Things to remember fur next years holiday..,

[WipsGlitter]

Just like the post Christmas ones this is things I need to remember before booking / going on next years holiday...

Yes, you do need to bring a big beach bag. It will come in handy for carrying crap from villa to pool. The one you looked at and then rejected 10 minutes before leaving would have been perfect!

Being a plastic cup for DS2 - if I have to listen to him clatter a glass onto a glass table top one more time. My nerves are in shreds.

Two weeks is too long in one place.

You will not use the uno cards.

If you invite a bunch of people to camp on your land-don't expect them to take their stuff home.
People don't like to take tents home from festivals apparently

Actually my top tip: Butlins Bognor Regis doesn't understand about Scottish school holidays and will charge you like its off peak for the first two weeks.
Whole place packed with Scots. They didn't even mind our funny money

Don't assume the Dutch campsite will provide loo roll, or free showers..... bring enough change for the latter.

Oh my God! I've been stung by this one too. Amsterdam "Bostel", I'm looking at you.

Stay on a site with a washing machine, handwashing is not a fun holiday task Or don't do any washing until you get home! Who wants to wash clothes on holiday?

I did both a washing machine load and hand washed some stuff. It’s no big deal - took a couple of minutes. Stuff dried in nano seconds on the balcony & everyone got to wear their favourite clobber again.

And only 4 loads of washing when we got home

Self catering?
Don't forget oven gloves and a bath mat - otherwise you'll end up having to use your nice shower towels for both these jobs.
Also, find out how many bathrooms there'll be and take that many toothbrushes per person so dd2 doesn't moan all the time that dd1 is taking too long on the loo when dd2 wants to brush her teeth.

Take a change of clothes suitable to your destination in your carry on bag. Then if a suitcase doesn’t arrive you aren’t stuck wearing jeans when it’s 30 degrees.

iknow our alternative cards didn't work in the slot for keeping the power on but we had doorkeys attached to plastic cards (quite usual in Greece) so took a spare key ring and took the keys off the little plastic cards and left the cards in the slots so power (and air conditioning) worked whilst we were out.

Oh and P20 is crap. I try it every couple of years and get burnt every couple of years.

Don't forget the dettol surface cleaner. But make sure it's the original version - the lime and mint one attracted more wasps to our patio table than the food it was used to clean up did.

Following

@namechangedtoday15 I like P20 it lasts ages but stains all the swimsuits!

Agree if you forget your charger (looking at DS1) you're last in the queue for charging stuff.

Don't pack make up, you have trawled the world over, with a small bag of 'essential' make up. Never having open it.

Great thread! Mine would be that travelling from an airport over 2 hours from home and the same distance from the holiday destination airport to the hotel, is not worth saving a few hundred on a holiday for no matter how bargaintastic it seems! Ditto for flying late at night with children and many other people's children on a plane waiting for take off

Yes to buying inflatables from home, Poundshop are great for these.

Soap better than taking big bottles of shower gel.

Me and my lot get very tired of All inclusive after a week, 2 weeks was far too long.

Must remember to take mosquito repellant!!

Yes to late night flights - did it this year, should have been home at 1am UK but was actually 4am local Time then got delayed. Got home at 5am, had been up for almost 24hrs at that point. Think we saved about £200 on flights by booking night flights but wasn't worth it.

I've actually asked my dh to remind me next time namechanged as inevitably I will see some bargain flights when we are sorting out next year's holidays and have temporary amnesia....

Oh this thread is ACE! I've just got home from a short break with DS and his mate. We did hand luggage only for the first time EVER and I must admit I was afraid! Truth be told, I wore the same dress for 3 nights, one other outfit, which I wore home and NO MAKE UP. And yes, I coped without 24 pairs of clean pants .

Oh and definitely pay for 'get up and go' flights on the last day. Honestly, it's not worth it. DP and me did plenty of this pre dc years and it was fucking miserable then, even worse with Dc's.

We're going on holiday in October so I'm taking notes!!

Heman we've only done hand luggage for maybe the last 5 or 6 holidays (including a week's skiing). If you buy soft luggage rather than hard shelled suitcases you can get much more in them. We've just done a 2 week summer holiday - all had 3 pairs of shoes (wearing one pair obvs), probably 7 or 8 'outfits' for evening, lots of day clothes (cover ups / shorts / tops etc) and swimwear. Oh and 4 sets of mask, snorkel & flippers and a large beach towel each. All took some minimal toiletries (bought some after security), I took straighteners etc but no hairdryer. It's about how to pack but also about choosing clothes that fold up small, multi purpose etc.

Teach your family different card games with a normal pack.
This helps you to not notice when service is particularly slow.

Don’t be persuaded to do activities on holiday that you wouldn’t dream of doing at home. Unfit at home does not mean wonder woman on holiday.

Oh! I bought a cabin sized back pack namechangedtoday15. It was AMAZING. I'm very short and fat with little legs and CANNOT carry a wheeled case up and down stairs getting to the flight gates . I squished a lot more in than I needed. Honestly, the feeling of getting off the plane and just walking out to our taxi transfer was ACE!

Write a packing list NOW for your next holiday and save it on your computer. Then take the items on that list and only those items on holiday next year.

Use the car hire company's own insurance rather than a third party's

Always check the costs of toll beforehand and if possible register your credit card before hand to pay for any toll charges

@inmyfeelings really, I was going to say the opposite - see below.

Remember to book insurance for hire car in advance so when you say no to the hire companies own (300€!) you don't stress about scratching the car!

Car hire company insurance is a total rip off, same insurance cover prebooked would have been about £35.

It was all fine but we won't forget again!

Unless with a new partner only pack one bikini.