Family travel notes, lessons, and memories from the road.https://adventures.dempsey.app/https://adventures.dempsey.app/post-your-service-times/https://adventures.dempsey.app/post-your-service-times/Among our friends, we are known for being ambitious about taking the kids to restaurants. It is a core part of who we are as parents.Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/swedish-girl-in-the-pool/https://adventures.dempsey.app/swedish-girl-in-the-pool/The complex has its own pool, just for the houses inside the gate. Full-time lifeguard, a shallow kids' pool, and a deep adults' pool next to it.Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/eating-spain-two-ways/https://adventures.dempsey.app/eating-spain-two-ways/Our last night in Spain, and Dave was still with us. He'd been here five days by then, a lovely calming presence in our wild, chaotic family.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/ronda-from-below/https://adventures.dempsey.app/ronda-from-below/I'm generally not a big fan of day trips. Whether you're at a resort or renting a house, I find myself thinking: we came all this way for *a place*.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/maeve-at-three/https://adventures.dempsey.app/maeve-at-three/The number of people who've asked us about our twins on this trip is a growing list. Maeve is big.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/nora-at-five/https://adventures.dempsey.app/nora-at-five/We say it all the time: Nora is a character. And we say it because it doesn't always feel like we have a five-year-old in the house.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/run-and-eavesdrop/https://adventures.dempsey.app/run-and-eavesdrop/There are few things better than a flat boardwalk and a lot of people to watch. Marbella is interesting because it sits at this intersection between a beachy town and a really ritzy vacation spot.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/where-s-the-salt-shaker/https://adventures.dempsey.app/where-s-the-salt-shaker/Kait and Erik are staying at our place in Toronto while we're in Spain, and one of the first things they asked was where we keep the salt shaker.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/beach-maths/https://adventures.dempsey.app/beach-maths/I'm a relatively simple man. Give me a bit of sun.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/five-and-three/https://adventures.dempsey.app/five-and-three/Five and three is a different thing than two and four. I keep coming back to that.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/hunting-for-mermaids/https://adventures.dempsey.app/hunting-for-mermaids/I didn't go on the boat. That's where this story starts.Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/the-brunch-ritual/https://adventures.dempsey.app/the-brunch-ritual/One of the things I keep coming back to on this trip is how good our mornings have been. We do this thing every day that I'm just a huge fan of.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/three-top-tapas/https://adventures.dempsey.app/three-top-tapas/Spanish food is incredible. Endless and interesting.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/thank-goodness-for-grandparents/https://adventures.dempsey.app/thank-goodness-for-grandparents/Jo's mom and dad landed in Malaga, and I drove out to pick them up. They'd been in Madrid for the last couple of days doing their iconic sunrise-to-sunset museum tours.Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/the-rock-2/https://adventures.dempsey.app/the-rock-2/Gibraltar is one of those places that's way more interesting on paper than it is in person. We drove down for the day, and the history alone made it worthwhile.Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/churros-castles-and-sardines/https://adventures.dempsey.app/churros-castles-and-sardines/We got into our favourite kind of travelling-with-kids flow again. Café, playground, lunch.Sat, 02 May 2026 22:16:47 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/the-scooter-commute/https://adventures.dempsey.app/the-scooter-commute/We made a decision before this trip: no stroller. Two reasons.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/shells-and-mud/https://adventures.dempsey.app/shells-and-mud/We travel like people who hold court. That's how a good friend once put it, and he's not wrong.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/awesome-playground-roundtrip/https://adventures.dempsey.app/awesome-playground-roundtrip/After the chaos of yesterday, today was a reset. A good one.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/madrid-eventually/https://adventures.dempsey.app/madrid-eventually/We were supposed to land in Madrid at seven in the morning. As I mentioned in the last post, our flight had already been pushed once.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 22:39:52 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/a-false-start-to-spain/https://adventures.dempsey.app/a-false-start-to-spain/Three weeks in Marbella. That was the plan.Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/three-weeks-in-marbella/https://adventures.dempsey.app/three-weeks-in-marbella/We leave tomorrow. The bags are mostly packed, the girls are already more excited about the plane ride than anything that happens after it — and honestly, that tracks.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:26:57 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/video-dominican-2026-d9sft-tkrve/https://adventures.dempsey.app/video-dominican-2026-d9sft-tkrve/A travel video from Jo's archive. [Watch on YouTube](https://www.Sun, 25 Jan 2026 18:21:10 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/video-hackney-2025-5jqjtn-cqom/https://adventures.dempsey.app/video-hackney-2025-5jqjtn-cqom/Hackney 2025 [Watch on YouTube](https://www. youtube.Fri, 30 May 2025 01:47:37 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/video-copenhagen-2025-9iknbsfrc0y/https://adventures.dempsey.app/video-copenhagen-2025-9iknbsfrc0y/Copenhagen 2025 [Watch on YouTube](https://www. youtube.Thu, 29 May 2025 20:27:58 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/video-ireland-2025-6w0mdpzvy8e/https://adventures.dempsey.app/video-ireland-2025-6w0mdpzvy8e/A travel video from Jo's archive. [Watch on YouTube](https://www.Thu, 29 May 2025 19:09:19 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/our-girls/https://adventures.dempsey.app/our-girls/We always wanted to be parents. Irrationally, I knew that it would be incredible.Sun, 25 May 2025 20:51:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/fast-friends/https://adventures.dempsey.app/fast-friends/We met up with a friend of a friend who had kids a similar age to ours. We started the day at Hackney City Farm , and later made our way to the Young V&A .Sat, 24 May 2025 20:45:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/may-takeaways-2025/https://adventures.dempsey.app/may-takeaways-2025/We're in our last few relaxed days of travelling, so it's a good time to reflect. The girls are much older than the last time we were in Europe, and that means the travel has been different.Fri, 23 May 2025 20:22:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/walking-london/https://adventures.dempsey.app/walking-london/This family loves walks – a quick search my writing here makes that very clear. London is the perfect walking city.Thu, 22 May 2025 20:03:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/sisters-who-play/https://adventures.dempsey.app/sisters-who-play/We've known from practically birth, that these girls are not the same . But that doesn't mean they don't get along.Wed, 21 May 2025 19:54:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/peppa/https://adventures.dempsey.app/peppa/In stark contrast with yesterday , today rocked. Maybe the best day of the trip.Tue, 20 May 2025 19:24:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/travel-days-can-hurt/https://adventures.dempsey.app/travel-days-can-hurt/This was one of those days that turn parents with thinner skin off travelling with kids. It was a day marked by screaming, sisterly conflict and tantrums.Mon, 19 May 2025 19:23:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/cycling-copenhagen/https://adventures.dempsey.app/cycling-copenhagen/It wouldn't be a trip to Copenhagen, if we didn't rent bikes. An in my attempt to channel my inner local, I got to drive the cargo bike.Sun, 18 May 2025 19:51:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/shhh/https://adventures.dempsey.app/shhh/We are not a quiet family. We talk loudly.Sat, 17 May 2025 19:29:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/tivoli-gardens/https://adventures.dempsey.app/tivoli-gardens/Walt Disney visited Denmark to get inspired for his famous parks. No surprises here.Fri, 16 May 2025 18:59:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/traffic-playground/https://adventures.dempsey.app/traffic-playground/The Danes are all on bikes. So no surprise that they'd have a great park to teach kids how to ride their bikes.Thu, 15 May 2025 20:38:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/two-kids-is-harder/https://adventures.dempsey.app/two-kids-is-harder/Travelling with two kids is undeniably harder than one kid and a baby. There's obvious wins.Wed, 14 May 2025 20:47:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/copenhagen-playgrounds/https://adventures.dempsey.app/copenhagen-playgrounds/We were told that Copenhagen had great parks and playgrounds. Can now confirm that this is entirely true.Tue, 13 May 2025 19:49:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/flying-with-the-sun/https://adventures.dempsey.app/flying-with-the-sun/Daytime flights are a top reason parents don't travel. Enclosed space.Mon, 12 May 2025 19:40:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/stories-from-the-south/https://adventures.dempsey.app/stories-from-the-south/Couple of fun stories from Macroom with the kids. Nora drew pictures for my aunt's chickens .Sun, 11 May 2025 19:42:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/back-to-the-farm/https://adventures.dempsey.app/back-to-the-farm/We come to Ireland often. This was Nora's third time back to the farmhouse in four and a half years.Sat, 10 May 2025 19:32:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/munster-rugby/https://adventures.dempsey.app/munster-rugby/Thomand Park is in the middle of town . Wedged in between old row houses and crowded neighbourhoods.Fri, 09 May 2025 21:51:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/the-road-to-limerick/https://adventures.dempsey.app/the-road-to-limerick/Few stories from the days into Limerick, about the kind of girls we're raising. As we're early in our friend group to have kids, the girls spent a lot of time surrounded with adults.Thu, 08 May 2025 21:28:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/dinosaurs-in-kilkenny/https://adventures.dempsey.app/dinosaurs-in-kilkenny/Jo and I haven't changed how we travel. We last talked about this in Split , when we found ourselves on a cringey tourist tram.Thu, 08 May 2025 20:20:37 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/castles-in-kildare/https://adventures.dempsey.app/castles-in-kildare/Here it is. The hack I'll overshare over the next decade with any parent that will listen.Wed, 07 May 2025 20:02:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/lovely-lullymore/https://adventures.dempsey.app/lovely-lullymore/After we left Malahide, we dotted out of Dublin county and into Kildare proper. Stopped at a lovely coffee shop in Maynooth called the ELY Wine Store (don't read into that, it was too early).Tue, 06 May 2025 18:38:00 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/sleepy-starts/https://adventures.dempsey.app/sleepy-starts/It's a slow day. We made it to Malahide, just north of Dublin and checked in to the iconic Malahide Grand Hotel .Mon, 05 May 2025 18:34:32 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/back-across-the-pond/https://adventures.dempsey.app/back-across-the-pond/It's that time again. We're rapidly packing for three weeks across the pond.Sat, 03 May 2025 21:35:18 GMThttps://adventures.dempsey.app/video-florence-2023-ys6vrkxu-eq/https://adventures.dempsey.app/video-florence-2023-ys6vrkxu-eq/A travel video from Jo's archive. [Watch on YouTube](https://www.Tue, 19 Mar 2024 04:00:31 GMT