Our Travel Plans for 2020

Last Updated on 10 July 2020 by Colette

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At the start of last year I wrote about our travel plans for 2019 and how we were prioritising family travel – this year I thought I’d write a similar update but with a different focus – this year we’re scaling things back a bit, or rather just changing focus.

Last year we got bit over excited with ourselves and essentially over committed when it came to travel plans – not so much with our time but financially. We managed it all, we had three fantastic foreign trips (two with the kids and one for just Dave and I) as well as camping trips, a festival and a luxurious weekend away in the forest. . . , but we knew we were pushing our luck financially and this year we’re reigning it in a bit so we can get things done at home. We still need to finish replacing our windows, the front of the house has needed the pointing doing for far too long and our back garden? Well the less said about that the better.

Despite focusing the majority of our spare cash on travel last year, we did manage to get a few things done around the house – but this year the jobs are bigger and more important. Whilst we are prioritising flights to New York over a new dining table, we can’t realistically leave the pointing and the windows any longer – these are jobs which I’m not even excited about having done, they just need doing.

We also can’t sneak the kids out of school at the end of the summer term the way we have the last two years as Ben will leave primary school this summer and I wouldn’t want him to miss those precious last days.

So with that in mind, our focus is a little different this year and isn’t so much about family travel – in fact we’ve told the kids that we’re not currently planning to take them abroad this year. For the last two years they’ve had two foreign holidays in each year, so it won’t do them any harm whatsoever to stay in the UK this summer. Of course should the opportunity arise I’m not about to turn it down, but a foreign holiday with the kids isn’t top of the list this time.

Instead, Dave and I are concentrating on a trip to New York at the end of May – we both turn 40 within weeks of each other and having not had a honeymoon when we got married nearly 8yrs ago, we wanted to go big for our special birthday. My parents are coming to stay in Manchester for the week to look after the kids which we are eternally grateful for.

We finally booked our flights on New Years Eve and have since started to research accommodation and think about what we want to do when we get there. We hadn’t really done much prior to this, I think mostly due to not having the flights booked – I didn’t want to get really excited about the trip and then find it was going to fall through. I think we have a fairly good idea of what we want to do now but, if you have New York tips for places to stay, things to do, where to eat . . . hit me up!

Also on the cards for 2020 is a holiday with Kirst – this is something we’ve discussed for a couple of years (having last been on holiday together in 2004 . . . ) but we ended up postponing in 2019 to allow us to go to the Amalfi with Chris and Dave for Goose’s 40th.

This summer, Kirst and I will have known each other for 20 years, so that seems the perfect excuse for a little escape together – at the moment I have no idea what it will be – we have joked about going to Dubai – but we both need to get trips with our husbands booked and planned first then we can look at our own trip. Whilst Dubai would be fabulous – our main priority is to get some time to chill together in the sun!

And for the kids? Whilst they totally understand that our main focus this year is the trip to New York, Ben did tell me he was disappointed we’re not doing Eurocamp at May half term as it’s tradition now we’ve done it two years in a row! We told him we have every intention of planning a Eurocamp trip for May half term 2021 – especially as the girls will have a two week holiday from school!

But for this year? Well I’ve already planned in a couple of camping dates with the Butlers – though we’ve had to forgo our annual camping trip on the last weekend of the holidays as it falls on the August bank holiday this year when we’re hoping we’ll be at a festival (though we’ve yet to decide which one!) I’m actually hoping we’ll manage a couple of festivals this summer – especially after how much we all enjoyed Y Not Festival last year but we’re waiting to see the line ups before we book anything! Dave and I have also discussed the possibility of some slightly longer camping trips this summer – perhaps a little further South! We have time to decide yet!

So, as you can see, although family travel isn’t so much of a priority for 2020, it’s already looking like a pretty busy year – but then you know us, we love a good adventure!  What travel plans have you got for 2020?