This year we spent our spring break in Sri Lanka. We won't be able to go to the US this summer, so I decided that we should take a trip somewhere fun to soften the blow somewhat. We have very close friends that moved to India last summer. They invited us to come and see them in India, and as travel plans progressed, we agreed to meet somewhere fun instead, as their town itself isn't that exciting. After some talking, we decided to meet in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southeast coast of India, has some of the feel of India, but is very popular for beach vacations. And if there is one vacation that is the best for a trip with sixteen people, it's beach vacations. After a lot of searching, we were able to find a house that perfectly fit everyone, and - even better - had staff that would cook for us.
The trip down wasn't too terrible - twelve hours of traveling really is quite short when our usual trips are over twenty four hours - and there was only a half hour time change. Our house wasn't located on the beach, but we were able to take tuk-tuks to several nice beaches close by. For the children, the tuk-tuks were part of the charm of the vacation. Every morning after breakfast, we had four tuk-tuks waiting for us to take us to whatever outing we were headed to that day.
In addition to going the beach, we also went on a few adventures. We visited Galle fort, went to a sea turtle rescue hospital, went on a safari, visited an elephant orphanage, and went to a temple.
But mostly, we went to the beach. Because the best possible thing to do with twelve active children is to spent lots of time at lovely beaches. And when everyone was done with the beach for the day, we came home and then everyone spent a few more hours swimming in the pool before being served a delicious dinner of Sri Lankan food.
At the end of the week, everyone agreed that it had been a completely perfect week. I didn't think that it would be possible to have a vacation as fabulous as our vacation to the Maldives last year, but Sri Lanka was different but equally amazing. We absolutely loved the house that we stayed at, which was probably what made the vacation so wonderful. The owner arranged everything for us and decided on the menu each night, which made it a vacation for everyone, especially the moms.
The house was perfect for two families, with each one having its own separate space. It had lots of room for the children to play and adults to sit and talk without anyone disturbing each other, and it even had a well-stocked library for anyone who had the chance to get bored. And the house and grounds were stunningly beautiful. The house was tastefully decorated and the garden made us feel like we were in our own private jungle. When we were preparing to leave, everyone was already making plans to return for spring break next year. We all hope it works out!