The Rising’s Growing Together Podcast - Family Travel Chaos: Messi Live, Cruise & Vacation Lessons We’ll Never Forget @TheRising1111 Ep.6

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

TRAVEL CHAOS ALERT! In this episode of Growing Together, Billie and Charlotte unpack their wild family holiday from seeing Messi play live and navigating their first Caribbean cruise to dealing with jet lag, packing regrets, and unexpected detours. Was it the dream trip they imagined… or a vacation gone wrong? Here’s what you’ll hear: • The truth behind seeing Messi in real life hype or heartbreak? • Cruise life exposed: What we loved, what shocked us, and what we wish we knew • Travel safety tips and excursion advice for families • Our worst packing mistakes (and what we’ll do differently next time!) • Planned vs spontaneous travel: What actually works with kids? This episode is full of laughs, lessons, and real travel moments you don’t always see on Instagram. Got a wild travel story? Drop it in the comments! And don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE for more weekly episodes.Follow us: www.linktr.ee/therising1111 New episodes every Friday Hosted by Billie & Charlotte best friends, ambitious mums, and career women keeping it real about parenting, travel, and life. #messilive #familytravel #cruiselife #VacationFails #TravelTipsForParents #growingtogetherpodcast #jetlagstruggles #packingmistakes #travelwithkids #realtalktravel

Let's dive in. Welcome back, everyone. Hey, welcome back you. You're back in Spain. You've been away, which feels like forever. I know. It was nearly three weeks, about two and a half weeks. Is it good?

It's really good. Glad to be home? Yeah, it's always nice coming home, isn't it? Especially even like kids and stuff. After a while, it's a bit tiring. No, it's nice to get home, but it was really, really good. You was away for how long ages, isn't it? Yeah, about two and a half weeks.

Was it? It seemed like longer than that. That's still a little while. It felt quite long for us as well because we broke it up a bit because we've traveled. We're from here to Madrid, then Madrid to Miami. And we had a bit of a nightmare a couple days before. We'd booked a house in Palm Beach, so about an hour or so from Miami that we were going to stay in for, I think, four or five nights before going back to Miami port and getting on the cruise.

Two, three days before we were going. I've got a message from booking.com from the house that we've booked. Oh, we've double booked. So please can you cancel your booking? And this isn't just you, is it? This is a house to house 13 of us. So it's not like you just, you know, book something else. I looked all around.

Everything else was triple the price. That's actually making you feel nervous and I know you've obviously sorted something. Yeah. I'm actually going to feel nervous now. well to be fair we've had this house booked for probably just under a year we've had this reservation

and for the last six months I actually went through my messages for the last six months I've messaged them asking things like you know have you got a car things like that and we we did want to book one extra night because my mum was going to go a day earlier

so I was messaging them do you have availability the day before blah blah and they weren't really messaging me back or their messages were like, yes, all good. You know, like their English wasn't good. Something like that. So it was just off the conversation anyway. And then

yeah, it just didn't have a very good feeling. So I messaged them like the week before. Is everything okay? Obviously we're coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No problem. Even a week before two, three days later, we've double booked you. But no solution.

No, just please cancel it so that you can get the, like, a refund. It was all pay for. This wasn't pay when you were right this was all paid for so oh my god i was like yeah especially when we had a quick look and everything else was triple the price yeah oh my god what we're going to do so close to the time and what we ended up doing as well the house that we had booked was like one room too small so when my brother and his partner were coming a couple of days after everybody else so that was when me liam and kate i'm going to drive up to orlando which is about four hour drive to go to uh universal

and stuff. Oh, yeah. So in the end, my mum was like, I knew this was happening, I had a feeling it was coming, so she was chill. I was like, oh my God, what are we going to do? She was like, yeah, and she was already she just got to Miami, so I called her

as she arrived, because we were leaving Spain two, three days after. She arrived to nothing. So she, well, she was already going to be in Miami for a couple of days until we all arrived and we were all going to go to her holiday was a few days longer than ours anyway. but she got there and I was like oh my god this happened

so in the end we ended up scrapping staying in Miami and we were all just going to go up to Orlando because Rick and Dan me Liam and Kaysen were already going to go up there for two nights anyway so just and she said there was hundreds of houses in Orlando and they're all so much cheaper so she said

we'll all just go and then you're not having to drive four hours either way with Kaysen or leave the baby for two nights as well so I was like that makes so much more sense. So yeah, we found a lovely house, even bigger than the one that we had. It's meant to be. Same price in a lovely gated community, but it was like had golf courses and clubhouses and even had like a little clubhouse two seconds down the road with like a little water park with some slides and a pool. So yeah, it was nice because we went there for one day

and then it had like a little pool in the garden and jacuzzi and stuff and we all had our own bedrooms. A lot of them had onsuit. Even had a game with like a ping pong table. That was more like a holiday then rather than all just kind of staying in a house before you get on the boat in a way. Yeah. So this was, this house was lovely. Yeah. It worked out a lot better.

It worked out so much better. And then we were in Orlando for longer. So we ended up going to all the Orlando shopping retail shops and stuff. So we did a bit shopping. Got some new trainers. Shabbin. Obviously.

Got the boys some like Ralph's stuff, obviously. But yeah, that was nice. We've done shopping for a day. And then we booked to go to into Miami is David Beckham's football club. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Messi plays into Miami now. So they were actually playing Orlando in Orlando. So we managed to go to the Orlando football stadium and watch into Miami in Orlando.

So we watched Messi play. Oh, I love that. So that was good. We just randomly looked what was going on and that game was on. I love that. I'd love to do something locally-ish, obviously,

because you're in a little bit. The fact that you've just... I mean, it wasn't American football. No, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Liam likes football, Rick's boyfriend's a big football fan and Casey's never been to a football game. So that was really nice. So we did that on one of the days.

We obviously went to Universal Studios one of the days which was... It was nice. It was lovely. Don't give me wrong. But I'm just not a park person. Oh, see. His son is. I'm finally a universal guy. The whole holiday and that's what he said. Without anything else. So not the boat.

I think because halfway through the day he was asking to go home. Ah. So I think it's one of them things. It's lovely because it's all over the top. It's all big. It's all the characters and the movies. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. Like, don't give me wrong. Really nice. But like the reality of actually going is like, it's like, it's all over the top. It's all big. It's all the Like you go super early in the morning, you're there all day. We're doing like 20,000 steps. You're all knackered.

Kaysen's shattered halfway through. Yeah. You're spending an hour in a queue for every single ride. And the first ride we queued up for for 45, 50 minutes, then had a malfunction. Oh, no. We had to leave the queue and start all over again on another ride. So it's like, it is lovely. And we had, you know, some of the rides were really, really good.

But, yeah, it's not the favourite thing. I must have bit. You were happy to finally get on that boat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, the house bit was nice. We chilled, we summeded a bit, and then we'd done some shopping, the football game, and then Universal.

And then that was pretty much our four-five-day. Even that bit was just sounds really. I mean, that's a big holiday in itself. And we, like, done barbecues at the house and stuff. And, like, we were all together. I love that. And, like, the outside bit had, like, some table and chairs. So we just spent all of it sat in the garden, really,

which was really nice. But, yeah, even Liam said that he'd, love to do that again. Yeah. Just rent a big house. Be and just be in an area. And just be there and spend more time doing bits of bops and even getting on a cruise again. Obviously that's good as well.

But we really enjoyed the house bit of it. And then, yeah, then we drove and got on a boat. So we had 12 nights on a cruise, which was, again, really, really nice. It was, where do we go? We went to Aruba. We went to... I'm not good with geography. It's all around the Caribbean.

So Miami's the closest side of America to us, like right down the bottom of the tip. And then you've got all like the Caribbean islands and like Central America. So we went to Aruba, which was an island. We went to Columbia. We went to the Panama Canal, which is where two oceans. That's you told me where the pirates were. I got that completely wrong. I remember you saying that.

I thought that's what it was, but that was something else that I'd see the pirates. I was literally, I've heard that before. Well, yeah, you can tell me the post. No, I'm completely wrong. That was something else in somewhere in the Caribbean. But no, this canal thing I didn't even know existed. Apparently, I'm probably doing it as well. Two oceans meet, but they've got this like, they've got these big, like gates.

So you drive the boat in, they lock you in, and then they have to rise the boat higher to meet the sea level of the other ocean. Like a barge boat. Kind of thing, yeah. But obviously not in a canal. Like a dam thing or something. I really don't know. But, yeah, it was like big gates and then it moves you along

and then you go into the other ocean. Wow. So we went through it and then we went back through it for some reason. But, yeah, it basically saves you going all the way around. You can go through. Oh, wow. So, yeah, we went through that, which was pretty cool to see that. And then we went to Costa Rica, which is nice.

It sounds nice. Yeah. Thanks, so you just want to go, I don't know why. It's got nothing to do. of him it just makes me want to is it tequila well no I don't know that's mexico in it

well Costa Rica yeah same okay I am right I'm in the right country their tequila and then we went to Jamaica love never been but I really really want to go which is the last stop so it was really really good so

some of like Panama can now you don't get off the boat you just like watch it or you can but you have to book an excursion through the boat to get off because I think it can be dangerous or you're not near this edge or something, I don't know, but we stayed on the boat for that. But Aruba was nice.

We got off. There was loads of, like, designer shops and things, and we walked along. We found, like, a nice little private beach. We had, like, some of the local foods and stuff, which was nice, just mooched about a bit. My dad and Rick went dive in when they were in Aruba. That was really good.

And then... I wish I would want to do it. Yeah. I don't even want to do so. Yeah. And not be scared You know what? That's why I don't want I'm scared to do it

I just be able to just Well yeah I found that out After 20 years of French year Wow My father you didn't know that No I didn't So my mum and dad are both divers

And my sisters have done All their qualifications And stuff as well I've done it a few times But yeah And I got older I wasn't as key Yeah

I've done a really good one In Tenerife Which was in like a cove And I went down And because it was all like You could see the edges like it didn't feel like you in the middle of the ocean. It was like a swimming pool with plants.

Kind of. But there was all like tropical fish and the colours and it just felt really like tropical but safe. But then we went to go once when we were in Cuba and we got all our diving again. We put it all on the beach and we had to swim from the beach out and go down.

And as I was like, I was just looking at it I was like, this is just open water. Yeah, I think I lasted five minutes. So they just literally in a room were just kind of just gear on in yeah we just yeah we literally rocked up rick found someone booked it and then the next morning because we were in aruba for two days so then the next morning they went um they went diving all morning so yeah they saw um some cool stuff and got some photos and stuff like that which was good and then um Columbia uh we didn't have long in

Columbia but right on the port of Columbia they've got like this little rehabilitation thing for animals that they've done so it's like a little mini zoo which you literally walked to but they had like monkeys and sloths and peacocks

and parrots and all around so we just walked around there and saw the animals and they're big trees and there's monkeys everywhere there's this woman still under me she's looking up and she's in front of us and we just got there and we're like what's going on and then she starts screaming and they were booing and

oh no down the tree all over the people out of me oh god that these rang it was fine i would have actually been sick actually makes me want to oh oh but oh no luckily we clocked them because we were literally the next people to walk us oh don't i've actually just got a vision now oh lovely but yeah we saw like a real slough they are slow when they When they say soft stoke, they ask, it was climbing down the tree, like. I was like, Jesus, they're hostile. Apparently, they're high. Oh.

I can't remember what it is that makes them high. Like a, in their body, like a chemical release. I don't know if it's something that they eat or in their thing, but someone said the reason why their slope is because they are naturally like on a high. Oh, wow. Something like that. But apparently they're really fast in water. Believe it or not.

And then I'm just trying to think what else we did. Oh, Costa Rica, a lot of us got off and we went up into the jungle and we zip line. Oh, I'd love to do something like that. So, yeah. I'd love to do something like all obviously the adults and stuff. Luckily my mum stayed with the boys because I nearly brought Kaysen because I think it could be five. There's no way. I was on the verge of being like, this is a nerve.

talking about when we did it on the hen, wasn't it? Yeah, and some of the zip lines you're going really, really fast. Some of them, you're going fast, but by the end you slow down, so you stop right before the end. Then you actually have to grab hold of the wire, spin yourself around and pull yourself in.

It was a gym set. Literally, I was like, I'm on holiday. And then I was looking at the paper because you have to sign a waiver, obviously, like, if you die, it's not half old. And then it said you had to be fine, and I was thinking,

five-year-old that can do this. Well, we never know. So luckily, yeah, the boys didn't come. So all the adults did that in Costa Rica, that was really good. And the trip that we paid for, actually, we were just going to zip line, but we ended up booking like a package thing that picked us up from the boat.

And we'd done zip lining, and then we went on this, like, canal boat thing down, like, this, like, natural river, where there's, like, all different animals and crocodiles and stuff like that. And then they stopped at, like, a banana plantation thing, where they plant loads of

all different fruits and stuff and then they opened I don't even know what it was that I tried but it was just like white snotty slimy thing but it was actually really tasty but it felt like it was just holding it just gave you shivers and I was like do I put this in my mouth

do I try this? Liam wouldn't try it I don't think Sean did try it in the end a couple people were like no it was really taking really free it looked boy don't judge a book. It looked vile. It looked like white snot.

Ew. But it was a fruit? I think it was a fruit. Yeah. Did it have like black bits in it? It was like a big seed. So like you kind of like chewed all the stuff around the outside of.

But I think I don't know what it was to goodness. I'll have to look at that. Did you have a favourite island? Jamaica was fun. Yeah? Because Jamaica we... I'm so glad you said that.

So Jamaica, one of the main places people go to visit is Dunn's River, which is, I had never actually been, so I don't know, but Liam's been and my mum and that have been. And it's where everybody goes, and it's quite like near the beach, but that's the place to go. That's the tourist attraction. That's what everybody's heard of. But we went to a place called the Blue Hole, which I think's less known, and when we got in

a van, because they hired a van for us for the day. We didn't book it through the boat. My mum figured it sort of it all out. my nan and grad paid my nun and grader paid for us to go for our Christmas present for the part of the trip which is really nice so yeah the guy

the guy that we paid for to drive us round he was like yeah this is the place that I come to so it's like you know it's like real authentic he's like yeah I've come here and I've got a day off in a few days I might come here to chill relax but it's like proper waterfalls so you pay to go in and you get like a guide that goes with you

because like it's dangerous It was like, people must break their legs weekly in this place. I had the baby with me, Kaysa was with me. So I put the baby in the baby carrier. We bought water shoes from the lady outside. So we've got like a bit of grip and stuff. And we're walking up all these rocks up this like cliff basically. With your baby?

With the baby. Oh, my God. Most of it was, you know, just like it was very slight incline. It wasn't that dangerous. But then there were a bit. where you're going through like a bit of like, you know, small rivers and stuff like that. And then some of it was like gushing quite fast. But obviously the guides are there.

They know where to stand. They're like nutters. They're obviously. Yeah, they do it every day. They're really not phased by it whatsoever. And obviously there's 13 of us. So like Liam's there. My dad's there.

Everyone's like passing us along and stuff. So yeah, no, I felt fine. And then we got up towards the top. And then my nan stayed with the baby. And then we took casing up. And this is where it gets to like like big. and like gushing like waterfalls and this literally you looked up and like the trees are massive the sun's shining through the water's crystal it's like paradise it was like this looks like a HD photo yeah

like it's real it's real I'm here so it's really good so we went up and this this is where we left the baby because we swam and then we had to go up like quite steep bits and then like say we're walking through rocks and the water's like pushing you so as you're putting your foot down like yeah it was quite fast and then um you jump into or three of them so we went to one there was like a lower ledge and a higher ledge I went up to the high ledge I couldn't do it and I was like do it do it and I was like annoyed it myself that I didn't but I was like I physically can't do it so I went down to the lower one which was still quite hard it's weird isn't it how do you fear like you say as you get old

I'm like if I do this my children don't know my mother you know and it's like there's a small pool in front of you there's rocks everywhere I'm like my brain just telling me this is stupid people do this every day but i'll be the one to hit the rock literally let's say i was like no i'll go down to the lower one so i jumped off the lower one and then um well done yeah at least i did it and then we went to the next one which was higher than the one i just done but not quite as high as the one which was like a bit of um they actually put like a ramp in so for you to jump off so that felt quite high i did have to like take a take a break and force myself so i jumped off that one as well and then um then there was a swing i didn't do that because by that point i didn't know

that was there and then I put the baby carry-on and everything and then but then Liam and Dan and my dad and a few others did it but yeah they done like a back flip off it I was like oh my god no yeah that freaks me out anyway and like a safeish area let alone like a natural things like that if you know what I mean that was a really really nice experience so yeah you're up there for like an hour two hours like all walking through jumping in and out and it was like cold but you know how our Benadorn ones are like freezing this was like cold but nice cold

but nice refreshing cold that didn't make you get colder and colder you just don't want to get out this is really good I just yeah I'm like yeah

it felt like magical water yeah wow you know like there's something in it and they did actually say it's mineral water so there is

there actually is healing stuff in it that's meant to be really good for you there you go that's where I want to go and then after that we stopped and got

some Jamaican food so we got some curry and rice and we got some jerk chicken and made him take us to this place and Liam spent about $100 on spices. Did he?

Oh I'm waiting for the next barbecue then Liam, thank you. Authentic food on the barbecue. Love it. Yeah. Yeah, that's what we did in Tobokia. So yeah, I'd say, I mean, there was a lot. I enjoyed all of it.

And even the boat, I mean, the boat. A balloon without all the destination. We didn't get enough. We had a couple of C days as well. Yeah, the boat's great. they had an illusionist in the theatre one night he was really good you know making tables floats swallowing pins and pulling them out and wow yeah like crazy stuff and then there was like a silent disco which was quite cool oh yeah i've never i've never been to one of them yeah i've seen a few people recently go to things like that yeah i've been to a couple um we had one

at our like uni graduation and stuff it's just mad because you have like two three channels so you can have two, three different songs on, but then, like, luckily the colour of the headphone changes. So you know if you're listening to like the same track or not. Oh, right. Is that what the colour is? Yeah. So like normally red, blue, green or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you flick through to whatever channel because normally there's like three streams of different types of music. Oh, right. So yeah, you could be dancing to a completely different song than the person next year. I love it. I love that. But it's funny because I took a couple videos and then looking back, it's weird because they're silent. Like there's, you can just think people talk. Yeah,

We can't hear everything. There's, like, nothing in the video. But, no, that was good. Then we played, like, bingo and there's, like, parties on the deck and stuff. They had, like, big TV screens, and we watched a movie. They put one on, like, a few times in the day, but one at night time. So I watched her, I think it was Mama Mia. But, like, it's all dark outside the stars, and you're in, like, sunbeds watching the movie.

Have you ever done a cruise with children before? No, so this is the first one that the boys have gone to. So you'd recommend it? 100% yeah so I've done ones with just me and Liam I've done ones with my family when I was younger well I was 18 so we was older kids and then one with with case and the baby so this was really nice there's all different types of cruises so you you different cruise liners like cater to different people so this was quite like a chill one and probably because of the time of year as well most kids are at school and

stuff. But there was kids club on the boat. Most boats have kids club and Kaysen didn't go for the first few days and then we took him and then he figured out that they have Minecraft and stuff like that and there's other kids around. So once he went once he went every day. Yeah.

So they actually, you can go. It can't be bad then, can it? No, exactly. They have different time sorts. They got like a morning, then they got a midday afternoon, then they got an evening one. So yeah, he was going every single day for at least a couple of hours which was really nice. It gives him a break to just not be bored

because especially on a sea day like there's only so much sunbathing I don't want him in the sun at the time and there's only so much pool you can do so the kids club was good but I wouldn't say this was an overly like family boat even so

even so the kids club's there bingo, silent disco, karaoke things so even if like this one wasn't like it wasn't a Disney cruise of a proper family life but there's still more than enough for kids to do on it what do you want children I said what more do you want children

Yeah exactly more than enough So let alone if you actually went on one where they Maybe do a few more stuff But yeah really really good Totally recommend it I know a lot of people I speak to that haven't done cruises Aren't sure I haven't and I was one as well

Before I went on one I was like cruising just sounds like an old people thing I think that's what Mitch thought I think that's Mitch was always Not really You know but I think we just need to do it I reckon I've done about eight or nine now. Yeah.

It's really good because it's so easy. I've never heard did anyone say anything bad about them. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I rate it more than like an all-inclusive hotel because there's only so much entertainment a hotel puts on, normally in the evening or the odd thing in the day. This is like, you look at the itinerary

and the boats, they're so much more advanced now from when merely and first went on it. When we went on it when we, like, was younger with a family, you had no idea where people was. We actually sometimes took walkie-talkies, but now we had like they call it medallion like round your neck

like this little thing and this is where like you buzz if you've got a drinks package you buzz it and then you know your drinks are included or whatever so whenever you order anything you just tell them your room number with your key and and it's done

but previous I'd have to carry like this credit card round with me which is a bit annoying but this round the string round the next much better and on the app now which they never used to have as an app I can befriend whoever I want so obviously added all my family on it and you can locate them because there's GPS in the little things.

Oh, wow. So now I'm like, oh yeah, so and so is by the pool, so and so is in their room. So much easier. So you know where everybody is. You don't have to like spend ages because like hunting around the boat for people. Yeah, it makes sense. So that was really, really good now.

But yeah, totally recommend for the minute we've done them is better. And in the app as well, it tells you everything that's going on all over the boat from the beginning to the end of the day. And there's always something going on. There's always quizzes. They do like game shows. So we went to like loads of trivias and game shows and stuff like that. Yeah.

But what about stopping at the destinations? Obviously you just mentioned then that you was in a room of two nights. But is it very like the boat stops and you can't really go far because you've got to get back to get on the boat really? So in most cases you're going to, especially if you've gone like a Caribbean one, is you're going to small islands. Right. So you can't.

You can't. Yeah. Most of the stops we've ever done on all the cruises generally, dock at like 7, 8 in the morning, and usually you've got to 5 o'clock in the afternoon. So it's quite a long time. Yeah. And like say, the Costa Rica, we got

on a bus and we went like an hour up into the jungle. We then zip lined and then we stopped there and there and it. And then we were still back by like 1 o'clock. Oh, I see. So you can get a lot done at that time. You can do it, especially if you plan it. Yeah. Jamaica, we had to be back by the boat by half two. So that was a shorter day.

Yeah. But yeah, Most you get the full day. But even so, you just said that you did do that. Yeah, we hired the guy, the van for the day. So, I mean, I think if you plan it better to know where and what, it's probably easier, isn't it? And the cruise ship, you can book a lot of excursions with the cruise ship. But it's just cheaper, I'm presuming, and better. Probably cheaper.

And, I mean, the crew that we did with my family years ago, when my mum organized everything, she organized something at every single stop. And we were getting off the boat once. and there was at least 80 people shoved on this tiny little boat with this tiny little sunshade in the blistering heat about to go on like this boat excursion and for the same price my mum basically got us these individual little ribs so yeah yeah sometimes it's much better to sort out yourself

but there's only so much planning you can do but usually the minute you get off into a port there's thousands of people it's like walking down Benazorn I'm like, oh, come here, trip, yeah, excursion here, so you can literally just rock up. It'd be good if you plan and have an idea what you want to do and where you want to go. But then at the same time, I mean, luckily my mum had been to like the blue hole and things in Jamaica before. So she knew that that was the big. Yeah, that helps, isn't it?

So, yeah, researching's good online. But sometimes, yeah, when we and Lee went on the one in Mexico, we just got off. And if we saw something we fancied or we just jump in a taxi and go somewhere. Obviously you have to be a bit Think about security and safety and stuff When you're getting off in some of these islands And not carry all your valuables with you and stuff like that But again, that's researching where you are, isn't it?

And knowing that you are in a foreign country And yeah It has to be like that anywhere to be fair nowadays, I think Yeah, so you need to watch yourself, be careful Where was it? Where was we? Might have been Jamaica. No, wasn't Jamaica.

Costa Rica, I think. We were just walking, like, After we'd finished our trip, we were near the port, so we were just walking up and down, you know, seeing what's local. And this was me, Rick, Liam and Dan. This guy come up to us, and he was, like, trying to talk to us, and it was like, a bit sketchy, what's going on. And, I mean, luckily, he was nice,

but he was, like, asking for money and stuff. There's just no integrity about you, isn't it? And then my brother and his partner was in the same place. Yeah, it was the same place, because we think it might have been the same guy. Yeah. But Walt Taught him was really rude and was like, give me money. so it was up. I mean, luckily they were safe and nothing happened, but yeah,

you do have to be careful with what you're doing, because you never know. Yeah. But no. It was a brilliant trip. Even talking, that's probably 20% of what we ended up doing. Like, it was really, really good. And yeah, it's just nice to get away with family.

Like I say, we're all scattered all over the place, so we're not always in the same place at the same time. Yeah. So it was really nice to just have quality time together and spend time. Good. Now you're home. Back to reality. Yes.

The jet lag is not fun. I must admit, so we got back and we had a great sleep. We got back at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday. So we stayed up. We all went to bed about 10 o'clock. We slept like 14 hours. The baby woke up for a couple of bottles. I was like, wow, I actually thought it was about 8 o'clock in the morning.

It was 12 o'clock the next day. I could not believe it. I was like, yes. And then I thought, great. We had a lovely long sleep. We're up kind of late in the morning. at least, you know, kind of right, we'll be fine to go to bed. We're back in the swing of things.

No. Case was up to 4 o'clock that morning. And that was Sunday. So he had to school the next day. I had worked the next day. But you did it, he went. But he did it, yeah. I was actually going to let him miss that day because I was like,

he's gone to bed before the morning. There's no way he's going to be up in three hours, four hours. But he did. He was up at eight, so I thought fine. Yeah, a bit of a blessing in disguise he went just to keep you all away. So after he done that, he's woke up for like 12 o'clock once or twice for like half an hour and hour, but then he's gone back to sleep. Last night, slept through.

So I think we're, yeah, we're now fully back into the times, but I think, yeah, the tiredness is still a little there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just that you've been used to doing, and even though you're on holiday and you're chilling, you're still not, you're doing so much, aren't you? Exactly, exactly. So I think, yeah, getting back, like, that caught up with you because you've just been so on the go without realizing. But no, to be fair, they were absolutely great travelling. The way there, well, we went from here to Madrid on a quick flight.

And then from Madrid we had like, I'm sure it was like eight, nine hour flight. Kaysen stayed awake literally until the last hour. Just playing. Then he watched a movie. Then a girl come over and sat next to him and they played for a little bit. And then he watched another movie. And then he slept like the last hour. But absolutely fine.

And on the way there, we were all meant to be on three chairs, but we ended up taking three there and three there. Oh, nice. Because there was spare seats. So Liam had the baby, because we take his little sleepyhead thing with us. So whenever he was asleep, he was laying and sleepy head across two seats, and Liam was there. I was here, and then me and Casey had another chair in between us,

nice and spacious. The baby was happy to just be there. He was on and off, naping and awake. But when he was awake, he wasn't like, you know, didn't seem to phase him at home. Yeah, there didn't seem to phase him at all that you didn't. Sometimes he's at that age. He just wants to be up and moving, so I was dreading the flight.

But he was just chilling. And then, because we had a spare seat, just sitting down, gave him a lump bread to eat. And fine. The way back, we got on a flight, which was 10 o'clock at night our American time. Right. They both slept the entire flight. Great. The whole flight.

Nothing. Nothing. I think the baby woke a tiny bit, went back to sleep. Kaysen, within 10 minutes had taken off, was asleep. I thought it was going to get a little bit. So it was like a night flight then. It was our night time, so yeah, they literally left the entire flight to Madrid, but it was full. So we were all four of us on top of each other.

Yeah, so Casey was either lying that way, lying that way, or me and Liam were holding the baby. And just typical, that morning we got off the boat, we'd finished the cruise. My mum and dad and we'd hired a car because we had all day, our flight wasn't until 10 o'clock at night. and we got off the boat like 8 in the morning. So we booked a trip to just like this big two-level boat around Miami port showing us all the mansions and all the celebrity houses can take you to Star Island or whatever it's called where all the mansions are. So we saw Rihanna's mansion, David Beckin's mansion, Diddy's mansion. Hidden which you cannot see because it's hidden behind every tree you can think of.

So you couldn't actually see it. I wonder why. No comment. But yeah, loads of mansions, jaloes and everything. So that was cool. And then we went from there to, you know, boats with the big fans on to go see Alexandria that ever made. So we did that as well.

Did you? For the minute I woke up, I felt really ill. I had proper, like, sickness bug. Like when you get the sweats from the mouth, it feels like you feel like you're going to throw up. Luckily, I didn't throw up because... But you just felt rough. But I felt...

like I couldn't even hold the baby I was like I feel really ill and like all my muscles and bones were hurting so it's like typical I couldn't have been yesterday when I had to see day and I could have spent all day in my cabin no it's the day where we literally we're probably we're out all day and then we're travelling all night so there's nowhere to go I was I was just kill me now I was like no I don't think I felt better till halfway through the flight home oh no when I managed to get a parisette my mom had given me sickness tablets and it just wasn't helping and then I took a paracetamol and that took all the aches and pains away and it took the nausea away a little bit so yeah travelling back was long but luckily like say the boys were asleep so I felt rough but it was just more you feeling ill that that was the rubbish thing exactly yeah but no travelling with them was actually really easy oh you had a nice experience yeah good

I like that so but yeah I don't know about any tips for travelling with kids I mean the night flight was a good idea yeah people had said travel with night flights before I never have but yeah having them sleep is really really good yeah I would say so thinking if you can yeah and even packing this time I'd never done it but you know them like packing cubes you can yeah I see you get them and I was like I've never done anything never done that and I nearly bought them about 10 times off she didn't and then I saw them in prime much just before going I was like just do it and it did yeah game changer yeah because we had kind of two parts to our holiday yeah I'd packed us cubes for Orlando so

rather than have to get all our stuff out or go through the cases every day two big cases for all of us then I just got out each cube for Orlando and that's all we needed for there and then like all pants and socks in one all t-shirts and it was just really easy

I like that idea and even unpacking when you repack it I was like right those two cubes are for casein's room so I can just go straight to case's room unpack it on and another tip washing on holiday yes I've never washed my clothes on holiday ever and we had obviously

the house where we had washing machines and the boat, this boat most places charge you like dry cleaning per item so not many boats you can actually clean but this actually has like a laundromat like so you just go and you just go you pay for it but I think I mean Liam did it all so I don't even have much it cost

but maybe five dollars or something it was cheap it was reasonable and you just go in and it was literally 10 seconds from our cabin so we just worked in so coming back I only had like a minimal amount of washing the rest was like all done that was yeah so if you have your opportunity wash before returning before coming home yeah packing in the cubes will save you i like that i did i'm not very good at pack i am good at packing i just mean i'm not very good at you know what's the word

making it smaller minimalizing what i need yeah do you know what i mean so those cubes are good because you can really push them in and zip and i got loads into one so i definitely recommend getting some of them packing cubes and you know what i'd seen which i haven't done and i might You know the old school things used to get the hang on the back of the doors that you used to put your shoes in? Well, I'd seen a hack that a mum had got one of them for her kids because kids' clothes are small. And in each individual shoe thing, put a whole outfit. I have seen that. Like pants, socks, top t-shirt.

I think I was still going to do that for camping once or do you use it for more storage stuff or something like that. Yeah. Not that I did again. I thought about it. I never did it. One thing I thought was a really good idea. I bought these little lunch boxes. for each of the boys with like loads of different compartments thinking yeah I can fill it with snacks

either for the aeroplane and even on the boat like I could fill up on the buffet and then take it with me didn't use them once and I thought that was such a good idea because you didn't need it they just didn't they had a service of yeah go and get it when you want it we didn't really take much on the plane we ate before getting on the plane and then we ate in the overlay in Madrid I suppose it would depend on where you're going yeah I suppose or how you know what I mean like I mean my boys are fussy about Hayden's only just really eat and he'll shove anything in his mouth at the

minute but Kaysen's fussy Liam's fussy so we do have to be careful that we've got enough supplies yeah backups yeah to be fair we just ate big before we got on you know like Burger King whatever it was in the airport had like a proper meal before getting on and that normally

does oh I'd need like a suitcase of different things probably for mine not I'd definitely need a lunch fucks or five Yeah, well, that's what we had backpacks for. I think I ended up with two big suitcases, two hand luggage cases, and then backpacks. Yeah. The baby bag, Casey had his own bag with all his, like,

colouring, and bits and bobs. And then I had a bag full of snacks on the way there, and then Leo had a bag full of headphones and cables. Yeah, standard. Yeah, so. Tech guy. Yeah. I don't feel like her overpacks, but on a cruise,

you want to, like, sometimes wear something different in the evening and stuff, you do have to take more clothes. So I don't feel like I overpacked, but we ended up for a family before, I think that was pretty good. I was going to say, you'd went for a long time. Yeah, that was pretty good. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think you did.

I would have not had just two gaites. That would have been mine. Yeah. And it's not even that. I don't wear that. It's just in my head. I'm like, right, out of the day, out for the night. Out for the day, out for the night.

Spare, spare, spare, spare, spare. Why do I need that many spares? Yeah. Well, I thought the same. Chaiton might need some spares. Hayden's definitely going to need his spares as a baby but yeah it's hard and like I say like Liam likes to have fresh t-shirts for the evening yeah and you pack nice outfits because you're thinking your head I want to look nice then when you're there you're like I really can't

be asked and I just shove my same old clothes on so yeah or your new jewellery and excesses that you've taken to go with each outfit you're just the same hair that's um and I didn't do my hair once I took my straight and did not do my hair once I mean like say I am pretty aware of that now so I I feel like I didn't go overboard. Yeah, but you wouldn't not pack them anyway, would you even know? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I took my strangers, obviously, just in case I needed them. But, yeah, like in terms of jewellery, I packed a couple of extra things, not loads.

Shoes, I travelled in trainers. I took some sliders for, like, the pool. I took some nice sandals and then another pair of spares. So I actually took three or four pairs of shoes, which is pretty good for me. I do I think where you go in as well, it's a, do I mean? I take loads just going camping. And it's up the road. You're thinking of all the different scenario.

I'm just so, exactly, yeah. Yeah. But I think another tip is, like, having things that go together. So, like, you know, I only took a jean jacket. Yeah. Because that goes of everything. Yeah. And then I took, like, one pair of taxi bottoms.

I took one pair of jeans because it's cold on boats. So if anyone does go on a cruise, even if you're on a hot place, the daytime's hot. But everywhere inside is quite air condition. It's quite cold. Is it? Especially like them, the dinners and the new shows and stuff like that. You do need something a little over here. Think of that.

You do need to take trousers and stuff like that. So, but yeah, they're just like tops that like go nice with jee shorts and go nice with trousers. Compend you can just stuff like that so that you can, yeah, and recycle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't have to wear something new every day. I mean, the boys maybe because they get dirty and smelly, but I can quite easily wear the same little top at the beginning and then at the end of the holiday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got you with presents. Did you?

Yeah. Did you? I didn't know this. Look at you. I was going to say about that on your wrist. You've really thrown this on me. I didn't know she was doing this. So I had my sit cream bracelet, didn't I? Which I lost when we went to Leeds for the wedding. So when I was out there, I got another one. And I was looking through what I wanted. And I saw this and I was like, oh, this has just got to be bought. And then I was like, well, I can't get myself on a knot you on.

because this is called adventuring. I don't know if I said that right. A crystal energy jewell for decisiveness. Oh, wow. No, is that even a thing? It's actually a thing. It's a thing. It's a bracelet for decisiveness.

So hopefully it helps us. AIDS, decisiveness and good for calming anxiety and fears. There you go. The most common colour of adventurine is green, but may also be orange-bram brown-brose. Oh, thank you. When I looked at the description, I was like, oh my God, decisiveness. Do you know what?

It's weird. I've nearly said something about it, but I don't know. Something must have stopped me from saying it. Oh, thank you. Where's it from? This is from Aruba. This is from Aruba. Why do I go like that when I say the countries?

Carry out. Oh, thank you. So to round off this episode with our decisiveness bracelet. Let me put it on first then. We'll do a quick, fire, there's all that round, shall we? Yeah, yeah, go. Oh, it's really throwing me things like this. Go on, go, go.

Thank you. So, luxury hotel, cozy Airbnb. Cozy Airbnb all the way. Yeah. You, yeah? Especially after doing that house in Orlando, definitely. Yeah, I, yeah. I've realised I can't stand hotels without balconies.

Without a balcony? Well, no, I had a panic attack. I just didn't realize. Oh, yeah, of course. I just see there. I'm not that bad, but just obviously I. Bank myself, but yeah, definitely cozy Airbnb. A lot cheaper.

Night flight or early morning? I'd say early morning because I just, right, so I like early morning because, oh, I'm just got to want to it, early morning. Put it on. I know exactly what you're going to say. When I go, when I leave to go on holiday, I like to go, get up and go straight to the airport. I don't want to be hanging around all day to then get a flight later on. But having said coming back, going on a night flight on the way home.

home is better. The only thing is is the waiting around for me, I suppose you're different because you're on a trip. For me, the same. I'm just like, because you know you're going home, you just want to get home. Do you know what me? Yeah. I think you have to have something. If you have to have something booked that day to take your mind off of it, then it's fine. But yeah, if not early morning. Early, definitely. Pack light or overpack?

Overpack. I don't mean to. I'm getting better. Yeah, I'd like to pat light, but I always over time. Soul trip, group trip. Group? Group trip. Group trip. Group trip. Group trip. Yeah, yeah. Like, so, not on my own? Yeah. I don't go anywhere on my own. I've done a trip by myself.

I went to Mexico, didn't I, for two months. Wasn't it like a volunteer thing? Yeah, in between my second and third year at uni, I went to volunteer in Mexico at an orphanage. That's brilliant. For two months. That was really good. That was a group trip.

Yeah. That was a little bit nerve-wracking. But when I got there, it was like a house show of loads of girls, all different ages, walks of life, all there for different reasons. That was a really good trip. So I do agree with the solo trip, even though it's a bit weird, but, you know, when people say, oh, they go find themselves. No, yeah, yeah, I agree.

I agree, yeah, yeah. It is really good to put yourself in that kind of position. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like going on a holiday with friends. Yeah. I love going on a holiday, like me and Liam. I like going with the kids. Yeah.

But then I also like friends. Like, when we've done them, I've really liked group trips. I don't think I've ever, don't, I haven't been anywhere on my own, so I don't go anywhere where I'm going to go to the toilet on my own in my own in my house. road trip plane trip road I'd say road I think that's because you're too scared to go

I know I know Window seat aisle seat aisle I like aisle A bit nosy itinerary or just go with the flow I'd say go with the flow

but I'm not I'd definitely probably need an itinerary I feel a bit like right what's the plan of action What's going on I like to have a rough itinerary but not so timed. You know, like, right, right guys.

Right guys, come on, let's go. Yeah, not to that extent, but yeah, a bit flexible. I think it helps to get stuff done as well, something like an it. Yeah, you see it and do stuff. Yeah, exactly, yeah. All inclusive or go off and explore on your own? Go off and explore on your own. Yeah, same.

Personally, because I just think you just another. And you don't get to, like a lot of the tourist places are tourist places, are tourist places for a reason. They are, you know, things that you probably do want to see. But whenever we've gone, we do see the main things that, you know, are on the list. But then we always go to find things and stuff, and it is

really good. Yeah, I think you should. I think you should try to push yourself. Yeah, even if you're scared a cat like me, push yourself to see the cultures, the real cultures. Yeah, I do. Stay in one place or do multiple stops? Do multiple stops, I think.

See more. That's why I like proves. Yeah, I really need to book one. Yeah. There you go. Found a cruise. Next one. Right.

Thanks for joining us, guys. Hopefully that gives you some useful tips and tricks. Yes. And some recommendations. Before we finish, a place you'd like to visit next, like a dream destination at some point in your life. Now? Well, not now, always his, but more so, Jamaica.

Jamaica. Jamaica, I can't even do the bloody accent, but, you know, Brunner. Katyn says I think that's what might say as well. Or as new one is No problem.

No problem. No problem. I'd like to go to Japan. Oh, see, no, that scares me. Japan, Singapore, one of them. That's quite city-ish, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Like the future-ish. Yeah. Yeah. There you go then. Cool. Japan and Jamaica. Take care, guys.

See you next week. Bye. Bye. You know. You know. You know,