It’s almost July and that means summer holidays are approaching! It’s our last kid-free summer and we really want to invest in our relationship and enjoy this time <3
On our wish list we had two main things:
- Babymoon just for the two of us
- Somewhere beautiful but within a short, direct flight from London
- “Safe adventure” to a new place we haven’t been to in Europe, relatively close to civilisation in case we’d need medical care (I’ll be 6 months pregnant)
- Sun, sea, good food, relaxation
- Family time with both our Finnish and British families
- I won’t be able to (or want to) fly so much after summer and I really want to see my Finnish family and friends before that
- We have beautiful (while arguably not the warmest) summers in both countries and we should find time to enjoy the lush green and long days in the UK and Finland
The above picture is from Greece where I went on my own on a sailing trip two years ago. I absolutely love the Greek islands for the gorgeous scenery, the weather that never lets you down, and the delicious food of course!
I’m excited to share that we have decided to spend two weeks in the Greek islands in August. Santorini is famous for incredible volcanic landscapes around the caldera and the most beautiful and romantic sunsets – perfect for a babymoon I thought! I do realise however that getting around in Santorini will mean a lot of climbing in the August heat which is not optimal when you are six months pregnant…
The solution we came up with was to split our time between two islands and we have chosen Milos for the second destination. Milos was recommended by a Greek friend for its amazing beaches and relaxed and less touristy atmosphere. We will fly directly to Santorini, but Milos is only a 90-minute speed boat ride away, so I’m hoping that’ll be fine. I normally enjoy being out at sea! We plan to hire a car to explore the different beaches in a pregnancy-friendly way – I can always take refuge in the air-conditioned car if the heat/walking gets too much 🙂
We will stay in the UK most of July as I have a midwife appointment and the 20-week scan (!!) coming up but we will make a few weekend trips. Next weekend we will go to Bath for two days, primarily to visit family but also to enjoy the beautiful city at summer time (our last visit was during winter). I got a lovely treat as baby’s dad surprised me by booking us a lovely spa hotel! We’ll be staying at the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel which looks very romantic and is walking distance from the city centre.
The following weekend we are going back to Newcastle in North-Eastern England where my partner is originally from, for a wedding of his friend. Very excited about this! It will only be my second time there. My only worry is what I will wear – I haven’t bought anything yet since I wanted to get a better idea of my size at the time… Today I finally ordered something online, let’s see how that turns out!
With the upcoming maternity leave I can use more of my holidays this summer (no need to save some for Christmas) so I’m actually having three consecutive weeks off in August for the first time ever! My partner’s not so lucky unfortunately, so I will spend the first week on my own. I’ll take this opportunity to travel to Finland and to catch up with as many friends there as possible!
I’ll be coming back home just before my 32nd birthday and our trip to Greece 🙂
We’ll have a long weekend at the end of August (UK Bank Holiday on the 28th) and that’s when we’ll go to Finland together. Hopefully the weather will still be decent! It will be my last trip to the “motherland” before the baby arrives and probably we will avoid flying there very soon after s/he is born for practical reasons and also because it’ll be cold in Finland in the winter.
Lot’s coming up – so excited! Sorry for the excessive use of exclamation marks but how else would you know I’m jumping up and down from excitement?! 😀
I. Love. Travelling.
xoxoxox,
Sini