My British born kids made many observations about America and loved experiencing a different place with a different climate and spending time with American relatives and friends.

Here is what they did and thought:

• The toilets are great, they actually suck stuff down and flush automatically
• Why are there such big gaps in between the toilet doors? People can see in!
• You have to ask where the bathroom or restroom is (not the toilet). But there isn’t a bath in there nor do you go there to rest – ??
• Loved meeting and hanging out with American cousins
• Loved seeing and spending time with American grandparents
• Loved meeting up with American friends who used to live in the UK
• Everything is bigger – the food, the drinks, the roads, the cars, the houses, the bathrooms, the fridges, the stores, the cats, the bugs, the parking spaces, the signs, the trucks, the space between things, the trees, the rivers, the lakes, the crisp packets, the restaurants – everything is bigger
• American snacks are addictive
• Walking isn’t the same – there’s too much space in between places so it takes too long to walk
• Best new discovery – confetti eggs
• Best city – NOLA
• Best restaurant – Perla’s in Austin Texas
• Best beach – Jupiter Island, Florida
• Best store – The Dollar Tree
• Best American service – free refills
• Best street – South Congress, Austin Texas
• Best unexpected gem – Railroad Arts, Tallahassee
• My eldest ate a burger of some type nearly every single day
• My youngest had a coca cola (or two) nearly every single day and is now having withdrawal symptoms
• They found the money to be very confusing but people were kind and helpful
• Swimming pools are everywhere. This is a major attraction.
• Americans love their ice. We loved their ice!
• Gas is amazingly cheap – we over budgeted for our road trip
• Everyone smiled. Everyone said hi, everyone waved hello
• The 12 hour drive across Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be
• Now, a 4 hour car journey is a walk in the park – in America that is
• Cruise control. What a great invention. Would never work in the UK!
• Florida lives up to its name – the Sunshine State
• There are literally millions of places to eat
• People eat out – a lot. And not just for dinner. They eat out for breakfast, lunch AND dinner
• The outdoor culture is different and refreshing
• The wildlife – wow. Just wow
• We all made new friends – humans, reptiles and mammals

And here is a small selection of our photos:

A huge thank you to our travel agent Louise of Travel Counsellors who helped us with kindness and efficiency in a most difficult and distressing situation. We don’t know what we would have done without her.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits, co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs, co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger and mother of three.

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Here’s our Christmas in pictures.

Happy New Year everyone!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits, co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs, co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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What a special day, hope everyone is having a wonderful time and has lots to be thankful for.

We are breaking tradition and having an American Thanksgiving dinner with American expats in Brighton and Hove. So, a VERY special celebration this year!

Plus, it’s my birthday today

And… Happy Birthday to my Dad and to my little sister. A VERY special day indeed!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits, co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs, co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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This trip was made special by our discovery of the city of Malaga. We’ve been to Spain as a family at least six times, probably more, flying in and out of Malaga airport. But we had never actually visited the city. Of course we’ve been all over the Costa del Sol to Nerja, Maro, Almeria, Torremolinos and Torrox etc, but we had never actually spent any time in Malaga itself. Why not? I have no idea! Somehow we just never considered it to be worth going to – silly really as it’s a fantastic city. So, this trip we decided we would rectify our mistake.

I recommend Malaga, especially if you have children. There’s tons to do from the family oriented harbour front to the playgrounds dotted around, to the interactive museums and beautiful walks. Stunning Spanish architecture, cultural capital of the Costa del Sol and all round great place to simply sit in one of the many cafes and contemplate the world around you. And of course to people watch. We were only there for one afternoon and I’m sure there’s much more to see and do so we’ll plan another visit into our itinerary for next time.

Meanwhile, it’s back to work and school starting with a business course that I’m teaching tomorrow. Best get going with my lesson plan!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits, co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs, co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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Our summer went by soooo quickly, not too hard to imagine especially since the kids are only off school for six weeks. We were away for just over two weeks in total with a short break at home in between a family wedding and a week in Wales and then a few days in the North of France. It had been quite a few years since our trip to Nice when my second child was still a baby and nearly 18 years since I had been to Paris and I guess the first time we’ve been to France that the kids will remember it. It was fantastic and I recommend Airbnb, Honfleur and especially walking from the Eiffel Tower to Musee d’Orsay along the Seine. That was a highlight of our day out in Paris.

As a family, we all learned a lot in France – it was a very new experience! Here are the highlights of our French education:

• Yes, you simply drive your car onto the train – how cool is that! It is a mega efficient and very quick way to get to France (technically we learned this while still in England!).
• French houses are very old and very beautiful
• The stereotype is 100% true. French people in Paris look at you with annoyance and disdain when you try and speak French to them and you feel entirely stupid for even trying.
• The Eiffel Tower is truly terrifying
• The age limit for child train tickets is 12, not 15.
• The weather in the North of France is VERY similar to the weather in the South of England
• The chocolate and macaroons are as good as in Belgium but slightly less expensive
• French children actually DO throw food (French Children Don’t Throw Food by Pamela Druckerman)
• Paris is more child-friendly than we thought and rivals London’s South Bank.
• Work out your budget for a day out in Paris with three children and then quadruple it.
• French food is wonderful for meat and fish eaters, not so great for vegetarians. Although baguette, cheese and tomato is never tiring in France
• We now know how to play “What’s the time Mr. Wolf” in French
• Some shops close for the ‘holiday’ during August. They are just shut for the whole month of August.
• The French holiday in the South of France – we plan on doing this too one year.
• The French are incredibly cultured and you feel like a fool walking around marveling at what they see every day.
• American tourists are louder in France than in England (this was an observation from my children).
• Honfluer deserves way more time than just one afternoon. It really is perfection.

Happy September all, hope you had an amazing summer too.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also Co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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Highlight was the award winning and 9th best beach in the world, Rhossili Bay. Stunning. Where else in the world can you have long stretches of golden sand with sheep and cows grazing in the nearby hills. Typically British while a-typically tropical.

Beware, it is certainly a challenge for American drivers. The roads are so tiny most of the time there’s hardly enough room for one car, let alone two, so lots of reversing, lots of stopping and waiting, lots of near misses (collisions into oncoming cars, trees and bushes). Plus, we encountered horses, sheep and cows hanging out in the middle of the roads! I definitely feel like a very skilled driver after a week of all that!

And the horse trekking was a big hit with the kids!

We did have a few rainy days too, as can be expected.

Off to France via Eurotunnel in a few days.

Bon Voyage!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also Co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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For us, summer time is really just the month of August with a few weeks either side. It means no school and no clubs, sleeping in later (not me!), reading challenges, slobbing out, and some family days out. We also try and go away somewhere for a change of scenery, to re-charge, to experience other places and countries and to get some much needed R&R. For me especially, it’s great to physically leave our house because it’s also my work office and not being here allows me to switch off from work for a bit.

As the kids get older, it becomes a little less stressful organizing things like child care and activity clubs to fit around my work schedule. Mostly I schedule work around the kids! It’s just my youngest now who goes and the older two organize their own stuff, with parental help and direction of course. Here’s what we have planned – no guarantees on some of this but it’s good to have a plan!

• A weekend in my husband’s hometown for a family wedding
• A week in Wales (this could be great or it could be a disaster – it all depends on the British weather!)
• Library reading challenge for my youngest
• My eldest is volunteering at the library to help with the summer reading challenge
• My girl has set herself several reading and writing assignments (not sure of the details but seeing the size of the books, looks like she’ll be busy)
• Holiday club for my youngest
• A week in France via Euro tunnel and with Air BNB (includes a day trip to Paris!!!!)
• My husband and my two oldest will be doing lots of cooking and baking (it’s funny because when we’re away on holiday, we have role reversal and I sit around reading while my husband shops and prepares all the meals. At times, only while on holiday, I actually believe I am incapable of cooking.)
• Cleaning rooms and giving stuff to our local charity shop
• A few DIY jobs around the house
• A few friend meet-ups involving swimming, cinema, sleepovers (I’ll let the kids organize these themselves)
• I’ll be doing lots of work in between all of this as I don’t take much time off over the summer
• A day trip to Arundel Lido (outdoor swimming pool), again, weather permitting. By the way, I love that very British add-on ‘weather permitting’ which seems to accompany every outdoor event. It is very overused and necessary here!
• A day trip with friends to Marwell zoo
• Shopping for school supplies, school uniforms and shoes

I’m really looking forward to the kids finishing school (apart from work panic!) especially after weeks of seeing posts from American Facebook friends about what their kids are doing during summer vacation since school finished back in May/June for them.

Pretty soon it will be September and back to school time so we’d better enjoy every minute of our summer holidays. Hope you all do too!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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Arundel is one of my favorite places in the UK to go for a day out, a family picnic, to shop, to visit during their festival and fete seasons or to simply meet up with friends for dinner. Did I mention they also have an outdoor swimming pool? It’s very rare to find one of these in England!

On Saturday evening we went to Arundel to celebrate the Fourth of July as a British/American family. It’s important to me to recognize holidays and celebrations that are American so my children will grow up understanding them and remembering them. It’s a tough task for several reasons – the main one being that American holidays are not celebrated in the UK. So you lose out on the build-up, the excitement, the parades/fireworks/parties and also the national holiday day off of school and work. But, never mind, we do the best we can and enjoy it even though it’s not officially a holiday in the UK. I’m so thankful that many of my British friends took the time to wish me a Happy 4th of July. That’s really lovely.

This time last year, my parents were here visiting from South Carolina. We miss them so much! It was the first time since 1993 that I celebrated the 4th of July with other Americans. I remember I took my parents to Arundel for a day out and they also really liked it. So much fun to share my now home country and surroundings with them. That’s the thing about living a life outside the country you grew up in – you may miss out on some things, but you definitely gain so much more and not just for yourself, but for your loved ones too.

Last year at Arundel festival

This year’s 4th of July celebration at The Loft, Sparks Yard, Arundel

Feeding the ducks in Arundel, just below the castle walls

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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We are celebrating in Arundel, a beautiful castle town in West Sussex, at The Loft in Sparks Yard where they are putting on an all American weekend. It’s burgers and beer (A&W for the kids), fries and milkshakes.

This time last year, my parents were here visiting from South Carolina. It was such a wonderful time and so great to be able to celebrate an American holiday with other Americans.

Have a wonderful weekend all.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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We had a relatively low key week but we managed to fit in a trip to the cinema, a sleepover, a cupcake decorating class, a day out in Portsmouth (Sam and his father), lunch at a friends house, a day out in Brighton which included one of the science fair workshops and a trip to Sea Life Centre and an evening of ice skating for Anna Grace with her friend. Highlights were the cupcakes, discovering the new play areas at The Level in Brighton, getting to know one of Sam’s friends better (although not understanding their tech speak), and Jonah winning a set of Sea Life Top Trumps.

Cupcake Decorating course for children is put on by Sarah Stubbs of Let’s Cook at Home. We highly recommend this workshop for kids! Anna Grace is already looking forward to doing Sarah’s Easter Cupcake Decorating class!

Hope everyone has a good start to the new term. Bring on spring time! My next blog post is a guest post by a New Zealander who is ‘bringing up Brits’. Don’t miss it, subscribe to my blog and get email notifications when a new blog is posted.

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Meghan Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd.  And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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