Mercedes Sieff is co-founder of the award winning Yeotown Health Retreat. A long time Vinyasa Flow Yoga instructor and, arguably, one of the UK’s happiest and most creative teachers, Mercedes divides her time between London and Devon. Flow Yoga Mama to two baby girls, Mercedes also miraculously ends time to lifestyle blog for the Huffington Post and frequently contributes articles to popular wellbeing websites such as MindBodyGreen and Elephant Journal. She is an ambassador for Lululemon Athletica and Manduka and features regularly on ITV1, BBC Radio and in publications such as Tatler, The Sunday Times, Conde Nast Traveler, OM Magazine, Harpers Bazaar and Yoga Magazine. If that’s not enough, Mercedes is also a Positive Psychology Coach and holds a Diploma in Coaching from Cambridge University.
Q: What is your first childhood memory of travel?
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada but my mother is from Barcelona so my earliest memories of travelling was the plane ride over to Spain with my parents and three sisters. It was back in the day when air travel rules were a quite relaxed to say the least (remember smoking sections?!!) and I vividly remember my sisters and I setting up makeshift beds with the blankets and pillows and sleeping stretched out on the floor the whole ride over, something you’d never be allowed to do now.
Q: Where have you had your best holiday to date?
Gosh, this is a hard one as I have always had a sense of wanderlust and so have been fortunate to have travelled to some pretty cool places and experienced many great trips that would definitely battle it out for the title of best holiday ever. On top of that list would probably have to be when I went to Peru by myself for my 25th birthday and hiked Machu Piccu, white water rafted down the Urumamba River and hand glided over the Andes mountains: a super fun adventure for sure and I’d love to go back with my husband and kids.
Q: Where was the first place you went with a little one in tow? How did it go?
Both my husband and I have a real love for Sri Lanka and go there annually so, when Rumi (my eldest) was born, we didn’t see why things should change. So, when she was 3 months old I strapped her to my chest and off we all went. It was our first plane ride with a baby, of course, and a long one at that (10 hours); we definitely made some amateur mistakes. I remember the biggest one was not bringing any formula as she was still so young and I was breastfeeding exclusively at the time. For some reason she fed twice as much during the flight, really non-stop it felt like, and so my milk was not able to keep up with the speed at which she needed it! Needless to say, you can imagine the chaos that ensued as she was crying out for food, poor thing, and there I was desperately trying to get her to suckle just to get her to stop crying, even though there was no milk coming out. We laugh about it now at how ignorant we were, but it was such a tense plane ride I’ll never forget.
Q: How do you find the experience of travelling with children generally?
I would liken it to a set of waves when you are surfing. A big set comes at you and tries to take you out and you fight to keep your wits about you and stay on your board. Then they pass and you are sitting floating peacefully, chill out, happy and at one with a calm, beautiful sea. To me travelling with young kids is a bit like that. There are moments of extreme stress, chaos and thinking “I will never do this again” and then there are also super sweet moments that balance it out, like when they are sleeping, resting their little heads on my lap or excited with fits of giggles and excitement as the plane is taking off. I love seeing their wid-eyed joy at the adventure of it all and it makes me happy seeing them so happy.
Do you ever travel with your children for work?
Yes, quite a bit, as I run yoga and surf holidays a few times a year in far off places and always bring them. I also teach at various yoga conferences and festival around the globe so I like to bring them too if I am going to be away for more than a few days.
Q: Where was your best holiday with your child?
I’d say Bali is my favorite with the kids. The people, hotels, beaches, restaurants (even the trendy “cool” ones) are all really child-friendly and make travelling around with them so easy. I remember going there two summers ago when my youngest was just 5 weeks old and my eldest about 18 months. That initial period right after birth can be so stressful and taxing physically and emotionally (breastfeeding, hormones shifting, body aching from carrying baby all the time etc…) but I had such an opposite experience to my first time after giving birth. It was so healing having the warmth and sunshine every day, going for long walks on beautiful beaches with the baby on my chest, and my eldest holding my hand and toddling along and getting loads of nurturing Balinese massages. The Balinese people, in general, love children and have that “it takes a village” mentality. We had support from these wonderful Balinese women who had been taking care of our friend’s kids for years and they helped us out with ours, which gave me a little ‘down time’ to have a sleep, do some postnatal yoga and give my husband and I some space to get out for some nice meals together. It was definitely a great way to enjoy some of my maternity leave.
Q: And your worst?
Oh goodness, it was when I was about 10 weeks pregnant with my second child, Indra, and we went to Morocco for a holiday over the New Year. Rumi was only about 13 months and I had just been treated for tonsillitis. Even though I was feeling better before we left, we arrived and it came back with a vengeance. I was also at the tail end of my first trimester so I was still really nauseous and then, to top it off, we all came down with a nasty cold; Rumi was up most the nights crying with a fever and snotty nose. We still talk about what a miracle it was we made it back through the plane ride home as we could barely keep our heads up!
Q: What is your must-have travel accessory when away with children?
Must haves now are loads of markers, paper, pens, puzzles, crayons, books and my iPad with their favorite games, painting apps and cartoons on them.
Q: And top tips for travel with kids?
Most of our travel is long haul so I definitely recommend getting an overnight flight if possible for lengthier flights. The kids tend to sleep a lot of it and it helps pass the time a bit quicker. Lots of changes of clothes for both myself and the kids and, if there is an item you know they can’t be without to sleep and soothe themselves (my little one likes a bottle with water to suckle on and the other has to have a comfort blanket), then I always take a spare to have on hand. For jet lag, we try to eat according to the time zone we’re heading to instead of where we have just left. I find this really helps to get into the swing of things once we land. I also recommend lots of deep breaths, inhale to the count of 4, hold for 4 and then exhale for 4, just to keep calm, relaxed and less stressed through the chaos of travelling with little ones. Also just accepting it as short lived helps too, because they grow up so fast and I always remind myself in the moments of chaos that it won’t last forever!
