to imagine recklessly that a 'self-catering' holiday will be anything other than forced labour for me now I am a Mum?

[Verso]

You can all pat me on the head now and say 'there, there', with the voice of experience.

Forgive me - DD is only two, so it's still a shock to find that the concept of 'holiday' now applies to her and DH only. When did the rules change? No one showed me the paperwork!

I will learn, no doubt!

Ooh, but I was (am?) bitter . Can anyone empathise?

LVOC re point 5. usually we swap our evening meals for lunch and arrange a nanny to sit whilst dh takes me out for dinner

< hijack god I bet you're really looking forward to it>

The dishwasher's my 'new' addition, cake. Wasn't in the Nairn place and thought, 'Hmm, that'd have been nice.'

I so agree about the slow cooker!

And good knives.

I find caravans and cottages always have shite knives that don't cut worth a shit.

oh yes expat I often take my fave chopping board and knife. Also a big lasagne dish is useful as often not available in hol cottage.

knives, you are better off going to find a sharp rock to cut things with

peter likes buying a loaf of fresh bread on holiday and making great big doorstep sandwiches with loads of fresh cooked meats. one place we tried to use the bread knife provided, well, we ended up tearing the loaf up with our hands lol.

I always take my kitchen kit with condiments, knife, clean chopping board, cling film, decent bottle and can opener etc.

i always take a mug or two.

I always take a box of stuff too.

Makes life so much easier.

Oh, definitely my condiments because I like spicy food and I can't add salt to my food because I have hypertension.

I also bring my food processor .

And earplugs if you're planning to caravan.

And your kids are good sleepers/you're a very light sleeper.

FOOD

breakfast - toast an cereal
lunch - buy it or ham cobs and bananas
dinner - chippy or frozen pizzas with salad bags or takeaways

CLEANING

Don't. You cook, make your DH wash up, and wipe the sides. don't clean anywhere else until you leave - don't make the beds, don't scoot that little hoover round, no. Just leave it.

Then do what you want!

man, i sympathise.

i took 1yoand 2yo to majorca a couple of years back... 4 weeks in a lovely sc villa halfway up a mountain... bloody nightmare.

place was gorgeous.
SO not child friendly.
i relaxed for about half a second the entire time.
and when dp was there for 10 days in the middle he was really in a funk about something and i couldve killed him for being so bloody difficult.

tho, when he surprised me with an unplanned overnight return on my birthday, that was brilliant...

the whole thing should have been wonderful and was actually a total disaster all in all.

havnt had the strength to face another go yet... maybe when theyre 5, 4 and 2...

lol some of you lot take half the kitchen!! you bunch of foodies.
(Marina thanks for the tip hope you've booked allready!)

Yes, thanks, Marina!

We've been doing self-catering since DS1 was born - it's great!

Generally where we've stayed has cleaned our apartment every day (except in Kos, run by two guys, and they didn't clean!), and it's been great having the kitchen facilities for breakfast. With two kids, who wants the hassle of having to get everyone ready for breakfast?

We then eat out for most lunches and dinners.

Having a kitchen also makes it really easy to do DS2s bottles.

If I had to spend all my holiday cleaning and cooking, I wouldn't go!

We've done sc in France (usually Brittany/Normandy) most years. Best tip I can give you is to go with another family - then you can share the cooking.

Kids have other kids to play with and adults have company to party with in the evening!

It was an absolute godsend when they were little and we were stuck inside.

Oh, and agree re cleaning - leave it till the end of the holiday!

Dishwasher/washing machine always on the list of essential criteria, too.

Hello Verso.
I remember the first holiday with my ds and my dad, ds was 2, my dad was 55, I was knackered. My dad went to bed at 8pm every night leaving me alone with the telly. Anyway, I digresss but it was the first time I realised a holiday with small children is just childcare in a different place.

It DOES get better, agree with everyone who says so but I also think you should put your foot down and make dh take responsibility and pitch in. Also

Shop online, get it delivered to holiday place, get them to put it away for you if pos (many do this)
Plan evenings so take dvds you and dh want to watch, some good books etc
agree lie ins and take turns, THAT'S a holiday
Or, take a nanny as my sister did one year (at my suggestion) - the nanny did mornings and night times, my sister and her dh had their children all day but were then free to go out to dinner in the evenings. OK, it's an extra cost but hey, worth it imo
Go somewhere with all the equip you need, ideally inc toys.
Take wine

And potentially, that's a holiday!

Now that our kids are older (it started when ds was 4) they are the holiday dishwasher!

I always shop for 'nice' stuff that are treats for us, so pain au chocolate and real coffee for breakfast, ready made stuff from the top of the line ranges for supper, really good cheeses and parma han for picnics. And wine for the evenings!

And when we find somewhere nice we eat out.

But basically holidays with toddlers are hard graft, because they still need entertaining. Not sure if this helps at all, but it does get heaps easier when they get older. Mine are 10 and 7 now, and holidays are now real holidays. Because we even get a lie in, as they stay up later with us

my girls have a small blue suitcase, which they pack with their own toys/books/dvds and their special night time comforter. its al;ways fun seeing what they try and squash in there.

we do something similar lady. Plus I buy some new pencils from asdas (15p!) a comic, a colouring book, that sort of stuff, they love it!

PS lady, if you get the most expensive caravans in the Canvas Holiday Range they have dishwashers. Never done it myself, but a mate has and says that it is real luxury!

ooooooo thanks for the tip

i also relent and buy them a comic/magazine each. and make sure they take pens with them.

The Millenium range, they are called!

We have gone in a Centuary, and TBH it feels more like a chalet than a caravan. And they have a full oven, fridge freezer and a microwave! They are great. You just have a bit more pace, which is nice.

Caravans are nothing like the ones I remember from my yoof!

and what sites are these on?

all on the continent, so i'm not sure if this would be a player for Peter just yet, but next year possibly??

\link{http://www.canvasholidays.co.uk/\Canvas Holidays

They are a great company and we have used them for years. The 'vans really are as good as they look, and the sites are excellent. There are even mini kids clubs that would give you and The Man some time together alone!!!

To be fair there are lots of companies out there that do the same thing. Key camp and eurocamp. There is also a canvas offshoot that seels the same deals (without the kids club) for a raction of the cost. Mate of mine used them and had a great time in france for around 400 quid in the summer holiday for 10 days.

france isnt really a reality yet. looks good though