These are our picks of the best travel guides for the places we've visited. You'll find the best travel guides for IBIZA, THAILAND, CROATIA, MESICO and more. There are tons of guidebooks and travel guides out there to chose from but with these picks you won't go wrong. Lonely Planet or Rough Guides always being our faves. Heads Up: If you click through + buy a travel guide through any of our links, we receive a small commission from Amazon. This is at no cost to you and helps us to maintain this website's running costs. Thank you + happy reading! The Best Bangkok (Thailand) Travel Guides: Wallpaper City Guide Bangkok: The most stylish of guides. OK i'm going to admit that we don't use these to plan our trip. The places in here are too fancy for our travels with kids, but nice to look at. These guides just look so nice on the coffee table. Call us fickle! Plus we're partial to a rainbow bookshelf! Click on the guide to buy at Amazon Lonely Planet Guides: Bangkok. When you think ‘travel guides’ you think ' Lonely Planet '. With pull out city map! We've been using these guides for 20 years. See this as your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and miss in Bangkok. Shop for anything and everything at Chatuchak Weekend Market; learn to make zesty Thai dishes at a cookery school; and give thanks at the giant golden Buddha at Wat Pho; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Bangkok and begin your journey now! Click on the guide to buy at Amazon Rough Guides Travel Guides: We love these too! Click on the image to buy at Amazon The Best Thailand Islands Travel Guides: Lonely Planet Guides: Thailand. With pull out maps! We've been using these guides for 20 years. See this as your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and miss in Thailand. Guide covers Bangkok, Hua Hin, Ayuthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Nong Khai, Ko Pha-Ngan, Ko Samui, Railay, Phuket, Ko Phi-Phi, and more. Click on the guide to buy at Amazon. For more specific guides on Thai Islands check out our blog posts. Rough Guides Travel Guides: The Rough Guide to Thailand. We love these guide books too! Click on the image to buy at Amazon Lonely Planet Guides: Thailands Islands and beaches. We've been using these guides for 20 years. Stretch out on a perfect swath of white sand on Ko Lipe, rock climb the limestone karsts of Railay, and dive or snorkel around coral reefs with all kinds of fish in Ko Tao - all with your trusted travel companion. Click on the book to buy at Amazon (see newer version below pre-order only) PRE-ORDER Aug 2022 The Most up to date Lonely Planet Guide for Thailand's Islands & beaches.

Playacar Mexico things to do: There are over 200 Mayan ruins to explore in Mexico. The most famous Chichen Itza (Yucatan Peninsula) is a couple of hours drive from Cancun or 2.5 hours from our base in Playacar Mexico. But honestly, if you look around you'll find Mayan ruins on most walks. Especially in the Tulum area. In the Playacar area a short 5 minute walk back from the beach (to the Northern end nearer to the Pier end), yielded this little find which we felt very special vibes at. Most of the Mayan ruins charge entry but this site is absolutely free. You must take advantage of this if you're staying in the Playacar area close to Playa del Carmen. Like all ruins and historical places, it's pretty boring (I shouldn't say that as educator to children, but it is. As the kids said "It's just a load of rocks and stones", to which I replied "yes it is but...these rocks are....". Unless it's on a device, with sounds, things that whizz + woosh, we're always going to be up against it as parents aren't we). But since we're here to learn, we make the visit as interesting as possible by telling them facts about the place and picking some grass & flowers to make an offering to the gods. Anything to hold their interest. As I said, it's free so take advantage as a break from the beach days. The Playacar ruins were a launching point for Maya women to honour the Goddess Ixchel on Cozumel Island. The Maya women made this essential annual spiritual pilgrimage from this base to Cozumel to honour the Goddess Ixchel for a healthy pregnancy / birth. It was wonderful to walk around the ruins with the kids, feeling the energy there and chatting about the Maya and who they were. video of the Playacar Mayan Ruins: Playacar Mayan Ruinas, Fraccionamiento Playacar private Resort, Coral Negro, Playacar, 77717 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico The Mayan empire covered the vast territory in northern Central America and southern Mexico from 2600 BC. This is a great spot in Mexico to soak up the Mayan culture, peacefully without the hustle of tourists. If you plan to visit with kids it's great as it's close by to the beach. There's loads of grass space to explore and they can wander safely without having to hold their hand or worry about others. As it gets so hot in Mexico during the day it's proximity to the beach means kids can handle to 10 minute walk without overheating or moaning. if you're planning a walk during the day, you'll only need to set aside 10 minutes for the walk. We visited in February and we were the only ones there. I'm not sure what other times would be like to visit. Although the Playcar area is a large gated residential area so doesn't have the huge volume of tourists anyhow. Let me know if you visit the Playcar Ruins at any other time of the year and how it was. above giving an offering of flowers to the energy & spirits of the ruins. Which Bertie found hilarious. Boys! GETTING TO THE PLAYACAR RUINS If you are staying in Playa del Carmen, the Mayan ruins Playacar are easily accessible by foot or taxi. There are two ruin sites and both are accessed off Avenida 10. Make sure you take water with you and sunscreen as it does get incredibly hot out there. Footwear ideally a closed shoe like a trainer would be good. We rocked up in our sandals, which was fine, as we just stumbled on this site after a quick walk by accident. Our sandals were ok but it meant we just had to tread carefully on the rocks. If you are traveling in from Cancun, make sure to book a tour for a full day in Playa del Carmen + sightseeing at the Playacar ruins. It'll take around 1 hour to get to Playcar from Cancun, so you'll want to make a day of it exploring the area of Play del Carmen. There's lots to do there including Xcaret Park (a must do). Find Playcar Mayan Ruins easily on Google Maps Some of the other ruins to explore in Mexico are: Chichén Itzá El Castillo, Chichen Itza Tulum. Tulum ruins on the beach Coba. The Mayan Nohoch Mul pyramid in Coba Palenque. Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque Calakmul. Calakmul Bonampak. Painted walls in Bonampak Ek' Balam. Jaguar mouth on the Acropolis, Ek' Balam Uxmal We plan to tick off each and every site with the kids and report back here. If you love our content, don't forget to subscribe to hear the latest in our travel adventures

So you know, this is not an ad. And this is not financial advice. I'm just a happy earner and recommend it to friends because it's literally a way to make cash back / free money on the stuff I'm buying anyway. I share a personal referral link at the end for friends at the end to get $25 for both of us if you sign up. Not a business promo or paid ad, i'm just happy to get free money - and this is one of my many ways that I do that - see my pic below of my earnings in just 4 mth) Every month we get £100 cashback paid back to us in our account on our Crypto.com card. That's 3% cashback on all of our family spending. And I mean all of our spending - so our monthly family budget / spending is around £2000 - £3000 for a family of 4. Sometimes more if we're booking trips or it's a heavy spend month. Even just 1% is literally free money. Why would you turn free money away? I certainly wouldn't and don't. The monthly family budget includes our weekly grocery shop spend, our petrol costs, the kids new shoes / clothes, my make up, Si's records, our coffee shop visits, eating out costs, general spending, gift buying for birthdays, literally EVERYTHING we use our bank card for / or anywhere that accepts VISA (which is literally everything + everywhere, we get 4% back - which let me tell you really mounts up!!!). With our tier we also get FREE Spotify & FREE Netflix with ours (saves us around £30 a month) oh & FREE Airport lounge access. Ok, you're not going to be able to retire off this, but it's free money that you wouldn't have had before. And whilst it's technically not passive, because we have to actually spend the money to get the 3% back. IT's money we were spending anyway on our life costs. So HOW do we 3% back on ALL our spending? It's through our Crypto.com card. A pre-paid top up card that we put our monthly budget on and then whenever we buy something in a shop or online or pay for a meal in a restaurant for example, we use our crypto.com card instead of our bank card. The cash back gets automatically applied to our crypto.com account and is paid to us in a crypto currency called CRO. And the BEST THING about getting paid cash back in CRO is that it grows in value. HOW? 2 ways. First, we let the CRO mount up over the year rather than selling it for cash straight away. This is because the £100 a month isn't going to change our lives, but over the year £1200 is. It could book us a holiday or be used to pay half of one months living costs for example. So we let it mount up. You could sell it for cold hard fiat cash £££ or $$$ straight away if you wanted to. And this is the magic really free money bit: Whilst our CRO is mounting up through the year in the account, we also put it to work for us and GROW. We GROW the CRO!! Sorrrry. We stake our CRO within the crypto . com app to generate us an EXTRA 6% on top. So FREE MONEY on top of free money! Yeyyyy. That's nice isn't it. (Video of card here) But even better! And this is my favourite thing. The second way of growing that free CRO / money that you've been given. Is that CRO is a crypto currency. As you know crypto can be very volatile. It goes up in price / value and can go down in price / value. But this is what makes holding your CRO over the long term and adding to it constantly from all those little bits of cash back dripping in (this could be seen as dollar cost averaging, but without your own money. Because it's being given to you for free - so no risk to you. HERE IT IS: Overall, if something is a good investment (we see CRO as being a good crypto currency purely because it's connected to crypto.com who are massive already and are only going to get bigger / more mainstream in bringing crypto to the masses / see the mass advertising in F1, sporting etc, and thus we expect the price of CRO to go up in value over time. (DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE only an fun thing that we're doing for ourselves). So, if the free CRO you got, say you got 10x CRO that when you got it was selling at 30p per CRO, 1 year later is now selling at 50p per CRO. You obviously get far more £ for your CRO. Not only that the CRO has grown to 12x because of that interest you yielded on it. Coooooool ha!? This is all purely an example. And all purely what we do and are doing to get 1-8% back on our regular household spending. If you have quite a lot of money to invest you could get the top tier of 8% cash back. Wow. Money makes money right?! So HOW do you get 1 - 8% back on your spending. Sign up to Crypto.com using my referral link here. MY CODE in case you need to type it in anywhere is s4z35tj9j5 When you sign up to Crypto.com and select their Ruby card then using my link We both get $25 free CRO, then you'll be on your way to making all that cash back on your household spending. I would never recommend this if I didn't think it was worth it. Or if it didn't work. It's literally a way of getting cash back on spending that's in crypto, that you can put to work on top of that. Want to see my earnings from my account since December 2021 to today 22 April 2022 ? ($528 in 4 months - which doesn't include the earnings from staking, this is just the cash back amount). This is not from heavy spending, like I haven't booked flights on this card etc. So imagine if I did start. Not bad huh? I spent the money anyway but instead of having zero money. I have $500 sat in my account + that's growing. They have different tiers of cash back. You choose the right one for you, which gives you a different level of cash back %. We have the Emerald card. We get 3% cash back on our spending plus free Spotify & Netflix p month. The free card is the midnight blue, where you just sign up and start getting 1% cash back (this one you won't get the $25 free CRO I mentioned). You don't put any CRO in as your initial investment to stake, You just apply & go. The Ruby Card and upwards is where you'll get this free $25 and a better percentage rate for your cash back so that's worth keeping in mind. You have to buy $400 of CRO to have the Ruby account and stake it to start using the account and getting your 2% cashback. But after the staking period is up, that CRO is yours to do what you want with - sell, keep staking - keep as an investment for the future etc. Sign up to Crypto.com using my referral link here. When you sign up to Crypto.com and select their Ruby card then using my link We both get $25 free CRO, then you'll be on your way to making all that cash back on your household spending. I'm obviously not a financial advisor so don't take any of this as advice. I'm only doing me & then telling others whats working for me / us / my family. If you have any q's I'll do my best to answer them with what I know. Let me know how you get on with your cash back earnings . Let's do this thing! Let's earn some money instead of watching it drip drip drip away.

For mums thinking it's soooo expensive is it worth it? It is on both counts. The ticket price is not cheap per child. And when you have more than one kid, jees those costs mount up. \ We were gifted this as a day out from an aunt but after experiencing it, we will go again with our littlest now that he's old enough to fully enjoy the magic. He'll be 6 and we think six is such a magical age for this place. invitation from LaplandUK that we put in the fire for Lilly to find This is a really well done magical experience for the UK. We normally get turd second rate things to do with kids, so I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. But when I saw the invitation arrive through the post... I was pleased to be going. It's like a movie set in the woods. It's as close to the actual real Lapland as we can get. Good lighting, special effects and fake snow. And it's done well. I can see why it sells out on ticket launch. If kids are lucky enough to go here, then it's a good experience. Lapland UK is based in Whitmoor Forest in the gorgeous Royal Town of Ascot, Berkshire. We stayed overnight in Egham and drove in to Ascot through tree lined roads - a beautiful part of the UK. We arrived early and the car park was huge and well organised with attendants directing traffic to bays. The event itself is set in beautiful woodland forests, with wood cabins, snow covered branches and cheeky elves pottering about. The kids pick up their Elf Passports at check in with is a little booklet with your time to meet santa in as well as activity's and things to find / stamps to collect in each area, that we fill along the way with. You meet elves, straight out of drama school. So convincing that I'm already onboard with this.The kids are all hook lined already. In the middle of a magical forest scene for story time, elves enchant the children further with a twisty fingered story about Father Christmas & the magical world of Lapland. It's a moving tour, where you are ushered into the next section, quite seamlessly: from helping Elves + Father Christmas get ready for the big day by making actual real toys. To meeting Mother Christmas and decorating gingerbread men that you take away. There is an Elven village along the way, where you are free to potter and take part in activities including making a metal shoe for Rudolph, that you can take home and visiting the lapland post office to send your letter to Father Christmas. This is a very charming little post office and by this time I was fully immersed into the magic. We went on the ice rink & grabbed a drink from the cafe. Lilly couldn't believe her luck that she'd actually got to see the real Lapland. She forgot that we hadn't actually gone anywhere on a plane. By this point all known facts were irrelevant. This was magic. Throughout it all the anticipation is mounting as to when we may finally meet the big man. We know our time slot is coming, but we're on our best cute behaviour - what if he surprises us. And we know it's getting close. When an elf comes to take us through a secret part of the forest we know. And by God he's good at his job that elf. This is definitely it. It's happening. We've already passed the real reindeer. God it's soooo close. We've even passed Santa's sleigh. Oh ma goddd it's actually happening. and there it is! A nice touch - your child's name is already printed on the good list for them to find. cute. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures. I think I just got carried away in the magic. All the more reason to make the return trip with Bertie Boo.

Did you even go backpacking around Thailand if you didn't taking a jumping beach photo? I don't think so. This picture was taken after camping out overnight on the empty uninhabited island off The Phi Phi Islands, Thailand. Along the way of an Island hopping trip around the Thai islands. Just 20 or so on our own little island in Paradise. We slept on the beach under the stars. It was on this beautiful emerald jewel in the middle of the ocean, that we watched the sun go down. Ate simple Thai food cooked over fire. Sang songs around the campfire. Was at one with nature. And then we watched the magical sun come up. Sunset over the Andaman sea our camp at night Sunrise over the Andaman Sea This was the sunrise at 5am over May Bay. We drank piping hot coffee that our Thai friends brewed over the fire. It was strong & needed. But this moment was very beautiful. coffee as the sun rises over the Andaman sea My top tip for world travel with kids: wake up before the sunrises and head out to the beach to watch the beauty of the sun rise in each country. Do a sun salutation with them. You'll soak up the suns energy for the day + It'll be a precious memory forever. It's a moment we'll never forget & we were lucky enough to get the chance to camp there. Back packing around Asia is one of our favourite things to do with kids. It's just so easy. We've only ever backpacked with 1 child and are looking to return to Asia with 2 children soon. The flights are going to be your main expense as getting to Thailand is expensive. We fly by Emirates every time and have lounge access which helps with kids and their snacking. Other flight operators are available sometimes cheaper. Travelling around Thailand with kids, accommodation with kids and food is still relatively cheap. Gone are the days of living off $1 per day there but it's still do-able to budget travel with kids and still see a lot. We're planning a trip to Thailand with 2x kids soon and we'll post all about it. Documenting it all in detail as we go. If you're planning to visit Maya Bay island with kids, wait until you get there before booking an excursion as you'll find better deals and cheaper prices than booking online. Once you're there you can shop around in Ton Sai village as there are lots of agents taking bookings whilst you're there. You'll be able to barter to get the price down. Typically we get 20% off as a guide or you can get the kids free if you smile nicely. MY PERSONAL TIP: Hire a private long tail boat to get there before the crowds arrive at 10am. It'll cost you around 2000 baht for around 5 hour trip. Worth it imo. Get there before 8am or after 3pm for less people. There is a National Park entrance fee to bear in mind that sometimes isn't included in your excursion fee (ask about this so you're not caught out paying over the odds). Approx 400 baht p person. If you're planning to island hop or visit a few islands around Thailand with kids, you'll travel by long tail boats (water taxi's). Water Taxi is the cheapest and fastest way to travel around Thailand beaches. Ton Sai Beach (Koh Phi Phi Don) to Maya Bay takes around 1 hour. Top Tip: if you book a later trip where you're one of the last boats to leave, you'll see the night time plankton glowing in the sea. Which is fun for kids to see. UPDATE *Maya Bay has recently reopened (January 2022) after a 4 year close for environmental rejuvenation. And then of course covid hit. The water right now is clearer than ever. We know a family that have only recently returned and they said it's just perfection right now. Now is going to be one of THE Best times to see it's beauty before the tourists arrive. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about travelling to Thailand with kids, travel tips with kids, and more.

We woke up feeling pretty bleary eyed the next morning, after a lovely date night in Brighton, but a coffee in the hotel room (Mercure Brighton Sea Front) and a cold shower soon sorted that. We headed out into the already warm morning, a short hop down the beach was a really good find Lucky Beach café. Set right on the beach, we bagged a table on the pebbles with views to the beach. Ok, so it's not exactly a secret spot that we stumbled upon, as it's Brighton Beach front, Lucky Beach it's a very popular place - and for good reason. It's good. And prime spots can sometimes be complacent. There is no shortage of places to eat in Brighton, whether that's for breakfast, brunch, lunch or evening. The choice can be pretty overwhelming. And when you want to make it count, you want to know the best spot to have brunch in Brighton. Then we hope this helps narrow things down for you - you won't go wrong at Lucky Beach for the beachfront views & the food. The sun was already blazing so we took a bit of shade. We do love a good breakfast/brunch. After a few drinks the night before the Fresh Crab Benedict really hit the spot. The crab made it all a little unusual, set on avocado, sourdough bread and just the right amount of hollandaise sauce - this was doing good things to us. We were more hungover than we thought. Lucky Beach has a varied brunch menu, with all the classics and then a few with a twist.You probably don't know you need a Lucky Beach crab Benedict in your life.... But, you do! A couple of gorgeous fresh squeezed juices. A few flat whites and we were back on top. We got lucky at Lucky Beach. And we'll be back when we're next in Brighty. The morning after. Thank god for sunglasses Lucky Beach Cafe Address: 183 Kings Road Arches Brighton Beach, Brighton BN1 1NB England

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Heads Up: If you click through + buy a Thailand travel guide through any our links, we receive a small commission from Amazon. This is at no cost to you and helps us to maintain this website's running costs. Thank you + happy reading! We have everything we need literally at our fingertips with our smartphones. We do all of our families travel plans and travel bookings from our website on our smart phones. BUT there's something magical about flicking through pages of a travel guide book (and a coffee of course. And also when looking for The best beach, there are a lot of claims on the internet that are not updated or monitored. What might be seen as 'The best beach in Thailand' by a local who has a beach bar on it, does not qualify it as such, and no reputable guide book would make such claims. I trust that if Lonely Planet guides say it's a beautiful beach. Then it's a beautiful beach! We had a bad experience of a promise of 'the best beach in Egypt' and it still hurts to this day. It was awful! We might blog about it one day. These are my pick of the best guide books for Thailand Islands. To help you plan and navigate your way around the Thailand Islands and best beaches. Especially good if you plan to Island hop. They help me plan the best route for our island adventures From one archipelago to another. As a travel guide book, you can't really go wrong with the Lonely Planet Guides. Tip: if you can wait until August 2022 for the latest release. You can pre-order that below. Buy your Thailand Travel Guides below with a focus on Islands + Beaches online: Lonely Planet Guides: Thailands Islands and beaches. We've been using these guides for 20 years. Stretch out on a perfect swath of white sand on Ko Lipe, rock climb the limestone karsts of Railay, and dive or snorkel around coral reefs with all kinds of fish in Ko Tao - all with your trusted travel companion. Click on the book to buy at Amazon (see newer version below pre-order only) PRE-ORDER Aug 2022 The Most up to date Lonely Planet Guide for Thailand's Islands & beaches. Click on the book to pre-order at Amazon now Lonely Planet Guides: Thailand. With pull out maps! We've been using these guides for 20 years. See this as your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and miss in Thailand. Guide covers Bangkok, Hua Hin, Ayuthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Nong Khai, Ko Pha-Ngan, Ko Samui, Railay, Phuket, Ko Phi-Phi, and more. Click on the guide to buy at Amazon. For more specific guides on Thai Islands check out our blog posts. Rough Guides Travel Guides: The Rough Guide to Thailand. We love these guide books too! Click on the image to buy at Amazon

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You were just what's needed when the chips are down and a soul searching overhaul is needed. There's so much to do in Playacar and Playa del Carmen Mexico for kids. But we NEEDED this break after Christmas to rejuvenate and we didn't plan activities in. We needed leisurely beach days surrounded by natural beauty. We needed to eat well. Re-balance. And get back to listening to our souls. Purposely, this trip was never about sight seeing and fun packed fun filled days. But if you want that it's there. And we'll definitely return to do it all. In fact we're already planning that return trip. We took a 360 degree turn on our lives at the back end of 2021 and decided to make some major life changes. The kind that need absorbing and thinking on. This holiday was a chance to reflect and plan. We didn't want outside distractions. We came together on this holiday as a family and it's one that we'll treasure forever. The days were spent getting up really early, having beautiful fruits and yoghurts for breakfast. Si went to the gym every morning. I went for a swim with the kids every morning. We had mid morning Mexican coffee, delicious healthy lunches of salsa guacamole and tortilla's lots of salads. We set out on daily walks to find quiet hidden beaches. We set up our base on that beach. And we spent time playing, relaxing, reading. Anyone with kids knows that holidays aren't really so relaxing with kids. But Mum & Dad here needed to relax and the kids sensed that. They played all day on the beach. This holiday was so naturally beautiful. So relaxed. And exactly what we needed to rejuvenate. Playacar beach is pretty. It's typical Mexico / Caribbean side. Soft white sand and blue waters with palm trees lining the edge and mangroves further in. There was a lot of churn because of storms whilst we were there that took a few days to clear. We'd seen it when we first arrived looking very beautiful so knew that this was purely caused by the storms. New arrivals were looking on the beach feeling hard done to. The spot outside the Wyndam Viva Resort was the best. As you turned left on Playacar beach, to the northern side, it's the pier where the ferries run to other islands (handy for day trips to Cozumel). To the right, a long stretch of Playacar beach with hotels along. Getting busier and busier with a thinner strip of beach to fit all the beach beds on. But a long stroll along this beach, past all the hotels, until it looks like there's nothing left, carry on. About 45 minutes with slow 5 year old. Probably 20 minutes as a couple. You will be rewarded with a pristine, people free beach. Exactly what we love. We called it lovers beach. And it was just for us.

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, it’s located on the Reykjanes peninsula and is the most popular tourist destination in Iceland, although it really doesn’t feel like it’s that busy, due to the strict limit on visitors per session, which is something I really rate. The entrance to The Blue Lagoon. The scene there is pretty other worldly, with the white snow capping the dark rocky landscape, this contrasts against the super bright blue of the water. It’s the high silica content of the water which reflects the light and gives it the super blue appearance. The steam rising from the bathwater hot water only adds to the unique feels of this place. When you arrive you get to change in a super clean changing area. There’s an outdoor dash. It’s not strictly a dash, but when you’re outdoors in minus 5 in your short shorts…. It’s a dash mate. Down the steps into the pool. Once you’re in it feels really good to be warm. You get a good couple of hours here to just float around, try a face treatment with some of the silica mud, it is also high in sulphur and has regenerative qualities. This is available for free on the sides of the pool, so is well worth a try. I do love a facemask, but I also have skin that can be a bit sensitive. I also am prone to a bit of eczema and a found this mud left my skin feeling clean and amazing, after a shower I felt like a new man and I swear it took years off me. There’s a drink included in your entrance price, at the swim up bar, so we took advantage of a hot pool and a cold pint. We relaxed and chatted, with our face masks on, both amongst ourselves and to a few other groups of tourists from around the globe, picking up some good travel tips from world wise travellers and listening to their stories…. I’ve spent worse mornings. Absolute scenes down at the lagoon. This was a dads weekend away. But The Blue Lagoon is a cool place to take kids. They'll freeze their little nippers off, but it all adds to the excitement. Wim Hof style. Get their blood pumping then take them for hot chocolates at the on site cafe.

Fletch's super squidgy Healthy Gluten Free + Dairy Free Chocolate Brownies This is a tried and tested recipe that I tweak from time to time but keep coming back to as it just works. These brownies are just so chocolatey. The girls in the house get our hormonal treat sweet chocolate fix. They're so squidgy, that Fletch's Healthy Gluten Free + Dairy Free Chocolate Brownies literally bring the boys to the yard. They contain one of your 5 a day as it includes real sweet potatoes & bananas. And best of all they are Gluten free (Bertie and I are gluten intolerant so any tasty variations of gluten loaded treats we always try, perfect, before sharing. And trust me gluten intolerant or not - you're going to want to try this recipe! "these are the best (scoff scoff) chocolate brownies (scoff scoff) I've ever had!" – Bertie age 5 eyes wide looking for more "I'd go as far to say that these are the best chocolate brownies I've had" - Si age 43 thinking about having them with a coffee in work tomorrow "really nice mum, you can't tell they've got sweet potato in them" - Lilly age 13 approvingly. I can tell she's eyeing another. "hands OFF absolute bunch of piglets - these are meant to be mum's healthy treats for the week you total greedy fiends. Back off BACK OFF" Ok so you get the drift. These are good brownies. As myself and Bertie are gluten intolerant, we are always on the lookout for tasty gluten free recipes to try. We save the best, but honestly , most, we bin, never to try again or share. It's so hard getting the standard we love but without gluten. It's also no secret that I'm on a big healthy life kick. I put 2 stone on during lock down and I'm here to shift it. So far it's going well. I've lost 10lbs in 3 months. But I need my sweet treats & chocolate if I'm going to stick long term to the plan & reach my goal. WHICH I WILL BTW. The family are all coming along with me on this health plan, because i'm making it so god damned irresistibly yumsville. Squidgy Gluten Free / Dairy Free Chocolate Brownie Recipe Ingredients This recipe is dairy free + gluten free. 1 sweet potato 1 banana 3 table spoons peanut butter (crunchy or smooth we prefer crunchy because we love the texture) 1 table spoon honey (or more to sweeten, we're here for the cocoa rather than sweetness) You can also use stevia if you've ra out of honey 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 3 heaped table spoons of quality cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking powder optional: dried figs to go on top Method I'm a lazy cook by nature, so the easy method is: Cook your sweet potato, whack in a bowl with all ingredients, squash to death with a fork, bake for 15 mins 180 degrees. Pig as soon as they come out of oven and burn mouth. Proper Directions: Preheat to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Peel & cut sweet potato into pieces. Boil until soft / squashable. In mixing bowl add all ingredients. Squash together until mixture is evenly mixed. Note: your mixture will be lumpy and not smooth - that's fine. Pour into lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. The top of your brownies should look baked and the insides should be squidgy. If you feel that the insides of the brownies are too wet put in the oven for a few extra minutes. Remove the gluten free brownie from the oven and set them in a baking rack for 10 minutes. Voila! Smack all naughty little fingers clambering up over the worktop sides to prod and poke until cooled and ready. 10 minutes and your squidgy gluten free brownies are ready. Serve them right after or store them in an airtight container for up to 1 week for a quick sweet & healthy treat. Let me know if you try the recipe what you think. If you change the recipe and make any improvements I'm hear for the win. I never get chance to take a finished picture because we're all too greedy to wait. But I promise next time I bake. I take.