I don't know how many families would be as crazy as mine, to travel to the other side of the world as a group of twenty to visit a tiny island for a festival. I'm not just talking about me and Thom, my sister and parents either. I'm talking the EXTENDED family. You know, cousins, grandparents, aunties and uncles, the works. That's pretty rare, right?! Well in my opinion, the impressive part isn't that we all made the trip over to Malta, it's that we had a fantastic week together and actually came back as a closer and stronger family (is that even possible?!). It might not be for every family, but if you're thinking of travelling with your extended family, here's my survival guide.

To get the absolute most out of your visit to Malta there are a few things that you need to add to your must do list to enjoy the most authentic Maltese experience.

Here are some of the top can't miss experiences on Malta. 

Although most people would consider Gozo as a secondary thought to the main island of Malta, for us it was our home base. My grandparents both come from different towns on the island of Gozo, so when we visit that's where we stay. Just because it's little, does not mean it's any less impressive. In fact, they are often less crowded offering you a more peaceful and relaxing trip to the beach. Some of the best beaches in Malta can be found on the island of Gozo, and we definitely tried to visit all of them as many of them as we could while we were there.

Snapping back to Europe, the next destination that I'm bringing you was definitely my favourite. We spent a full week in Malta with my whole extended family. Yep, my parents and sister, grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins. All twenty of us, on the island of Gozo, together for a week. It kind of felt like we took over! Coordinting 20 people to go anywhere is a challenge, let alone on an international trip to the other side of the world with eight different itineraries across 15 different countries and three continents.

We had been talking about this trip for what felt like forever. When I was thirteen years old we made a similar journey to Gozo to experience and celebrate the festival of my Nannu's church. It was a big deal. But last year, 12 years after our original venture, we were back! This time with four extra grandchildren, a fiance and a girlfriend, it needed to be experienced again all together. I thought this trip would kind of be one of those things that people talk about forever but never really happens. But it did, it was such a great week!

At the time when we were figuring all this out I was working as a travel consultant, so you know that I was responsible for booking every single itinerary. Yep, eight different multi-country cross-continent itineraries. I made sure that every single person in my family got everything they wanted. An afternoon in London on a long lay-over, an aisle or window seat on a long haul journey, their luggage added to the booking, a cruise that hit five different countries that they wanted to see, a birthday cake for a birthday spent in the sky. It was a mission and a half and I really enjoyed it. It was probably the only part of that job that I did enjoy! They say that everything happens for a reason, and maybe those eight miserable months spent as a travel consultant was all for this - planning the perfect trip for all of my family members, no matter what their perfect trip was.

So over the next few weeks I'll take you on our expedition back to Malta.What we went for, what we did, and of course, how to survive and have the best time on an overseas journey with your whole family. It truly was an effort in coordination before we left, but once we got there it was such a beautiful and wonderful experience that I will cherish forever. I know that we are very lucky, there are not many whole families who would travel the way we did.

This trip will always be a dear memory that I will hold close to my heart, it will be very hard to replicate. 

The last stop on our Italian road trip before flying out to our next destination was Rome. We had two nights and one full day in the ancient capital of Italy, and boy did we have a lot to cram into a short space of time. Laura had visited Rome a couple of times in the last few years, so she had planned a hectic waking tour for us to see all of the sights in one day. If you're planning a similar itinerary make sure you're wearing very comfortable walking shoes and bring a water bottle and sunscreen, you're definitely going to need it!

We departed the Cinque Terre and were heading south towards Rome when we decided to make a small pitt stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We were so close, it would be silly not to right? After an extreme detour caused by an arrogant navigator (the device, not a person) we finally exited the hills surrounding the Cinque Terre and made it to Pisa, a city in the region of Tuscany perched on the River Arno. Detouring to Pisa didn't add too much driving time to our day so we thought it would make the perfect place to stop and have a break.

Santorini offers an endless list of things to do, see and experience for such a tiny island. From beaches to hot springs, volcanoes to steep donkey rides there is something for everyone. Everyone that spends time on this beautiful European island has nothing but good things to say about their time here. If you're looking for authentic experiences to fill your time in Santorini, here are twenty of the best.