Europe 2014- The Sands Resort and Spa

Traveling with kids? Looking for the perfect family-friendly hotel in Cornwall? I've got it for you.

During our Europe vacation in 2013, we stayed at the Sands Resort Hotel and Spa in Newquay, Cornwall. It was so wonderful, that we decided to return in the summer of 2014. Normally, I wouldn't review a place twice, but I thought that this warranted a second look, since we upgraded from a two bedroom, to a two bedroom ocean view apartment suite. Hopefully this review will help anyone who is trying to figure out the best accommodations for their family.

The apartment suite can be entered through the master bedroom or the kids room. We decided to keep the kids room locked and only use the door through our room. The kids are too young to have their own key, however with older teens or adults using the second room, this double entry could be a nice feature. The master was spacious with a private bathroom, a king sized bed and a smaller, bonus bed.

Our arrival was auspicious by evidence of the view outside of our window.

Sandwiched between the kids room and the master bedroom, we had our living room. The living room had a television with an X-Box console and a refrigerator. The best part of having this room was the extra space that it gave the kids to play. It's nice to be able to keep the toys in one spot and not trip over them in the middle of the night. When you're staying in hotels, space is a luxury.

The kids had their own room with twin beds and a bathroom. However, they preferred to sleep in our room on the little bed. Their room was just used to store their clothes and to get ready in the bathroom. In the end, we didn't really need the extra room, but it was still nice to sprawl out and have that space. I'm a product whore, so counter space in our bathroom was very limited.

It was another wonderful stay at The Sands Resort. This year, the kids tried the evening children program and absolutely loved it. The played games, watched movies and even had a disco night. The last few days of our trip, Felix kept wanting to rush our daytime activities, because he was so excited to get back to the kids club. They had a great time and we had a few hours to enjoy a relaxing dinner. A win-win for the entire family.

We also discovered a new part of the playground, it's more for little kids and was nearly always empty. The pirate ship was a huge hit.

I hope that our future travels bring us back to The Sands Resort in Newquay. I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you have young children. In addition to the children's programs, it's walking distance to the beach and just a short drive to a whole variety of outings. It's ideal.

2014 Wrap-Up

If 2013 was a life-changing year, then 2014 was the aftermath. 2014 was the year of taking stock and moving forward.

I spent much of the first third of the year, dealing with my aunt's estate. This was emotional and stressful. It was my first experience with selling a house. Luckily, Dan found an amazing team of relators (Team Kociela with First Team in Tustin), who took care of everything and made the process as painless as possible. The house sold fast and for well above asking. My aunt and uncle had bought their house before I was born and it was very hard for me to let go of a home that held so many happy memories. Luckily, a nice family with a new baby bought it and at the risk of sounding sappy, I hope that they fill it with love and wonderful memories of their own. I especially hope that they have epic pool parties!

After selling my first home, I turned around and had my first experience buying a home. Dan and I are now proud owners of a house in Big Bear Lake. We have spent many weekends enjoying our mountain retreat and we have already made friendships with several locals. We are starting to feel like part of the community.

I spent about four months working as a professional dog walker. Unfortunately, the company that I worked for, folded. However, during the short amount of time that I worked, I got to know two of the sweetest dogs around, a Golden Retriever Puppy named Busy and an energetic Labradoodle named Milo. My stint as a dog walker nearly turned me from a cat to a dog person. Nearly.

In 2014, we bought a Jeep Wrangler and took up a new hobby, Jeeping. We attended the Big Bear Jeep Jamboree and Big Bear Forest Fest. It's amazing how many trails are in our new backyard. We learned the real definition of JEEP ( Just. Empty. Every. Pocket.), as we got the bug to modify it, until it looked nothing like it did when we purchased it. We are looking forward to more events and modifications in the new year.

Between heading to Big Bear and our other travels, it felt like we were never home in 2014. We spent fifteen days, over four separate trips in Las Vegas, which included Jeeping in the Valley of Fire for the first time. Beautiful! We did a weekend in Chicago and we spent our first anniversary in Lake Tahoe, a place neither of us had visited previously. Our summer trip to Europe included three weeks in England and a little over a week in Sweden. It was great to finally see the country where my stepchildren live and to see their home/school/city. I ate Reindeer for the first time. Rudolph is delicious!

Life was filled up with other things, so I didn't go to as many plays, concerts or movies as I typically do. I did manage to see Josh Ritter, The Airborne Toxic Event and Britney Spears. The first two were phenomenal and the third was much better than I had anticipated. I finally got to see a touring production of The Book of Mormon. Hilarious!

I read fifty-two books and discovered both Booksparks and Netgalley.

I've finished five writing classes towards my Fiction Certificate at UCLA Extension. More exciting than the actually classes, is I've made progress on a novel idea that I've been contemplating for years. 2014 has been creatively, very productive.

2014 started off a mess, but the maelstrom has subsided and I'm entering 2015 calm and focused. I look forward to 2015!

Europe 2014 - Flyghotellet

Located in Bromma, a suburb of Stockholm, the Flyghotellet was our home for five nights during the first half of our time in Sweden. Although conveniently located to bus stops/tube station, the Flyghotellet is far enough away from the center of Stockholm ( about thirty minutes), that it's really not a hotel for tourists. We picked it for its close proximity to where my step-children live. It was easy for us to visit them every day, the primary purpose of our trip.

As you might have guessed from its name, Flyghotellet means "Flight Hotel" and the lobby is decked out in an aeronautical theme.

It was a basic hotel and our room was a little small, but I was impressed with the thoughtfulness that the owners and staff gave to making the most out of their property. Everyone was very friendly and the little touches went a long way. The lobby had a coffee machine and light snacks that were available twenty-four hours. There was a little computer center.

There was a roof top patio with deck chairs and views of the neighborhood.

The elevator (or Hiss) was covered with all types of announcements. We were never bothered by the "renewing", but I love the word choice. It sounds so much more positive than remodeling.

The room was small and basic, but it really had everything that we required. Unfortunately, the picture that I took of the bed didn't turn out, because I wanted to show the reading lights. I really appreciated having individual reading lights, but the one problem, was that the lights were mounted too low and both of us kept bashing our heads! We had two big chairs in the corner, which we used as a charging station for all of our electronics. Between the two of us, we have a lot of gadgets that all came along on vacation. I can't remember what Dan brought, but I had two Kindles, a Laptop, iPad, iPhone and a digital camera. That charging station may have been the most important area of our room!

There was a unusual heat wave going on during our visit, making everyone miserable. Hot, humid and sticky. Since they generally don't need it, our hotel didn't have air conditioning. On the second night of our stay, we returned to our room to find a fan had been set up for us. I was impressed that they had gone ahead and anticipated our needs, before us asking for a fan. Not only did they give us a fan, but they already had it set up and running, so that the room was cool when we arrived.

Breakfast was included in our stay. It was a unmanned buffet in the basement of the hotel. Most mornings, we were the only people at breakfast. It was quiet and we caught up on current events, as they always had the BBC News running.

The breakfast included a good variety of breads, cereals, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, meats and cheeses. There was a children's play area off to the side of the breakfast room, which was another thoughtful touch.

The Flyghotellet might not be a fancy hotel, but they definitely try hard to make guests happy. It's a decent place to stay if you are in the Bromma area and I imagine that we will return there on future trips to visit the kids.