THE PROBLEM WITH HOLIDAYS

• You return more exhausted than when you left and then catch a tummy bug that wipes you out for days. 

• You spend the first three days after returning home failing to reach the summit of the Basecamp Laundry, only to be set back even further by the vomiting bug - because little ones don't rush to the toilet, they puke over everything.

• It's left to yours truly to do all the packing and unpacking, remembering things for all weathers, all activities, and again when it's time to leave. Wo betide if mum should forget something such as Pjs for the kids, or have a terrible memory for anything.

• You decamp to a house so basic and badly built that it makes caravans look good. 

• Kids sleep in draughty rooms that give them sniffles and have barely a see-through white sheet as a curtain. Cue 6.30am starts every day. Too early!

• Acoustics in the house are such that once one person is up, everyone is awake. So much for a holiday lie-in.

• You take loads of stuff like wellies and wetsuits that you never use, which means you spend ages at both ends trying to stuff everything into the car whilst the kids go mental with boredom. 

• You spend too much money renting a place you hope is going to be a lovely home-from-home, but it's all potluck really. Needless to say, it makes our own shoebox seem like a palace. Makes coming home more rewarding.

• You become dependent on a landlord who is only interested in your money. I doubt he has even put down mice traps in the attic since we reported the mice problem up there. 

• You eat too much and drink too much wine because "I'm on holiday, why not".

  Despite all this, you have a wonderful time, bonding with the kids and hubby too, creating memories the little ones will cherish all their lives.

   

  

•  At least we won't be going on a big family holiday for at least another year, houraay. 

  Except me & the hubby, we are going away next weekend for my 40th birthday. Yippie no kids. They say you need a holiday to recover from a holiday, that is so true in this case. 

   

  Feel free to add your own problem with holiday comments below... I'd love to hear yours too...