I love a holiday and this year I’ve had a few lovely trips with my little ones which has been divine. They don’t always have to be expensive, indeed we’ve been on some very inexpensive stay-cations but we have had quality family time resulting in family fun which is the most important thing about a holiday.

For me, a holiday is all about just being with family and probably my greatest holiday ever was the one when Jonny and I got married in Portugal. Our family and friends came with us and it was just perfect. Family time is so important, be it with your immediate people or enveloping all those that you love. I love my family which thanks to a holiday many years ago, extended in a way that I am forever grateful. My family is of course my children, my husband, parents, siblings, in-laws and so on but I also have a very special member that I would always include as family and that’s my best friend Eve.

Believe it or not I met Eve on holiday when I was 14 years old. Most people you meet when vacationing come and go I suppose. You keep in touch for a while then somewhere along the line you drift and the letters stop. Not so with Evie and me.

Back then, when I met Eve on holiday, I was having a hard time at school and a difficult period with my Father. My Mum wanted to whisk me away from everything and Christmas 1993 she decided that her and I would fly off to Tunisia. Sod the turkey and the Christmas tree; we needed some time out and off we went not really knowing what a Christmas in another country, just her and I would bring. What I found of course and as I mentioned, is a friendship that has lasted for the past twenty years and is still going strong. Not just a friendship actually but a part of my family is how I see Eve.

As I saw the new year in for 1994 my life had changed and I had a sister who I so desperately needed. A sister I still need and will always need. That holiday was one of the best things that ever happened to me which is why for my family post I’m going to tell you about it.

I cried and cried buckets when Eve went home a few days before me. Worried that I wouldn’t ever see my new friend and sister again. I didn’t need to worry though for we saw each other practically all the time. She lived in London and I in Norwich but because of where I went to school we got to see each other pretty much every week. Much later it was off to university for her and different things for me obviously happened too but we never drifted. We weren’t just friends but family you see and thanks to that family holiday back when we were 14 years old we had many more holidays and fun times together and still do.

We wrote to each other all of the time. When we couldn’t see each other or be at the end of a phone the letters would come and I owe half my growing up good times to my darling Viv (which is what I call her). We had children, got married (in that order) and have our ups and downs along our own pathways but we are always by each others side, just as family is of course. Eve and her daughter were bridesmaids at my close family wedding with Florence and my sister Phoebe. Of course they would be, I couldn’t get married without all my girls with me – another wonderful family holiday that was and Eve’s parents were there of course too, our parents are good friends. Florence was a brides maid for Eve when she got married last year too. Eve had only family members in her wedding party and some might have said Florence couldn’t be considered part of that but it’s like I tell you, we ARE family and it’s all thanks to that wonderful, wonderful holiday!

I could tell you tales of all sorts of fabulous holidays… Ones with my Mum, as a child where I was very lucky to experience all sorts of cultures and countries and amazing trips with Jonny to India and New York for the 4th of July amongst others. I could regale you with stories from girlie breaks in Magaluf and similar that might very well make your toes curl, of holiday romances, boat trips, plane journeys, our first holidays with our children and of course our wonderful wedding. But I had to tell you about that trip to Tunisia where I met Eve. I had to tell you because what could be more fitting for a family holiday post than one where a new family member was gained?

I have written this post to enter a blogging competition to win a family holiday with Mark Warner Holidays and Kiddicare. Mark Warner Holidays is also giving away a summer 2014 family holiday in association with baby specialist Kiddicare. This awesome competition opens 13th September and closes 31st October 2013. You can enter in any Kiddicare superstore or via the online entry form on Kiddicare’s Facebook page.

For tips on how to entertain the kids on your travels, the kit you absolutely shouldn’t leave home without, how to prepare your children (and you) for their first flight, and so much more useful know how written by mums and dads, visit the Kiddicare blog.

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