In the twenty years since I met the OH there have been a few significant birthdays within the family, including the births of seven new grandchildren. We don’t make a big fuss of celebrating our own. We used to like having a short spring break and an autumn break which often coincided with one of our birthdays. Mostly in the UK, but my most memorable overseas one was on Vancouver Island in 2010 when I got to have a lovely birthday meal in Tofino.
The first one we celebrated together though was in the Algarve back in 2002 when we stayed in a hotel near to Carvoeiro. I was presented with a cup cake and a sparkler when we went for breakfast, but I ended up having a pizza on my own in the evening as the OH became very ill during the day and had taken to his bed!
My birthday in 2003 was by far the most special as it was the day we got married. As I was on a PGCE course and couldn’t take time off we had a brief honeymoon in the eclectic enchanting Italianate style village of Portmeirion in north Wales. Famous for the cult TV show ‘The Prisoner’ in the 1960s and also for Portmeirion pottery.
I don’t have digital photos from either of those years.
Other trips include a weekend in Oxford, a week in the New Forest (where we attended the wedding of my youngest son), a fortnight in Penzance to house hunt, a week in Bridport and a few wonderful days in Montreux tagged on at the end of a trip to Geneva back in 2009.
My birthday is at the beginning of October so during the period I was teaching that was term time so holidays were restricted to the school holidays. It was a relief when I stopped teaching and could travel whenever I liked.
The OH on the other hand has a birthday that is normally during the spring half-term so we were able to get away even though it is a more expensive time. His most glamorous getaways have been a day visiting the island of Ithaca during our week in Cephalonia in 2003, and another island trip in 2006, that time a day trip from Malta to Sicily.
His UK birthday holiday breaks have taken us to the Cotswolds,
North Devon, Aberaeron in west Wales, Keswick in the Lake District and Penzance in 2015 before our move to Cornwall.
I would have said that the best thing about birthdays was travelling to a new place to explore, but since moving to Cornwall in 2016 we have rarely left the county and certainly not to celebrate a birthday. We usually find a nice local bar or restaurant where we can clink a couple of glasses together and have a wander around a beautiful beach or garden.
We do however have a very clever granddaughter who makes excellent birthday cakes. This one was for her sister’s 15th birthday. A shame we weren’t there to help eat it!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #193|Birthdays
TRAVEL WORDS 
Special holiday birthdays are the best and create wonderful memories. I’ve had a few nice ones too. I know exactly what you mean about never going away during school holidays. When I retired from teaching at the start of 2021, Mr ET declared we were never holidaying in school holidays ever again. Of course that may change when our grandson is of school age. 🙂
You sure have gotten around!
We used to travel a lot between 2002 and 2016 with holidays both home and abroad, but since the OH retired he no longer attends conferences which made travelling cheaper and we’ve become less enthusiastic about flying now.
Special events are synonymous with traveling in our household too. May is typically our month to travel, with my birthday, Mother’s Day, and our Anniversary happening within days of each other. We have a move coming soon, so we won’t be going far from home this year. I love your interpretation of the challenge and your photographs are inspirational.
Good to have so many events close together so you can combine them in one trip! Good luck with the move and thank you for the comment on the photos.
Great photographs! My imagination is boggling as I wonder how (and why) that phone kiosk ended up in the pond… 🙂
I have no idea about the phone box. It was simply in the pond at the pub we were staying in.
That cake looks amazing! How talented is your granddaughter. I was lucky enough to have my 40th in Europe and the Husband chose to go to New York for his 50th (neither of us are the partying kind). How wonderful to be able to tie a holiday location to a particular birthday.
A holiday birthday always makes it seem much more special.
So fun to read about your different memorable birthdays and great pictures to go with them
I am hoping we can start to have these holidays again now, first one has been booked for the OH in May!
You do birthdays in style. Fabulous!
We did have some good ones. Now we seem to have turned into home birds!
I know the feeling. Well, Malcolm does, anyway 😦
OH not keen on going anywhere now 😞
Heigh ho. I still am … before it’s too late.
I quite agree. I’m still planning on a trip to Australia and maybe NZ and I am hoping to convince my daughter into a road trip in the USA once her youngest child can be left alone without wrecking the house!
What a lovely round-up, Jude! Those cakes are amazing!!
Birthdays are excellent reasons for spoilt travels. Klausbernd’s in in November and mine late January which are good dates for travels avoiding the biggest crowds.
We celebrated mine birthday in Cornwall when we saw you. I have such fond memories of the place and hope to go back soon, although we seem to travel less than before now.
We have got out of the habit of travelling since moving here, but like you, we live in a part of the country which is so beautiful there is no need to travel far.