03 Sep 2013
by Lara
in Family Gap Year, Kids Stuff
Tags: gap year for kids, gap year friends, Lara, Pacific Islands, South America, Travel
[Lara was four and a half when we started travelling – she’s spent a year on the road. When we get back to the UK next summer, she’ll be six and a half and will have been travelling for almost a third of her life. Will she remember home? How will she adjust back to a settled life? She’s an adaptable and resilient young lady who takes pretty much everything in her stride with the exception of trying too many new foods without a lot of bribery and corruption!

Lara’s travels
We decided it was high time for an interview with Lara so we could see what she thinks and share her views on our family gap year(s) ………]
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15 May 2012
by Mo
in Family Gap Year, Preparations
Tags: Arundel, Camping, Ecuador, Groupon, Spanish language, Travel
This weekend, we had friends to stay, peeled Martin away from his computer, put packing, paperwork and planning to one side and went out for a beautiful day in the sunshine to Arundel. It was a lovely reminder of what we are looking forward to most from our trip, hanging out together and enjoying life! We had a lot of fun on the boating lake and surprisingly no-one fell in – it was idyllic!

Back to rain, computers, school ,work and preparation today! Its only 58 days before we fly – more scarily, its 43 days before we move out of our home. More
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14 Mar 2012
by Martin Clark
in Family Gap Year, Preparations, Tips
Tags: ATM, Bank account, Bank charge, Cash, Travel

Commission free ATM Cash
‘People get divorced more often than they change bank’ is no longer true but I am sure many people (like me) have had the same bank account for 30+ years. There is a lot of inertia to overcome in moving and in a competitive market surely all their charges are much of a muchness? Calculator time and I was shocked!
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07 Mar 2012
by Mo
in Family Gap Year, Preparations, Travelling
Tags: Chile, Cook Islands, Easter Island, EasterIsland, Papeete, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, South America, Tahiti, Travel

So whilst my lovely workaholic hubby was blogging away earlier tonight, I was getting our 3 children to bed! But oh, he of little faith! Who needs to wait till tomorrow? I successfully booked our first flight using Avios miles and Amex BA companion vouchers – yes, we actually found availability! Thank you BA and thank you Amex! We’re headed to Rio de Janeiro on 11th July 2012! YAY!!! More
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03 Mar 2012
by Martin Clark
in Family Gap Year, Preparations, Tips, Travelling
Tags: American Express, Amex, Credit card, Debit card, MasterCard, Travel, Visa

Best Travel Credit Cards
If you go on holiday and spend £1000 on your credit card any idea how much you pay in fees? I hadn’t a clue, hardly top of my list of priorities if you are going away for a few days. So off to Google and Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert who do a nice comparison. Ouch… More
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12 Feb 2012
by Martin Clark
in Family Gap Year, Kids Stuff, Preparations, Volunteering
Tags: AdventureTravel, Charley Boorman, Mongol Rally, Mongolia, Morris Oxford, Nick Hewer, South America, Travel
With Oma baby sitting and Mo and I nursing mild hangovers we jumped on a train up to Olympia to visit the Adventure Travel Show a couple of weekends ago to do some research for our family gap year. Not sure what to expect but as usual nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I recognised quite a few of the speakers but the closest we got to any talks was standing next to Charley Boorman in the coffee area which was a shame as I would have found them pretty interesting (and Mo would have worried that I was after a bit too much adventure!). Nick Hewer of Apprentice fame was giving a talk More
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06 Feb 2012
by Martin Clark
in Family Gap Year, General, Kids Stuff
Tags: Christmas, Gap year, Lego, Santa Claus, Travel
Christmas in the Clark household is a bit like a big pass the parcel game, lots of unwrapping and a brief moment of delight at getting something (or a disappointed oh?).
Given that Ben and Zoe were back to playing with their (old) Lego by the Queen’s speech and making a spy mission kit out of the cardboard boxes that the presents came in it crossed our minds, not for the first time, that perhaps our kids are a bit spoiled. More
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04 Feb 2012
by Martin Clark
in Family Gap Year, Safety
Tags: Ben, Christmas, Gap year, Lara, Travel, Ulan Bator, Zoe
‘I thought you had Zoe?’ echoed between Mo and me as we got out of our cars. 10 minutes earlier we had both left the same school strings evening with 1 child each when really one of us should have had 2. Not a conversation to have when you have just departed on an overnight train, next stop Ulaan Baatar! More
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