First family holiday, luggage/packing advice and tips please?!

[YerAuntFanny]

I haven't been abroad since I was in my early teens and DH had never been, now we're booked up for Spain in October and I realise just how clueless I am!

I'm thinking 2x medium cases between 4 of us (kids are 12 and 5) plus 2 rucksacks as carry on, will this be allowed/enough or should we have small suitcases too?

This is my packing list, any thoughts?

Travel wear:
1x hoodie
1x tshirt
1x jeans
1x canvas trainers
1x bra
1x boxers/pants
1x socks

Girls:
2x cardigans
3x vests
3x shorts
2x dresses
1x sandals
7x pants
3x socks
2xj bras
2x short PJ's
2x swimwear

Boys:
1x hoodie
5x t-shirts
5x shorts
1x sandals
3x boxers
5x socks
2x short PJ's
2x trunks

4x beach towels
4x hats
4x sunglasses

Toiletries:
2 in 1 shampoo
Soap
2x razors
4x toothbrushes
Toothpaste

Make up:
BB cream
Waterproof mascara
Lip balm

4x large suncream

3x phones
2x chargers
Kindle
Camera
Batteries

4x passports
4x photo copies
Insurance document
Health card
Cash/euro card

I think I have everything covered and don't mind doing a quick hand wash every few evenings if needed, or is this totally unrealistic?

See, clueless 😁

First off check your luggage allowance. Depending on who you are travelling with you could each have a suitcase.

We always have a rucksack for hand luggage per child - that is where they put the stuff they need

Check out with your hotel if you can the pool towel situation as towels are often not needed.

Same with shampoo etc what do they have (although I would always take conditioner)

How are you going to wash as well with pants etc I always take underwear per day

And check the weather

And shoes where are shoes - trainers for days out, sandals for dinner and a pair of flip flops etc for the pool beach

For 5 year old sticker books etc for the travel and flight

Travel adaptors!

Plug adapters!

Just one kindle? What will everyone else be doing?
You need some stuff to keep the 5 year old entertained at the hotel as well as for the journey. Have you got a tablet? I’d also pack colouring, sticker books, bedtime story, the all-important teddy, a selection of my little pony/lego etc.

Also you may want to grab some boiled sweets or chupa chups in case ears don’t cope well with take off/landing. Worst case you can pick something up at the airport but sometimes they don’t have the best selection and are more expensive.

Shoes?! I'm failing miserably here...

I own 3 pairs of shoes here, a pair of vans for day to day, a pair of smart/casual walking sandals for summer and a pair of CAT boots for winter (obviously not intending to take these!).

Will add cheap flip flops for pool I guess!

The Kindle is mine, I suffer from insomnia and read in bed if I can't sleep.

We don't have a tablet and thankfully no important teddies learnt my lesson with #1 although she may want to take her doll and DS will probably take a few Hot Wheels. Will add some colouring stuff and stickers to hand luggage.

If you're buying towels I'd recommend decathlon microfibre one very lightweight or even hamman towels for the beach, I think you can get them cheap on eBay/Amazon

Small bandolier cross body bag.
Packing cubes, so you don't have a jumbled mess in each suitcase after 10days.
Mosquito repellent just in case
Sarong / beach cover up
Denim shorts.
Enough clean underwear per person for 10 days
Travel kettle, enamel mugs & teabags.
Only the British hotels do tea in the bedroom

If you want to take towels, invest in some hammam towels - they are really small and lightweight. We got ours from ebay (often sent directly from Turkey). We always go to Italy in October half term and even when the weather in nice, I don't feel the need to wear sandals, cropped trousers etc. Last year I took my birkenstocks to wear as slippers at home so I could wear them out and about if my feet were hot, but in the event I stuck with trainers. We also take our coats - we need them to get to the station in England anyway and then if we go out at night it is always cool enough to wear them.

But don't give up on travelling light, it is perfectly possible, plan what you will wear - don't just bung stuff in because it is nice to have a choice, make your choices now! If you wear a tshirt for two days in the uk then take as many tshirts as you would need to be able to do this.

It is slightly harder to jusge what you will need with a five year old as they either get everything filthy, or if not they can wear the same outfit every day, but luckily their clothes are very small, so you can take plenty.

We always wash halfway through a holiday, but we have a washing machine - if we didn't and ran out of clothes for a five year old i would be tempted to find a launderette and get a load done, but I am not a big fan of handwashing/sharing a shower with the laundry!

I just assumed towels were an essential item, perhaps not.

Off to Google packing cubes

I'd pack way more clothes. If it's still warm and you're using sun lotion which gets stuff sticky I wouldn't want to wear things twice.

We usually have daytime sightseeing/pool clothes then shower and put fresh clothes on for the evening.

Not all hotels provide beach towels so you could check first. We once had to go and buy some as they werent provided. We take a rucksack each for hand luggage - kids need them for the big tub of Pringles they take with them!

Goggles/dive sticks for playing in the pool?

Do EHIC cards still exist?
It's been a while since we have been abroad, always got these as they are free in addition to travel insurance.

We’ve just got back from a 2 week holiday in Spain, 5 of us. We took 2 large suitcases and 3 small ones. I didn’t pack them as one each, stuff was a bit mixed up, but it meant we all had one to move around the airport, rather than dh and I having a really heavy suitcase each. Everyone had their own small rucksack for on the plane with their own entertainment in (tablet, phone, book, colouring etc).
When we came home, we had a case full of unworn clothes, but I’d rather that than have ran out of clean clothes and had to wash stuff out there. It doesn’t bother me to have to carry stuff we don’t wear (it was only maybe one or two outfits each, so not loads of stuff).
Towels, I took 12 beach towels for 2 weeks. 3 each for dh and I and 2 each for the dc. That was the right number for us.

Handheld games consoles plus chargers? We take portable battery packs too but my 2 have tablets, phones and Nintendo ds consoles

12 towels?? We take 4 Just in case there aren't any provided

We took 3 large cases for our Mallorca holiday this year (4 people) plus 4 hand luggage rucksacks

what about reading for everyone else then - for by the pool potentially DD loves reading up the pool

Is there a laundrette near the hotel? And what is your luggage allowance? Does the hotel provide pool towels as well as room towels? That would influence my packing decisions.

If you do decide to handwash take a pack of pegs - can peg items to coat hangers and hang up to dry.

It will be cooler at night so allow for that.

If there is a boots at the airport you can order sun cream etc to collect at the airport so it doesn’t count towards your luggage allowance. Although I’m not sure you’ll need that much sun cream in October.

Always pack a multi gang extension as there are never enough sockets.

Take a photo or scan of all important docs and numbers (insurance, lost bank card etc) and email them to yourself.

I'm packing now for our trip to Spain, for my 4yr old I have packed 14 tshirts (2 per day, one for daytime and another for the evening) and he'll have spares in his hand luggage plus 10 pairs of shorts. And the the usual pants, socks etc

I over pack for kids, I'd rather take enough clean things for any eventuality rather than having to try and wash things in the bath when he inevitably spills ice cream all over himself. If you have the luggage allowance, use it!

A couple of people have asked already- what is your baggage allowance?
Why can’t everyone take on a carry on bag?

Ive never taken my own towels for a hotel holiday. They are provided in the hotel rooms and by the pool. Saves on packing space. I’d add some outfits for the evenings to change into after a day out sightseeing or pool time. Something suitable for dinner at the hotel and an evening in the resort/town. I try and pack sandles which go with several outfits to limit the number of pairs of shoes I need to pack.

What airline are you flying with?

Really need to rethink my strategy here!

Like I say, totally new to all this. I still need to buy suitcases, was hoping for the less is more approach but seems not.

Allowance is 10kg hand luggage + 22kg checked luggage per person.

Look up your hotel on TripAdvisor and do a search for 'pool towels' - not all hotels provide them for free and, if chargeable, it is often something people will complain about in a review. The problem with using the room towels for the beach is that you then won't have any clean ones for having a shower when you return.

10kg hand luggage is enough for a cabin case or a rucksack each. We travel as 2 adults and a 3 year old. We have 20kg allowance each (so a hold case each) we find two cases is plenty (so we don't use our dd's allowance but she has a small rucksack for the plane) and that includes our towels (hamam towels and microfiber towels).