Welcome to my travel blog 👋

We arrived in Doha on time and transferred to our flight to London without drama. Doha airport is massive and has a whole Disney theme park vibe going on. There’s suspenseful music playing, just like at a theme park, and there’s a shopping mall inside the terminal. We went straight to our gate after several security checks and only had to wait a short while. We slept through most of the flight and arrived in London just after 7am. After collecting our luggage, which had made the transfer with us this time, we took the tube home. ...

Today is a travel day, but we’re not flying until this evening, so today we’ll go to the beach after we check out from the hotel. I’d told the children to be ready at 8am, but had forgotten to set my alarm and overslept. They had diligently got ready in time, but they did have to come and find out where we’d got to, so we ended up going down for breakfast around 10am. ...

Today’s the last day of the tour and there’s a long drive back to the south of Bali. I wake up at 6am and write my blog on the terrace followed by a swim in the pool. Diana and I have breakfast; the kids opt to skip it. I have the last remaining local item on the breakfast menu, nasi jinggo, which is rice with a few accompaniments. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s really tasty; I particularly like the spiced coconut sprinkles. ...

A 7:30am wake-up, then down to the waterfront resto for breakfast. Chicken porridge again – this one was delicious, with lots of flavour and various tasty toppings. After breakfast we headed over to reception to meet Wayan and the others before jumping in the minibus for the 45-minute ride to the snorkelling place. On arrival, we picked up our gear and received a no-nonsense safety briefing from the South African owner of the diving company before the short drive to the beach. ...

We met Wayan in reception at 7:30am for a guided walk in the forest and surrounding farmland. The man whose house we visited yesterday led the walk. He told us about the traditions and set-up of families in Bali, and how many people still grow their own food. We passed a number of different enterprises: arak making (a spirit distilled from palm sap), forest honey, rice terraces, chicken farming, and various fruits and vegetables. Many people maximise their income with whatever combination of these their land can support. ...

Our bags finally arrived overnight, which we’re really pleased about – although we think we could have managed fine without them! Up for a 7:30am breakfast of local specialities: a broth with boiled egg and chicken, and some sweet treats. The broth is really delicious! After breakfast we meet at reception and jump in the minibus, headed for a local village. We’re going to make some local crafts and see how people traditionally lived. After just a short 5-minute drive, we’re hiking into the village, where we’re met by a very friendly chap and his family. He explains a little about the village before taking us inside to get started on our activity. ...

Up for a 7:30 breakfast at the cafe around the corner using the voucher from the hotel. I have the baked feta eggs, which are great. Over breakfast we check in with our guide, Wayan, so he has all our details, and persuade him to delay this morning’s start by 15 minutes so we can go and buy some clothes suitable for white water rafting. The luggage isn’t due to arrive until late tonight, so we only have the clothes we are wearing. ...

We’re in no rush today; our new flights aren’t until 7pm this evening, and after a late night we lie in until 9am. BA had given us a voucher for breakfast at the hotel, so we head down there just before 10am. They have a waffle maker which the kids enjoy using, but they’re less keen on eating the result. We decide to leave our bags at the airport and head into Chinatown for dim sum. It beats sitting at the airport all day and we thought if we went home, we might not make it back to the airport! ...

It’s October half term and we’re off to Bali! Diana has found an Intrepid trip which is designed for teenagers. There’s beach time, white water rafting and some teenage-friendly culture too. I’d driven up to my mum’s in Leicestershire on Wednesday to drop Einstein off for his doggy holiday in the country and drove back on Friday morning. Storm Austen was brewing over the south of England and it was chucking it down so we decided to get an Uber rather than walk to the tube. ...

Last day. Not a cloud in the sky, perfect snow, brilliant sunshine — the perfect day to end our trip. We squeezed every last minute out of it, after breakfast we checked out and after stowing our bags, we were off for our final day of skiing. The final selfie of the day says it all — four happy faces, with the whole Lapland fell behind us in bright winter sunshine. ...