Bali with JahBella – Seminyak (Nov 2013)

Our second trip with 2 young kids brought us to Bali in November 2013, just a week after Jah’s 2^nd birthday and just as Bella was turning 6 months. Honestly we had no expectations for this trip at all and fully intended to stay in our villa through all 5 days. This was our chance to just relax and bond with both kids and to introduce Bella to her first ‘swim’.

We booked a two bedroom villa (Villa Hibiscus under Serene Villas) in Seminyak, the villa had its own pool and the management arranged for a pool fence so that we didn’t have to worry about Jah jumping in on his own. I can’t tell you how important and helpful a pool fence is especially when danger is not part of a young child’s vocabulary. The package also included breakfast (which the housekeeper would prepared in your villa every morning), 1 hour of in-villa massage for 4 pax and a BBQ set dinner for 1 night.

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8Sep2014

Royal Carribean – Legends of the Sea (2012)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays, Reviews, Travel with Kids by jahbella

Looking back at the list of holidays we have taken with the kids, it suddenly dawned onto me that as first time parents with Jah, we were really quite afraid of travelling overseas. I say that with such disbelief because we love travelling!!! (ok the holidaying part because Joel will tell you that he hates flying!)

With Jah, we had only been on 1 overseas trip (Phuket) by the time the boy turned 1. Bella on the flip side, has been on 4 overseas trip (Penang, Bali, Perth and Hong Kong) and she is 15 months now.

I think we were so fearful of how Jah would be on the plane (he cried like a maniac on his flights to and from Phuket) that we just convinced ourselves to take the path of least resistance. So while we were really craving for time away from home, we decided to try another mode of transportation, a cruise liner! Continue reading →

25Aug2014

Jah’s First Holiday @ 7 months old – Dewa Phuket

Posted in Holidays, Phuket, Reviews, Travel with Kids by jahbella

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the key to selecting a holiday destination for our family is to choose somewhere that we have been to before or are familiar with. Phuket and specifically Dewa Phuket was a destination and resort that we have been to twice prior to Jah’s arrival.

We went there as a couple in 2010 and again for our babymoon in mid 2011. The flight time to Phuket from Singapore was a mere hour and 40 minutes and the resort was located on Nai Yang beach which was about a 5 minutes drive away from Phuket International Airport. While this meant that it was far from the hustle and bustle of Patong Beach, we actually preferred a quiet place for relaxation. Continue reading →

21Aug2014

Weekend Escapades – Planning your Next Holiday

Posted in Reviews, Travel Planning, Travel with Kids, Uncategorized by jahbella

Are you thinking of planning for your next holiday but have no idea where to start? Well check out the Weekend Escapades app which has just been newly refreshed. It is basically an app which provides you with travel tips to 52 Asian destinations within a 6-hour flight radius to Singapore. Perfect and within a comfortable flight time when travelling with your little ones. Continue reading →

16Aug2014

3 ‘Must-Have’ Items when flying with kids

Posted in Travel with Kids, Uncategorized by jahbella

Alright so they might not exactly be ‘Must-Haves’ but they have definitely made our family travels a lot easier even if for a short while…

Lets start with the first item, the one item that all of us are very familiar with…yes the iPad. I know there are tons of views and articles of when we should expose our kids to iPads and their equivalents or if we should ever do it. Well that’s a debate for another time or maybe never

For us the iPad works and is especially useful on flights and holidays. I have to say that we are fortunate that Jah is not addicted to his iPad. Well yes there are days where he would insist on watching his ‘eggs Youtube video” on the iPad or watch one more video or play one more game before he showers. But there are also times where he has gone without his iPad for an entire 2 months (we almost forgot where the charger was). So yes we are ok with it and we just make sure to put lots of age appropriate content and educational apps in it.

The iPad comes in very handy when you are travelling on an airline that doesn’t have in-flight entertainment or the movies do not interest your kid. Continue reading →