This summer my girls and I travelled to Thailand for a couple of weeks break from the UAE summer heat – yup, I know just swapping one kind of heat for another, but the change of scene was so good for us too – I love my travels with my girls, so I thought I’d write about it in a letter to them as it’s been so long since my letter writing days and frankly, I miss it, and I hope those moments that are so treasured to me will become treasured childhood memories to them when they grow up too. Dear Girls,

You’ve always been fun to be around – I’ve loved so many stages of your childhoods, but now you’re coming into your own. You are the most fabulous travel companions. You’re worldly wise enough that we can just get up and go. You’re interested and interesting and you share your thoughts with me freely – even when you disagree with me (sometimes especially when you disagree!!). You love new foods and cultures and surroundings. You’re not afraid to talk confidently to new people. You like to try new things. And you love to stop for ice cream when exhausted and travel weary, and knowing the benefits of renewed enthusiasm ice cream can bring is a very important travel skill in my opinion!

This summer in Thailand you were wonderful – We explored and had fun, but most incredibly, you supported me when times were tough for me.  For we went back to a part of the country I’d not been to in many years, that brought back memories, and happiness and sadness. You asked questions about a part of my past that contains hurt and anger at the world for taking a loved one away, and embraced the happy memories and shared in little traditions that were a part of my life you were merely tiny stars in my future. You are becoming older and wiser and so sweet and sensitive, and boy, oh boy, did we have fun too.

We visited deserted temples out in the forest, went on a girls road trip where our map reading was tested, climbed waterfalls without falling down, took sleeper trains, crawled through caves and cooked curry and pad thai from scratch. We met new friends from far away, and old friends from long ago and we laughed and we ate delicious food and cit chatted with everyone we met. We rode bikes and tuk-tuks and songthaews and walked till we thought our legs would drop off, and every night the three of us climbed into bed with full hearts, and tummies, and snuggled to sleep. I’m glad you’re still small enough for snuggles, but I’m so glad you’re old enough to reach out and embrace the beauty of the world too.

I love you my little world travelllers, Mama xxxx

A few notes:

We took a cooking class with Benny’s Home Cooking – they were AMAZING – I can’t recommend them enough – our food tasted like real proper Thai food – and they were so adorable with the girls too. The wonderful Josh Solar recommended them and the sticky waterfalls which were a fabulous adventure

We cycled round Chiang Mai with Grasshopper Adventures who were also fabulous – doing solo Mum travel sometimes makes keeping an eye on your kids tricky and growing up in Abu Dhabi my kids aren’t super confident at riding bikes on roads with traffic so they gave me a massive amount of peace of mind. Thank you to my lovely friend Julia Whale for recommending them

And last but not least I met up with the super awesome Dana Pugh and her darling family – if you are a photographer and you want to up your business game you NEED to check her out! You know when you meet someone and then spend the whole time saying “Yes! I think that too!” because you’re on the same wavelength? Yup. That! She’s fab!