My Child Free Holiday Wishlist

As a family, we do enjoy going on holiday and are lucky enough to go away once a year.

We pack up, head to the South of France and do lots of wonderful, family friendly things.

Now, I thoroughly enjoy these holidays and consider myself truly blessed to be trawling the ice cream parlours of the Cote D’Azur but I must confess…
I would bloody love a grown up holiday, like the people off the telly do, and I may have even created a shortlist of places I’d like to visit!

India

Particularly the Rajasthan state in Northern India. Yes, I watched Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and swiftly started Googling hotels in Jaipur – what of it?!
I’d like to pootle about visiting bustling flower markets and admiring the architecture of the Pink City. Eating authentic Indian cuisine and checking that the beer there tastes as good as it does here.
Chittorgarh Fort is one of Rajasthan’s many UNESCO world heritage sites that we’d love to see but the kids would whinge about and Jaipur itself is home to India’s only wax museum housed in a heritage palace. What is not to love? We could even spend a few nights camping in the desert. By camping I mean sleep in a fairly permanent canvas structure in the desert. With a proper bed. And air-con. You get the idea. I’m not old enough for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel but you can’t imagine me proper slumming it, can you?

Bali

Bali is one of those places that attracts Rory and I for very different reasons. He sees it as an island of challenges, active volcanoes to climb, jungles to explore and white waters to be rafted. I see it as more of an idyllic haven. A place to visit ancient ruins, enjoy hot springs and outdoor spas and sip cocktails on beautiful white beaches. I jest, if we went to Bali, I would be well up for some cliff climbing and jungle adventures (I’ve conquered Snowdon don’t you know…). Bali has so much to offer, not only visually but culturally and historically and I do actually think the children would love a fair amount of what is on offer, I just don’t think we would enjoy it in quite the same way if we visited as parents. Sometimes, you’ve just got to live a little more carefree!

South of France

Yes, I know we visit here regularly but it’s always as a family. If we visited child free we would be able to do so many of those things we always wish we could. Ideally, we’d be floating in the middle of the Mediterranean on a super yacht but we will be child free, not millionaires.
I will settle for eating dinner at that fancy restaurant I like the look of at the marina, or getting a boat to St Tropez one evening to drink wine and watch world go by. We could do vineyard tours and visit Monaco without the fear of one of the kids touching someone’s super-posh car. We could visit small galleries and those shops that only sell white stuff and breakables. It would be perfect.

Alas, it’s going to be another 10 years at least until we can consider holidays like these, in the meantime I’ll keep on browsing hotels in Jaipur to keep the dreams alive.

This is a collaboration.