Stop. Pause. Journal. It's Summer Holiday & Expat Dilemma Time.

The summer break is coming up and that means exotic trips, palm trees and cocktails, plane journeys to far off places, lazy days on the beach soaking up the sun - or in our case cramming as much crap as we can get in the boot of the car and then squeezing three kids in the back seat hooked up to a DVD and Nintendo intravenous drip feed and heading off to Germany.

It's always hard to plan a summer break when you are an expat. On the one hand I want to see my friends and family who are back in Britain, on the other hand the world is a big place so heading back to the same town in the same country every year gets old when you have done it year after year. Nearly Irish sums it up beautifully in her post she added to the monthly #ExpatLifeLinky.

Since having children we have tried to combine a summer break with a visit to loved ones back in Blighty. We've been to Cornwall, England for the past three years so we thought we'd try somewhere else this year. It's a surprise for the boys what exactly we'll be doing - but I do know it will be lots of fun. But the new destination means skipping a trip to England. Living a life overseas makes vacation time a little more complicated - there's always a destination dilemma to deal with!

On the other hand, our unchartered destination this year, means I get to fill my "The Great Journey" travel journal with completely new things this summer. I have kept a memento of our holiday using Gadanke's crafted gem for a few years now - but last year I couldn't help but think that I had probably filled in the same details the year before....

But I won't be able to say the same this year! The journals are a great way of capturing the moments that make up a fantastic family vacation: the sights that mesmerise, the smells that overwhelm, the colours that fill your children with wonder, the new tastes they can't get enough of, the giggles you share as a family. There's room for photos and postcards, hiding places for those special museum tickets or train ticket stubs. It becomes a homemade time capsule to look back on with your children as they grow. These Gadanke journals give me my 'me moments' whilst away, my relaxation moments which allow me to be creative.

Keeping a travel journal whilst on holiday has become an obsession a habit I love. (If you love journaling too head over and take a peek at the many Gadanke free workshops for great tips and advice.) It makes me pause and take in the world around me, really soak up my new environment. And that is what a summer holiday is all about - stopping, pausing - wherever you head, whoever you spend it with. Right?

How do you record your summer holiday memories? Do you keep a travel journal? Turn your photos into a photo book? 

23 Wonderful Things about England and the English

Today is St George's Day and to mark it here are 23 things that are wonderful about England and all those who live within her.

1. English breakfast: the best kind of breakfast there is. Sausages. Bacon. Fried bread. Eggs. Tomatoes. Mushrooms. Yum.
2. Queuing: the English know how to form a good solid queue, and stick to it. None of this free for all nonsense they employ in the rest of Europe.
3. The sights of London: all the usual tourist traps landmarks make London what it is. Think Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard, Big Ben and Tower Bridge. There's nothing like it.
4. Fish and chips.
5. Gorgeous beaches: whether it's sand, rocks or pebbles you like on a beach or cliffs and coves, England has it along her shores. 
6. And whilst we are on the topic of beaches the English know how to make a real day out of a trip to the beach. 
7. Marmite: England is the birthplace of Marmite, Burton upon Trent to be precise. Love it or hate it? 
8. Bonfire Night
9. Quaint: England is the queen of quaintness, littered with little (and big) places that can only be described as quaint. Like Haworth, Grassington, Clovelly and Stratford upon Avon.
10. Passion for the beautiful game: the English love football. Many people live and breathe the national game, despite there being very little international success on the football pitch since 1966. That's dedication and passion for you.
11. Pubs: English pubs are like no other. In every nation there are attempts to replicate the Englishness of a good English pub but most attempts can be written off as outright failures. 
12.  The royal family: what is there not to love about a real life, albeit involuntary, English soap opera?
13. Regional differences: there are amazing variations in accents, food and customs from county to county across the length and breadth of England. Compare a Cornish accent to the dulcet tones of a Geordie to appreciate what I mean.
14. English people are bonkers.
15. Christmas: The English know how to do Christmas in style.
16. Life is never dull around an Englishman: The English keep you guessing and it keeps you on your toes.
17. Green, rolling hills: oh how I miss green rolling hills.
18. Top Gear: I'll stop right there shall I?
19. Sense of humor: what isn't there to love about sarcasm and self depreciation?
20. A sense of history: you can bathe in history in England - quite literally in Roman Bath, more literary in Jane Austen's Hampshire and deep down in the abandoned mines of Cornwall.
21. Downton Abbey: any country that Downton Abbey is filmed in has to be wonderful, right?
22. Roast dinners.
23. Benedict Cumberbatch.

So there you have it - what would you add?

Happy St George's Day to all you English out there.

Seeing Home Like a Tourist: The Beauty Of Cornwall

One of the most surprising things personally about becoming an expat is how you one day end up seeing the country you were born in through the eyes of a foreigner. I haven't lived in Britain since August 2000. I've been gone long enough now not to feel quite like I am home when I return. Of course I am not a complete foreigner when I am back, but I do see my own country through different eyes than fourteen years ago. And I now totally understand why tourists come from across the globe to parts of England they think are 'quaint' and picturesque. I feel the same way about some English places and Cornwall remains at the top of my list.

We've just spent herfstvakantie in Cornwall, primarily for my husband's 40th birthday. It's a place all five of us love. We again stayed at Glynn Barton. Once you have been, you'll know why we return year after year.

Glynn Barton - beautiful at any time of the year

In fact, whilst we were there last week, we met a lovely expat family from The Hague. It's the first time we've met anyone there not from somewhere in Britain, so we were surprised to meet a family from so close to where we live in the Netherlands. It got even more surprising when I learned that the family was there because of reading about Glynn Barton on this very blog. Fantastic!

There were more surprises lined up. I'd organised an art day for my husband as one of his '40 days of presents for turning 40' and he came home with three stunning pieces he had painted. This was one of them: turns out I have my very own van Gogh at home.

A van Mulligen original

We also got out to dinner sans kids. First time in a year I'm sure - and it was worth the wait. We went to Trewithen restaurant in Lostwithiel and the food and service was top notch. I definitely recommend  a visit if you are in the area.

We also enjoyed a lovely cream tea at Wreckers in Charlestown, after clambering over the rocks and exploring the rock pools on the beach. The cream tea included the biggest scone I have ever seen (see my Silent Sunday post from yesterday for a picture of that). 

Charlestown - great for rock clambering but watch out for that tide sneaking in

The weather was kind to us whilst we were there, and we got to explore a little and relax a lot before heading home at the end of the week. In this case, I think photos can do more justice to the beauty of Cornwall than my words. So here are a few snapshots of a place I have grown to love, and which I guess I now see through the eyes of a tourist. 

A boat moored in Rock, Cornwall

The view from Rock, Cornwall

Polzeath Beach on a very windy day

Charlestown

Time to relax with my joint favourite pastime

I hope those of you in the Netherlands enjoyed your herfstvakantie too - I would love to hear what you got up to you - and for those of you with children off school this week in the UK - what do you have planned?

Setting the Counter to Zero: A Real Summer Break

Six weeks came and went and the children are now back in school. The summer holidays flew by but we wrung every drop of fun we could out of them before a new school year takes us in its grip.

We spent nearly four weeks in England, most of that in Cornwall. We saw planes, trains and stock cars. We spent time on sandy beaches, time in the countryside and time in stately houses. We witnessed jousting knights, scaled castle walls, collected glimmering shells, played in the rock pools and built dams on the beach. We ate fish and chips, bacons sandwiches, crumpets and enjoyed many an ice cream. The boys added countless words to their English vocabulary list and played with lots of British children. We had a fabulous summer holiday.

Then we had two weeks at home which we kept quiet and low key, particularly after a bad bout of man-flu hit the man of the house and put him in bed for the best part of a week. And today a new school year begins. And we are ready for it. We are refreshed. Ready for the routine. Ready to work again.

I have taken a break from the blog over the summer. In fact, I took a break from all things writing, except for journal entries and one article about school uniforms, or rather the lack of them in my life. Hopefully, none of you noticed as I worked my butt off in July to schedule weekly posts and keep new posts popping up. But it does mean I have a head full of ideas, blog posts and general musings. But all in good time.

One thing that hit me over the head hard this summer was that time is moving at an alarming pace. My eldest has started in group 4 today and with a new teacher and a new classroom my little HSC was a little stressed. In a month or so my youngest will turn three. One more year at home with me before he also starts school. My middle son continues finding his feet in group 1, but this school year in a smaller group than that of the last term of the last school year and hopefully with a little more continuity. In one way or another, they need my support to get through these first few weeks back at school.

Before the summer break I had started putting more time into this blog, taking on more monthly writing commitments and I took pleasure in watching the blog grow. But I plan to take my foot of the accelerator a little. Just a little. I'm a mama first. And I have enjoyed that feeling over the summer holiday. The calmness of no conflicts with my time - beating myself up about whether to spend time with my boys or to slip off and write a blog post. I'm not sure whether you will notice a difference here. Only time will tell. In any case, the summer holiday did us all a power of good. It provided the break we all needed. The counter was set to zero again.

I hope you have all had a great summer break too!

Brits on the Beach

"I don't understand this settlement behaviour," my Dutch husband uttered as we plonked ourselves down on beach towels on Daymer Bay beach in Cornwall, England.

There were couples, groups and families camped out on the overpopulated beach around us armed with fold away chairs with built-in cup holders, light portable tables, tents in every size and colour you could imagine, multi-coloured wind breakers, portable radios, enough reading material to make the nearest library more than a little jealous and large cool boxes brimming with enough to satisfy the most ravenous of hungers for many days should the world's food chain suddenly implode. One group parked on the other side of the beach to us had even brought their own full size BBQ and looked like they had no intention of leaving anytime that summer.

"You don't see this in the Netherlands," he muttered, genuinely bewildered as he looked around the beach.

Anyone beg to differ?

The Cornish Coast Through the Eyes of a Child

During one of our summer holidays to Cornwall, England my Dutch husband was astounded by the English coastline. The Cornish coastline may have been Mars as far as this Dutch man was concerned. The cliffs and rock pools were nothing but an alien landscape to him.

As we stood atop the cliffs at Land's End, the sun beating down on us and a strong coastal breeze whipping the sea up against the rocks, he marvelled at the beauty of the seascape in front of him. The jagged rocks and the sea battled, the salty water forced upwards by the unforgiving hurdles in their path, an impressive sea spray spattering into the air. 

I know that Cornwall's coast is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I was a little taken aback by the level of my husband's amazement. 

I knew what to expect; I spent many a childhood holiday in south west England. My husband on the other hand had no idea what awaited him at Land's End. He was awestruck by what he saw, mesmerised by nature's offerings at the very tip of England. Watching him was like watching a child in a sweet shop for the first time - bright eyes, excitement, open mouth, noises of delight.

Initially confused by his reaction to Land's End, in my eyes a fairly normal English coastal scene, I asked him what his issue was he found so novel about the cliffs and rocks.

"We don't have cliffs and rocks like this in the Netherlands," he responded matter of factly "we have flat sandy beaches. Think about it, we have to make dunes to protect the country from flooding."

And then the penny dropped. I realised I hadn't seen a cliff or a cluster of rocks for some years myself. Rock pools and cliffs are not a part of Scheveningen or Noordwijk beach.

My childhood holidays along the Cornish and Devonshire coast had blinded me to the astounding magic of the English coastline. I took it all for granted and hadn't stopped to breathe in its beauty: the majestic cliffs, the small and picturesque sandy coves and bays that litter the south of England, the numerous caves to explore and the abundance of wildlife taking shelter on the coast, and of course the magic of rock pools, especially when you are a child.

"This is so cool," said my husband armed with a net and bucket, scurrying across the rocks with two excited boys, "I've never seen a rock pool before!" 

My children echoed his excitement, carrying their own brightly coloured nets and buckets, as they watched a tiny crab scurry from its hiding place under a rock to find cover under slimy, green seaweed. My sons jumped from one rock to the next looking for little pools of water hidden between them. Their delight took me back to my own childhood holidays on Cornish beaches, hours spent combing rock pools with my brother. I understood then my husband's reaction to Land's End. 

How lucky he was to see the Cornish coastline for the first time as if through child's eyes.