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.

Stop packing heels. You will never, ever wear them. Buying new heels for your holiday to not wear them once is a waste, even if they were a bargain.

You never wear foundation when it's so hot, it melts.

Your DH will always put his crap in your handbag, taking the smallest one is not practical.

You do not want to spend your first morning walking miles to buy a razor because you forgot to pack one and you can't wear a bikini with hairy pits and stray pubes.

Straighteners are pointless because of holiday frizz. Pin it up.

Blister plasters...blister plasters...blister plasters...

Oh and nobody gives a fuck what you're wearing anyway, so don't worry about it.

Oh and yy to noting what needs replacing next year. When I get home I write it on the calendar for around April- e.g. New sandals/bikini/sun cream etc

Check everyone for ticks daily (highlands).

I have a holiday prep and packing list check sheet. It goes "book cat sitter" to the get the water bottles out the fridge before we walk out the door. We have had a debrief and lessons learned session and updated for next time.

List now includes print anything relevant you saw on-line, never assume you can check when the local pool is open using the campsite wifi. It'll take half an hour and eat your battery even if you sit on the reception desk while the page is loading.

I was tickled on a rainy day camping that I could hear "UNO!" from a nearby tent.

Despite the hardships of camping there is no other holiday where DH and I can sit and talk/read/doze while DS freely explores and makes friends for an hour or two at a time. We just have to hunt him down at dinner time.

Feeling pretty smug this year, having learned lessons from previous nightmare packing disasters.

My top tips:

1. Forget about taking dressy outfits/makeup if you are going somewhere hot- you will never use them and the extra space in your case would be better used for bringing home stuff you buy there
2. Pack bottles of shampoo/suncream etc one per ziplock bag- that way if one leaks in your luggage it won't go on your clothes and you will only have one greasy bottle to deal with not all your toiletries.
3. If you have an outfit that you know is really comfortable and looks OK for the climate you're visiting just buy variants of that- no one will care.
4. If you know you react badly to bites, wear insect repellent even if no one else in the hotel seems to have been bitten. And when you pack your antihistamine tablets make sure there are actually tablets in the box! (This year's one mistake)

Oh! As UNO has been mentioned - buy and take a pack from home. Do not buy a pack in a cheap touristy shop when on holiday because they are likely to be FAKE and cause untold arguments, sulking, cheating and making up of rules that no one can follow .

NoMore - I like your number 3 and will definitely follow that advice in future. For me, this means:
Buy another pair of Levis denim shorts
Buy nice thin cotton vest tops whenever I see them, and don't expect to be able to find any just before I go away.

Remember if you take a 6 yr old to a great campsite with lots of water slides, playgrounds and her friends to play with - it's highly unlikely she'll want to go to the beach with you and highly likely she'll have a strop if she does.

Just don't take her. Take it in turns with dp to go to the beach without her. Everyone will be happier.

If you have little ones, take a small cheap paddling pool (Asda £2)
Fill and put beside your sun lounger.
Put in bottom of shower cubicle if there's no bath.

quote 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.

Not true. If you are menopausal and going to Florida in August take at least twice as many pants and shorts as there are days.

If you are planning to go to Disney in August but can't find your proper walking sandals, don't be tempted to take just your one pair of normal sandals. Keep looking or buy some more before you go. Or when the inner soles of said sandals disintegrate having been worn in torrential rain, you will give yourself blisters and a twisted ankle trying to walk in them and end up walking everywhere in beach shoes. Which melt in the heat. And give you new blisters. (and all you can buy is really expensive designer shit at Disney Springs or Crocs/Flip flops/Daps in the Resort.)
Unless you have a car and can escape elsewhere

If it's a bit tight before you've even put it in your case, don't bother packing it.

My own ' Do not disturb' notice (with pictogram) for the hotel room door - these are not always available in foreign hotels - usually works and stops housekeeping barging in to clean at 8.30 or while we are at breakfast and haven't put all of our belongings away safely

Oh just thought of another one!

The ideal week for our DCs to go away is the 2nd week of the school holidays - go away straight at the start, they spend the 1st 2 days tired from school term, and don't cope well with the travel if it involves getting up early/staying up late. Go away at the end of the summer, they've had enough of each other and don't play nicely together while away.

week 2 is the perfect time to go.

Also needs to be somewhere with other English speaking children for them to play with. (See above getting bored of each other).

Pack more oat bars and biscuits from home in case super fussy DC1 doesn't find any 'treat' foods away he likes and feels hard done by when DC2 is having puddings.

Pack a few ziploc freezer bag things - take up no space but very useful for all sorts of things - wet facecloth on the day you come home, keeping food and ground coffee fresh, putting phone in to protect from sand and sea spray at beach, putting things in that you don't want to leak all over anything else (suncream etc). Can also be used as a clear bag for your 100ml liquids when the crappy free ones the airport gives you inevitably split/tear.

butter our airport doesn't give free bags, have to buy them from a vending machine.

I always have a stock of Asda ziploc lunch bags for liquids.

I learned years ago to always take some heafache tables and some mosquito stuff for DH with us as he always has a headache at some point and they are expense abroad and it’s a pain trekking to find some.
Also I now take less clothes for us all as we all have favourites we wear time and again (but take extra socks and underwear).

It’s always worth taking some of your preferred medications with you. I take a small first aid pouch in my hand luggage with prescription meds, a few painkillers, indigestion tabs, Imodium instants, a few plasters and wound wipes. I have a larger kit in my hold luggage with more stocks of tablets.

To keep my holiday planning notes, I have an A5 notebook and write down all the packing lists, travel details etc. I find them useful to refer to so that I don’t forget anything essential. I can’t be worrying about things if I can write them down!

Check the 10 year old's suitcase if you've been stupid enough to let them pack themselves again this year to save yourself an emergency clothes buying trip day 2. Insist on putting the suncream on them instead of letting them do it themselves...or just pack lots more kids t-shirts to go over swimming costumes to cover the inevitable sun burn

Shirt pockets on the plane, keep earplugs and reading glasses in.

Save you bending down all the time for your handbag under the seat in front.

Download your next book onto your phone kindle app. Don't finish current book and realise you can't get the next one in flight mode

1. Take a photo on your phone of your suitcase - easier than trying to describe to the airline if it goes astray or if you lose your hotel luggage storage ticket.

1. Pack a few extra hangers, hotels never seem to have enough, especially the skirt/trousers clippy sorts. You can buy folding ones on ebay.