Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

Travelling abroad during the holidays.

Lots of people take holidays during the December time, it’s perfect because flights will get cheaper to fill them up over Christmas Day/Boxing Day, the airports won’t be so busy and everyone will generally be in a cheery mood.

However, travelling abroad at this time was always strange for me; suddenly your traditions are switched. You might be eating lobster or sushi instead of turkey on Christmas Day!

My family has never been particularly religious, nor have we ever celebrated a holiday in any religious way so we don’t go to church. We do have traditions though, being brought up in the UK we have always celebrated Christmas holiday. We eat turkey, beef, lamb with all the trimmings, open presents in the morning and spend the day together doing something fun.

I’ve been away for three Christmases, all when I was quite young.

First was when I was about 9, we went on a cruise in Europe, going to places like Italy and the Mediterranean. The cruise itself was terrible and I was so seasick the entire time, we left the cruise early to get back home for Christmas and we ended up having a pretty normal Christmas.

Second time we were away was on another cruise, this time I wasn’t seasick and the trip was amazing. The heat of Grenada was slightly overwhelming for Christmas Day but it was still cool to be there! It felt weird to be waking up not excited about presents but about the island that was about to greet us!

Third and finally was a hotel in Miami, this was probably the weirdest Christmas out of the lot, the sand, sea and food took me by complete surprise. I distinctly remember my sister eating alphabet soup which threw me. Where were the Brussels sprouts?

Would I go again at Christmas?

I think I’ll go somewhere with snow, possibly on a Skiing holiday or to Finland. Right now I wouldn’t like to be somewhere sunny and hot but things change… Who knows?

Another post I’ve found which has a cool illustrated diagram of holiday travelling statistics in her blog is Simply Stacie!

Have you taken any trips during the Christmas holidays that threw you? Or did you really enjoy it, I’d love to hear your comments below!

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Winter Wonderland

Christmas is over. It’s official. We are now in 2012 and it’s another whole 350 something days until we can stuff our faces and cross our fingers for snow. During this wintery season however I  took a lovely trip out to Hyde Park in Central London to visit Winter Wonderland. Every year I try to get out and visit one of the winter attractions, last year it was the Christmas Market on Southbank.

The Ferris wheel!

I chose Winter Wonderland this year because I’d had reports from friends that it was great and I’d be missing out If I didn’t go. Here are some of the things I liked and didn’t like about the attraction..

Positives of Winter Wonderland:

  • The smells coming from the market area were amazing, Cinnamon, Spiced Apple and Vanilla! Everything you want to smell at Christmas.
  • There was quite a large variety of things to do and see, They had an Ice Skating rink, children’s area and loads of rides (which I didn’t go on because I hate rides!) and of course the market.
  • It looked beautiful, apart from the rubbish scattered around the alcohol areas. The Feris Wheel was lit up in bright white lights and the market shops looked like mini wooden cabins. Very German-esque.

Negatives:  The negative I had with the park were probably to do with the time we visited, we got there around 5pm..

  • It was busy, not just crowded busy but human 5 minute traffic jam busy. There were a lot of families with huge buggies which made it even harder to get anywhere or really see anything.

It got me into the Christmas spirit and I’d really recommend that you go in 2012, just make sure you time it right and go when there will be less people!

Did you go to the Winter Wonderland last year? or any other Christmas Holiday event?

 

 

 

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