My travel & days out diary

The Bristol Wheel ferris wheel near We The Curious on Millennium Square Bristol

8 Hours in Bristol With a Teen & Preteen: What We Squeezed In & What It Cost

Published on July 28, 2026July 28, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

Earlier this year our daughter was seriously ill and spent time in hospital. During her recovery, unable to eat properly, she started looking back through old photos of a pizza restaurant we’d all loved in Bristol, called Pepenero’s, with its brilliant vegan pizza. She’d been dreaming about it. We promised her that when she was better, we’d take her back for that pizza.

A few months later she was back to her normal self and her birthday was coming up. She didn’t want a party or anything with friends this year, instead she just wanted a family day out in Bristol. Wake the Tiger, We The Curious, and that longed for pizza. Simple as that.

The only complication was the budget. We’re self-employed and this year our income took a significant hit, so a day out in Bristol (three hours from home in Cornwall) isn’t something we could just do on a whim at the moment.

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We The Curious Bristol entrance with colourful murals on the outside wall

We The Curious Bristol Review: Is Late Entry Worth It? Our 2026 Family Visit With a Teen and Preteen

Published on July 20, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

We visited We The Curious in Bristol as the second half of a big family day out, having spent the morning at Wake the Tiger. It was our daughter’s birthday and she had chosen both attractions – which turned out to be a great decision, even if the two kids ended up with completely opposite opinions about each one by the end of the day.

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Giant projected female face with multicoloured cluster ceiling at Wake the Tiger Bristol

Our Wake the Tiger Bristol Return Visit 2026 – Was It Worth It With Teens?

Published on June 23, 2026July 20, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

We first visited Wake the Tiger in Bristol a few years ago, just me and my son when he was eight. It made a big impression – visually at least – even if he spent the first ten minutes trying to drag me back out! So when my daughter said she wanted to go for her birthday this year, we decided to make a proper family day of it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it had been a few years and wondered if it would feel the same, or whether the kids being older would change things. As it turned out, quite a lot had changed – and mostly for the better.

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Is Segovia Worth Visiting for a Day? What We Saw in Just 6 Hours

Published on April 30, 2026May 1, 2026 by Victoria2 Comments

On our recent family road trip from the UK through Portugal and Spain, we needed somewhere to break up the long drive from Sedella in the Andalusian mountains to Santander on the north coast.

Segovia was an easy choice.

My husband had wanted to visit for a while, mainly to see the famous Roman aqueduct, which is one of the best-preserved in the world.

The only issue was time.

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Visiting the Costa Nova Striped Houses & Cool Architecture in Portugal

Published on April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

Colourful striped houses right on the beach, it looks like one of the most photogenic places in Portugal.

But what’s it actually like to visit?

We spent two nights in Costa Nova as part of our Spain and Portugal family road trip in April, arriving late in the dark after our overnight ferry crossing and a long drive across Spain and Portugal.

The next morning we were visiting family in Viseu, then heading all the way south to Salema in the Algarve.

That meant we only had one full day here, and so the weather was just whatever it was going to be.

And honestly, our experience wasn’t quite the sunny postcard you might expect!

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Sedella, Spain, in April: Return Visit for 2 Days to the Andalusian Mountains

Published on April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

Sedella isn’t somewhere you stumble across by accident.

It’s a small white village set high in the mountains of southern Spain, and you really have to want to go there, or know about it.

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Salema, Portugal, in April: Return Visit for 3 Days on the Algarve

Published on April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

You know when you return somewhere and hope it feels just as good as the first time?

That was Salema for us.

We’d visited Salema in February once before and loved this quiet pocket of the Algarve. We’re not fans of built-up, tourist-heavy places, and Salema offered a peaceful escape that felt completely different from the busier parts of the region.

On that first visit, we stayed at NAU Salema Beach Village and honestly felt like the only guests there. It was that quiet.

So coming back again during the UK school Easter holidays in April, how would it compare? Would we love it just as much?

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brittany-ferries-priority-disembarkation-worth-it-review

Is Priority Disembarkation Worth It on Brittany Ferries? (With vs Without)

Published on April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by VictoriaLeave a comment

When you’re on a long ferry crossing, especially one that lasts over 20 hours, the last thing you want is to sit waiting to get off.

So when booking our ferry with Brittany Ferries, we added priority disembarkation on the outward journey.

We were travelling lots with long drives on a road trip across Spain and Portugal, so thought it would be nice to get off quickly and crack on with our first long drive.

On the way home we decided not to pay extra for the priority disembarkation as we didn’t have such a long drive and thought we’d just save the money, as we were heading home anyway by this point.

But did we make the right choice?

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