Henk Deist: December holidays in Struisbaai is my favourite childhood and adult memory! That has been our family spot throughout the years and is even more special now that we’re living abroad.

Martin Olivier: It would be going to the George/Herolds Bay area for the December summer holidays. These were always big family holidays, with beach cricket, touch rugby, beach bats and other fun activities.

Vlad Valcea: For me it is the live music and entertainment taking place at the dinner venues by the Black Sea, in celebration of sunny beach days past and soon to come.

Altus Swanepoel: We used to go to a game farm where I usually spent the days driving around to find animals or with a fishing rod next to the dam. The dam was my favourite place in the world. A lot of times some animals like kudu and giraffe would come to the dam for a drink and I was able to get really close to them. It was such a privilege to experience nature like this.

Roux Gerber: December holidays in Jeffreys Bay was the highlight of the year, when all the aunts, uncles and cousins got together to have the best family time. We had tanned bodies and special hairstyles thanks to the wind of JBay, but beach-time was the name of the game.  Now, living in Bucharest, the occasional family member visiting brings back these family memories.

Ansu Kretzmann: December holidays in Vleesbaai where lots of memories were made. Now as an adult is very special to spend Christmas there with my kids and for them to make their own memories.

Henk: To convince our student daughters to go on a family holiday, we let them choose the destination. So it was New York and Miami in August – it was really hot, but as I’ve never been to the US it was extra special.

Martin: We went to Corfu, one of the Greek islands, for a week. We have been to some of the other Greek islands before and it is always good, so we really enjoy that as a summer destination. When it comes to holidays we don’t schedule too many things beforehand, but always find ways to stay active! I especially enjoy great water activities.

Vlad: As usual, we spent a few days at the Black Sea, and then during August we travelled to Japan for two weeks.

Altus: We went to a town called Ojen in southern Spain for a week at the end of August. We enjoyed day trips to other towns in the area, played a few rounds of golf and soaked up the sun.

Ansu: We live in the Middle East where summer temperatures get close to 50 degrees, so we spent the majority of the summer holiday in Mauritius.

Roux: We also escaped the Romanian heat and visited South Africa – Jeffreys Bay for the surf festival and some bush time in Zwartkloof (Bela Bela). In Romania we did some short breakaways – to the Untold music festival in Cluj-Napoca and some winelands experience in Casa Timis just outside Bucharest.

Henk: I like going to the beach – the beaches in the Netherlands all have really great “strandtenten”, or beach restaurants.

Martin: Summers in the Netherlands can be great, but also unpredictable. When the days are warm and sunny we enjoy going to the beaches in the Zandvoort area, which is quite close to where we stay. The long daylight hours – the sun only goes down after 22:00  – makes for wonderful long summer afternoons.

Vlad: Ideally, we’ll find a beach, a swimming pool, or some other way to be outdoors and enjoy the long summer days.

Altus: We usually take our dog for a swim at a lake next to our house in the morning. The afternoon definitely involve a braai!

Ansu: Summer in Qatar is mostly spent indoors under the AC. We do however have a chiller that keeps our pool nice and cold so many hours are spent in the pool!

Roux: Weekends are loaded with sport events for our three boys, and club soccer matches (their club, “The Dream Team”) become a get-together event with friends on Saturdays.  Sunday is braai day (to be honest, so are three evenings of the week!) with the kids being in and out the swimming pool the whole day.

Henk: I am a Ken Follett fan, and I am busy with his latest novel, Never…

Martin:  Before I go on holiday I usually find a good book to take along.

Vlad: I had a couple of books planned for this summer break, one being Antifragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. However, there’re never any guarantees that I’ll actually find a chance to read in between spending time with the kids. Long-haul flights to Japan did present an opportunity though!

Altus: I usually read non-fiction and any song from One Republic is essential for my summer soundtrack.

Ansu: I am aways hopeful that “this” vacation I will read a book but with two toddlers running around..

Roux: Reading a book would be a nice for a change, but finding the time, as Ansu also mentioned, is a challenge with energetic youngers following in your shadow!  I can tell you a lot about building Lego, playing with hot rod cars and helping with online “RoBlox” challenges!