A-Z activities

A-Z countries

What's this blog all about?

Hi, I'm Nicola - welcome to a blog begun in 2012 about family travel around the world, without leaving the UK.

I love travel adventures, but to save cash and keep my family's carbon footprint lower, I dreamt up a unique stay-at-home travel experience. So far I've visited 110 countries... without leaving the UK. Join me exploring the next 86! Or have a look at the "countries" you can discover within the UK by scrolling the labels (below right). Here's to happy travel from our doorsteps.

Around 2018 I tried a new way of writing my family's and my own UK travel adventures. Britain is a brilliant place for a staycation, mini-break and day trips. It's also a fantastic place to explore so I've begun to write up reports of places that are easy to reach by public transport. And when they are not that easy to reach I'll offer some tips on how to get there.

See www.nicolabaird.com for info about the seven books I've written, a link to my other blog on thrifty, creative childcare (homemadekids.wordpress.com) or to contact me.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Loving our borrowed dog

Pete, Nicola, Lola and Nell like to travel without racking up their carbon footprint

We like travel, and we like dogs too, usually incompatible. This time we've lucked out and borrowed a wonderful dog for two months while his family cross six continents ticking off the dom-toms (French colonies). And all because I was earwigging in Islington's music shop...
You can read all about our borrowed dog's family's doings, right from their start in the little known St Pierre et Miquelon, here. I've been reading dog owner Rosie Millard's travels to Disney from the Sunday Times and he agrees it is meant to include Martinique, French Guyana, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and La Reunion (but not Wallis & Fortuna), and can we now turn the TV back to Simon Cowell or Hannah Montana, or just fiddle around for a bit longer on Club Penguin? Yes, our borrowed dog likes TV.

As newbie city dog owners we're also getting used to getting up when Disney wakes, picking up four poos a day and enjoying his enthusiasm for balls, walks and us. It's amazing how quickly a well-trained dog fits into your life...

Pirates at home

Pete, Nicola, Lola and Nell love to travel but stay off planes to keep their carbon footprint down. Here's how they satisfy their passion for travel


OK I admit that for ships in the Gulf of Aden the Somalian pirates are a problem, but it's hard not to want to be a pirate at fancy dress parties, imaginging a look that mixes Russell Brand's attitude, Captain Flint's reputation and Jack Sparrows' stunning looks - and that's just the girls. So we've squeezed into our tiny garden a pirate experience - floating platform, Jolly Roger, pondlife views - to enable us to take off on the high seas whenever we want.

To my surprise the first voyage never made it to the Caribbean, instead we saw off kling ons on the starboard bow and then detoured via night sky constellations until we heard someone like Long John Silver tapping down the street, got frighted and sneaked back inside for a bedtime read of Treasure Island.