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Hannah West | Family adventure travel | 🏡Brighton UK

@adventuresofthewests

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We said YES to adventures instead of stuff & turned it into our life. Family of 4 | Brighton to everywhere.
Showing you how we make it work.

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DOING LIFE THE WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU ✨

I don’t feel like we talk about our why enough, so here’s the reason we’re here: trying to make the most out of life, doing it in the way that feels right to us and maybe inspiring you to do the same.

Hi 👋 We’re Hannah and Simon from Adventures of the Wests and nearly 4 years ago now we decided life just wasn’t lifing in the way that felt right to us 😂

So we tipped it on its head and went all in on trying to do it the way that did.

We wanted more family adventures, more time together and more say over how we lived, worked and raised our boys.

Yes, we could have gone full digital nomad and homeschooled, but that’s not what’s right for us right now.

Instead we’ve somehow built a work/life balance that gives us the flexibility we wanted, while our boys get to learn both in AND out of school, supported along the way and thriving better than I ever could have hoped for.

It’s taken a LOT of work to get here and there have definitely been times we’ve wondered what the hell we’re doing, but this version of life feels so right for us.

And nope, you don’t need to completely overhaul your life to be here.

But if you want more fun, more adventures, more time together and more ways to actually make those things possible…

Hi 👋 you’re in the right place. taken in The World by @adventuresofthewests

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8 days ago

Why do no Brits ski this ski resort? 🇫🇷⛷️

Ok to be fair, we know plenty of Brits people that do ski Serre Chevalier but honestly its so nice to ski somewhere in France that feels like a proper French alpine town, is affordable, not over crowded and such an amazing ski area. This will forever be a ski resort we come back to time and time again. Save this one for later but don’t tell everyone

Ski area - 250km pistes lots of north facing slopes and 80% above 1800m for good snow coverage
Best for - all abilities, great beginner areas from all of the villages and great off piste and challenging slopes for experts too
Price - really afforadable - coffee from 2e, pint of beer from 4e pizzas from X
Where to stay -
Briancon - for great value accommodation
Chantemerle - best for families
Villeneuve - for more nightlife, great value accommodation good for singles and groups
Monetier - best for couples and traditional alpine charm (and spa-ing!)
Closest airports - Grenoble a 2 hour drive and Turin 1.5-2.5 hour drive - more regular transfer buses from Grenoble though
 Any questions, pop them in the comments 👇🏼

#budgetskiing #skigram #familyskiing #skifrance #skiingfrance #winterinfrance #skiholiday #skitrip #skiing #winterholidays #Januaryholidays taken in Serre Chevalier by @adventuresofthewests

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2 years ago

Who is Adventures of the Wests?

We have been meaning to share one of these since so many new followers joined us (over 50k since last winter ski season). So here’s a bit about us and why we do what we do.

We’re Hannah & Simon (plus Caspar & Otis 👦🏼👦🏼) - a family who met working a ski season back in 2011, Simon and I bonded instantly over mountains, travel and adventure, and have been chasing those ever since.

When the boys came along, we knew we didn’t want to stop exploring but we also knew travel can be expensive and overwhelming as a family. So we made it our mission to keep adventuring together, finding ways to do more for less, and proving that family trips don’t need to cost the earth.

In 2023 we started sharing our travels online. We knew from the beginning we needed to take this seriously if we wanted to turn it in to a full time business so every night after work, we were creating content, improving our editing skills , and spending hours honing our social accounts, all alongside full-time (self employed) jobs and family life. Two years of consistency later, Adventures of the Wests has become our biggest passion, and something we’re so proud to now call our main focus.

Our drive is simple: we want to inspire other families to adventure more - whether that’s a weekend camping trip close to home, a long-haul adventure, or discovering a budget-friendly ski resort you might never have heard of. We love showing how to make travel affordable, real and doable, while sharing the honest ups and downs of doing it all with kids in tow.

Thank you for being here - your support means everything, and we’re so excited to keep sharing our adventures (and hopefully inspire a few of your own). 💛 taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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a year ago

Everything we pack for our kids’ - 7 night ski holiday! 🎿🎒

It’s so easy to overpack when skiing with kids, but after six ski trips with them last winter through our job, and skiing with them since they were born, I feel like I have the packing down now😂

The thing we barely touch are always The boys’ “normal” clothes. We often go straight from the slopes to whatever we’re doing afterwards, so often we take even less and have done a number of ski trips with them hand luggage only!

Obviously the level of ‘normal clothes’ they need depends on how you spend your après ski evenings.

Save this for when you’re packing for your ski holiday, and follow us @‌adventuresofthewests for more help planning your own family ski holiday ⛷️

We’ve already got eight ski destinations lined up this winter with more to come and as always we’ll be sharing everything from what it costs and how to get there to what each resort is actually like for families. We’d love you to come along!

P.S. We’ve also made a kids’ ski packing list to help you pack for your own trip! Comment KIDS PACKING and we’ll send it over to you🎒 taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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16 hours ago

Unpacking our home after it paid for our 5 week family road trip 👀

Okay, technically… it covered almost all of the travel costs we tracked from the trip rather than every single penny we spent, but it absolutely is a huge part of making being away for 5 weeks possible for us.

We were away for 34 nights this summer and our house was booked for 23 of those nights, bringing in £4,410.81, or £3,986.81 after cleaning/changeover costs. Obviously this is before any tax due too, like any income.

So we actually could have earned quite a bit more if every night had been booked.

Last summer it worked even better. We were away just 4 weeks but almost every night was booked so we took around £6,000, which covered the whole cost of that trip.

And this is definitely where renting our actual home feels most worth it for us. We’ve tried shorter weekends and Christmas trips too, and it is worth it for the money, but it’s just a lot of stress. For all the sorting involved, it makes much more sense when we’re away for a longer stretch.

The downside is coming home and putting your entire life back together 😂

This genuinely took us weeks, squeezing bits of unpacking and sorting around work and normal life, and at points I absolutely questioned why we do it.

Then I remember we’d just had 5 weeks travelling through Europe as a family, and suddenly I forget the pain very quickly!

So what do you think - hell yeah for that money towards travelling, or absolutely not a chance? taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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2 days ago

Ad We’re squeezing in a little autumn camping escape with @campandcaravan

Simon prepped two s’mores recipes before we came to Normans Bay, one savoury and one sweet, both really easy to make on a camping trip.

And if you fancy getting away this autumn too, Camping and Caravanning Club stays are available from just £13 per person per night.

You really don’t have to travel far either, sometimes a quick trip close to home is enough to feel like you’ve properly got away from the usual routine.

If you want the s’mores recipes, comment ‘CAMPING MEALS’ and we’ll send them over with everything else Simon’s made for camping this year. taken in Normans Bay by @adventuresofthewests

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3 days ago

WHERE TO SKI ON A BUDGET ⛷️💰

One of the things we really want to show on our page is that skiing can be accessible and doesn’t need to cost a fortune and one of the biggest ways to bring the cost down is simply choosing the right resort.

We shared a version of this post last year and it ended up getting over 1.4 million views 🤯 so clearly it’s something lots of you want help with.

These are 7 resorts we think are genuinely worth looking at if you want to ski for less:

⛷️ Arinsal, Andorra
⛷️ Gudauri, Georgia
⛷️ Bansko, Bulgaria
⛷️ Jasná, Slovakia
⛷️ Val Cenis, France
⛷️ Sestriere, Italy
⛷️ Zakopane, Poland

Sskiholiday familyskiing budgettravel skiing familytraveluse accommodation, food and drink are better value and some are just much easier to do on a tighter budget overall.

And that’s one of the biggest things we keep coming back to in our How to Book a Ski Holiday series. You don’t always need the biggest or most famous resort, especially if you’re beginners or skiing as a family.

We love the big name resorts too, but if your priority is skiing more often without spending an absolute fortune, looking beyond the obvious places can make SUCH a difference.

We’ll be sharing loads more budget friendly ski resorts this winter, including some new ones we’re visiting ourselves 👀

SAVE this for when you’re planning your next ski trip + FOLLOW if you want more help making family skiing feel a bit more doable. ⛷️

skiholiday familyskiing budgettravel skiing familytravel taken in Europe by @adventuresofthewests

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4 days ago

School holiday ski prices can look crazy but they really don’t have to be | Ad

After a few comments saying our last deals couldn’t possibly be in the school holidays, we went looking 👀

These are 4 @sunweb.global holidays I’d genuinely book with my own family across Christmas, New Year, February half term and Easter.

And 4 additional absolute bargains too!

And the fact your lift passes are always included with Sunweb holidays makes such a difference too.

Comment SUNWEB OCTOBER and I’ll send you the deals + our £50 off code 🎿 taken in Europe by @adventuresofthewests

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5 days ago

AD The kids’ toy they just don’t outgrow

We’ve had a Yoto since Otis was little and what he listens to has completely changed as he’s grown.

I love that Yoto keeps evolving with him, rather than becoming another thing he grows out of.

We use our Yoto Player at home and our Yoto Mini is perfect for when we travel too.

With over 1,300 cards to choose from, there really is something for every stage.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a Yoto, you can find out more via the link in my bio. @yotoplay taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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7 days ago

But what do you do with all your stuff when you Airbnb your home?

This is probably one of the questions we get asked most because yes, this is our actual family home and no, we absolutely do NOT empty the whole thing every time 😂

We basically just make it feel as easy as possible for guests to use whilst also being the least amount of faff for us.

We clear the sides, tidy everything properly, make sure there’s some wardrobe/drawer space for them and remove anything personal or valuable that we don’t want left out.

But loads of our normal stuff stays exactly where it is.

Anything valuable, important to our boys or a lot of the time just a load of random family clutter gets shoved into our garden studio or a locked cupboard on our landing and locked away while we’re gone.

We don’t put things into storage and we don’t completely empty cupboards or drawers. That would honestly make the whole thing far too much effort to be worth doing.

Our cleaner then manages all the changeovers while we’re away, so once we’ve got the house ready and left, that’s basically it until we come home.

After doing this for around 3 years now, we’ve definitely got the prep down to something that feels manageable rather than completely overwhelming.

And for the longer summer trips especially, it’s been SO worth it for us because the money we make from a house that would otherwise be sitting empty goes straight back into helping us travel more as a family.

Would your other half be up for this… or are they firmly in the absolutely not camp? 😂 We’ve shared lots more videos on how we make this work on our page recently if you want more info. taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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9 days ago

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM… APPARENTLY 👀

Last school year we reached our third term time absence within a three year period… all within one school year.
Not because we refuse to travel in the school holidays. The opposite. Our work means we travel throughout the school holidays and unavoidably sometimes during term time too.

We work with travel brands creating content, and the boys get to be part of that. They’re getting real life work experience doing what we think is a pretty mega job: travelling the world, visiting incredible places, experiencing different cultures and learning some very cool skills along the way.

When they’re away, they still have their weekly online tutoring, we keep up with their schoolwork and, of course, they’re learning through the experiences and opportunities they’re having too.

Despite all of that, our third term time absence led to a potential prosecution, with Simon and me each being interviewed under caution separately.

Our case was eventually closed, and thankfully we now have a solution for future work trips: Child Performance Licences for the boys.

But that solution only works for us because this is our job.
It doesn’t help the parents who can’t choose when they take annual leave. NHS workers. Shift workers. Families who simply cannot afford the enormous price increases during school holidays.

So when BOTH boys’ schools sent messages encouraging school trips, quoting Government guidance about the huge benefits of children learning outside the classroom, developing independence, confidence and experiencing new things…

I did have to laugh.

Because those are exactly the reasons we value the experiences our boys have when they travel with us.

Yet somehow, when those experiences are organised by school they’re celebrated for all these benefits, but when parents choose to give their children those same kinds of experiences, the consequences can be very different.

Make it make sense. taken in Brighton and Hove by @adventuresofthewests

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10 days ago

HOW TO BOOK A SKI HOLIDAY - PART 3 ⛷️

If you’ve never booked a ski holiday before, or it’s your first time taking kids, it can feel like there are about 400 things to think about.

But genuinely, once you break it down, it becomes SO much easier.

A few things to keep in mind:
📅 Your dates make a huge difference. If you’re tied to school holidays, Christmas and Easter can often be better value than New Year or Feb half term. Outside them, January and early December can have brilliant deals.
🏔️ Don’t just book the famous resort. Think about your ability AND the kind of holiday you want. Beginners don’t need hundreds of kilometres of pistes, and a smaller ski area can mean cheaper accommodation, lift passes and spending once you’re there.
🏡 Spend where it matters to you. Self catering can save loads, but ski in ski out can be worth every penny with kids. And if you want the easiest week, catered or all inclusive can completely change the holiday.
🚗 Don’t compare travel on flights alone. Add bags, ski carriage and transfers before deciding what’s cheapest. Driving can work brilliantly for families because you can throw EVERYTHING in the car.
🎿 Lessons are worth budgeting for. Group lessons usually give you more hours for your money, while private lessons cost more but can mean faster progression.
🎟️ Lift passes are a BIGGIE . An adult day pass can range from around £40 to nearly £100 depending on the resort. Some resorts also have free or discounted kids’ passes. Beginners really don’t need to pay for a huge linked ski area they won’t use.

Sunweb include them in all their holidays. See below for our discount code.

First trip? Rent your skis and boots rather than buying them. Booking online before you travel is often much cheaper too.
Hopefully this makes the whole thing feel a little less overwhelming 🤍

SAVE this + FOLLOW for more family ski help this winter.
Ready to price one up? Comment SKI DISCOUNTS and we’ll send you our current discounts.

ADAFF (from the discount codes) taken in Europe by @adventuresofthewests

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11 days ago