We are a big, chaotic, blended family of 8 (including 4 teens and 2 very demanding dogs). If you're looking for accommodation for a crowd, we've lived the struggle - and the eventual triumph - of finding that elusive space where everyone is, well, relatively happy. Even us adults!

But let me take you back to where it all began: our first-ever holiday as a unit.

The All-Inclusive Nightmare (Ages 5, 6, 7, 8)

Picture this: All-inclusive Majorca. Two nervous parents. Four hyper kids. What could go wrong?

Answer: Everything.

The first clue was the airport security queue. In the most stressful 10 minutes of any trip, all four kids thought it was HYSTERICAL to start discussing "bombs". Cue the shushing, the stern looks, and the pre-flight parental tears. We hadn't even boarded, and we were already running on fumes.

We arrived at our beautiful Iberostar Hotel with our "genius" solution: two interconnecting rooms.

Room A: Two single beds, a balcony, and us (the adults). Room B: Two single beds, a sofa bed, a balcony, and the four kids. All with an open interconnecting door linking the fun, love and laughter. How naïve…

The Sofa Bed Blame Game

Night one was pure, sugar-fuelled, sleep-deprived pandemonium. Nobody wanted the lumpy sofa bed ("It's icky!"). One kid needed light; one needed darkness. Someone was farty; someone was breathing too loud. We hoped for the best, only to wake up to the sound of all four kids breaking out onto the balcony.

We immediately separated on the grounds of safety, a family a room one room, with the interconnecting door eventually slammed shut. Not that it helped. One "family" loved the beach; the other, predictably, loved the pool. It was a week of trying to please everyone and pleasing absolutely nobody.

By 9 PM, my partner and I were shut in our individual rooms, alone with drooling sleeping kids, door shut to prevent any midnight mayhem, passively aggressively texting and blaming each other. How did two responsible adults get a holiday so wrong?

The Truth (and the Pivot)

The simple truth? We booked too late. We also assumed the big high street agents had all the options, but their limited family-size accommodation was already gone. We booked what we thought was available at our budget. You don’t know what you don’t know.

That holiday was a disaster, but it was a lightbulb moment.

The next year, we dug deep. We learned that while main street agents have limited inventory, most hotels and resorts have much more suitable accommodation than many high street agencies advertise - you just need to know how and when to access it. We learned which destinations, brands, and suppliers actually cater to big families.

It took loads of research, knowledge, and planning, but our holidays got better and better. We thought, "Hey, we're actually quite good at this!"

So, we decided to combine our absolute love of travel, our hard-won knowledge, and our messy relatability into a dream job. As a Travel Agent with a trusted name like Seaside Travel, we have access to over 400 suppliers (including the big names, but also the hidden gems).

We know exactly what you need because we've lived your worst-case scenario.

Ready to book a holiday where the only tears are those of joy?