What are your little holiday "traditions"?

[CarolDanvers]

Those little things you do that wouldn't really excite anyone else but you make you happy and enhance your holiday? I like going to a supermarket as soon as possible after arrival and buying shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion in a scents or brands not available in the U.K. Then we use it all holiday and if I like it I buy some more to take home and then whenever I use it it takes me back to being on that holiday 😊

The kids have coco pops for breakfast, and a carton of ice tea and a bag of crisps every night for the disco.

We also have an ice cream a day.

I also love the holiday box idea!

We send the dog a postcard from wherever we are (obviously not if he's with us too, that would be stupid).

DP is a very keen cook, so he always wants to hit the local supermarkets and food markets at the first opportunity. When the olane lands, he can’t wait. He would spend all day every day wandering round buying stuff if I let him.

Mine are boring. I live in the US, so if we're flaying domestic, DH and I will get coffee and bagels to eat at the airport/on the plane.

Flying internationally - we have one of those lounge access credit cards - plus DH is Delta platinum, so we always have an absolute blowout in the airport lounge before getting on the plane.

If we're flying back from the UK, I always buy one of those giant bars of Dairy Milk from Duty free, and then ration it for weeks after we get back.

Beers at the airport as soon as we’re checked in (and regardless of time)

Love visiting supermarkets abroad and always bring some herbs and spices back

We go out for a huge ice cream sundae at least once as a treat.

We’ve only done England holidays since having kids. Dd always gets ‘holiday milk’ on the way to the caravan site. It’s a carton of really sugary strawberry or chocolate milk to keep her awake on the drive there. She looks forward to it as the start of her holiday!!

I must always know exactly what the next meal is. Also as soon as we arrive anywhere we must have chips.

We all send postcards to ourselves that mention our highlights of the holiday, these are kept in a photo album. Kids usually dictated a line or 2 and/or draw a picture when too young to write

Like others, we have a meal out the night before/on day of the flight to save on the washing up.

Get to the airport, buy crappy mags (if flying home from the UK) then head to the airport lounge where DH has a whisky and I have a glass of Champagne I then proceed to steal all the kettle chips before boarding at the very last moment. As a child we were never allowed to eat food at the airport as it always cost so much, so now, if we don't have lounge access, DH always suggests eating at one of the airside restaurants and it gives me such a thrill! Silly I know..

At the airport on the way back, we also buy a brick of Fortnums cheddar cheese which we eek out over several weeks at home.

Arriving at our holiday destination, DH will always have a beer from the mini bar in the hotel bedroom. Decadence!

For many years I took my elderly dad to Norfolk for a week. Always to the same beautiful cottage where the owners leave an amazing welcome pack, including a bottle of champagne. First evenings supper was always fish and chips from the brilliant village takeaway washed down with champagne. Dad would warm the plates and do bread and butter while I ran across to get the food. It was our favourite start to the holiday.

If we go self catering in UK either the mini boxes of junk cereal used to come with us or a big box of junk cereal was chosen...as we didn't ever have sugary junk cereal at home. In fact mine are older now and some have left home but they'd still want it!
If abroad and there is a Carrefour I have to visit it. We do local shops too but it's not a holiday without a Carrefour visi..the cheeses the size of your head and the meats all hung above the counters (my
children gagging at the sight of a whole pig!)
When I was little my dad always did the "sun dance" with us on the beach to encourage the sun the come out. Us kids had to copy him and join in cavorting and chanting around the magic symbol and it had to be done on the first day on the beach,and if it didn't work we obviously hadn't done it properly. (can't you tell we didn't go abroad?!)

Holidays at our caravan always start with a chippy tea on the first night. Even if we've got there in plenty of time to cook.

Holidays abroad are me ironing and packing in front of a Marvel film, followed by a Chinese dinner. Wherever it is we are going it doesn't become a holiday until I've had my first Mojito and said "NOW I'm on holiday".

Newish 'tradition', but if we're heading for U.K. seaside I have to play 'La Mer' in the car. I love it.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=rveEkv4ZM8k

If flying then I'll grab a few drinks before the flight as I don't like flying. Had to go long haul once for business and I had two Bloody Mary's before getting on the plane. Wasn't nervous at all after those

I watch an episode of blue bloods whilst packing. I have no idea why.

I love Blue Bloods. Glad to see I am not the only one.

We go to the same place twice a year.

We always have lunch at a particular restaurant as soon as we arrive. This year we had to adjust that slightly as we had dog with us but it was owned by the same guy.

We take a family picture on the last day in exactly the same spot. DSs are now 10 and 12 and we have pictures going back to their very first holidays there at 6 months

Love these traditions!!

We always buy a new fridge magnet (even if same place)

I take kids cereal variety packs in suitcase.

We go for tea out the day before we go away.

Clean bedding/house/ironing done so not added to the huge lot built up from holiday clothes!

Go for breakfast at the airport & then buy meal deal/snacks from Boots to take on the plane for the kids.

We used to stop halfway to the ferry port for a full English breakfast at a Little Chef. Loved it and really forward to it.

Then on the boat we'd go to the self-service restaurant for something light such as smoked salmon salad.

On reaching France we'd go into the first little cafe we could find for a coffee and a croissant.

It sounds as though we were obsessed with food but we did a lot of cycling and walking too.

AlexaAmbidextra that's one of the loveliest posts I have read on here.

I'm enjoying this thread very much. So many food-related traditions

For the past 3 years visiting the same place DS his to pass the field of donkeys and feed them grass through the fence. They're in first name terms now!

Kids make Spotify playlists (used to be cds) with suggestions from the whole family. It always includes dd1's pick (not quite sure why she got to doing this) for "Song Of The Summer" - last year in Spain it was George Ezra "Shotgun" and I can't hear it without thinking of our holiday.

We have one album we play at full blast in the car on the way to any holiday or airport. It's an album dh and I used to listen to in the car as teens and it became our road trip cd! The kids love it, I'm sure. Either that or we can't hear them moaning!

And a boots meal dealing for the flight!

A "tradition" order which I instituted is that before leaving the house to go away for a night or more, the car and/or cases have been packed, we have said goodbye to the cats, everything switched off and ready, is that we must all sit quietly for five minutes before leaving the house.

This allows everyone to gather their thoughts, and for the nervous "did we pack this, did we pack that? I need the toilet!" to come through. Any such things are to be said then, not two minutes after we have left, as someone nearly always does otherwise! When there's one minute to go, I usually say "if anybody wants to check anything, speak now, or for ever hold your peace".

A childhood one: I was fascinated by the eye masks sold at airports (we never went on any flights long enough to need them), and I begged and pleaded to have one. I'd then wear it if I wanted some time by myself: I used to find holidays stressful with the constant need to be "doing" something, or talking to people. It then became a traditional thing for me to take on holiday. Nobody was allowed to prank me while I was wearing it!

Not as exciting as others but we take pass the pigs to play, small easy to fit in ds's bag and easy to play.
I also buy the variety packs of cereal when we are away self catering and but some lovely local cheese for lunches.
Ice cream in Tenby is a bit of a tradition too, dp usually get a sundae as big as his face.

Find a catholic church, it has to be the 'right' one, and light candles in memory of my parents and sister.

We somehow always manage to find either an all-year round Christmas shop or a shop selling wood carved ornaments. So each .Christmas we get the box out and recall where we bought what ornament and talk about the trips.

I love the holiday box idea, we drive this year so I think I will start one now. By August it should be nice and filled.

We always buy some sweets unknown in the UK and if we like them we bring a package back. I then put it aside for a couple of weeks and get it out during a movie night or rainy afternoon.

When our kids were small we mostly camped abroad.

We’d do a library run a few days before for books and audible books for the car journey. We’d buy a box of mixed cereals (love how other people also do this) and really good instant hot chocolate. DH normally sorted the CDs pre iPod days. The kids ended up by the end of the holiday being really into stuff like Trojan label ska or early Bob Dylan.

On our holiday we always stocked up on local delicacies for the return. We also made a point of buying nice but practical items for the home as souvenirs; so I have plant pots from Brittany, kitchen utensils from Florence and hand towels from Biarritz, which I think is a nice way to spark memories. Also DD2 is a really good artist and always did a few little watercolours of our holidays.

Made a point of having a full Tesco delivery for the day after our return, full of things we would have missed while we were on holiday.