Freddie loves dressing up and he most loves to dress up as a vampire. I’ve always loved vampires too – I read Bram Stokers Dracula at Uni and was even in the Dracula Spectacular at school. So, I knew that the legend of Dracula came from the real life historical character of Vlad the Impaler … Read more
Pretend trips exploring Oceania including Christmas in June, and visits to Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. Pretty much the first thing I did when both the kids were born was apply for New Zealand citizenship for them as Mark is New Zealand born and bred. So, very early on in our pretend travels we went … Read more
As a part of our pretend travel days we have explored many places, including exploring Africa by pretending to travel to Kenya, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria. Africa has turned out to be the most beautiful and diverse of places and has been a joy to discover. I know there are so many more countries for … Read more
The truth is that this day has been inspired by an incredible Nepalese restaurant just down the road from us called Da Mount Gurkha! I was beyond excited to taste their locally famous food but as I started to research Nepal – a whole incredible day took shape. So here is how to pretend to … Read more
It been a very long time since we last pretended to travel but I think I actually planned this day two years ago. So here are some ideas for a pretend trip to the Netherlands. The issue is that it is very seasonal because I only felt we could really visit The Netherlands in tulip … Read more
I’ve never been to Vietnam and, being a history teacher, much of what I know is seeped in tragedy or horror. But friends who have been there insisted to me that this is not the Vietnam that they have seen and I had a natural desire to explore the real place, beyond the images I’ve … Read more
In the course of our adventures pretending to travel the world we have come up with some really special craft ideas, from making an edible pot of gold in pretend Ireland, to crafting African drums and painting Russian dolls. Craft items make great non-toy gift ideas, providing hours of fun. Here is a run down … Read more
In both our real world and our pretend travels we have always been in love with the Mediterranean Sea. Gentle, rolling and blue; it was the first sign of Europe that Mark saw from the plane window when he was 8 years old and the location of Homer’s ancient epic – the Odyssey, which is … Read more
Over the last year we have really appreciated the rich and varied culture of the incredible continent of Asia. We have pretended to visit Japan, China (twice), Thailand, India and Turkey and yet there is so much more to see! I would love to pretend to visit Nepal, South Korea, Vietnam and Israel and Jordan, … Read more
The weather this late Spring in the UK has been remarkable. It seemed to perfect time to visit Brazil – a country synonymous with sunshine and the beach! Penny has been really interested in Brazil as one of her close friends at school is from there and she knows quite a lot about the country … Read more