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Charlie Condou's Florida Holiday Inpsiration
Palm trees in Florida | Charlie Condou Florida Travel | Red Online
Holidays are great, everyone knows that. A chance to kick off the stresses of the daily grind and rediscover your equilibrium. Or, at least, that’s the plan.
I’ve been going away with the same friends for many years. On our first holidays together we were all single and unencumbered. Going away meant long nights of clubbing, followed by lazy days sleeping off hangovers by the pool.
Holidays with kids are a very different affair, but we were determined to continue our tradition of going away together. A large villa ticked the many boxes our group required – pool for the kids, self-catering and enough space to get away from each other when we needed to – and we decided our new hedonism would be totally focused on kids’ activities. I promptly booked every nearby amusement park I could think of. What could possibly go wrong…
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Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Villa in Orlando | Charlie Condou | Disney World | Florida Travel | Red Online
Our first (and only) day spent at the villa, which is amazing. Everything in America is bigger and the villa is no exception. Huge bedrooms, a fabulous kitchen and a picture-perfect swimming pool.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Sarah Parish and penguin | Florida Travel | Red Online
Despite everyone feeling a bit wiped out, we hit SeaWorld, which thankfully is just 15 minutes from our villa. The kids have an amazing day there. They get to stroke penguins, are chased by a flock of flamingos and meet a walrus called Clyde. We take them on lots of rides, feed them junk food and leave exhausted but overjoyed. The Parish family get lost on the way home.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou with daughter Georgia | Disney World | Florida Travel | Red Online
Aquatica, SeaWorld’s water park. This place is full of cool roller-coasters and other rides that, once upon a time, we adults would have been all over. But we realise very quickly that this is one of the things that has changed. Now, the kids come first, and if the ride isn’t suitable for them, it’s out.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou with daughter Georgia | Disney World | Florida Travel | Red Online
Disney World – aka Georgia’s Mecca. Breakfast with Princess Sofi a and Jake and the Never Land Pirates (this will mean nothing to anyone without preschool kids but meant EVERYTHING to ours).
Once a holiday night out would have been all about great restaurants and relaxed ambience. Now it’s about the children’s experience and their magical moments.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou's daughter Georgia and Sarah Parish's daughter Nell at Disney World | Florida Travel | Red Online
More Disney. The kids love it but I’m Disneyed out. It’s all a bit saccharine. I’m desperate for a day by the pool with a beer and a book, but it’s not to be. I’m also concerned by the amount of sugar my children are ingesting. It’s sending them slightly mad and I worry we’ll be thrown out of Islington on our return.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou and Sarah Parish and families around pool | Florida Travel | Red Online
We head back to SeaWorld but we’ve made a mistake with our passes and they’re not valid, so we head back to the villa. Even the kids look relieved. I think everyone’s had enough.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou and Sarah Parish sunbathing | Florida Travel | Red Online
Home time. I’m offered an upgrade on the flight (I love being on the telly sometimes!) but can’t bring myself to leave the other two struggling with kids on the red-eye so decline. Biggest mistake of my life. I spend the next seven hours unable to move with Hal asleep on me. Finally get home, overtired, over-wired and desperately in need of a holiday.
Visit Virginholidays.co.uk to book Charlie's Florida experience
Read Charlie Condou's full Florida diary in the June issue of
Charlie Condou reading Red Magazine | Florida Travel | Red Online
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