Lake Garda, Italy

August 23, 2025 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

We have been back from Italy for a few days now. It was an amazing vacation. We landed in Verona and spent a few days there. We had a lot of fun walking around and exploring the city. We saw the main squares and pedestrian area on the first day, and the second day we went to Giusti Garden and then took the funicular up to Castel San Pietro. We didn’t even see the castle, we just went up there for the views.

From Verona we took the train to Peschiera Del Garda, and then from there the ferry to Bardolino. We stayed in Bardolino and took a few days trips. We visited Sirmione, Lazise, and Garda. We also spent a day at Movieland Park. We wanted to go to Caneva Aquapark, but we just ran out of energy. I tried to plan lots of breaks for this vacation, but we still got exhausted. The highlight of the trip was definitely the lake- we went swimming almost every day and we already miss the lake.

Public transportation was really easy around the lake. The buses were easy to use, and the ferries were fun. I definitely want to go back one day, but I want to go up north to see Limone and some of the other cities up there. All of the cities around Lake Garda are so beautiful. The food was decent, but we didn’t find enough of the non tourist places.

Overall the trip was amazing. It was a good mix of seeing things and taking breaks. We saw and did a lot, but there is still so much I want to see and do in that area. It was pretty hot while we were there, but luckily our accommodation had a/c, and the heat just made it even better to swim in the lake.

We have only been back for a few days but going on vacation made me remember how much I love going on vacation. So I have already booked too many trips and have to slow down now to save some money. I am going on a solo trip to Paris in November. I think that Sofia will love Paris, so I want to go visit so that I can become a bit familiar with it. Plus Paris has some places that I would love to see without being hurried along by the kids- primarily the Palace of Versailles. I’m pretty excited about the Paris trip.

In late January I am taking Leo to Barcelona for a few days. For some reason I haven’t been as excited about visiting Barcelona, but I figure it’s time to finally see it. I think I have been to Barcelona about 3 times now, but I have never actually seen it. We’re always just passing through. Plus Leo doesn’t like the cold, so that really narrows down the places we can go. It seems like there is enough in Barcelona that Leo will enjoy to keep us busy.

In April Sofia and I are going to the Netherlands to see the tulips. That is something I have been wanting to do for a long time now, but I keep missing it. This time I was able to book plane tickets and a place to stay before they sell out or become too expensive. We are going to be staying in Haarlem and going to Amsterdam for a day trip, or maybe two. I love the Netherlands and am always excited to go back there. I’m very excited to see the tulip fields and I think Sofia will love them.

All of these trips are booked, so I’m excited. This year is finally the year we owe a lot in taxes. I kept thinking we would each year, but somehow we didn’t- until this year. Luckily they allow us to make payments, so I am going to be paying off our taxes for 8 months starting in October. So for now I really can’t plan any more trips. You would think that 3 upcoming trips would be enough, but you would be wrong lol. I have thoroughly enjoyed traveling around Europe and getting to see different beautiful places and experiencing the cultures. There are so many places I still want to go.

The kids have another week and a half until they start school, though classes don’t begin until mid September. Leo is excited to go back and see his friends. Hopefully Sofia will make some new friends this year. We know she will be really sad going back and not having her best friend there.

I was able to make a passport appointment for the kids at the US Embassy in Lisbon. We will be going in early September. Unfortunately the latest appointments they have were for 9AM, so we are going to be having a really early day that day. They want everything printed out on American sized paper, which is harder than you would think because we can’t find it anywhere around here. Kyle was able to go to a paper store and they cut it to size. We just need to bring the application, their previous passport, birth certificate, and some pictures to show them aging over the years. Leo looks a lot different than he did when his last passport photo was taken. Kyle found a photo shop and was able to get American sized passport photos taken. All I need to do now is pay online and print the receipt and then I think we are ready to renew their passports.

Sofia’s birthday is also coming up next month and she wants a party this year. There is a place nearby that has some outdoor play areas but also has some pools. Sofia really really loves swimming and being in water, so she wants to have her party there. We already put down a deposit to reserve it. I’m more nervous about this party because they don’t do anything- it’s all on us. When we did her 5th birthday party they took care of everything, including food and the cake. We are figuring it out step by step though and hopefully she will love her party.

Three years in Portugal and my trip to Seville

October 19, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

I can’t remember the exact day we came to Portugal, but it has been 3 years now (give or take a few days)! I remember that on our 1 year anniversary it still felt kind of surreal and at this point I suppose I have accepted that we do actually live in Portugal. We have come a long way and I feel pretty good about things except for our language skills, and that we still have our US driver’s licenses. Now that things are starting to settle down, we will be focusing on those things. We started a Portuguese class a few weeks ago through Portuguese Language Lessons that we are liking so far. It feels nice at least making the effort to learn Portuguese again.

The kids started school last month and they are absolutely thriving. I still can’t believe how much they enjoy school- especially Leo. Sofia has always enjoyed going out and doing things and socializing, but Leo is more of a home body. He absolutely loves going to school though and even has some friends. They started swim class again last week and they’re liking that too. It’s so nice to see them really thriving and enjoying life.

I just got back from Seville, Spain a few days ago. It reminded me of Portugal in some ways- probably mostly because it has a lot of the cobblestone sidewalks like Portugal does instead of the smooth ones that we have seen in other parts of Spain. When we looked at moving to Spain people said that they don’t really speak much English in Spain, which we have found to be true of Barcelona and Valencia- but it’s absolutely not true for Seville. My Spanish is good enough to get by on, but every time I spoke to someone in Seville they almost immediately switched to English. I heard a ton of English speaking tourists there as well.

I like Seville- it has some nice sites and a lot of variety in their restaurants. There is a ton of shopping there as well. I only stayed on one side of the river and it seems like there was stuff to do on the other side as well. It was a good sized city, especially if you’re traveling around on foot. Unfortunately it rained most of the time that I was there, but I came prepared with my umbrella and rain coat. I did get a break in the rain to go see the view from Setas de Sevilla. That was definitely my favorite experience in Seville. The structure was interesting to look at from the ground and the views from the top were great. I have a very strong fear of heights, but I also love views from up high. I almost always have a panic attack when I go up to high places, but it’s worth the view. In this case I didn’t have a panic attack because the structure masks how high up you up. You have to deliberately lean over to look down, which I only did once. So I got to walk around without having that fear constantly triggered, which was a really nice thing, lol.

I forgot the name- this was another palace

My second favorite was Palacio de las Duenas. There is a self-guided audio tour and most of it involves walking around the grounds. They had a beautiful garden there and I really loved walking around there. Traveling alone wasn’t as fun as it used to be. It has been at least 10-15 years since I have gone on a solo trip. I’m glad I went, but it’s just more fun to experience with someone else. Sofia would have enjoyed a lot of what I was doing and I wished she was there with me.

Every time I leave Portugal I don’t mind coming back. When we lived in the US I never wanted to come home. That applied to everywhere we lived- Colorado, Florida, South Carolina…we would go on vacation and I would get so upset at having to go back home, but now a part of me enjoys coming home. Portugal really feels like home more than anywhere else has in a long time. When we moved here a part of me worried that we would visit Spain and I would like it more. When it was just me, Kyle, and Sofia, we were 100% set on Valencia, Spain. Then I got pregnant with Leo and the income requirements for Spain became higher than I wanted to deal with, so we started to look more seriously at Portugal.

At first it kind of felt like Portugal was our backup choice, though I quickly found things about Portugal I liked. Since moving here Portugal has never been a backup choice. I have been to Spain a handful of times now, and I have even been to Valencia. I don’t dislike Spain, I just like Portugal more for our current stage of life. I even liked Valencia, and there is a ton to do there, but I’m happy we ended up in Portugal. It’s a nice reminder every time I leave how much I love it here.

Speaking of leaving, I’m already working on a few trips. My number one priority is to go to The Netherlands with Sofia next year to see the tulips. Tulips season coincides with Sofia’s Easter break from school, so I really want to make that trip happen. Originally we were planning on going to Disneyland Paris for Christmas this year, but we just can’t make that happen. The only money I will lose is on our plane tickets to Paris because that is all that I paid for so far. Now that I know I have plane tickets to Paris already my brain has been turning and I’m wondering if I can make some kind of trip happen, even if it’s not to Disneyland. We’ll have to see. Work has been really feast or famine lately, and I really want to build up more savings so I’m not so stressed when the famine part hits. But if I can make Paris happen right before Christmas I definitely will. Paris is definitely out of my comfort zone because of the language barrier, but I know I need to visit eventually and Christmas seems like a great time to see Paris.

London

August 12, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today is our third day in London. I tried not to plan a ton so that we could leave lots of time for breaks and spontaneity. Our first day we went to Hyde Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. I hadn’t gotten tickets for Kensington Palace because I didn’t think Sofia would enjoy it, but she wanted to go. She brought her camera with her and took so many pictures.

Yesterday we went to the aquarium, which she also loved. Today was the Natural History Museum but we barely stayed because she is just too tired. She doesn’t want to walk around anymore. We were going to visit the Science Museum but she won’t have the energy for that either. Right now we’re taking a break in the hotel and then I think we might head over to Oxford Circus. Tomorrow afternoon we have a tour of Buckingham Palace scheduled.

We’re staying in Victoria, which is pretty bustling but seems to be a great central location. Everywhere we have gone so far is easy to get to using the underground metro. We flew into Stansted Airport and it was easy to get here by train.

If I had come to London directly from the US I’m sure that I would notice lots of differences. Since I had a three year detour in Portugal, I’m noting so many similarities between London and the US. Most of them are silly, but still…they have ice cubes and drip coffee here. They say “hi, how are you?” Food here is much more familiar than in other parts of Europe, even though they have some dishes that aren’t at all familiar. Obviously the language is the same. Culturally London feels a lot more familiar than I expected it to. I’m not sure about the rest of England since we have only been in London.

I knew coming here that London is a massive city with tons of people. I guess I expected the people to spread out over the city a bit, but so far everywhere we have gone is pretty packed. The metro has been standing only more often than not. People are pretty quick to give up a seat for Sofia, which I really appreciate.

I haven’t been around crowds this big since we were in the US. They don’t make me as nervous as they used to. Sofia notices the crowds but doesn’t seem to mind them. I guess I finally wore her out though lol. She usually has a ton of energy and always wants to be out doing something, but site seeing in London has even worn her down 😂

So far London has been pretty easy, although expensive. I knew these things coming in. I’m not surprised by the prices but I guess being here is reminding me of somethings I miss. Me and Kyle always talk about how the main thing we miss from the US is the food. It has been so nice knowing the language here because I have no problem asking for things or how to do things. It makes me want to learn Portuguese even more because I really miss the ease of knowing the local language.

I am adding more because we just got back from Oxford Circus. All we really did was eat lunch and go to a few stores but we spent hours there. We stumbled upon what is probably the biggest toy store I have ever been to. It’s called Hamley’s and it was something like 5 levels. We spent hours in there. They had a puppet show and the staff did all kinds of fun things, like dance parties and toy demonstrations.

We have been really enjoying London! I think we would both love to come back again soon.

Amsterdam

July 4, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today there was a break in the rain so we took the train into Amsterdam. The Zandvoort train station is an easy 10 minute walk from the hotel. Buying tickets was super easy. They have yellow machines at all the train stations. You can also buy tickets online. From what I understand you don’t even need to buy tickets, you can swipe your credit card at the machines to enter and exit the stations. I didn’t want to do that because kids age 4-11 cost less so I wanted to get a kids ticket for Leo. Kids under 4 are free and kids 12 and up cost the same as adults.

I looked online and saw that there are trains to Amsterdam about every 30 minutes, so we decided to just walk to the train station when we were ready. A train arrived a few minutes later and it was so quiet that I didn’t even hear it approaching. I only noticed it because the whistle blew. The train we caught was scheduled for 9:20. It arrived at 9:09, doors closed at 9:19 and it left at exactly 9:20. The train has screens in each car telling you what the next station is. Taking the train in the Netherlands has been one of the easiest things I have ever done.

It’s not raining today but it is really windy and cold. We went to the NEMO science museum because it’s only 10 minutes from the train station and would give us a break from the wind. Leo was not into the short walk at all. He did love the museum though.

After the museum Leo had a bit of a tantrum because he just wanted to go back to the hotel. I guess he is all waked out even though we hadn’t even walked that much at that point. After stopping to get a snack I was able to convince him to go on a boat tour. I figured that would be a unique way to see the city since Leo definitely wasn’t going to let me see the sites on foot.

The boat tour was an hour and it was a nice break. Leo had a few toys that he played with so he (mostly) let me look around and take pictures. The houseboats in Amsterdam are amazing. Before the boat ride I had made a deal with Leo that after the boat ride we would get lunch and then head back to the hotel. He was really done with walking and luckily we saw a hot dog stand in front of the train station. He’s a pretty picky eater but he loves hot dogs!

Finding our train back was a little more complicated but still easy enough. The Amsterdam Centraal station is really beautiful from the outside. I don’t really remember the inside because I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our train. We’re on the train right now. Fingers crossed there’s not another meltdown when we get off because we still have a 10-minute walk to the hotel.

Amsterdam looks like a beautiful city. I spent about 4 hours there so I really didn’t get to see much. Obviously it’s on my list to visit again some time. I don’t think we will come back this trip, but we’ll see.

CenterParcs Zandvoort Part 1

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

We made it to CenterParcs Zandvoort! When I booked this one I noticed the reviews are quite a bit lower than some of the other CenterParcs Resorts. I see why and I don’t like it as much as the one we went to before, but I chose this one more for its location than the actual resort.

I chose this one because it’s right on the beach and there is a train station that’s about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. The train can take us to some cute nearby towns, and Amsterdam is only about a 30 minute train ride away. Sofia loves site seeing and traveling, but Leo needs more breaks and down time. Sofia is much more independent, but Leo doesn’t like to do things on his own.

I’m like Sofia in my travel style, so I figured this specific Centerparcs would be a good compromise for me and Leo. He gets lots of down time and we can go to Amsterdam for a few hours of site seeing. We can be together 24/7 which Leo loves, but we will also have lots of different things to keep us busy when we want to be.

We haven’t even been here for 24 hours yet so I really can’t give a fair assessment of this place. It’s not as charming as the last one and just has a different vibe. It also doesn’t have quite as many activities on site, but that’s okay because there is so much more nearby. The other resort we couldn’t even really leave because we didn’t have a car. Unfortunately it has been raining all morning, so we haven’t gotten to venture out much. We did check out the indoor playground. It’s not as big as the other one, but it’s still nice and Leo loves it.

This CenterParcs has cottages like they all do, but it also has a hotel. Leo and I chose the hotel for a few reasons. First, it was hundreds cheaper. We’re staying for 7 days and I think the cheapest cottage was €400-€500 more. Plus the breakfast buffet is included with the hotel, so that’s one less meal to pay for. It doesn’t have a kitchen though, so we can’t cook. It has a beach view, which I really love.

Last night we walked to the main dome, which has the pools and the restaurants. We haven’t gone into the pool area yet, so I’m excited to check out the pools later. The rest of the dome was okay, nothing particularly impressive. They also have a farm/petting zoo here somewhere.

The weather makes me realize how lucky I was on my trip with Sofia. If it had rained it would have really sucked because we were outside the whole time. At least here we have inside activities to keep us busy. Even so, I really hope the rain lets up soon so we can go into the nearby town and maybe head to the beach. And go to Amsterdam of course.

I will make a part 2 once I have actually gotten to see the park. Like I said, we really haven’t seen much. I don’t dislike this place at all, but I bet I will end up loving it by the time we leave.

Efteling

June 7, 2024June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today was day 3 at Efteling. Tomorrow will be our fourth and final day. When I booked this trip I knew a lot of people compared Efteling to Disneyland and said that Efteling is better. I definitely on board with that! We go back to Disneyland Paris for Christmas so I will be able to compare again, but I think I Efteling will always be the winner in my book.

Efteling has so much green space and beautiful flowers. They have tons of fountains and ducks. Sofia has developed a sudden interest in ducks because there are so many here. Efteling has an abundance of benches that are in the shade, which I really appreciate since we have been getting 18,000 steps each day! I also appreciate how Efteling uses scents to add to the ambiance.

We meant to spent a day in each area of the park, but on our first day we were so excited that we walked around most of the park. We went on the big rides we wanted to do. The second day we went to a part of the park we hadn’t seen yet. Today we stuck to the fairytales and playgrounds in the park. Tomorrow we will have to revisit our favorite rides.

Sofia’s favorite ride is Max & Moritz, which is the family racing roller coaster. We both like Max best- the blue side. My favorite ride is droomvlucht, which I just call the fairy ride since I have no idea how to say that word. I love the track on the ride (it’s above instead of below). I love the displays you see and at the end you go up a bit and then down semi quickly. It’s cute and it’s fun.

Sofia also loved the Carnaval ride. It’s fine although the music is kind of annoying and gets stuck in my head. I liked the gondola ride. A few people said to skip it but I really enjoyed it. It was a nice way to rest for 20 minutes and to see parts of the park from a different view. There is a train here with two stations, but one of them is closed right now which is why we have been walking so much.

We rode all three tracks of Symbolica. We both really liked the treasures one. Sofia isn’t quite tall enough for most of the roller coasters yet. We did go on the wooden one which I really thought she would like. She ended up hating it because it was too intense.

We want to bring Kyle and Leo here of course. I think next summer we will try to come visit. Efteling seems like a great park for so many ages. Sofia’s age (5) is great but I could see older kids liking it too because of the coasters. The dark rides are nicely done and I think most people would appreciate them. I love Efteling- it is definitely one of my favorite theme parks and I’m excited to come back. Next time we’re going to stay at one of the Efteling hotels. We’re staying off site this time which is fine but next time we want to be in one of the hotels on site. They’re building a brand new one right next to the entrance with a sign saying it opening in 2025!

Getting Pulled Over in Portugal & Even More Updates

April 22, 2024June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

So much has been going on the past few weeks and everything just feels like such a whirlwind. I’ll start with my favorite update- travel is back on! I guess I should take a few steps back first. So we heard back from the guy doing our taxes (he charged 185 to file the return) and it turns out I owe quite a bit less than I expected. This year work has been slow, so I have been trying to work as much as I can and save money because I thought we would owe way more in taxes. Work has been picking up the past few weeks and I even got a new contract that I’m really excited about. With that contract comes a lot of training, so I have been busy trying to get training in as well as learning the ropes of the things I will be doing in this role. So now that I’m not having to save so much money each month we can afford to travel again. I’ll talk more about that in a second.

The accountant we used charges 75 euro per month to do everything tax related. He will file all of my green receipts and social security. He will tell me how to pay my social security (and how much), and I can prepay some of next years taxes if I want to. We decided to go ahead and work with him because I still have not looked at how to file social security and clearly I need some help as far as taxes go. I signed a year long contract and that price will also include filing my tax return next year. I am relieved because the last 2 years that we have had to file taxes we scramble around in January/February tying to find someone who can help us file. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders to barely even have to think about taxes anymore.

I guess I should touch on the title as well! Kyle got pulled over a few days ago. We have had the car for a year so I am kind of surprised we hadn’t gotten pulled over until now. Two police officers were standing on the side of the road looking at cars and he said he knew he was going to get pulled over because they looked at his plate and then did a double take. They waved him over to the side of the road. They were pretty upset that he still has his US driver’s license, so we’re going to try to get started on the license exchange again soon. That’s going to be a huge headache. Kyle got pulled over because our inspection expired in December. We had thought we had more time but were wrong, so we got a 250 euro ticket. Ouch! Kyle schedule our inspection for next week.

The school closest to our house had a spot open for Leo. We went and got all of the paperwork and will have to bring it back to the school on May 6. We need Leo’s residency card so Kyle went back to the place I originally applied for it in Lisbon. The lady there said that they are really, really backed up and it will probably show up at some point. She gave us a paper and said to give it to the school. I didn’t translate it, but I’m assuming it says something about us paying and having to wait for them to send the card. I’m hoping that providing that letter as well as our receipt will be enough. I finally registered Sofia online today at the Portal de Matriculas, which is required from 1st grade on. It wasn’t too bad, though it did take me about 45 minutes or so because I had to Google a lot of things to understand them. Sometimes even when they were translated into English they still didn’t make sense. Once we (fingers crossed) get them officially registered I’ll make a post all about that.

We finally got the kids signed up for swim lessons, which is something we have been meaning to do for a long time now. They’ll stop going to school next week and won’t go again until September 1 at their new school. Hopefully they will have tons of fun this summer. They will go to swim lessons twice a week. Kyle just went to our local public pool and they had tons of options to choose from. I think it cost something like 128 for the both of them for 1.5 months of classes 2 times per week.

I have been busy getting back to vacation planning and have 3 booked for the year. In early June Sofia and I are going to Efteling. I have been wanting to go there ever since I heard about it. This will be our last trip together for a while. Leo and I will be going to Amsterdam in early July. There is a CenterParcs about a half hour outside of Amsterdam that we will stay at. He really loved CenterParcs and it makes things easier for me. For the Christmas holidays this year we are going to Disneyland Paris! We will be there the week before Christmas and we’re going to stay on site. I’m really excited because the kids are going to love it and it will be great to see Dinsey all lit up for Christmas. We haven’t gotten their school schedule yet, so fingers crossed they actually have the week before Christmas off. I have been trying to find out how many days of school kids can miss in Portugal but am not having much luck.

So that’s what we have been up to. And now I have to get back to my ever growing to-do list.

Disneyland Paris and Leo’s birthday, part 2

February 12, 2023June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

On Monday we headed to the main Disneyland park. We rented strollers, which I knew would be expensive but I definitely still had some sticker shock at €25 per stroller per day. In total we spent €100 on stroller rentals. I’m trying not to think about that 😂

We started in Fantasy Land, where a lot of the little kid rides are. Leo threw an epic fit right away and kept telling us to hold him. We figured out pretty quickly that he just really hates the cold. He is much whinier in below freezing temps and just wants to be held all the time. I think Leo wants some warm vacations. We were hoping to go on a few kid friendly dark rides to build them up to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, but they did great on Peter Pan so we thought they were probably ready. Peter Pan was a cute ride. Leo fell asleep when we put him in the stroller, so then we walked around a bit.

Disneyland has 5 different lands/areas. We didn’t have a plan the first day and it all felt a little scattered. We went to each area of the park, but didn’t really get to see a ton of it. I definitely couldn’t tell you where anything is. We did go on the main rides I really wanted to do like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Toy Story one. The kids thought Pirates was a bit scary but they did good. They loved the Toy Story ride.

We had lunch at Agrabah Cafe because I had heard that it’s pretty good. To get a birthday cake you have to reserve one at a buffet or sit down restaurant. I knew Disney would be expensive, but the prices for the buffet were pretty crazy. €40 per adult, €23 per kid, and €35 for the cake. The food was fine, the service was awful, and the decorations were great. Seeing them sing Happy Birthday to Leo was awesome.

Our original plan was to go to Disneyland on Monday, stay at the hotel on Tuesday, and go back to the same park on Wednesday. We changed our minds and decided to try the second park on Wednesday. I’m glad we did because we had more fun that day and really got to know the park.

The other park is Walt Disney Studios Park. There were a ton of rides there that we could all do together. One of our favorite areas was the Ratatouille section. The ride was cute and well done and the area around it was nice. They have food stands down the main area. The food there was also amazing and seemed better priced than anywhere else in the parks. And everyone ate there. With two picky toddlers it’s hard to find a place everyone will eat.

We also saw the Stitch show, which was really cute. Sofia especially loved it and keeps talking about it. I think it was a lot easier because the park was smaller. We spent the same amount of time there as we had in the main park. Both parks had a lot of dead ends. I knew to expect it at the Studios Park since it’s likely not finished yet, but I was surprised by all of the dead ends at the main park. Also, there was a decent amount closed or being refurbished. The biggest disappointment was It’s a Small World. It was my favorite ride as a kid and I know Sofia would love it. It was closed the entire time we were there.

Overall we had a lot of fun and I definitely plan on repeating this trip in a few years. But probably not in February. I think we will try for Spring. The nice thing about February is that the crowds and wait times are low, but it’s also cold and it seems like too much is closed. Our last two amusement park trips have taught us that we want a smaller park with more toddler rides. There is one in the Netherlands that I think fits the bill if I can figure out how to make that trip work…

Disneyland Paris & Leo’s Birthday, Part 1

February 9, 2023June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

We kicked off our vacation on Saturday with a 1 night stay in Lisbon. We stayed at a hotel literally across the street from the airport. On Sunday our fight left around 8 something, so it was really nice to get up and just walk across the street to the airport. On Saturday afternoon we used the metro at the airport to head to the aquarium. We got to ride the cable car that had been closed last year. I’m terrified of heights, but I have really loved the cable cars rides we have gone on since moving to Portugal. The views are always stunning. As always, it was fun getting to be in Lisbon.

On Sunday we flew into Paris. It’s the first time in a long time that our fight left on time. Normally we take a bus or train to where we need to go, but there’s no direct train. We would have to take 3 trains and make 2 transfers. We had extra bags because we couldn’t do laundry this trip. Since it was already an expensive trip we decided to splurge and we hired a chauffeur. It was amazing. The driver met us at baggage claim, took all our bags and loaded them all into the car. And then we got a direct ride to our hotel.

We stayed at Explorer’s Hotel, which is about 10 minutes from Disney and 45 minutes from Orly airport. I picked this hotel because of the awesome indoor activities for kids. They have a great pool and a 3 story indoor play area. There’s also an outdoor playground which we did end up using for about 10 minutes one day. It was between 28 and 38 degrees during our stay. It wasn’t too bad in the sun, but the playground was in the shade so it gets cold pretty quickly.

On Sunday we got to the hotel early afternoon, so the kids got to play a lot and we went swimming. They warmed to the pool pretty quickly. We really wanted to go back, but we were just too exhausted. The hotel has a pizza place and snack bar type place. All of the food there was super overpriced and terrible. Luckily we figured that out the first day and we were able to order food through Uber Eats. It was still super expensive, but at least it tasted great.

The hotel also has a shuttle to Disneyland Paris. Both parks and Disney Village are all connected, as is the train station. It was pretty easy to get to and from the hotel and Disney. Kyle even took the shuttle to Disney Village to pick up dinner a few times.

Well, that’s part 1 of our trip. We just got home a few minutes ago. It was a super long day of a 1.5 hour car ride to the airport, 2 hour flight, 20 minute car ride, 2 hour bus ride, and 10 minute car ride. But everything left on time! So even though it was a super long day it went pretty smoothly. I have a ton of work tomorrow and Saturday, so I will post part 2 in a few days to talk about the parks.

We will definitely do this trip again in a few years. We will stay at the same hotel in Lisbon and if it’s winter or spring we will stay in the Explorer’s hotel again. If it’s warm or hot out we would try a Disney Hotel to see what it’s like, but it would be hard for a hotel to beat Explorer’s if you have small kids.