'Some parts of Ireland are like a different world!'
Jon and Ciara pictured exploring Waterford with their daughters Edie, Blaise and Bo.
If their years of working in television have taught Jon Slattery and Ciara Whelan anything, it’s how to keep an audience entertained.
The couple, best known for presenting shows such as Virgin Media’s and , have also worked behind the scenes as producers on several other hits.
Yet despite their decades of experience both in front of and behind the camera, it’s only in more recent years that Jon and Ciara have earned a seal of approval from their toughest audience yet — their daughters Edie, Blaise and Bo.
Since the girls were only babies, their parents have made a point of sharing their love of travel with them, bringing them along on their adventures whenever possible.
“I’ve travelled since I was tiny. I was in Thailand as a four year old, before I even knew what Thailand was,” Ciara reflects. “I’ve definitely always had itchy feet, Jon’s the same, so I suppose it’s always been important to us both to raise the girls with a sense of adventure.
“We started travelling throughout Ireland [and began filming Are We There Yet?] when our youngest, Blaise, was only a bump, and we went on our first long-haul flight as a family of five to Thailand when she was about six months old. At this stage, the girls have already been to Singapore and all sorts. Getting to explore these places and immerse ourselves in an entirely different culture is an amazing experience — the education you get from it is unlike anything else.”
The only downside to infecting their kids with the travel bug and introducing them early on to these far off places in the world — both Jon and Ciara fear — is that it can, at times, give the girls “notions”.
“The conversation we had at breakfast this morning was about where we could go on holidays this year, and it somehow turned in to them planning what we’d do in Sri Lanka,” Jon laughs. “We were thinking more like Costa del Sol!”
While the couple feel they’ve reached a “sweet spot” in their travelling adventures — and in parenting in general — with the girls now aged 5, 7 and 9 years old, and their tantrum-laden toddler years firmly in the rearview mirror, there have been many lessons learned in getting there.
For one, the family never set off on any kind of road trip without having the car well stocked.
“We absolutely do not hop in the car without food,” Ciara says. “We bring a LOT of snacks — traveling with hungry kids is just a big no no.”
While Jon agrees — lamenting that Ciara and the girls can be “the hangriest people ever” — he swears by another essential, ‘busy bags’.
“The busy bag is a bag full of colours, small toys and maybe a jigsaw or two, but it’s all toys that they don’t already have at home so the novelty is still there when we do travel. It’s great for keeping them happy in the back of the car, but it’s really handy when you’re in restaurants and waiting for the food to arrive so they always have something to occupy themselves,” Jon explains. “They pack it themselves as well so it’s all stuff they get excited about.”
“We’ve never had devices in the car either, or even really at home, so we’ve never had a reliance on them,” Ciara adds. “The kids have always just done their own thing, whether they’re having a conversation, playing eye spy or they’re singing along to the radio, listening to an audiobook…”
“Or killing each other,” Jon jokes. “Honestly though, while they are generally great at getting along, there are times when it’s just carnage between them — it happens with the two of us as well! You just bring stuff that you think you can throw at them as a distraction when the carnage starts.
“I think staycations are a lot easier in that regard,” Jon continues. “It’s what I love about them, just being able to throw absolutely anything in the car and not having to overthink it like you do when you’re going through an airport. There’s great freedom in that.”
Ciara agrees, adding that having a few key supplies that never leave the car has often lead to fun, spontaneous trips. “On any given day, if you look in the back of our car, you’d find a few scooters, a couple of life vests, some helmets, about 16 pairs of wellies! Even on a random Monday afternoon we’re probably ready to go — we just need to throw a bit of clean underwear into the car and we’re off!”
While they cram as much as they can into the car, however, the family’s mantra when it comes to all other aspects of travelling is “less is more”.
“Travelling with kids and seeing the world through their eyes is just phenomenal,” says Ciara. “They get so happy about the most random things — I mean, kids can get excited over a stick! We’ve gone on walks before where they’ve literally been happy out just because they found a branch they think looks cool. Whenever you’re bringing them to destinations, whether it be to a nice park like that, or a museum, or you’re doing an activity like paddle boarding, they just get so excited because everything is so new to them. It’s impossible not to get wrapped up in that excitement too as a parent.”
“It’s like that thing about how you can buy kids so many amazing things for Christmas and they’ll just want to play with the box,” Jon laughs. “I love that about the kids, they’re so inquisitive but it’s the simplest of things that capture their imagination.
“Some of the things they’ve really enjoyed and still talk about to this day have really surprised us. Not too long ago, we went on holiday to Waterford and visited the Irish Museum of Time there. We thought they’d be bored, honestly, but the kids absolutely loved it. They’re so interactive, these museums. It kind of opened our eyes in terms of what we can do with the kids that we initially never thought they’d enjoy.”
“It was mad because none of them could actually even tell the time when we visited this entire museum of clocks, but they were fascinated by it,” Ciara agrees.
“I think when you’re travelling with kids you don’t have to do too much for it to be a great holiday in their eyes. If you think back to your own childhood holidays, the things that stick out from them, you realise that all you need to do is give your kids a handful of core memories that they’ll have as they grow up and go into adulthood — and those could be of anything!"
“Exactly,” Jon says. “I think Donegal was definitely one of those core memories for us. We stopped off at Fintra beach there while we were filming and the kids spent about an hour and a half just running around the place. It was a beautiful sunny day, the water was really shallow and the kids just had an absolute ball running around — it was the most idyllic, scenic area. We got lovely fish and chips from a shack nearby in Killybegs too.
“That’s what I love about Ireland, we have beautiful beaches like that but you could so easily head up the mountains or into the city from there. In Ireland, you can go 10 or 15 miles down the road and you’re in a whole different world!
“You can cover as much or as little of it as you want, too,” Ciara adds. “You don’t have to do it all — kids are such simple little creatures, they’re happy doing anything.”
If you do want to do it all, though, you’ll be spoiled for choice. Even Ciara and Jon, who spent years travelling for a living, still have plenty of Ireland left to explore.
“Two years ago I was lucky enough to shoot a series called Ireland: County by County,” says Ciara. “I got to travel across the country but the programme itself was for American TV audiences.
“It was a really great experience, because when you’re promoting Ireland like that to people overseas, you can’t help but just be so proud of all that what we do have to offer. Shooting that was great, it was almost like a recce for trips I plan to go on with the kids.
“We’re big wolf fans in our house, so we want to go back to Donegal, but this time we’ll visit the zoo there, Wild Ireland. Top of my list is to bring the kids to Leitrim — as soon as the sunshine hits I’m heading to Drumshanbo where there’s a phenomenal outdoor swimming pool. The kids will just love it.”
The huge variety they’re still enjoying across Ireland is far from the only appeal of staycations for the family, however. The environmental impact of flying abroad for their holidays is something they’re more conscious of than ever.
“The girls are definitely grasping the concept of looking after the planet, and why it’s important. They’re learning about it at school and asking us questions at home,” Jon shares.
“They started caring about it from a pretty young age,” Ciara agrees. “Ever since we’ve had kids it’s only made myself and Jon more aware too. Bo, our 9 year old, is very passionate about the environment, she loves being part of her green schools committee and getting involved there.”
As their own interest in environmentalism has grown, Jon and Ciara have been looking into different ways they can make their travels as eco-friendly as possible.
As well as searching for lower-emission flights whenever they do head overseas, the couple aren’t ruling out an electric car for their future road trips across Ireland.
“It’s definitely a great idea, the only reason we’re hesitant to go for it is because we don’t know enough about electric cars,” Jon explains. “We’ve heard stories from some people who say they’re fantastic for cities, but if you want to go on long journeys you have to really think about your route and make sure to include charging spots. We’re not very good at planning, that’s the problem! I do think it’d make great TV, though. I’d love to do a series to see how far we could get with just the one battery charge.”
Ciara laughs; “This is classic Jon — he loves driving with the absolute minimum amount of diesel too!”
“It’s true,” John admits. “Let’s say I have 20km worth of fuel left in the tank, but I know it’s about 30km to our destination — I’ll try to roll downhills and everything to get there! Ciara’s usually freaking out in the car beside me but it hasn’t failed me yet. So I’d definitely love a similar challenge with a race against the car battery — it’s a great idea for the next series.”
At the very top of the couple’s vehicle wish list for any future series, however, is something quite different from an electric car. Jon, in particular, has his sights set on a campervan for their next family adventure. His dearly missed father, Sean, passed away two years ago, but Jon has incredibly fond memories of watching him travel around Ireland in his own makeshift version.
“We would absolutely love to do something with a campervan! My dad and mum used to go all over the country in what started out as just an ordinary van that they threw a mattress in the back of, and they just loved it. They bought a proper campervan later in life, so I’ve always wanted to do something similar.”
Ciara’s on board with the plan — although she’s already warning Jon against getting sand into their hypothetical new holiday home.
“Perhaps we could stick to just the midlands, and explore those in a campervan,” she pleads. “That’d still make a great TV series!”
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