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VISTA VISTA POINT-TO-POINT HAPPY FAMILIES Having small children needn’t mean losing out on big holiday experiences Travelling with young kids? Keen to keep your sanity? Enter Two Point Four, one of the world’s first experiential tour operators to cater to children as young as two, with tours designed to teach kids about the world beyond the classroom by exploring different cultures, cuisines and wildlife. New tours on offer include a 12-day Bali adventure, where families can learn how to surf, play in mud pits and pick up the martial art of Mepantigan, adults can white water raft while children paint, and learn how to cook Balinese food. A ten-day Costa Rica itinerary is packed with nature walks around Poás Volcano National Park, family yoga, an adult waterfalljumping trip, kids’ interactive traditional dance lessons and kayaking down Rio Celeste. twopointfourtravel.com BALANCE NESRINE DALLY British hijabi Muay Thai boxer tells us how she maintains balance in her life What inspired you to take up sport professionally? Sport runs in my family; my older sister was a speed-skating champion. I started swimming at the age of nine, and got into weight training after secondary school. At university I wanted to do a contact sport. Muay Thai is a full-body, holistic form of training and I fell in love with it from the first session. It’s such a challenging form of exercise and I really wanted to master it. Did you have any reservations about wearing a hijab while competing? Wearing the hijab was something that I’d wanted to do for a long time. It had taken a while to get myself into the right headspace spiritually. But when I wore it for the first time, it just felt right. I wasn’t sure how my clients or career would be affected by it, but it made little difference to any aspect of my life. Do you think you’ve opened the doors to women who may not have considered sport? Yes, I feel I have opened doors for many other women who may have felt restricted in their lives and not able to do that kind of thing. If anything, it also acted as a small step towards helping Muslim women being taken seriously in sport in general, as many of them just didn’t know what to wear beforehand. How do you maintain physical and mental focus? I’m very driven. I set myself mini goals, then medium-term and longer-term goals. I start by chipping away at the mini goals, week by week. I run, do gym workouts and specific Muay Thai exercises. Training keeps me sane, makes me happy and makes me feel powerful. Apart from athletic success, what is important to you? I have young children, so family is the main priority. If I can’t get a babysitter I can take the pram with me and jog around the park. If I can’t leave the house, I’ll do a workout at home. I make do with whatever time I have. Do you balance your job with a hobby that helps you to relax? I love travelling, exploring different cultures and meeting different people. What has your journey in fitness taught you about life? If you can work at trying to overcome the things that challenge you in life, you’ll always become a better version of yourself. Try not to run away from the things that you’re scared of. Run towards them instead. BALANCE INTERVIEW: LUKE PONSFORD; PHOTOS: OLI HILLYER-RILEY. IMAGES: DAIGA ELLABY, SIMON RAE; KIELL OVE STORVIK, LAURIAN GHINIOIU, AINA BYE 01 N NORWAY Kistefos Museum and Sculpture Park Jevnaker Jevnaker Nordskot Distance 810 miles Driving time Four days Norway offers spectacular driving roads and scenery. In winter, you need a good four-wheel-drive system to open up the country’s north but, in the summer, roads are clear well beyond the Arctic Circle. This route starts near the capital Oslo and heads up to dramatic fjords. Opened in 1996 on the site of an old wood pulp mill, this is Northern Europe’s largest sculpture park for contemporary art and a key hub of Norway’s cultural scene. The extensive grounds are filled with modern sculpture and installations and dramatic architecture. Its latest gallery is a ‘living bridge’, opened in October 2019, that twists as it reaches 60m across the Randselva river. 01 02 03 03 02 Manshausen Island Nordskot Set on a remote island, this exclusive accommodation offers seven stylish ‘sea cabins’, each with two bedrooms and a huge glass viewing platform at the front that gives panoramic views of the fjord. The local area offers kayaking, diving, cycling, climbing and summer and winter hiking. If you’re lucky, you might even see the Northern Lights from your bedroom. South Sami Museum and Cultural Center Snåsa The Sami people have lived in northern Scandinavia for 3,500 years. They’re best known for reindeer herding in the Arctic but the people and culture extend much further south. This museum allows you to experience life in a traditional gamma mud hut, explore Sami storytelling, and see the traditional arts and crafts central to Sami culture. 27
