In August I took a vacation in Europe, spending 10 days in Germany and then 5 days in the UK (having had to spend 10 days out of Kenya in order to avoid going into a quarantine hotel in the UK, as Kenya was on the UK Red List at that time, even though it was on something equivalent to the Green List in Germany!)
My dad came to Germany and we went camping to a wonderful place (Ortrand Lausitz) with a pool and slide (and no COVID restrictions meant it was a normal holiday). We rented bikes for a day and cycled all around a lake nearby (Senftenberger) with the kids doing well, especially Leah as I think it was about 15km or so. She even climbed a tower on one side of the lake to get a view, and that was over 20 flights of stairs. A very nice cycle path around the lake through countryside, and we also stopped by a beach on one end which had one of those inflatable adventure parks on the lake to entertain the kids.
We had a couple of days at home there with the usual walks with the dogs and eating with the family and then went away again for a couple of nights, this time to stay in a static caravan, where we rented pedalos on the lake and also managed to get the kids walking. We also went to Berlin for a day for a few museums. The spy museum was very interesting and quite kid friendly, though it was hard to drag them away from the game there where they had to get across a room full of lasers. The Science Museum was also fun, with plenty of planes, boats and things for kids to play with. Of course we barely scratched the surface of that one.
After taking various COVID tests we then flew to England for 5 days (with a very long queue at the airport immigration since kids cannot use the passport machines) to finally see the rest of my family who I'd not seen for 15 months, and the kids had not seen for over 18 months. We managed to spend a lot of time with my nephew who is now very talkative and active. The kids had lots of fun at a local children's farm in Langleybury, and my kids really enjoyed talking with their aunties and grandma, whilst walking to local playgrounds and picking blackberries.
A visit to Cassiobury Park's impressive playground and swimming area (that had a reservation system to manage numbers) included a small train ride, a short walk and an education experience learning about canals and locks thanks to a very friendly man who was punting his canal boat down the canal. Leah especially really liked helping him out.
Apart from baking cookies and playing a lot, we also took the kids tenpin bowling (it might have been their first time actually) and to see a Tottenham game in the stadium. Unfortunately it was an evening game so Leah started to get tired and complain of the loud noise, but hopefully they'll remember the experience. They certainly like to support Tottenham when they see games on TV anyway. The stadium is still impressive, and it was quite surreal to be in a place with 30,000 people, who didn't have to wear masks (in theory everyone was supposed to be vaccinated to to have tested negative to get in but there weren't many checks).
The home-testing for COVID was only half successful as Leah and I were negative but Hannah's was inconclusive so we had to take another test (partly as part of the day 2 testing regime in the UK and partly to get back into Kenya again), which was a pain. That might not be necessary much more thankfully. We took the kids (now this phrase includes Jake, my nephew) to Gulliver's Land (my kids must have been at least two times before) which is a theme park mainly for under 10s. Unfortunately it was the last day of the summer holiday so there were long queues but it was manageable.
On our final day in England we went to Regent's Park where there is an outdoor theatre that with kids shows in the mornings that was quite sweet (and also quite childish, though OK for Leah's age), and met Jon and his family in the playgrounds there. There was a slight panic going to the airport as there was a traffic jam (though fortunately it has dissipated by the time we reached it) and we missed one of the junctions on the motorway, but eventually all went well, and we got back into Germany (who were very thorough checking for test and vaccine records) to spend a night by the airport before flying back to Kenya the next day.
A wonderful time and hopefully it won't be such a long time until the next visits, nor so complicated, as by the time I write this Kenya has been taken off the red list in the UK so travel is easier. Wonderful to spend time with Jake especially at that age, and allow the three kids to play so nicely together. Next time there will be Zach to play with too, just born to my sister last week. At least my kids are now old enough to mostly feed and dress themselves, as well as read, cycle and everything, so it won't be too chaotic in future holidays!
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