We have a new villa. Bigger actually than our old one but apparently the view isn’t as nice and still no internet.

Justin is working hard to find a solution.

Rhodes Villla Damage

Here are some pictures of the damage from our old villa. We feel terrible for the owners as buying this villa was a family dream and now they are having to go through all of this in a foreign country.

I always say things happen for a reason and workout in the end…

Here’s the new villa, Villa Angelika: http://www.sapphirevillas.eu/171/villaangelika/details.cfm

So on to some baby travel tips.

I like to try to find free and easy things to do when we are on vacation. Justin and I feel that we have done a ton of traveling and now when we visit a new place the fun of the trip is trying to live more like a local. The first thing I always do before I even arrive is find out if there is a local market and the best places to eat. By now you should know my priorities…my belly leads the way!

The second thing I always want to find is outdoor activities. Nice walks or hikes in around our destination. To walk off all that food we eat.

And the third main thing is a place to get a good drink. Here in England it is fantastic as we can bring Stella along for a pint and she can run around in the pub. Some pubs are baby friendly more than others so we search those out.

Now that we have Stella I try to look for a few other things as well.

Libraries, farmer’s markets, playgrounds, festivals, etc. All free and usually some sort of child friendly activities going on.

Taking a Walk Along the Thames

In Marlow we have been very lucky to be close to a lot of nice and free things to do with Stella. We’ve gone on a walk at least once a day along the toe path on the Thames. She loves seeing all the swans, geese, ducks and dogs. Thank goodness we brought the Mountain Buggy or we wouldn’t be doing have the walks we have done so far. I believe as the trip goes on we are going to be even happier we brought it. I found a store here to get a back-up tire as my only complaint with this stroller is all the tire issues I’ve had. But as much as we use it I don’t think I should complain.

We are also right on Higginson Park which has the best playground I’ve ever seen. Tons of play gym equipment and a soft surface. Stella loves going there and every time we walk past she points and shrills as she wants to go to the park.

Enjoying Higginson Park

The Marlow library is only 2 blocks away so we’ve been there several times to get books.

TIP: when you are traveling see if there is a local library that you can go to and check out books so you don’t have to bring a ton with you. Not that I’m a fan of the TV but if you must (it is vacation after all) you can likely rent or check-out child friendly DVDS. The library here also has a great magazine collection that you can check-out for free.

Yesterday I took Stella to their story time. She enjoyed seeing all the children and pulling all the books out more than the actual story but it was a nice interactive experience for her. Especially in a different country with different stories and accents.

Enjoying Story Time at the Marlow Library

Finally, we hit the farmer’s market in Higginson Park as well this week. Stella enjoyed seeing all the different foods and sampling the yummy sausage pie! (She has been living on pork products since we arrived).

"Yum Yum," Sausage Rolls from the Farmer's Market

Tomorrow Nana arrives (Justin’s mother). We are looking forward to seeing her and I know she can’t wait to see Stella.

On a different note, it seems that a cloud of bad luck has been following us since we arrived in England (today it was my laptop that had issues that still aren’t resolved and everything little that could go wrong did).  Perhaps it has something to do with the cloudy/rainy weather and once we get to Greece things will start to look up.

On a positive note Stella is doing really well and sleeping like a champ and is such a joy.  We are very lucky parents.  With all that is going on she’s able to make us smile and laugh and forget the worries.