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.

When taking your own car abroad, remember to carry paper copies of car registration certificate and insurance. Not needed in UK but required everywhere else... ditto driving licence but I carry that in my wallet anyway.

Leave in the car fleeces/gilets. It's bloody freezing getting in the car at 2am after you get back from Crete.

Also photo where you left the car.

Also, for the love of the Angels above would you finally Mark your black cases so you can identify them in the pile of black cases.

Yes yes to:
Take photo of car location at airport. You will forget.
Pegs
Multi plug thingy
Biscuits for kids and small bags of nice nuts, bombay mix etc with your late night beer.
Rucksack for each person
Mix your suitcases (I lost mine once, never got it back)

Also, no matter how old you kids are - wet wipes, sudocrem, hand gel, a hoodie each.

We always take a fleece blanket, one or all of us is always cold on the plane.

I put a laminated (no less) A4 in our case with our holiday address and contact numbers in case it got lost and did the same when returning home.

Take old underwear and socks and bin them when away - saves washing and bin space at home

Yes yes to old knickers and socks.
Also old pyjamas with the legs and arms cut off for the children.
Goldfish vest tops for yourself and dump as and when.

For the poster who said no camping ........ avoid the UK or Ireland. And just lower your expectations........the kids will love it

Tssdncop - I painted our black suitcases with white fabric paint last year before I put them back in the loft,just a few random dots (think giant rectangular dice) and dh was all fast forward to this year in Greece and a sea of black cases on the carousel......... yes I was smug, very smug

Oh - one we realised this year!
Go to Scotland in May half term. Scotland aren't off school then and it's cheap!
We went to Haven Craig Tara for £200 and there was a bonus heatwave.

It was me that said no camping. The kids are 16 and 13. They wholeheartedly agree with me.

Today the 16 year old said that this is like an anti-holiday designed to remind us how nice our house is.

Scrap real life postcards and use the TouchNote app (or similar) instead. Much easier and arrives before you actually have been home for ages.

Pack about 2/3rds of the amount of clothes you think you'll need.

Remember that if the forecast says 18c then it's quite cool especially in the evening in the coast and you will need a decent hoodie or jacket, not just a thin cardigan. But if it says 30c then it will feel even hotter and don't plan to do too much walking. And don't book a hotel with no aircon if it's going t be 40c+ even if the alternative is megabucks. As it happened Yosemite closed/cancelled due to fires - not sure we'd have coped!!

Take spare pants for yourself if the forecast is hot and humid. It's nice to put fresh ones back on if you're going out later in the day.

Remember hotels give you shower gel and shampoo as a minimum, you don't need more. And increasingly they have conditioner too - so cut back in that.

Keep a packing list on the computer.
Pack clothes across all suitcases!
You don't need that many clothes!
Mosquito spray even if you don't think you need it.
A European usb multicharger plug and plenty of cables.

YY to pop up laundry baskets, I saw that tip on here years ago and it’s really handy. We take two and that’s enough for the four of us for a week.

If self catering in the UK cook something to take with you to eat the first night. Spag bol always goes down well.
Do an online shop to arrive the first morning you are there. That way you can edit it once you see what is already provided at the cottage eg remove butter if there is some in the welcome pack.
Order far more snack things than you would normally buy at home as kids get hungry running about outside all day and it'll be much cheaper than buying snacks at the beach all the time.

I've got it down to a fine art over the last few years and this year only learnt 2 things - I can cope with just 3 pairs of shoes and don't let DH buy a smaller car with a small boot (but a fantastic fast engine ) just before going on holiday...everything was very squashed!

My tips:
List of things to take saved onto computer
Take enough clothes for 5 days then wash and dry whilst there (3 week holiday so washing is inevitable)
If self catering take a few key items to avoid having to buy them - potato peeler and masher, clippets, wooden spoon, Tupperware)
Have two sets of beach clothes per child so when they come shivering out of the sea they can change into dry stuff and the wet stuff will dry to then be worn again
Spend more time looking for a decent bikini which can stand up to serious waves

Some good tips on here, keeping note for our October holiday!

The coconut oul that you put into your bag in solid form in England, will melt as soon as you land in warmer climates and leak into your washbag ruining everything next to it. It will also be very slippery when spilt onto marble flooring.

If going out of your mobile companies area, put the phone on airplane mode and just use wifi. Don't go off airplane mode until you land back in the UK. Dh I'm looking at you. ££££!!!!
Unless you stay within the EEA and Switzerland

But next year will this rule still apply?

This year I have written the year in marker pens on all the sun cream bottles that were worth keeping after our holiday. Hopefully that way when I look thru what I've got next year I won't think oh I've probably had that stuff years and it's probably off/ineffective by now and bin it all to buy new stuff.

I also setup a task list for holidays on my phone with stuff like Ds needs a new snorkel mask - his is too small now, dh needs new water shoes etc to refer to next year (just realised this makes me sound way more efficient than I actually am)

Just until you relace those old grey / black suitcases tie a bit of bright fabric on the handle. Or buy neon luggage straps.
Absolutely agree about early morning flights. If I can't get a civilised flight I choose a different destination. Everyone loathes the last day. You just want to get up, have breakfast and go home.

Unless you live near a big city pay £200 more to travel from your local airport. Otherwise you will also need to book an overnight stay at a crummy airport hotel and end up spending more than that £200.

I have packing lists saved on my computer for UK, Beach holiday, weekend, week etc. However these are no good unless you update them when you get back. I also have notebooks going back 40 years for every holiday. Where we went, what it cost, what we spent and what we wore. Obviously mostly out of date now but fun to look back on - first holday abroad with children was 1999 in Menorca. Cost £950 for flighd villa and spent £400. Apparently I packed all the wrong clothes for DC

Car hire -

1. as a pp said - buy insurance before you travel that covers any excess. Mine only cost £19 but the companies try to charge you £100/£200 for the same thing

2. if there are 2 adults, one goes straight through to arrivals to get into the car hire queue, the other stays behind to collect luggage, saves much time queueing

3. take photos of car from various angles before you leave car hire parking in case they try to charge you for damage that was already there

Oh and belated thanks for the link Tipsey - think I’d use that in my house as well!

Just because it is sweltering in your bedroom when packing does not mean you only need to chuck in a few pairs of shorts & some t shirts. Believe the weather forecast when it says 16 degrees and windy.

You will need fewer bottoms and more tops than you packed this year.

You will almost certainly only wear two out of the three pairs of shoes you take.

Take more face wipes.