United in Utrecht

Going on holiday with our first born, for the first time, made me feel rather daunted by the prospect.  In fact I postponed going on holiday with my daughter and husband until she turned 1.

Now well on her way to being fully weaned and a wedding in the family (my sister's) we made the trip to Holland.

I love research and watched numerous Youtube Videos and read up on various articles in preparation. From getting my daughter’s first passport to the suitcase being fully packed took a whole month. Of course I took more than was really necessary but it was best to be over packed than under. Had we gone by plane I may well have packed a lot lighter, but going by car meant we had no worries.  

We chose to travel by Euro Tunnel and were soon in France. Being lunch time we took the opportunity to stop off at a French fast food chain. This is something we rarely do as a family but broke up the travelling and our daughter got to play on the trampoline for a little while.

We continued our journey by road into Belgium stopping off at a Campanile in Breda, Holland. My husband couldn't remember whether he had booked a travel cot for our daughter and the receptionist told him she needed pre-warning as they were all locked up in storage. So imagine my hubby’s relief when we opened the door to our hotel room and were confronted by the travel cot. We haven’t all slept in the same room for months now so it was great to pass out after dinner on site and wake up together the next morning.

The next day we set off for my sister’s home in Utrecht. There we were shown to our room on the top floor and got ready for the wedding.  Being pregnant with our second child I was pleased I had sourced a little black dress that I hear the celebrities have been known to have worn and shoes without heels meant I stayed upright. Our daughter was a bridesmaid and wore a little dress in gold. Always very content to have her photo taken she told us when she’d had enough by wriggling out of people’s arms. The ceremony took place in a restaurant overlooking a lake and later the immediate family went upstairs for dinner.

The following day we went to a food festival in town, which looked like it was being held in an old industrial building. We had to buy coins to access the food on site and were checked on arrival that we had brought no food or drink with us. There was something for all tastes and some of the foods such as the chips were being created directly on site. We walked off the food by visiting the centre of the town later that day and saw some of the sites such as the Dom Tower. Then we stopped off at a brewery for a drink before heading home to my sister’s where we had Chinese meals.

The next day we headed home and as our daughter slept we made a smooth crossing of the borders only stopping for a bite to eat before boarding the Euro Tunnel. Would we travel with a tot in tow again? Yes but we would do more geocaching and sightseeing.