Along with running a successful family travel blog, A Modern Mother , Susanna Scott is the co-founder of the BritMums, the UK's largest collective of lifestyle bloggers and digital influencers. BritMums has more than 8,000 social influencers, representing 15,000+ blogs. A pioneer in the Mum Blogging space, Susanna, a former dot com marketer, has been featured in The Times, The FT, The Independent, The Guardian, The Sun, and Red magazine. A Modern Mother, widely considered one of the UK's top 10 Family Travel Blogs, chronicles Susanna's travels which she undertakes with her husband and three daughters.
How did you handle the transition from a dot com marketer to a travelling family?
I feel like I've started a whole new career! I loved working in markeitng in the dot com boom - it was a unique time in the industry and I was able to go so many different places and do so many things. I'd have meetings in Cancun, Napa, London,San Francisco,Boston,NYC. I guess I wanted to keep that travel spirit going when I got married and had chidlren. I was also able to put my wiritng skills to work on the blog.
You had a job that took you to exciting places. Now you take your family out on exciting holidays. How do you like this job?
As an expat I'm essentially a perpetual traveller. I like to go to new places and discover new cultures, lanuguages, food. It gives me a unique and broad undertanding of the world and I want my children to have this perspective too.
Antigua is your favourite Caribbean Island. What is the best part of a Caribbean holiday in Antigua? What are some of the top family friendly hotels in Antigua?
**One of the besy things about Antigua is that it is the closest Caribbean Island to the UK and the resorts are near the airport - so if you have a family with small chidlren you can minimise travel time for a "sun" destination. A 30-minute hotel transfer vs. a 3 hour one can make a huge difference if you have tired kids.
A lot of people think that Antigua is just a beach holiday but the beach is really just the beginning. Yes there are 365 beaches on the Island - one for every day of the year, but you can also do historical things like visit nelson Dockyard and also visit sugar planatations which were key in forming Antigua.
My very favourite resorts are part Elite Island Resorts. They are all-inclsuive, which my family loves - it let's the girls try new foods like Curried Goat, which they never would have ordered on their own. I also love all-inclusive water sports - which means you can rock up any time you want and take out a paddle board, sea kayak or Hobie Cat.
12 months 12 trips in 2016, and 2017 is shaping up to be a good year for you travel wise. Any hints about which destinations you are going to discover or return to this year?
This year we are going to California (twice!), France, Spain and visitng local favourites like the North Norfolk Coast and Cornwall.
In California - there is somuch to do! You can surf the Pacific, visit wine country (Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara), ski in Tahoe and Mamouth, whitewater raft on the American River, visit Hollywood, Disneyland. This year I want to revisit San Diego - which is a laid back sister to Los Angeles.
I'm a huge Norfolk fan. The coastline is wild and rugged and reminds me a bit of the Sonoma Coast in California. The beaches go on on - Holkham is one of my favouties in the world.
I also want to go to Spain this year - so the girls can practie their Spanish (and I can drink Sangria watching the sun set on the Mediteranean.
Do you all have same travelling choices and interests? How do you cope with differences?
Thankfully we all like similar holidays. Living in the UK, a few sun-drenched/beach holidays are a must. But the family also likes city breaks - like going to London and visitng museums.
You have been travelling with your husband and three lovely daughters. Your blog pictures some amazing family moments. Which have so far been your most memorable holiday and what made it so?
I think the family will all agree that our trip to Hawaii last year was really special. We had talked and talked and talked about it for so long I could hardly believe it when we booked it. That in itself was a story on it's own. Even though we fly quite a bit, I've never been good at keeping track of our airlines miles. I knew I must have acumulated quite a bit, and last year I bit the bullet and spent a day worting out our account and combinging miles. It turned out we had more than a million miles with United. I quickly booked the Hawaii trip. If you go to Hawaii - try the island of Maui. The beaches there are amazing - but there is also a mountaouns area as well. My favourite family hotel there is the Fairmont Kea Lani in the swish Walilea. Take me back!
Your blogs often include your kids' perspective on holidays. Which are some of their most favourite destinations, activities, and hotels?
We discuss this all the time! For the girls, surfing in Hawaii was a highlight, as well as swmming with String Rays in Antigua. When they were little is was anything active - high ropes, zip lining, hill walking. One of their favourites was a carvan park in Brittany. It had a huge wate park. Now they are old enough to appeciate art museums and other historical attractions - we are so lucky to have so many in the UK.
One of my favourite trips was the Isles of Scilly - even though it is part of the UK, the gulf stream ensures moderate temperatures. I just love it - it's like going back in time. You spend a lot of time "island hopping" and all of the island are small and easily traversed. For example, you can walk across St Martins in 40 minutes. My favourite Hotel there is Tregarthens - I've sent many people there.
I think my husband's favourite Hotel was The Four Seasons Biltomore in Santa Barbara.
Are there ever disagreements in the family with respect to choice of destination, any holiday activity etc? How easy or difficult is it to for you to handle holiday choices of your kids.
That's an interesting question. When the girls were younger - they would happily go wherever we took them.
You have been a pioneer in the British mum blogging space. Tell us about BritMums.
BritMums is the largest collective of mum bloggers! I was one of the UK's first mum bloggers, I started blogging in 2008. Being from Silicon Valley, I had seen the mum blogging phenomen in the US, and thought it would eventually take off in the UK too. At that time, there weren't any blogging communities in the UK, so I decided to start one! I was soon joined by fellow expat Jennifer Howze, who is another fabulous travel blogger at Jenography.net. Together, we have grown BritMums to more than 8,000 mum bloggers, and we're very proud of that. We have an annual event called BritMums Live (www.britmumslive.com).
This interview with Susanna is a part of Travel Trolley's ongoing 'Best of the Travel Bloggers' series. We are interviewing popular travel bloggers who encourage and inspire people to travel. Check out all the bloggers we have interviewed and learn about their interesting experiences, adventures, travel stories as well as useful holiday tips.
