Travel in Review 2019
And we finally made it to the Travel in Review 2019.
It’s true when they say that when you become parents, “the days are long, but the years are short.” In a blink of an eye, our baby turned into a toddler. Where does time go?
Parentood is an extraordinary gift – it’s beautiful and rewarding, but also so exhausting at the same time. Kenz and I were happy to survive the first year. With me returning to work after a year-long maternity leave, we had a light travel schedule in 2019. On the agenda was a family reunion in California over Easter, a siblings trip in Europe over the summer, and a beach holiday to Mauritius in late October.
Like the 2018 travel in review, we’ll keep this Travel in Review 2019 short as I intend to share longer posts at a later date.
California for Easter 2019
My siblings and I had planned for a big family reunion for Easter 2019. Unfortunately, we had an unplanned family gathering at the start of the new year. My maternal grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep on Boxing Day, and we all flew home for her funeral.
Four months later, we were again back in California with our now 14-month-old toddler. Lady Yeya wasn’t walking yet, let alone stand up on her own so this made flying a lot easier. But Lady Yeya was a serial bum shuffler aka “the scoot” that made her look like a little gorilla.
In addition to seeing friends and family, we took Lady Yeya for her very first trip to the wine country to visit our friends who bought a new home in Napa. It was a glorious day and made us miss some aspects of California especially the amazing food, wine, and sunshine.
The highlight of this trip was a mid-week trip to Santa Cruz and Big Sur for a few nights with my sisters. The weather was amazing for mid-April on the Central Coast. We rented a house on 1st Avenue a few blocks from Seabright State Beach and a 15-minute walk from the famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Santa Cruz embodies the quintessential central coast beach town with its distinctive 1960s modern design and hippie culture. The classic drive down the beautiful Pacific Highway 1 is stunning. It was fun showing Lady Yeya and her big cousin C some of the beauty spots of northern California: Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Monterey — all the towns featured in the hit TV show “Big Little Lies.”
A trip back to California is always good for the soul, reconnecting with old friends and family who keep us grounded and humbled. Until next time, California.
Prague, Czech Republic
As part of our annual travel tradition, my sisters picked Central Europe as their main holiday destination for 2019. On their itinerary included: Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt, and Prague where we joined them for their final leg of travel.
A short hop, skip, and jump from London City Airport, the flight to Prague took less than 1.5 hours. Our Airbnb was gorgeous, bright and airy 3BR/2.5BA flat with all-white decor though it was a bit loud being in the centre of Old Town.
With its beautiful architecture from the Gothic and Baroque period, Prague is one of the very few cities that survived World War II. Old architectural landmarks include the 65 metres tall Powder Tower, St. Nicholas Church, National Theatre, Old Tower Bridge, and Prague Castle. Since Kenz and I had both previously been to Prague on our own many moons ago so we were happy to sit out on the big sightseeing and take it easy with Lady Yeya who was then 17 months old.
We met up with the rest of the family for leisurely strolled Old Town, Charles Bridge, Letna Park, Kampa Park, National Museum and stopped at any playground we could find so the girls could burn off some energy. Seeing that my sisters had been travelling for the past two weeks, they were happy to take a slower pace so we can spend some time together. That said, as Prague was their last stop on their grand tour, my sisters did a lot of shopping along Parizska Street, not too far from the literary figure Franz Kafka’s memorial statue.
We wish we could have more time together but that would have to wait for our next siblings holiday or until our next California reunion.
Mauritius Island
We decided to open a BA American Express not only to accumulate Avios points but also work towards getting the 2-for-1 companion voucher especially whilst Lady Yeya is under two (because she flies for “free”). I was excited when we received a BA companion voucher, but the downside is I have exactly one year to date to use it.
I’m on BA reward travel searching where high and low where I can go that is a) furthest away from London and b) use the least amount of miles. Searching, searching, searching…and we ended up booking tickets to Mauritius for October…exactly one year later. I know it’s crazy to book travel 365 days out but it’s the only way to make the most of the BA companion voucher especially to far-flung places like Mauritius.
Mauritius is an idyllic island with stunning white beaches and turquoise water in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Dreamy. Mauritius has an interesting melting pot of cultures – Indian, Creole, Chinese, and European. English and French are widely spoken and the food is absolutely delicious. It’s also a very laid back island with more of a South Asian feel than Africa. We loved Mauritius and happily recommend it as a family destination. More to come on Mauritius.
And that’s a wrap on our Travel in Review 2019. I wish we have a travel in review 2020 to share, but like the rest of us, 2020 is pretty much cancelled. I can only look back at old photos and reminisce on old travel memories. For now, I am finding the little joys during the lockdown and most importantly spending this time with my family.
