So, funny thing about deciding to spend an extended period travelling with an AuDHD mini-me and a sweet, almost endlessly patient husband…
To get the reward, there’s usually a little chaos before departure. You know the whole packing thing, the still running a business, taking someone out of school and making sure the dog doesn’t hate us when we get back.
I mean, how many Squishmallows is too many? 🫣
(Side note: slime is apparently considered a liquid when going through airport security.)
It’s been a while since I’ve shared much of our family life, either here or on personal socials, but something about 2026 feels different. A corner has been turned. Things that have sat in limbo for a long time are finally moving.
The travel plans themselves have been loosely assembled until fairly recently. The only thing we knew for certain was that we wanted an adventure. Time together. A proper break. Some hardcore memories.
There will always be hard things. That’s life. But we’re rolling with them as we go.
What we did know was that transitions, hard deadlines and unnecessary stress weren’t going to set any of us up for success. So we built this trip around flexibility. That’s where the car comes in, and why we’ve chosen to transport ourselves around Europe rather than race between airports and train stations.
Hopefully it’ll be a slightly interesting journey to follow.
I’ll be sure to include the 9 year old’s occasional truth-bomb one-liner for comic relief.
Today’s offering, while carrying something containing my phone
“That’s why this is so heavy. It has all the photographic data in it.”
Here goes…..
You know you’re in Paris when a barely-3-year-old walks past you in a playground and says “bonjour madame.”
Thankfully we got to Paris without too much stress, don’t ask about the whole forgetting-Anouk’s-suitcase-behind incident. Smooth transfer through Singapore, an early 5:30am arrival into Frenchy town, and we hung about at the airport for a bit because I’m too tight to book a room the night before. Managed to get a Bolt (Uber equivalent) into town, and fell in love with Le Marais instantly. Our Airbnb host let us drop our luggage while the cleaner cleared away any sign of the previous tenants. We explored some parks, I found wildflowers (yes), and we just made it home before collapsing in a triple-threat nap.
Ready to take on the world after dinner, we decided a happy hour drink and a crepe was the way to go. Sitting as the French do, facing outward to the world (which Anouk found very curious), we enjoyed a beverage while miss clever-pants sketched away. She caught the eye of our waiter, who was keen to encourage her and showed her his own drawings.
Our first full day in Paris, and of the holiday, we got on a bus to the Eiffel Tower. While watching out for landmarks, Anouk kept herself “not bored” with a rainbow colour game. Its interesting travelling with a kid who is blunt as they come, sometimes things are so out of context that unless you know her it makes no sense. I overhear “ahh yep” (after Far pointed out the window), followed by “we still need to find light purple before we get there.” Keen as mustard to go up, no surprises there, we decided to save it for the end of our trip. We grabbed a bit of lunch and found some space to enjoy it with a pretty decent view. Anouk found a playground, which helped burn off the run-jump-try-everything energy before hopping back on another bus.
This time it was the Arc de Triomphe. We managed to sway Anouk off attempting the climb once we realised we hadn’t brought her asthma puffer. Someone got a little frustrated, why are we going to all these places if we’re not actually going to do anything when we get there? Fair point chicken, mental note get better at setting expectations for the day. We walked down the Champs-Élysées, curiously spotted Flora Danica (quite cool), and Anouk was fascinated by the Louis Vuitton building, though no doubt she’d deny it if you asked her about it now. One thing she will happily talk about is going into Miniso and picking her overdue responsibility reward, hello, electronic wall calendar, you da best, in the middle of Paris.
We found Anouk’s favourite cuisine, Japanese, on the way back to the apartment. Decided to rest, pack for the next day, then headed out to see the Moulin Rouge all lit up. Anouk was probably more enamoured by the subway vent blowing her t-shirt up like Marilyn, but she laughed when Far got asked into one of the girlie bars. It was nice being able to show her the cafe we went to on our first day in Paris, 17 years ago, on our honeymoon. Train ride back, and time for bed.
Thankfully we’d packed the night before, so it was just the little things to sort and a revisit (twice) to the bakery next door for croissants. Anouk used to call croissants “sacroints” when she was little, though she hasn’t eaten them in years. As expected, she devoured them and declared, “I only eat croissants in France.” The Bolt driver turned up with a slightly smaller car than the full-size I’d requested on the app, his facial expression was pretty funny, but we made it fit nicely, and off we went to collect our new car.
If you ever travel to Europe for more than six weeks or so, look into a car lease. Such good value, no add-ons, and a brand new car. We filled up the party bus (a Citroën C4) and hit the road. First stop: fill the tank and grab some car snacks for the tomato-and-cucumber monster in the backseat. A fancy Burger King dinner roadside off the autobahn, it was a long drive, but we made it to Hamburg. Turns out the hotel was more like a hostel, but the space was clean, tidy, and fun. Four storeys high though, which made for a good workout after being car-bound all day. Anouk marvelled at all the TV being dubbed into German, but soon got sick of it and managed her usual wind-down. The car is ace, comfortable and cute, hard to believe we’ve got it for two months to adventure in.
Speaking of hard to believe, we got up, drove to Puttgarden, and took the ferry across to Denmark. Exciting but also so familiar, especially the change in language, but I guess it hasn’t been that long since we were last here. We had some time to kill before our Swedish check-in, so we kept it nice and easy with a stop in Dragør. There’s no visit to Dragør without ice cream and exploring those sweet little laneways. The poppies were beautiful, and the hollyhocks, while not yet blooming, mean we’ll be back for those.
Over the bridge we went, arriving at perfect timing to check into the B&B. Unsurprisingly, Anouk claimed the loft bed. Our host recommended a takeaway dinner option and a beautiful forest by the lake to enjoy it in, perfect for shaking out those stuck-in-the-car-again wiggles. We found a black feather and a slug that looked like something out of a horror movie, but most of all, Anouk was in awe of the fallen trees, their root systems now giving the impression of some pretty radical cubby houses.
So I write this as we settle down for the night, excited for a shorter drive tomorrow, and to finally see our friends.
TBC.
