A budget family guide to Turin, Italy

Standing in front of the Roman gates The first overnight stop on our Interrail trip , leaving London was Turin in Italy as we wanted to make as much ground travel-wise on the first day as possible and felt London to Turin via Paris was more than doable. We had a rather eventful journey after leaving Paris with a train in front of us breaking down inside one of Europe's longest tunnels, the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, which left us stuck at Modane train station in the Alps, for over 3 hrs, while they rescued the train inside the tunnel. Despite the delay, the staff were excellent throughout and we were given food and drink while we waited although this did result in getting into Turin at around midnight with two overtired children but we were safe and quickly caught a taxi the travel hostel.  Waking up in Turin the next day is really when our European adventure began, we had arrived at our first destination, ready to explore. We would be heading to the coast the next day so wanted to make a......

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5 ways to live more sustainably in 2024

* This post may contain affiliate links.   Now more than ever we know we need to do what we can in terms of cutting down our personal impact on the earth and that some of our daily habits need to be changed to encourage this. However, it's not a bad thing, in fact, these changes usually have a positive effect all round and are fairly easy to implement. Changes like this also need to be seen as long-term goals and nothing one and one situation - I've already do most of these things.  So here are 5 ways to live more sustainably this year 1.  Travel - focus on flight-free destinations and reduce your car use  We all love to go on holiday but if you are based in the UK with Europe right on your doorstep, there are so many ways to completely cut out flying while still enjoying a sunny destination while taking advantage of the fantastic trains and bus networks across Europe. Travelling by public transport is the most sustainable and often economical way to go, in 2022......

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Combo Torino, the coolest hostel in Turin, Italy

I've always been a fan of youth hostels and backpackers, the good ones, not the bad ones and there are a few of those out there but with a little research you can find some really fantastic ones that offer all the same amenities, sometimes more, than a hotel, in fantastic locations for a budget-friendly price and many are family-friendly but do make sure to check before booking as some are specifically for 18yrs+. Having stayed at many over the years as well as worked at 3 across Europe, I feel I know what makes a backpacker a place to be and what doesn't. When I took the kids interrailing I knew that the majority of our accommodation would be at youth hostels as there are so many benefits, such as being centrally located, having luggage storage (unlike Airbnb's), many have kitchens that can be used which means being able to do some self-catering and nearly all have lounges and chillout areas with books and games for kids to enjoy. They are often more relaxed than hotels wh......

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My 5 Country European interrail Itinerary with kids

Our 3-week Interrail adventure across Europe was one of the best things we have done together as a family. I had Interrailed a few times before having kids so I was especially excited to jump back on the trains with my kids. May. people seem to have the impression that Interrailing is for gap-year youths but that simply isn't the case, it's suitable for every age and children under 12 years old receive their interrail pass for free with an adult.  In an earlier Interrail post, I go into detail on how to plan, book and ensure you have the right reservations, which is really important. But in this post, I wanted to focus on the route we took and where we stayed and a short overview of what we saw. I will do individual destination posts soon where I will go into more depth on activities, where to eat, see and do.  1. Newport - London As we booked an early morning Eurostar from London St Pancras which meant we needed to be at St Pancras no later than 8:30am, we felt it would be b......

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How to plan a multi-stop Interrail train trip across Europe with kids

As some of you may know last year I took my boys on of the best adventures we have had so far, a multi-country interrail train trip around Europe. We managed to visit 5 different countries over the span of 3 weeks and travelled on multiple trains including high-speed, intercities, local trains and even a sleeper train and we had a blast, from start to finish.  This wasn't my first experience of Interrailing, I had done it before having kids so I had some idea of the importance of checking if you needed reservations prior to boarding or checking in advance if there was even space on a sleeper train as these regularly sell out weeks beforehand.  What is an Interrail Pass ? In a nutshell, it's a train ticket that allows you to travel on almost all trains in Europe, with access to 40 railway & ferry companies across 33 countries. If you plan to do a multi-country trip in Europe it's the most convenient and cost-efficient way to go about it. However some trains, especially ......

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