Inarolshoven

Despite the current economic climate, 76 percent of respondents said the economy does not affect their travel plans holiday December. Forty-three percent were planning to travel during the festive season this year, up from 38 percent did so in 2010.

Most of the tourists who intend to hit the road for the Christmas holidays, with 34 percent plan to travel, up from 32 percent in 2010-while 16 percent are planning to travel to the new year, up from 13 percent last year. Among those who are travelling, 59 percent going to visit family or friends, 18 percent are planning a holiday in the Sun and 11 percent intend to break the city.

After travelling through Colombo Bandaranaike airport with kids in tow, we met with our friendly driver who took us to a waiting minibus. But as my husband and I combined the two year-old son and a daughter was five years in a private bus, we both see the same thing-there is no seat belt.

The minibus was taking us to our hotel in the beach resort of Bentota, a four-hour South capital on the West coast of Sri Lanka, and we wonder how we will keep our kids wriggling in one place.

So with excessive car seats in the back of the bus, we take our eager to wrestle turn by turn two years into a sitting position. Fortunately, even this little Duracell power finally ran out of man and, after a 20-minute jump between my husband and me, he fell into a coma-like sleep for the rest of the way, allowing us to focus on the chaos all around us.

It was the beginning of the weekend of Sri Lanka and the minibus had no choice but to weave between auto rickshaws, cattle, cars and buses filled with people and luggage.

Chaos in the streets may be something I'm used to from education in third world countries, but with two children to sleep in my hand, suddenly looking very worrying.