"Where did we go again Mummy?"

In the spirit of a true 5050 split, February half term this year was divided down the middle. August’s dad would have him for the first half of the week, and I would get him back at lunchtime on the Wednesday. With the newly added parameter of leaving a buffer day, because of fears that it was just all "too much" for him, I tried my hardest to view this as a challenge, to see how creative we can be with our time (even more creative!).

Something that's really important to me, is that Ibiza is not just my second home, but August's too. Of course, because he's not with me all of the time and the constraints of a school timetable, it means that he would never be able to travel to Ibiza as frequently as I can, but I'm keen to take up every opportunity so that he doesn't feel that it's just my thing. It's winter so we would need to route via somewhere. To make travel appealing to August I'm conscious that I need to tap into the things that he is really keen on, the things that he's interested in, and might want to see. So that's football.

I had him promised that we would visit Barcelona and go to the Nou Camp stadium where he could show off his, what he didn't know bless him, was a very cheaply procured second hand kit off eBay.

I played around with the flights, trying to drive the price down as much as possible and ended up with the optimal routing, that meant that we spent no more than about 30 pounds per person return each, was to route out via Valencia and back via Barcelona.

The return journey via Barcelona on a Sunday rather limited us to the visits that would be possible at Nou Camp. The tours seemed to stop at 1:45. That would be a fair stretch to be able to expect to get from the airport when our flight landed just before 1:00 PM in the afternoon and make it in time. In addition, the stadium tour ticket prices were extortionate.

I wonder, does Valencia have a team? Appears that it does! And a Mestella stadium tour came in at less than 1/3 of the price of Nou Camp. No clue whatsoever about the team’s credentials (sorry die-hard Valencia fans) but would probably tick August’s box.

So, we could do that comfortably on the first day on the way out on the Thursday and save some pennies at the same time. To try and optimise travel and minimise faff, because we landed into Valencia late on the Wednesday night, I booked a hotel as close as I could find on airport. This was the Travelodge Valencia airport. I did the same the other end with the Hostal Can Siles at Barcelona El Prat airport. This proved to be an exceptionally smart move, and ensured the even though we were trying to pack in an awful lot in a very short space of time, none of it felt rushed and the travel was, I can give myself a pat on the back for this one, exceptionally smooth and hassle free.

The Travelodge Valencia was, as the crow flies a very short walk from the airport terminal, but we didn't factor in having to traverse one of the city’s main arteries to get there. A dodgy game of chicken ensued, but we were helped by the late hour, meaning that the roads were fairly quiet. Tired yet satisfied we hit the sack.

It wasn't planned this way, but when we woke and enjoyed a tasty buffet breakfast, yay for hotel buffet breakfast they are the best, we discovered that right smack bang in front of the hotel’s front door was the Roses metro station that would take us into the city centre. We left our bags at the hotel and headed in. I overegged it slightly thinking that we might be able to do a bit of the historical centre by foot, including the amazing indoor market, but I misjudged the size of the city, and we ended up having to jump in a taxi at the last minute to make the stadium tour that started at 10:40.

I'm not into football, I'm not going to claim that I am, but if it's something that's August is interested in, then I'm there. What I will say though in respect of Mestalla stadium is …Wow! It was awe inspiring. It was a beautiful stadium. It was an interesting tour and very well worth the money.

After that we walked back towards the city centre over the flower bridge (Ponta Del Flores) and down into the riverbed park. I think I have visited enough Spanish cities now to quite confidently say that Valencia is my favourite. It's a comfortable size, it's easy to get about, it's architecturally stunning, and it feels healthy, outdoorsy and wholesome. I would wholeheartedly recommend it as a family friendly city break. It has everything, lots to see and do, city amenities and a beach to boot!

As we walked along the riverbed park, we came across the Gulliver’s play area. This is absolutely phenomenal, basically it is a humongous fibreglass Gulliver lying prostrate on the floor that kids, (and adults) can climb over and slide down. We could have spent the day there.

August had clocked some go karts, that are absolutely his thing. I felt bad saying “if we had more time we could do” this, but we tried to shift ourselves as quickly as we could to find the rental place in the hope that we could spend some time razzing around in a couple of go Karts.

We arrived at the Science Park, again an absolutely stunning, beautiful area and found the hire location but they could only do an hour and we didn't really have that long to spend. As an alternative though I hired a stand-up paddle board and August a Child’s jet ski and we scooted merrily for about 10 minutes around the lake at the science park. Thoroughly enjoyable and good value for money at 5 euros each. That was Valencia done for us and we needed to hot foot it back to the hotel, grab our bags and catch our 5.30pm flight to Ibiza.

A car had been reserved with my old favourite, Click Rent. I developed a love (and loyalty) for this company earlier on last year, when the friendly service agent provided me with some hints and tips to bring the rental price down even lower than the ridiculously cheap 9 euros for three days. Unfortunately, that friendly welcome was absent this time and a surly bloke preceded to inform me that apparently two weeks ago, a new rule had been bought in that UK licence holders needed an international driving permit. I tried to argue the toss. Tears were on their way but didn't arrive. We had specifically booked a very isolated accommodation and there was no way we can do that without a car. Really still not sure what the issue was there but he was doing absolutely nothing to help and the miserable ***** at the counter next to him just seemed to be making things worse. If I had the time or inclination, I would be writing a very strongly worded letter of complaint.

A quick call to my friendly Air BnB host Nick told us that one of his friends had used OK Mobility within the last few days and not needed to produce an international driver’s licence. We hiked it back up the dual carriage way, much to August's despair. What superstar though, it was getting late, he could see that I was probably getting a bit stressy and his resilience sometimes just astounds me, so long as he didn't walk on the road like his eejit mother. Okay mobility came up trumps, and even though I had already paid for the previous rental, the price was low enough to make it still good value, and to be fair I reconciled it in my head that I'd got away with not having to pay for a booster seat, damn it I knew there was something I forgot in the packing!

So, we headed to our caravanette in the forest. It certainly was isolated, but geographically not that far from Ibiza town. Super cool, this is exactly what we were looking for. Nick had switched on the air con in the caravan, and it was toasty and warm to greet us along with some other fragrant yet appealing smells wafting around the bohemian set up. His villa is the thing that my dreams are made of. Earthy and rustic and just a couple of rooms, why oh why didn't I happen across this 20 years ago like he had? When land and property was still affordable on the island. It was great being surrounded by nature with all of the sights and smells that accompany it apart from that ******* Cockrell! Oh, nature’s alarm clock, how wonderful, for about 5 minutes and then I wanted to shoot the damn thing. It even sat on a branch just outside the caravan for maximum amplification. He piped up at about 3.30, clearly disoriented, I think he got his time zones wrong and proceeded to be a cock for another four or so hours.

Sleep wasn't the high point of the trip, but August was absolutely fine he sleeps like a log and was oblivious to the disruptive cock!

So, we had two full days to play with, let's see how much we can do in that time. August wanted some beach time. We got that, beautiful beach time and beautiful sunshine. We headed firstly to Salinas and spent a casual few hours playing catch, playing frisbee, playing sumo wrestling and dob in the sea. Happy child, happy mum. Lunch stop at Hostal Talamanca (my fave) for beachfront views and yummy Tapas, to include of course Boquerones Fritos. Next stop, the yummiest ice cream on the island, in Santa Eulalia. We also had another world’s longest game of frisbee on the soft sandy beach there.

Where for sunset? There were a couple of contenders, but we headed to Cala Comte with our Haribos, beer and Lipton tea for August. He jumped, span, frolicked and wrestled himself on the beach, and I enjoyed a few moments of chill with the stunning sunset.

Back to base and another night interrupted by ****.

Whilst there are some amazing walks in Ibiza, I was still slightly traumatised by our attempts to hike down to Cala D’ Albarca a couple of years previous, when I had to climb back up all the way, a good 1 1/2 hours with August on my shoulders, and I didn't really fancy a re-run of this especially now he's got so big.

So, we headed to Benirras. What a blissful Saturday morning that was. We embraced our inner hippies and stripped off on the rocks to jump in the sea for me, or get his toe wet for Augs. Again, loads of fun playtime was had.

Hanger had kicked in, and our attempts to find somewhere for lunch were thwarted by the winter seasonality. Although we managed to find some tasty snacks in Portinatx. The next stop was the abandoned hotel in Cala d’en Serra, with the amazing graffiti works. Nick had informed us that this was soon going to be demolished, so it was a good opportunity to see it before it was. I had already been there myself on a long walk along the coastline from Portinatx, but August hadn't.

Some of the graffiti was absolutely out of this world, and the place just had an awesome spooky feel. I had intended Es Vedra for sunset, but the little dude was knackered out through all of the activity and had fallen asleep in the car. As we approached Cala D’Hort and found there wasn't actually a restaurant there anyway as intended, we carried on our journey in came to Cala Vedella next where it had all of the required ingredients of sunset, beach restaurant, and sandy beach. Although try as I might, August couldn't be persuaded to sit outside, and we took an inside table which kind of defeated the object.

Having a child with a curious palette is of course an amazing thing, but not great when the bill arrives. We enjoyed garlic prawns, mussels and Caprese salad and August ate the Lion’s share. Sunset was absolutely stunning at Cala Vedella, and we had a good game of football on the beach until a cheeky pup tries to steal August’s ball and it all went downhill!

The next morning was our last and we were up and out with a quick detour via Salinas to feel the sand one last time between our toes. We were headed to Barcelona on the 12:00 o'clock flight which actually departed early, and we arrived in Barcelona just before 1pm.

We took the Metro straight into the city centre at Plaza de Catalunya and pondered what our next move would be, not having found any left luggage perhaps the best option, especially with the limited time available would be to choose the hop on hop off tour bus. This proved to be the right move and is certainly a good option if you want to see the highlights of a place when you only have the time to skim the surface.

I know this might sound a bit controversial but whilst appreciating the beauty of some of Barcelona's features, it really doesn't do it for me as much as it seems to for other people. I'm definitely more of a Valencia fan. We ended our tour at Nou Camp as I'd promised to show August. It happened that there was actually a match on, and crowds of supporters adored the stadium all on the lookout for a glimpse of one of the famous players. August enjoyed this immensely before we headed back to base.

I'd really like to recommend the Can Silas Hostal particularly if departing Barcelona early morning or arriving late as it is so close to El Prat. I think the room cost us 30 pounds. Although traditional in deco, it was spacious and clean with a lovely big balcony overlooking a square. Lots of places to grab some grub and we tucked into a Uruguayan artisan (?!?) pizza that was almost as large as Augs. Best bit was that there was a bus stop directly opposite and buses running all through the night at a frequency of about every 10 minutes even at 4:00 AM when we departed, once again, Stansted bound.

So, is all of this really viable in such a short space of time, keeping the kids happy, not breaking the bank, and still leaving the mandatory buffer day before a return to school? Absolutely! Anything is possible, it just requires the will to do it. Flights were mega cheap, as we had pieced them together as single leg journeys, I’d selected the cheapest possible accommodation whilst filtering for properties that were rated over 7 out of 10 on booking.com to at least guarantee a level of reasonableness. In terms of costs when we were there, they were minimal, and also could have been bought lower by not eating out and only buying what we needed in supermarkets. The thing that helped us the most I believe is choosing the top and tail hotels to be located actually on airport but with direct metro links into the respective cities, because this saved valuable sleeping time. Is it too much for August? Too tiring? Only time will tell on that one I guess. But at the end of the day, he is 6, with boundless energy, there were late nights (as there would have been on holiday at home) but there were lie ins and no night's sleep were curtailed or disrupted through any of the travelling. There was also ample chill time back at the caravan and playtime on the beaches. Again, and travelling with kids, it's entirely possible to have a city break, it's just a case of choosing the right city that has a mix of amenities. Valencia wins hands down in this respect, as I've already said it seems to have the best of all worlds.

So, August, which bit of the holiday did you like best? Where did you like the most?... ….. “Where did we go again?” says he! Seriously hoping some of this is retained in his long-term memory!