We're not the type of people who prepare for a trip by visiting travel agents, reading guide books and googling travel sites. Although I do like the thought of a nice neat itinerary, I'm not sure our family could ever stick to one. Our way of traveling is to make it up as we go along. Sometimes we don't know where we are going next until the day before. Occasionally we are limited by our last minute decisions but mostly things just have a way of working out.
Without too many plans we are open to other people's suggestions, we aren't stuck in tight schedules and we have the freedom to follow our hearts wherever they take us.
Not knowing London at all, I put the call out on Facebook a few months before we left home asking for suggestions of where to eat, what to do and where to stay. I was completely overwhelmed by the response and instead of trying to break my pattern and book well ahead, I left it and went off to focus on more pressing things like packing and planting garlic instead.
Fast forward a month and we found ourselves in Israel with a week until London and nowhere to stay.
So one hot afternoon while the girls were making a horror movie on the iPad, we got on the Airbnb site and booked an apartment for five, as close to London as we could find and crossed our fingers.
Later on that night, or maybe the next, we were flicking through the TV stations and came across a program about the street art, vintage shop and cool market tours in Shoreditch. A quick check of our Airbnb dashboard confirmed that we had hit the jackpot!! The gorgeous warehouse apartment we had booked was in Shoreditch and within walking distance of all these awesome places. So cool!!
We didn't end up taking one of those tours but we did discover a lot of it by ourselves and we loved it!! At the end of our lane way there was a long white building site barrier put up as we were leaving home on the Saturday morning, by the time we got back that night it was covered in the most incredible paintings (it was too dark for a photo - sorry). Everywhere we looked we were greeted with something incredible. Our elbows were sore from poking each other to look over here and over there.
Amazing!!
I'd best be off now, it's time to plan for our next destination. Paris maybe? Seriously!!
And just out of interest, are you a travel planner or do you make it up as you go along like we do?
Lotsa love to you guys, I hope you are making marvellous memories.
Love Kate xoxo
I am loving hearing about your travels, we are planning on taking the girls to Europe next year and we used to travel without plans, but the thought of doing it with 4 kids has freaked me out, so it is great to hear you are doing it without planning!
ReplyDeleteSo far, so good. On occasion people ask us where we are going from here and give us looks like we are INSANE when we tell them we have no idea, but then they go on to tell us about where they think we should go and it all makes sense. So excited for you six. xxx
DeleteLondon is such an amazing city! If you don't know where to go next: Malta is a wonderful island! So much history and culture is hidden there as well as beautiful beaches. If you end up there - book a "round Malta cruise". As the island is really tiny it takes just one day to cruise around it with a beautiful sailing ship. I did it twice already.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course Vienna is always worth a visit and just a two hour flight either from Paris or London! If you want to go there and need some advice just let me know - I work in Vienna and lived there for some years!
Greetins from Austria
emma
Shoreditch is an amazing part of London town. The new Nottinghill I believe! As for travel, I like to find out loads of stuff, do lots of research, make a few "must see" notes but then when I get there just go with the flow... xxx
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ReplyDeleteI'm so much enjoying hearing about your travel adventures. I usually semi-plan my travels: book hotels in advance, decide on museums/galleries to visit and leave plenty of time to walk around and stumble on things. I just realised that I haven't traveled much other than visit relatives/friends since Airbnb became popular - it must make things more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI plan the bi events, but our daily "look arounds" go unplanned. I like to know where we are going, but I am okay with a little freedom once we get there!
ReplyDeleteHi Kate, I use the word cool a lot but I think in this case it is appropriate! Such a contrast to life in your forest isn't it? I put a lot of planning into accommodation because with young children I find being comfortable can either make or break a holiday! I am getting better at being more spontaneous with the other things...I have a habit of hard core planning & organising x
ReplyDeleteLovely to see that we're not the only ones who wing it when we travel. It's always worked out well, as it does for you. Beautiful street art; thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteTravelling without planning is loads of fun, and it's lovely to see how much more fabulous Shoreditch is since we were there last. If you end up in France, here's a place we stumbled upon, as we wandered around the country with our daughters, then aged 6 and 9. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140925-in-france-a-steampunk-park-of-jules-vernes-dreams It was the highlight of our trip! Our girls were very upset the first night we turned up in a town with no accommodation, and trailed around after us crying with fright as we knocked on doors. But now they love the adventure.
ReplyDeleteYour pics make me want to go back to London! I have never seen such cool street art and qould lv e to see it in person one day! Firsr Australia this winter though 😆
ReplyDeleteTake care
Anne
Crochet Between Worlds
Love that you collected these images together - I often think of doing a similar series, but usually only halfway through a holiday, once all the best opportunities have passed.
ReplyDeleteWe're not itinerary people either. I imagine it's bloody hard work to keep kids to that kind of schedule, and who has the energy?
We are loose agenda people. We think of one or two things we hope to see in a day and ramble and don't worry if we don't get there because something else came up. It's very in-the-moment.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a bit of a winger, (make it up as I went along-er), but since i've had children I tend to see the value in planning more..... But when they are a bit older, I think we'll go back to winging it! So much of life is very dictated, it's nice to be spontaneous! Oh, come to the south of England! But if you do go to France, I love burgundy, the Atlantic coast, the Alps, everywhere, really! Xxx
ReplyDeleteI used to be a bit of a winger, (make it up as I went along-er), but since i've had children I tend to see the value in planning more..... But when they are a bit older, I think we'll go back to winging it! So much of life is very dictated, it's nice to be spontaneous! Oh, come to the south of England! But if you do go to France, I love burgundy, the Atlantic coast, the Alps, everywhere, really! Xxx
ReplyDeleteAmazing art. I am not a planner. I like to do what we feel like doing on the day. Have fun. xo
ReplyDeleteSuch incredible art work!! Thanks for sharing the photos and have a wonderful weekend!! : )
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
Hi, such a lovely blog! I just love all the street art in Shoreditch! I have never been but really hope to make it there one day! We are planning a trip to Paris in 5 weeks!! I still can't believe I am actually going to be in Paris! I am the very organized planner but I love your idea of being more relaxed and seeing where the road takes you! I have just started a blog and would love it if you would take a look and leave a comment! www.theartfullplace.blogspot.com
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