An Amazing Time At clueQuest! (by all of us!)

We were lucky enough to spend a fantastic afternoon at clueQuest, near Liverpool Street, in London, where we became secret agents and managed to save the world! Here is what we thought...

Robert: clueQuest was BRILLIANT. You start by getting locked in a room then you have one hour to get out and save the world. You have to use codes, maps, machines, Lego, computers, cards and lots more. Every single object had something to do with the challenge, from if there was a code on a chair or a memory stick in a cupboard. You are allowed to get about codes from mission control to help you escape the series of rooms, (although the average is 20, we used a lot more than that!) The fastest ever anyone ever escaped was in 47 minutes and that group didn't have any clues.
My favourite bits were opening the padlocks, finding new objects that really helped and when everything clicked into place.




Jess: As Rob has already said, clueQuest was awesome, if a bit stressful! We were given a walkie-talkie and no clues when we were locked inside the first room, and had to figure out for ourselves what we had to do. It was incredibly difficult, but it was also like nothing I'd ever done before, and I had a great time. It was funny to think that we were being watched all the time by people who were probably laughing at our stupidity, but everyone was incredibly friendly, and we even received some extra minutes at the end. One of the main reasons that I loved it was that it wasn't scary - there were no loud noises and everything was well lit. It really made you think outside the box and was great for team building - everyone contributed something. My favourite parts were finding the final clues and running around the rooms like a headless chicken. I hated padlocks by the end of it!

Sarah adds: clueQuest is run by four brothers from Hungary who built and designed the game, rooms, props, website and pretty much everything to do with it. We met one of the brothers, the very charming Zoltan, who told us how successful the company has become, with an eclectic group of people coming to try it out. These have included ex Prime Minister Tony Blair (his son celebrated his 30th birthday with clueQuest recently) to tourists or organisations who encourage teambuilding through taking part. It really is great fun, and all you need is to use your brain, common sense and a bit of logic (oh, and have some people on your team who might be able to work things out. I wasn't overly helpful, but I did laugh a lot).

There are now two rooms at the clueQuest HQ, with Plan52 (the one we did) and the new Operation BlackSheep, which only opened at the beginning of March. There are actually two identical Plan52 units, which means teams can race each other. We felt that it was brilliant, perfect for any age, although some of it is baffling!

We would love to go back and try out the second one. Even though I'm not sure we would make it out...Do make sure you book in advance though as it's proving very popular. Also, just a little warning that the building which houses clueQuest does not look like anything special from the outside. But that really doesn't matter once you're in there.

Disclosure: we were offered four tickets to try out clueQuest in order to write about it for our blog. However, our opinions and comments are entirely our own.

UPDATE: On another note entirely, we wanted to thank you very much for your votes for Robert, who's 8 and wants to be an astronaut. He, and the other children shortlisted in a competition to win a trip to Nasa space camp, are all going to Florida (so exciting!). We're so grateful for your support!

Read more great family trips from Family Travel Times:

An educational day out in Winchester

A family holiday to Mull (what's the story in Balamory)

An Amazing Time At clueQuest! (by all of us!)

We were lucky enough to spend a fantastic afternoon at clueQuest, near Liverpool Street, in London, where we became secret agents and managed to save the world! Here is what we thought...

Robert: clueQuest was BRILLIANT. You start by getting locked in a room then you have one hour to get out and save the world. You have to use codes, maps, machines, Lego, computers, cards and lots more. Every single object had something to do with the challenge, from if there was a code on a chair or a memory stick in a cupboard. You are allowed to get about codes from mission control to help you escape the series of rooms, (although the average is 20, we used a lot more than that!) The fastest ever anyone ever escaped was in 47 minutes and that group didn't have any clues.
My favourite bits were opening the padlocks, finding new objects that really helped and when everything clicked into place.




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It can be simple to save a life (please read this)

Our blog is about travel and usually contains stories of our adventures, whether in the UK or abroad. This post, however, is not about us. It's about a different kind of travelling, with a different aim, to save lives.

Saturday marks World Water Day. That may not mean much to many of us. After all, we can simply turn on a tap and have a drink or reach for the shower dial when we want to get clean. Yet if we move away from our comfort zone, it's a completely different story. Millions of people die every year from unsafe water and sanitation. It is literally (and that is not a word I use lightly) a matter of life and death.

Back in 1998, Fiona Jeffery felt that it was time she used her position as an influencer in the travel and tourism world to give something back. She was then the director of World Travel Market, the leading travel industry exhibition, and was keen to find a cause which would, as she says, tick several boxes.

"I always had an environmental focus," she told me. " But I wanted to find something which was also global in reach and impacted children and families."

She soon discovered water - or the lack of it. Diseases connected to dirty water and poor sanitation, she found, were the biggest killers of children aged under five. In fact, they killed more children than HIV, malaria and measles combined. Not only that, but just £1 could deliver clean water to a child for 10 years.

Fiona, her children and some of the beneficiaries of Just A Drop

"I'm a business person, not a charity person," Fiona says, "although my mother and father were a doctor and nurse, so perhaps that shaped how I do things. I felt that businesses should be encouraged to do more than just business."

Corporate and social responsibility have become buzz words these days, but back then, they didn't really exist. Fiona was a very early adopter.

Her initial idea was to try to persuade the 50,000 people who came to World Travel Market to donate £1. She decided the money should go to the Red Cross who had been helpful and supportive in her quest to find the right cause to support. They had also offered to take her to Ethiopia to see how much help was needed.

Within a few years, however, the Charity Commission told her that she was making too much money and that her fledgling charity should be an independent organisation. Just a Drop was born, and has changed lives ever since.

"When I started, it was all about providing clean, safe water to communities," she says. "Then I learnt about how water impacts on everything else"

To put it simply, if it's not possible to get water easily or locally, then you have to travel to get it. Some of those walking for many, many hours, are young children, who are then at risk of abduction or rape. But if water is nearby and convenient, then you can create a virtuous circle: children can spend their time at school and be safe. Meanwhile parents can grow crops, excess food can be sold and families can move out of the poverty trap. What better place for a bore hole than a local school?

Over 768 million people in the world do not have access to clean, safe water, and around 2.5 billion don't have access to adequate sanitation. More people in the world own a mobile phone than have access to a toilet.

Fiona is trying to change this, although she says it has not been an easy journey.

"There have been many times when I've told myself that I'm an idiot," she adds, "but what keeps me going is that there are so many other who need the support and help."

It's ironic that Fiona, who never intended to run a charity (and continued her work with WTM until last year), has now been volunteering with Just a Drop for more than two decades. She is still involved and has also brought in her children, Cameron and Laura, who are now 20 and 16, to see what the charity does. They have both been to Zambia, and got involved with fund raising.

Just a Drop currently works in 31 countries, including Uganda, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania as well as parts of South America, including Ecuador and Bolivia. The charity intends to be transformational, not just saving lives, but improving people's dignity - providing them with a toilet for the first time, for example - and projects are monitored for a minimum of seven years. Local people are always kept involved. These are projects for the long-term - saving lives and changing the way people live.

This blog post is part of a campaign by international water aid charity, Just a Drop, to raise awareness of the vital work they carry out in developing countries around the world - providing clean, safe water to those who need it most. Please show your support and share this with your friends, and please donate too. In addition, H2WOW is sponsoring every share, like, ‘tweet’ and comment, so your social media involvement really is important (and appreciated).

Tomorrow's post on the importance of water and the work which Just A Drop does will be written by the lovely Lucy Campbell who is responsible for a wonderful blog, Family Affairs and Other Matters
Please visit to see what she has to say.

It can be simple to save a life (please read this)

Our blog is about travel and usually contains stories of our adventures, whether in the UK or abroad. This post, however, is not about us. It's about a different kind of travelling, with a different aim, to save lives.

Saturday marks World Water Day. That may not mean much to many of us. After all, we can simply turn on a tap and have a drink or reach for the shower dial when we want to get clean. Yet if we move away from our comfort zone, it's a completely different story. Millions of people die every year from unsafe water and sanitation. It is literally (and that is not a word I use lightly) a matter of life and death.

Back in 1998, Fiona Jeffery felt that it was time she used her position as an influencer in the travel and tourism world to give something back. She was then the director of World Travel Market, the leading travel industry exhibition, and was keen to find a cause which would, as she says, tick several boxes.

"I always had an environmental focus," she told me. " But I wanted to find something which was also global in reach and impacted children and families."

She soon discovered water - or the lack of it. Diseases connected to dirty water and poor sanitation, she found, were the biggest killers of children aged under five. In fact, they killed more children than HIV, malaria and measles combined. Not only that, but just £1 could deliver clean water to a child for 10 years.

Fiona, her children and some of the beneficiaries of Just A Drop

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What can you learn on holiday?

Holidays are wonderful (although the build-up isn't always so great!). I love spending time with my family, travelling to new places and learning, yes, I said learning about new things.

I didn't grow up thinking that holidays were just about relaxing. Instead they were exciting, full of anything from castles and museums to lakes and mountains. We went fishing with little nets in Devon and to the magnificent Cologne Cathedral in Germany. We learnt about steering a canal boat and opening locks in Wales, and visited historic chateaux in the Loire Valley in France. Holiday time was incredibly enriching.

Of course we weren't on the go all the time. My parents were careful to make sure that we had lots of time to read, or swim or just chill. But we didn't do that all the time.

And, when I stop to think about it, the holidays I had as a child and loved, are similar to the ones we now have with our children. We travel somewhere and we shop and eat and have fun, but we also discover local museums (like At Science in Bristol, which was fantastic) and stately homes.

Sometimes we learn in different ways too - by picking up bits of a different language if we go abroad, looking at maps of where we are travelling to, or even by one-offs. The children simply loved their trip to the Harry Potter studio tour and learnt an awful lot about how films are made. Meanwhile I will always remember the thrill of Jessica realising she could actually cycle properly as she went round and round the very safe caravan park we were visiting in France some years ago. It was perfect for building up her confidence.

Of course holidays are all about trying new experiences. My son was thrilled to try out bungee jumping on a Bristol street, while my daughter loved swimming in the caves in Jamaica. We all enjoyed feeding the animals in Ireland (you can see this in the photo at the top of this piece and I think it was probably the first time that Robert, then only 2, had ever done it) as well as something completely different - the theme park rides in the USA. This is where my son discovered that he doesn't appear to feel G force!

So, holidays are fun, but they can also be so much more than that. Kids (and adults) can always learn and holidays, when you are relaxed and actually have some time to spend together, can be brilliant learning experiences. I, for one, wish we had more of them.

Do you learn on holiday, and if so, what? This post is part of the Visit Wales #Wales4Kids Family Holiday Challenge. Wales is the perfect place for a fun-filled family break.

Read about:

Our trip to Ireland

Our trip to France

Our trip to Jamaica

What can you learn on holiday?

Holidays are wonderful (although the build-up isn't always so great!). I love spending time with my family, travelling to new places and learning, yes, I said learning about new things.

I didn't grow up thinking that holidays were just about relaxing. Instead they were exciting, full of anything from castles and museums to lakes and mountains. We went fishing with little nets in Devon and to the magnificent Cologne Cathedral in Germany. We learnt about steering a canal boat and opening locks in Wales, and visited historic chateaux in the Loire Valley in France. Holiday time was incredibly enriching.

Of course we weren't on the go all the time. My parents were careful to make sure that we had lots of time to read, or swim or just chill. But we didn't do that all the time.

And, when I stop to think about it, the holidays I had as a child and loved, are similar to the ones we now have with our children. We travel somewhere and we shop and eat and have fun, but we also discover local museums (like At Science in Bristol, which was fantastic) and stately homes.
Read more »

Barcelona - a city with so much to see and do (by Ella)

Ella eating Spanish paella

Our first guest post, by Beverlie, was a hit! Now I'm delighted to have our second, and we are keeping in the family as it is by my gorgeous niece, Ella, who is 14. She was lucky enough to visit Barcelona.

Over to Ella:

I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona which is an amazing city, with so much to see and do. Here are my recommendations.

The Sagrada Familia is probably the best known thing in Barcelona. Gaudi’s ambitious – and incomplete, but beautiful – Church is an amazing sight, whether you explore the inside or enjoy the beauty of the outside.

La Rambla

La Rambla is another brilliant thing you find in Barcelona. A wide pedestrian street, with street performers, stalls selling birds and other animals, flowers everywhere and stunning – but crazy – buildings surrounding you, the road is one you must walk down, if you ever find yourself in Barcelona - although I was warned a thousand times to look out for pickpockets! The mosaic in the centre of the street is also something that is impossible to miss.


Other famous places in Barcelona include La Pedrera, the Park Guell, Montjuic – even the Camp Nou Football stadium could be thought of as cultural... maybe.

The thing with visiting such famous, well known and brilliant places is the queues. It’s inevitable, everyone wants to be there – but if you're travelling with young children, on a short trip, standing in a queue for hours is not the most enjoyable thing to do. Fortunately, in Barcelona, there are other ways to get a taste of the city, without spending your day staring at the back of someone’s head.

The highlight of my trip was the Cable Car from Montjuic to the port. It transports you over the city, offering amazing views, especially over the water, where you honestly feel like you can see the whole world. (Unfortunately, this is something that has not yet been mastered!)

The view from the cable car

When you get off the Cable Car, you’ve arrived at the Barceloneta – the beach! It amazes me how the city has managed to fit a beach in too - how unfair that London doesn’t have this on offer. And it's not just any old beach, cafes, shops and extremely friendly people were all around.

Barcelona’s Chocolate Museum was another brilliant way to spend an hour or two. Here, we learnt about and celebrated how chocolate was first brought to Europe – and being able to eat your ticket to the museum was an added extra which EVERY museum should have! We had the opportunity to learn about the cultural and economic significance of chocolate for Barcelona and the entire continent of Europe, and we also could marvel at incredible chocolate models.

Something that I found incredible in Barcelona was the amount of scenery and greenery! The Park Guell is a highlight of the city.  It’s an incredible park, with amazing buildings, sculptures, amazing tile work – and all this was designed by Gaudi. When I was in Year 4, we studied Gaudi, and my teachers put a lot of effort into making me DETERMINED to visit the park. Finally – five years later – I was able to go, and it was amazing, it completely met my expectations.

Montjuic was another place to find incredible scenery. The view was, to put it simply, WOW. Breathtakingly stunning, with only one turn of our heads, we could go from seeing an endless, glimmering sea, to the bustling and busy city centre.

On our final day in Barcelona, we spent our time in the Parc de la Ciutadella. It was fabulous. We had a brilliant afternoon boating on the lake, eating ice creams, and listening to live music from the bandstand. And my brother and I loved dancing to the Disney songs, and making fools of ourselves!

There were two practical things on our trip that looking back, really did impact extremely positively. The hotel we stayed in was called Hotel Fira Palace. It was slightly outside the main tourist area, meaning it was very peaceful and relaxing. The rooms were spacious – and interconnecting! The best thing about the hotel was its indoor pool, which was an amazing way to end a busy day. The breakfasts were delicious, and the set evening menu was reasonably priced and surprisingly good quality! There was even veggie Paella on offer, which I happily enjoyed two days in a row.

Another brilliant practicality was a taxi app called Hailo. If you have a smart phone, this app is an incredible luxury to make your trip to Barcelona just that little bit easier. Because Barcelona is a relatively small town, the price of a taxi for a family of four isn’t that different to a tram or bus ride. With the knowledge that a taxi is just one click on an app away, you don’t need to go chasing taxis – one’s always right round the corner!

We had a brilliant time in this wonderful city – and I hope to be able to visit Barcelona again in the future!

Thank you to Sarah, Jess and Robert for having me on their brilliant blog – and thank you for reading!

Ella x

More on family Travel Times:

Parks in Paris with kids by Robert

Why we love writing this blog - and please nominate us!

Barcelona - a city with so much to see and do (by Ella)

Ella eating Spanish paella

Our first guest post, by Beverlie, was a hit! Now I'm delighted to have our second, and we are keeping in the family as it is by my gorgeous niece, Ella, who is 14. She was lucky enough to visit Barcelona.

Over to Ella:

I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona which is an amazing city, with so much to see and do. Here are my recommendations.

The Sagrada Familia is probably the best known thing in Barcelona. Gaudi’s ambitious – and incomplete, but beautiful – Church is an amazing sight, whether you explore the inside or enjoy the beauty of the outside.

La Rambla

La Rambla is another brilliant thing you find in Barcelona. A wide pedestrian street, with street performers, stalls selling birds and other animals, flowers everywhere and stunning – but crazy – buildings surrounding you, the road is one you must walk down, if you ever find yourself in Barcelona - although I was warned a thousand times to look out for pickpockets! The mosaic in the centre of the street is also something that is impossible to miss.
Read more »