We love to travel but we have found that as our family grew, our needs changed too. Whilst staying in hotels was great as a couple and worked out perfectly fine with two or three young children, we found that the more our family expanded, the more our requirements did too.
Our favoured accommodation option now when travelling together is always to book a villa. We’ve teamed up with Top Villas to list a few of our reasons why:
Hotel rooms aren’t big enough for all of us
Unfortunately, there isn’t a hotel room large enough to take all of us which is acceptable enough. I mean, there aren’t very many couples travelling with 11 of their 13 children so the demand for herculean hotel rooms isn’t great. Even adjoining rooms aren’t much help to us either, given that usually it is only two rooms which connect. You then have to take maximum occupancy into consideration and this means that the family would need to be split up over three or four rooms. With 10 of the 11 children are under the age of 13 this is not an option for us – plus what is a family holiday when your family is separated anyway?! We want our family to stay together.
Flexibility
When you stay at a hotel you normally have certain hours by which to adhere. Meals are served within certain times and the pool is open during certain hours. Our younger children rise extremely early and when they wake, their day begins. Waiting for the hotel to open up their restaurant isn’t my idea of fun with a handful of hungry, ratty toddlers and little ones so having our own kitchen is a must.
Privacy
We love our own space. We enjoy the reassurance we have when our children can stay in a villa with its own gardens and grounds to be free and play safely, but also because we acknowledge that there are a lot of us. We might love our kids but appreciate that not everyone else does, especially while on holiday. Having the privacy of our own villa means we can all relax and we aren’t bothering others either.
You can select exactly what your family needs
Whether you want to watch sunsets over the glorious Mediterranean or want a luxurious villa in Orlando within easy reach of Mickey and friends, you can choose exactly what you want and what your family needs. If you are concerned about pool safety or need to be within easy reach of the shops, you can search for exactly what you need and where, and take your pick from a selection of suitable properties.
Home comforts
As well as kitchen facilities which do well to save us money – we don’t mind cooking our own meals and buying fresh local produce – we find it really difficult to be without a washing machine! I know, it’s boring but I find it so much easier to keep on top of the laundry with a few daily washes than to return home with cases full or dirty clothes to catch up on. This is also beneficial if, like us, you travel for any extended periods too, when you would run out of clean clothes long before you would return home. Believe me, nobody would want to see me naked!
No more ‘bedtime creeping’
Staying in a villa offers the whole family much more flexibility than a hotel room ever could. When the older children were younger Mike and I would settle them in the hotel room for the night, then spend the rest of the evening creeping around the room trying not to disturb them or wake them up. Our one escape was the balcony, which wasn’t all that interesting after a while. The story is very different with a villa stay. Once the children go off to bed we enjoy quiet evening walks around the grounds as the sun sets, followed by a chilled glass of wine and olives. And maybe a competitive frisbee match or two too!
Looks amazing certainly no bedtime creeping x
Definitely not! Love it!