Bags.
We were sent this lovely style for Eva tor try which is a 2.5 tog in 18-36 years. Eva is coming up to 2 next week and this size is ideal for her. There is still plenty of room for growth and even though it seems very big at the moment, she moves very well in it at night and it doesn't seem to restrict her or wake her up. The tog is perfect for most nursery's as it suits a standard room temperature and therefore can be used all year around. This particular style is currently on sale, Candy cloud go bag.
I'm so pleased with the product. Even though we will soon be moving Eva from a cot to a bed I will still use Grobags for along as I can instead of a duvet. I find them the safest option for baby and toddlers to sleep. Eva has always slept exceptionally well in a bag so I don't feel the need to change, even as she grows older.
We took a few photo's, unfortunately Eva has a pink light shade in her room which seems to create a horrendous colour so please excuse the quality of the pictures.
Anther product that I think would be perfect for Eva is the Gro Clock. It's a sleep training and learning clock. Eva will be 2 next week and is starting to learn and understand more on a daily basis. This product would be fab for teaching her when she should wake up and also start teaching her the time. It will be a useful tool for when moving Eva from her cot to her bed. Let's cross fingers that it keeps her in her bed and not wandering around!!!
There are also 2 products that i'd like to point out to any new parents or parents to be and they are the Gro Swaddle and the Gro Hush. I was useless when it came to swaddling with an ordinary blanket and really wish I had known about these!! They are top of my list for when baby number 2 comes (I am not pregnant yet!!). The Gro hush also seems like a genius idea. It's a little device that plays white noise which is perfect for mimicking being inside the womb. I wish we'd have had this for the early months with Eva. Make sure you check it out.
Have you used Gro Bags? Do you use duvets? Have you got any other Gro products?
Don't forget to keep up to date and follow me on Bloglovin and stay interactive with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Love Kerry and Eva xx
I don't know about you but I love a good basket/hamper gift. I've been giving them for years so as you can guess I was ecstatic when I saw this amazing idea on another bloggers page and knew it was the perfect gift for Eva. Before I continue with the post please take a look at the lovely mum Kerry's (no i'm not talking about me) blog which is http://www.ohsoamelia.com. She writes a fantastic parent and lifestyle blog full of wonderful ideas like this one.
I already had bought a basket ready for christmas eve and there will be a post on the christmas eve basket coming up asap. The ideal thing about baskets is that they can be used again and again. This one will be used as shown here, on christmas eve and for Eva's upcoming birthday when it will be full of Peppa Pig gifts.
I can't wait to see her face when she sees this under the tree. She will be so excited. We have probably had this film on everyday for the last few months and 'let it go' is literally all she sings.
The contents of the basket were all fairly cheap which is one of the reasons why I love baskets! You can fill it with whatever you like at whatever expense and they will look fab regardless of the price.
The items below were all from B and M bargains. They've got a huge range of stuff there and most of it is a lot cheaper than the bigger toy stores. View some of their range here: B and M frozen range.
The next gifts are from Asda. The mug was £2.50 Mug and the 2 pack of socks was £3 Socks.
I bought the book of the film from Sainsbury for £3.49. It's actually got some photo pictures in the middle too. You can buy the books anywhere but I found them cheapest at Sainsbury.
I got this 2 pack of vests from Primark for the amazing price of £3. If your child is into Frozen then I can't recommend Primark enough. Pretty much half of their children's floor is full of the range supplying anything and everything from socks to dresses.
Love Kerry and Eva xx
Firstly, apologies for leaving this post so last minute before christmas but hopefully you'll still have enough time to make them if you want.
I was wracking my brains for pressies I can send to family from Eva and decided to go to pinterest for more inspiration and I wasn't disappointed. I knew I wanted them to be homemade but couldn't think of any with a festive feel to them. If you search for me on pinterest (amininorrisblog) you'll see I have lots more ideas on various boards if you are looking for inspiration.
One thing Arwyn and I never did enough of was to take lots of prints of Eva's hands and feet which is why I thought this gift was perfect. What could be more cute than a canvas with her feet named 'mistletoes'. A massive plus with making ones like this is that Eva could get involved. She adored having her feet painted and didn't stop giggling. We just put her straight in the bath afterwards to clean her up.
So to make the canvas we bought some from the range and they cost £3.99. You can probably get them from other places such as home bargains and maybe even Asda etc. Then we painted up Eva's feet with green paint (you can use any colour you like) We found the easiest way of getting the print onto the canvas was to sit her down and bring the canvas to her feet rather than her standing on it. Please note this is a two person job!!!
If your child is older you could get them to write mistletoes onto the canvas, however we wrote that on ourselves. I'd like to add that my husband didn't even trust me to write it on and actually wrote it in pencil for me to trace over. Charming!
Then draw some bows on top of the feet and decorate the rest as you wish. We let Eva do a few circles and then finished it off.
We had a fab time as a family making these and Eva found the whole thing fantastic. It was a good sensory exercise for her to do. Now all that's left to decide is who's getting them for christmas.
Have you made any homemade gifts from your little ones? Let me know what you have done.
Don't forget to follow me on other social media to keep up to date with the blog, Twitter, Bloglovin, Facebook and Instagram.
Love Kerry and Eva xx
Last year we went to Caerphilly Garden Centre as Eva was not even 1 she didn't really understand anything. We also had to wait 1.5 hours to greet him. This made me realise I had to find something easier this year.
A few people had mentioned Pugh's garden centre to me and after following them on twitter (follow them here Twitter) and reading their updates I knew we had to give it a try.
We visited on the opening night which meant they had real reindeer there!!!! What a bonus and a special treat. They were adorable. I think Arwyn and I were more excited than Eva who simply called them dogs.
Before you enter Santa's winter wonderland you are given a lantern to carry (loved this idea) and you are on your way through a magical journey of christmas and ice to find Santa. A lovely elf takes you on your guided walking tour through the frozen winter wonderland. Expect lot's of decorations, snowmen, ice, water and mist. The whole walk through sent Eva into a sensory overdrive (same with mummy and daddy). She loved all of it and was amazed at everything she saw. Even all the adults couldn't wipe the smile from their faces.
Last on the agenda was collecting your present which you can pick yourself (another bonus as you know your child will like it).
My pictures do not do this wonderful experience the justice it deserves. We had the most fantastic time and certainly felt like we were taken into a magical wonderland. I can't recommend it enough. It's a unique experience for all the family to enjoy. We loved it so much we are going to take Eva again nearer to christmas day.
Have you been to this winter wonderland before? Where have you taken your child to see Santa? Please leave me a comment of your experience if you visit Pugh's.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)