Review - Travelling With Children by Catherine Cooper.

This book makes you feel like you can take on the world! 

I was asked to review this book for Have A Lovely Time, our family travel website.   The author Catherine gets you thinking about holidays in a whole different way, with planning a must, along with lots of forethought about what you want out of a holiday before you even book it. 

If you are anything like me, when I’d just had Oliver, the thought of going on holiday with a young child and all the paraphernalia that you need to take along with you, scared the life out of me.   I wish I’d known then about a fabulous book by Catherine Cooper called Travelling with Children, which is a really easy to read and understand parents’ guide.

The introduction and first chapter advises you to look at your expectations, and work out what you want before you book and go, but also informs you that research shows that more than anything the best part of a holiday for kids is that they get to spend time with their families.    The book covers a range of topics, from which form of travel to take, along with tips to ease the stress.   She looks at the different types of holidays that are available, and how to work out which one might be best for you, and if you do choose a particular type of holiday, how to get the most out of it for everyone.  The final chapter is called When Things Go Wrong, where there is some great advice to be found.  At the back of the book, there are a number of reference sites to look at to make the booking and enjoying of a holiday an easy and relaxed process.

This book is an education in itself and I can imagine that any new family would find it to be a Godsend.  Informative, helpful, useful and covered topics I hadn’t even thought of.  I really do wish that I’d read this before we took Oliver on his first holiday.  We chose a family friendly destination in Cornwall as it just seemed too much trouble when he was 5 months old to go on a plane.  While we had a great holiday, at February half term that year, it would have been nice to head for the sun and I’m sure if I’d have read this, I’d have been the first one at the airport check-in queue. 

Catherine Cooper is a freelance journalist and author based in SW France and London and she specialises in writing about children, travel, health and lifestyle.  To find out more about Catherine and her work, her website can be found here. 

Catherine is also one of the judges in the Have A Lovely Time Beautiful Britain family travel writing competition where the top prize is £200 with other prizes up for grabs too.   Hurry to get your entry in, as the competition closes on 1^st October.