advice please on holidaying for the first time with 8 month old

[betterhalf]

DH, myself, and DS are going on holiday to Cornwall a week on Saturday, and I could really do with some advice about what essentials I need to take ( we are staying in a house),and also what I can do now to get DH ready for sleeping somewhere different.He's never slept anywhere but in his cot in our house before. We are taking travel cot with us. Should I be getting him to spend some tme in it before we go so he's used to it?
General advice from those of you that have done all this before would be gratefully received.

We've just returned from a week in Cornwall with our 10 month old dd.
She has also only slept in hr cot since she was 6 months old. She has problems taking a nap anywhere oter than her cot or her pushchair. So we was also worried about using the travel cot. We took her own bedding and blankets and on the first night she was so exhausted after the long journey that as soon as I put her grobag on her and gave her her blanket as a comforter she put her head down and we didnt hear from her till the next morning.
I think that helped her as we had no problems with her sleeping at all after that.

We took food with us as we stayed in a chalet and had heard the onsite shop was expensive (which it was). I took things I could use to make quick breakfast/lunches for her. So we took eggs, pasta, pesto, philliadelphia, pitta breads, houmous.

I thought about things that would be quick and easy to make but would be filling.
I also took things that would be easy to carry around if we were out for the day. dd loves bananas and they are the perfect transportable food!

Also took a few of her favouite toys so it felt like home when she was crawling around. Other than that I dont think wew took anything other than the usual wipes, nappies etc

Just realised I put 'DH used to sleeping somehwere different' rather than DS! Oooops! [blush}

We try to give our DD a trial night in the travel cot if we haven't used it in the while. But it is a hit and miss.

When we were in a holiday home where the owner provided a cot she had no problems at all going down. In the first couple of days it took a little bit longer to settle but that's it.

We took her usual breakfast things and her formula so we wouldn't have to hunt them down if the shop in town wouldn't stock them.

We also took some small bowls with lids to take food with us as normally holiday homes don't have them. Additionally her spoons, sippy cups and a cool bag.

A lot of toys but a new house was also very interesting for her to explore.

Thanks for the replies. I might try him in the travel cot one of the nights next week before we go then, and see how it goes. There is no cot at the rental house,unless you rent one from some place there for a small fortune, so will be taking travel cot.

Hope you have a great holiday betterhalf, what part of Cornwall are you staying in?

We've been away a fair amount with our LO of the same age. Invariably taking too much (especially clothes), but here's what we've taken and found useful

Travel tent cot
Usual grobag and spare lightweight one
Cool bag and ice block
Flask
Microwave bag sterliser
Milton tabs
2 x tupperware lock-tight pots
Bottles and formula and dispenser
2 sippy cups
Bottle brush
A wipe clean bib with a food-catcher
Some just-add-water food for emergencies
Plastic knife for cutting up fruit on the go
Spoons
2 x muslins
Some kitchen roll
Ikea inflatable to line bigger highchairs
Nappies, sacks and wipes and change-mat

Some little toys and a book

All the food/prep stuff fits in the coolbag, so not too demanding.

We're off to St Ives. Can't wait.
Thanks for the helpful tips.

We went to St Ives for a day last week, it was beautiful