Family Friendly Travel Blog

Just Go Awards Judging Day

Yesterday was judging day for the Just Go Travel Awards and an exciting day it was too!

Our mission is to find the best family travel products on the market, the products that have earnt their right to take up the space within your luggage; today we found our winners.  

Our day began bright and early at Peterborough train station with 3 enormous blue Ikea bags stuffed with our shortlisted products.  These products range from Merino wool sleeping bags which suit any climate to a bucket and spade set to an old family favourite, the Milton sterilising tablet.  

Our destination? The amazing Barber Surgeons Hall in the City, where our judging panel had been asked to meet us.  

We arrived early to set out our haul and look over the products.  I felt amazingly proud to be a parent with such extraordinary choice.  One by one, our lovely judges arrived; first Nicky Grant from Holiday Nanny, then Kathryn Blundell, Editor of Mother & Baby Magazine and lastly, Amanda Morrison, who contributes to the travel section of Angels & Urchins and writes the Angels & Urchins blog.  I've also recruited Gavin McOwan, from the Guardian, to judge the apps and my husband Rob for the dad's perspective.  

What followed was an intense quest to find the best products; the ones that combined quality, purpose and design and therefore represented good value for money.  Without giving away too much, the judges debated hard, revealing different approaches to packing, parenting and purchasing!  

With 11 children between us, Amanda's experience of having 4 boys, Kathryn's encyclopaedic knowledge of the parenting sector and almost every product under the sun, plus Nicky and I sending 100s of families away on family friendly holidays, the products really had to prove they had a valuable role to play.  

The result is a list of winners that really have earnt a place in your packing. Here is a full list of the shortlisted Just Go Travel Awards products.

if you'd like to know who the winners are...I'm afraid that for now, you'll have to be patient!

The results will be announced in a Twitter ceremony on 30th June 2011; please join us there by following @Totstotravelmum or search #justgoawards.

My special thanks go to:

• The Barber Surgeons Hall, Monkwell Square who kept us well watered and extremely well looked after
• Judges, Kathryn, Amanda and Nicky - you have been amazing!

Just Go Awards Finalists!

It's been a very exciting couple of months but finally, we find ourselves here, ready to announce the winners in each category of our inaugural Just Go! Awards.  

These awards are the first in the UK to focus exclusively on family friendly travel products that make it easier for parents to travel with young children.

Over 100 entries were received, making it hard work to whittle down the finalists in each of the six categories – feeding, sleeping, for the journey, safety, fun & games and apps.

But it was the ‘For the journey’ category that got the most entries....

The journey is the hardest part of any holiday and with children it’s even more difficult. Whether it’s being cooped up in a car, train, plane or ferry, parents need to be able to keep their children safe, happy, comfortable and not annoying other people. Tough job, but we now know there are great products out there to help!

The finalists by category are:

For the journey

• Content & Calm Tray Kit
• Little Jetsetter Grab & Go Pack
• Baby Mule
• Travel Remarkables
• My Carry Potty
• Bubblebum inflatable car booster
• Trunki

Sleeping

• UV Travel Centre
• Dusky Moon Dream Tubes
• Snoozeshade
• Content & Calm Cot canopy
• Bambino Merino sleeping bag

Fun & Games

• Etch a Sketch
• Rainbow Fun Activity Packs
• Sand Bucket Scooter
• Morrck Splasha
• Fuzzoodles

Feeding

• Yoomi bottle warmer
• Totseat
• Tumtum travel cutlery
• Brother Max Easy Hold Weaning Set
• Wean Machine

Safety

• Pipila UV Pacifier Steriliser
• Mommy I’m Here Child Tracker
• Activ Skins UV Wear
• Milton Sterilising Tablets
• Cool Kids Sunshine Armour Suncream
• Ila wedge Door Alarm

Apps

• NappyApp
• Peek-a-boo rattle
• Mix Max
• Peppa Pig app
• Doodle Jump v2.3

Next, I'm really looking forward to beginning the review of all the finalists' products, with my team of judges, made up of travel and parenting experts including...

Kathryn Blundell – Editor of Mother & Baby magazine and mother of two
Amanda Morison -  former travel editor of Brides and Red, she writes for High Life, The Guardian, Conde Nast Traveller and is contributing Travel Editor of London family magazine Angels & Urchins. She has four sons aged six and younger, and loves travelling with them.
Gavin McOwan - sub-editor and writer on The Guardian Travel desk. He became a father two years ago and takes his son on his many travels. 
Nicola Grant - founder of Holiday Nanny.

We are announcing the finalists on Twitter this morning and the winners in each category will then be announced in a virtual awards ceremony (also on Twitter) on 30 June 2011 at 10am. Use #justgoawards to follow the ceremony!

Congratulations to all our very deserving finalists and a huge thank you to all our entrants!