Following 10 days of Iberian fun, both in Barcelona and on our cruise ship, we ultimately got off the boat in Southampton, England. From here, I decided it would be worthwhile to spend some time in the U.K., and take my family to one of my favorite cities in the world, Edinburgh, Scotland. I have been fortunate enough to visit Edinburgh a few times as an adult, and each time I fall in love all over again. The beautiful city, the friendly people, the great and diverse food options, the natural surrounding beauty, and the cool weather (a really nice relief from summertime Sahara weather).

Keeping with our theme of wanting to make things as easy as possible when travelling with a small child, we decided to rent an AirBnB for an entire week in Edinburgh, and use it as a base of operations to explore the city and surroundings versus constantly repacking every couple of days. This worked wonderfully. Travelling in Europe with a small child is a TOUGH, but spreading our time here to a week made it feel like we weren’t rushed to see all the things we wanted to in the city, and really enjoy it. Below are just a few of the highlights from our week. If you have never been to Scotland, or it’s not even on your radar, I highly recommend it. A truly charming place with lovely people.

Somehow our week in Scotland flew by, and as our vacation neared it’s end, we took the train down to London to spend a final few nights in another great city. I have probably been to London over a half dozen times at this point, and I never get tired of the city. England as a whole is a wonderful place to visit as it combines the new with the old, just about everywhere you look. As an American, it strikes a weird balance between being beautifully foreign, but somehow also familiar.

Sadly, 3 days in London isn’t enough, and just as quickly as we arrived, we were on our way back to Mauritania.

We had a wonderful 3 week vacation, and it was definitely nice to get out of the heat of Mauritania for a bit. That said, I was really happy to be getting back to Nouakchott. I won’t lie and say that living here is easy, because it isn’t, but we are quite comfortable in our home, and when you get used to having a fulltime nanny and a housekeeper to look after you and your kids, you definitely feel it when you don’t have it. We now have quite a bit of time in Mauritania before we head out again around Christmas time, and I for one am going to enjoy the stability and routine for a bit. Until next week! – Nick