Sri Lanka Holiday 2018 | An overview of what we have planned

Well this is exciting, it is not long until we go to Sri Lanka!  I wanted to pop up and tell you a bit about it and how we ended up choosing Sri Lanka this year.

Our 17 year old daughter Emily has a rather important personal statement to write later in the year for a specific course - a long held dream.  My husband has a brother, Mark, who now lives in Sri Lanka with his wife, Samantha.  They have for a long time said we must go and visit.  They run an animal charity near Negombo.  So we put the two together and came up with a family holiday and our daughter choosing to do two weeks volunteer work with their charity, which works to help transform the lives of the street dogs in Sri Lanka and offers an education programme for the children at local schools. 

Samantha and Mark's story is truly inspirational and I am very lucky that Samantha has agreed to feature on my Embracing Life (in Midlife) interview series soon.  But until then do visit their website and read their story.  It is absolute worth a read as Dogstar came abut in the aftermath of the 7/7 london bombings and shows how life can change in an instant.

We are slowly pulling together our final itinerary with the help of D&G Travel in Marlow and Paradiso Travel in Sri Lanka.

It is a departure from our usual lazing on the beach or round the pool type of holiday we have favoured in the last few years.  There is so much to see and explore and I have tried to find a balance so that we don't get too worn out.

Our main base will be the Jetwing Beach Hotel in Negombo where we will have down days exploring the local area and relaxing by the pool 

We will be going to:

Bentota - a beautiful resort town on the south west coast and an opportunity to relax and try some coral diving maybe.
Galle - a city on the south west coast that is known for it's fort, we will also visit Unawatuna beach which is a boho beach strip with lots of cafes and shops.
Mirissa Beach - this is where we will go whale watching and then spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach (with a cocktail or two I hope).
Udawalawe - one of the national parks and an opportunity to see herds of elephants and other mammals like golden jackal, the sloth bear and maybe a few leopards.
Kandy - this is one of two trips we will take whilst Emily is busy with Dogstar, this is the tea plantation area and Kandy is a large city to explore with botancial gardens and the temple of the tooth.
Nuwara Eliya - we will be travelling from Kandy by train as we heard it is the way to do it, and see the amazing scenery!  It has a cooler climate (which might be welcome) and is a quaint old colonial town.
Pedro Tea Factory - we are staying overnight in an old tea factory, The Heritance Tea Factory and then the next day will take a guided tour of a tea factory and learn about the production and cultivation of tea.
Millennium Elephant Foundation - this is an organisation and charity set up to rescue and care for the Asian elephants in Sri Lanka.  We will do the elephant walk and get up close and personal with these amazing giants.  Very excited about this!  Emily will be joining us again!  Find out more about the Millennium Elephant Foundation here.

Photos from the Millennium Elephant Foundation, Sri Lanka

Beach at Bentota, Sri Lanka

​We fly home then our daughter follows alone! 

We have started a Just Giving page to do some fundraising for the Dogstar Foundation as part of our daughter's volunteer work - the trip is entirely self-funded though.  If you want to take a look or can spare a few pounds then do please go to our page here.  Every penny will be hugely appreciated and gratefully received.

Me and my daughter Emily at West Wittering last summer

​
​Of course right now my priority is what I am packing!  What I will be wearing, I need to be prepared for very very hot and I am making sure I have plenty of cotton, lose dresses and comfortable footwear.  As we will be moving about a bit I need to be organised.  I will also need to make things as easy as possible so I don;t fuss about make-up and hair!

I started researching cotton dresses way back - see this post here.  Both me and my daughter have quite curly, frizz-prone hair (Emily has lots of it and curlier) so we are both considering a Brazilian blow dry before we go to keep it as frizz free as we can.  I love swimwear and bikini's so making sure I have cotton cover-ups and a new bikini is important.  I already have this gorgeous dress from Sister, I have the dusty pink.

Of course I will want to get some great photos of our once in a lifetime (probably) trip so I am planning on taking the big camera to make sure we get some really fab shots that I can share on my blog and make a photo album to treasure forever.

We have already got new BIG suitcases, I never travel light!

Thank you so much for taking an interest in what I am doing and don't forget to follow me on Instagram where I will be posting photos during my trip.  My blog will take a holiday too though!

Keep an eye on my planning posts, I will be sharing lots more in the coming weeks.

Love from
Michelle xx

Just Giving Fundraising Page

The Dogstar Foundation (above) do amazing work with the street dogs in Sri Lanka, their story is truly inspiring - read more about them on their website.

​Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post, it is a personal post to tell you about our trip and about the Dogstar Foundation, it does not contain affiliate links.