Back in late April, things were looking pretty good, Covid-wise. The levels here in the UK had dropped dramatically and were still going down, the vaccination programme was well underway and we were, for the first time, in an enviable position in comparison to the rest of Europe. We’d already had a successful holiday in a cottage in Devon and for the first time our thoughts turned properly to going abroad.

We didn’t even consider going abroad last year, despite being legally allowed to, as it simply didn’t feel safe. We postponed our October trip to Mexico and would have done the same to our August holiday in Corfu if it hadn’t been cancelled anyway. Cases were low but Covid was still out there and vaccination was still just a pipe dream. Cases were only low because we’d been avoiding other people for the last few months. Mixing with other people, let alone being stuck inside a plane with a couple of hundred of them, didn’t seem like a great idea. And what would happen if we caught Covid in another country? Also bear in mind that this was still ‘only’ a few months into the pandemic – the fatigue hadn’t set in yet, things were only just starting to open up and we were still feeling very cautious, having lived the last few months in an isolated bubble. Self-catering in the UK was as far as we were willing to go, thank you.

But this year, things were different. Lee and I had both had our first jab and would have had our second jab by August. Cases were still going down, despite schools reopening and the tentative early easing of restrictions. We had no reason at this point to expect anything other than a continued drop in cases as vaccinations continued. To enter Greece, where we were hoping to go (second time lucky!), you needed either to have been double vaccinated or to take a PCR test within 72 hours of departure; this meant that everyone on our plane would either have been double-jabbed or tested negative, which seemed like far better odds than mixing with the general public in a supermarket. Although we knew that it was still possible for someone to contract Covid between being tested and the flight, or to receive a false negative, the chances seemed pretty slim. And at this point, we were assuming that the chances of catching or transmitting Covid after double vaccination were extremely low. The plane therefore seemed like a pretty safe way to travel, all things considered.

As for the holiday itself, firstly, cases in Corfu were pretty low – not as low as in the UK(!) but still low. We planned to stay in self-catering accommodation, so we wouldn’t be mixing with others in the hotel lobby or at a buffet breakfast. We were going to hire a car from the airport, so we wouldn’t have to worry about coach transfers or public transport. All our daytime activities were likely to be outside – beach, pool, general wandering. And restaurants in Greece generally seat people outside, albeit usually under a shelter, so even eating out would be fairly low-risk. All in all, we thought it was highly unlikely that we’d bring Covid over to Corfu or that we’d catch it over there and bring it back with us.

To put this into a wider context, particularly for any non-British readers, the government roadmap at this time was planning to open up international travel on 17 May. They had announced a traffic light system, whereby high-risk countries were classed as red and you had to isolate in (and pay for) a quarantine hotel on return; medium-risk countries were classed as amber and involved a 10-day isolation at home on return, as well as PCR tests on day 2 and day 8 (with the option to pay extra for an early release test on day 5) and a lateral flow test before departure; and low-risk countries would be classed as green and only require a pre-departure test and a PCR test on day 2, with no isolation. They hadn’t yet announced which countries would be which colours but the general consensus was that Greek islands would be treated separately from the Greek mainland and be classed as green. At that point the Foreign Office was advising against all but essential travel to Greece EXCEPT for certain Greek islands, including Corfu. This meant that even if the government classed it as amber, our insurance should still cover us, as we wouldn’t be going against Foreign Office advice.

More context: last year we spent our summer holiday in the Yorkshire Dales and it rained every day of our two-week holiday except one. I know that weather isn’t the be-all and end-all but, actually, it makes a hell of a difference, particularly when you are trying to remain outside as much as possible. Pre-Covid, in bad weather we would have gone to museums, cinema, castle, swimming, bowling – all out of bounds for us last year in our attempt to stay safe, despite most of them being open at the time. This meant a lot of walking and a LOT of getting wet. This didn’t go down particularly well with us and it certainly didn’t go down well with the kids. We also love eating out, but outside eating doesn’t work well in the rain and inside eating just felt too risky for us at that time. It meant that we ended up with a few chilly lunches outside under an umbrella and an awful lot of cooking in our cottage. Don’t get me wrong, we still had a lovely holiday but it wasn’t quite the same as going to Greece. I cook every day at home; I don’t want to do it on holiday as well. I live in England and have quite enough rain, thank you – I want a break from that when I’m on holiday. What we really wanted this year was a couple of weeks somewhere hot. Somewhere where we could explore, but also spend plenty of time relaxing and doing nothing. Somewhere where we could swim in the sea and in a pool (I honestly don’t remember the last time I swam!). And somewhere where we could go out for dinner in the evening without being inside, cold or under threat of rain. After more than a year ‘off’ from going abroad and serious lockdown fatigue from everyone working from home, we really needed a ‘proper’ holiday. And I’m really not knocking UK holidays – I’ve been on plenty and loved them. But we were desperate to get away somewhere hot and foreign.

A final last bit of (rather important) context: just in case it wasn’t clear enough from what I’ve written so far, all this holiday decision-making was going on at a time before the Delta variant (formerly known as the Indian variant) was a thing. I mean, I’m sure it was a thing at that point, but it hadn’t really infiltrated the UK yet. Cases were still going down. Getting Covid after vaccination was pretty rare. We honestly, perhaps naively, believed that we were over the worst and that things were going to get better. We hadn’t counted on a fast-spreading, vaccine-resistant variant sending cases sky-rocketing. We thought that going abroad would be a very – if not totally – safe option come August.

I sound like I’m trying to justify our decision to go abroad, and I guess I am – to myself if no one else. A bit like Brexit, Covid has divided people. There are those who believe it’s really not that serious and haven’t bothered taking many, if any, precautions, while there are those who have pretty much avoided the world for the last 18 months. Lee and I have wavered around the rough mid-point of that spectrum many times, mostly settling on the cautious side. We’ve been getting our shopping delivered since we were able to get a delivery slot. We avoided going into shops last summer until a month after they’d opened, when we could see what the effect was. We initially didn’t send our youngest child back to school last July. We’ve eaten inside in restaurants only around five times in the last 18 months (bearing in mind we probably used to do so a few times a month). We’ve almost always met other people outside, and again only started doing that a while after we were ‘allowed’ to. We’re still wearing masks, we’re still keeping our distance and we’re still doing lateral flow tests twice a week. My point here is that we have taken as many precautions as we can and have regularly judged those whom we view as taking part in reckless behaviour. Yet here we were, considering booking a holiday to Greece in the middle of a pandemic, the very same thing that I would have judged people for a year ago. And I guess that all this demonstrates our complete faith in the vaccine as a solution – we would never have booked a foreign holiday if we’d thought that it was risky, either to us or to other people.

Anyway, we did a search for potential holidays. The apartments we stayed in the year before last, and had actually booked for last year, had closed down permanently after not opening last summer – another victim of the financial impact of Covid. We thought we would be better off booking a package holiday rather than going independently, in terms of security, and so we started scrolling through the TUI website. The prices were quite frankly amazing. We found a beautiful two-bedroom apartment on the beach in Barbati for the same price we paid two years ago for something much more basic – and we had thought that was a bargain at the time. This one had extras like a fully equipped kitchen with oven and washing machine, a huge balcony or terrace, TV, an actual lounge (rare in Greek package accommodation), WiFi, free air-con and a parking space. The holiday included free Covid cover, plus we had the option to cancel in exchange for a credit note. We also checked that our own insurance covered us for Covid cancellations or expenses. Another bonus was that TUI offered cheap(er) testing, so it wouldn’t add too much to the price of the holiday. We considered waiting until the government announced which countries would be amber/green, but worried that the price would rocket up if Greece was put on the green list (which is what we were expecting). And so we crossed fingers and booked, knowing that we had got ourselves a bargain and also that if, worst-case scenario, Corfu was on the amber list, we had given ourselves long enough to quarantine on our return. We also assumed that even if Greece was initially on the amber list, it would turn green by the summer as the situation improved internationally.

The first minor spanner in the works came when Corfu was on the amber list, along with the rest of Greece. Still, it was no biggie, we were prepared for it. We would arrive home two weeks before the kids went back to school, I already work from home and Lee can work from home, so quarantine was a pain but not difficult. Again, the cost for the extra testing was a pain but nothing we hadn’t prepared for and weren’t willing to pay for the sake of a holiday abroad. However, the spanner got a bit bigger when the government started saying that you shouldn’t be travelling to amber countries if it wasn’t essential, and that you definitely shouldn’t be going there just for a holiday. This left us annoyed and somewhat confused. What was the point of having an amber list at all if you weren’t supposed to go the countries on it? The Foreign Office still wasn’t advising against travelling to Corfu, yet Boris was. As far as we could tell, we wouldn’t be breaking the law by going, but we shouldn’t really be doing it. No change there, I guess, when it came to conflicting government information, but it meant that we started feeling uncomfortable about our holiday decision. Would we be those stupid people who ignored advice and went abroad just for the sake of a bit of sun?

This particular spanner was added to when holiday companies reacted by cancelling holidays to Greece, Spain and other places on the amber list, even where the FCDO gave ‘permission’ to travel. Although we still had a long time to go, some companies were cancelling months ahead, which was worrying. I’m a member of a couple of Corfu groups on Facebook and I watched as person after person complained about their flights/holidays being cancelled – and plenty of these were with TUI. It finally happened to us at the end of June, when I got an email to say that our flight (which was actually with Aegean Airlines) had been cancelled. We were given the choice between a refund, changing our holiday with no amendment fee or swapping to a TUI flight. It seemed like a no-brainer, and I was surprised that they hadn’t simply put us on a different flight anyway. Perhaps, given the rising cases by this time, we should have just gone for a refund. But by now we were looking forward to it so much and had invested so much mental energy into the thought of a real break that we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. So we changed to TUI flights – less baggage allowance but nicer flight times, which seemed like a good deal. I’ve since seen that people in the Corfu forums have had their flights cancelled and been moved onto ours, as TUI consolidate their underbooked flights, so I’m hoping that our own holiday is now safe.

Of course, the biggest problem has been the huge rise in cases, with the rapid spread of the Delta variant. Far from no longer being an issue by August, cases actually hit 50,000 a day in July (although, as I write, there has been a constant drop over the last week, so I’m starting to feel cautiously optimistic). It feels like I’ve gone back in time six months judging by the number of people I know who currently have or have recently had Covid. More worryingly, plenty of these have been double jabbed, although, thankfully, none of them have been seriously ill with it. However, although being vaccinated may reduce our chances of catching Covid and certainly reduces our chances of being hospitalised or (gulp) dying from it, it’s clear that it won’t stop us catching it altogether. And catching it is the biggest worry right now.

We’re not really worried about catching it while we’re in Corfu (although I certainly wouldn’t risk chancing it without insurance): cases have risen there too, but they’re still lower than here in the UK, and they haven’t yet (touch wood) experienced the joys of the Delta variant. Even more importantly, our holiday will be very low risk, and we’re unlikely to put ourselves in a position where we’re likely to be able to catch it. The airport on the way home is more of a worry, given that we’ll be inside with lots of other people (who’ve travelled from goodness knows where). Here we’ll have to trust in our jabs, our masks, the children’s ages and trying our best to social distance. Worst-case scenario, we would at least be back at home if we caught Covid, and we’d be doing regular tests to hopefully pick it up. The main worry is catching it ahead of our holiday, for two reasons: firstly (obviously), we don’t want to have to cancel, and secondly, we don’t want to bring it with us to Corfu. We don’t want to be responsible for spreading the Delta variant on the island, and nor do we want to test positive at Corfu airport and spend the next ten days at a quarantine hotel, even if it is at the expense of the Greek government (which hardly seems fair on them, but there you go).

So we’ve now found ourselves doing the same as many others, according to the papers: isolating ahead of our holiday. We’re not fully isolating – we’re still going for walks and have popped briefly into our local shop – but we’re generally avoiding other people and thus our chances of catching Covid ahead of our holiday. Nothing is fail-safe, of course, but hopefully when we head to the airport hotel next week we will all be Covid-free and able to travel safely.

Of course, none of this current isolation removes our chances of catching Covid at the airport (or, indeed, the airport hotel). We can do our damndest to avoid Covid before we go, but there is still a chance of catching it at the hotel the night before, at the airport or on the plane. We’d most likely still test negative at Corfu airport if we’re picked for random testing but that doesn’t mean that we couldn’t start experiencing symptoms a few days later. All our thoughts about how safe the plane would be have been replaced by the fact that any one of those double-jabbed and untested people could easily have – and pass on – Covid, plus the chances of people catching it between their test and the journey are way higher than they would have been back in April or May. We will simply have to hope that the majority of people on the plane will have also been extra careful ahead of their holiday for the same reasons as we are being, and we will take all the precautions that we can. Still, it does mean that the first few days of our holiday will be somewhat less relaxing than planned, as we cross our fingers that we didn’t pick anything up on our way.

As time has gone on, there have been a couple of changes that could make things easier – or harder, depending on how you look at it. Firstly, as well as a PCR test within 72 hours, Greece are also allowing a lateral flow test within 48 hours to enter the country. On the one hand, these are cheaper, so have reduced the testing costs for our children. On the other hand, lateral flow tests are less reliable, so the chances of someone on the plane unknowingly having the virus are higher. The second big change is that the UK have announced that fully vaccinated UK travellers returning from amber countries (except France, but that’s another story!) no longer have to isolate on their return, and nor do those under 18. This certainly benefits us personally, both in terms of not having to quarantine and in terms of reduced testing costs. More widely, though, this is surely a worry in terms of people bringing back the virus (and potentially different variants) from other countries and being able to spread it around. And this would particularly apply to the under-18s, who won’t have been vaccinated and would be more likely to have contracted Covid (and potentially more likely to be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, and therefore not know it). On a personal note, we plan to isolate until we get the results from our initial PCR tests, plus we will continue to do regular lateral flow tests – but I doubt many other people will be doing this if they don’t have to.

So here we are, semi-isolating ahead of a holiday that we’re scared will be cancelled and scared to actually go on. We have the added hassle and costs of tests before, during and after the holiday. We’ll spend the first few days of the holiday and the first few days back at home worrying about having caught Covid at the airport. The constantly changing Covid laws mean that we may still end up having to isolate on return – a total of 20+ days of isolation for 14 days of holiday. While plenty of people wouldn’t think twice about going abroad right now, there are plenty of others who would judge us for going to Greece in the middle of a pandemic – and if weren’t me going, I’d be one of them.

So is it all worth it? Lots of people would say no. Most people I know have said it’s not worth the risk, costs or hassle (or all three) of going abroad this year. But then most people aren’t quite as obsessed with holidays as I am. I’ve already done six (yes, really) UK holidays since the beginning of the pandemic and now I’m itching to leave the country, to get on an aeroplane, to have some guaranteed sun, to lie by the pool and read a book, to eat stifado and baclava and gyros pitta, to swim in the sea… and to have a complete break from my job, housework, bad weather and, if only for a short time, Covid. I also looked into UK prices for the summer, just in case our holiday is cancelled, and it turns out that we’d pay more for a week in a caravan in Norfolk than we would for two weeks in a luxury apartment in Corfu plus flights. So yes, it’s definitely worth it.

I haven’t blogged since September. Four months – probably a record. There are two main reasons for this. The first is work – I have been working pretty much full-time for the last few months, on top of kids, house and all the usual things that take up hours, and I just haven’t found – or been able to justify – the time to sit down and write a blog entry. The second reason – and this is more depressing –  is a distinct lack of holidays to blog about.

The last time I blogged, we’d not long got back from France. Granted, it was only two weeks and not the five weeks of old, but it did inspire me to write Magic municipals. We didn’t go away again until the end of October, our now-regular half-term trip to the Bitacora in Tenerife. Given that I’ve already blogged about it at least four times (Four star favourite, If you can’t beat them…, Same old, same old and Spring Hotel Bitacora, Tenerife), I didn’t really have much more to add. It’s not an adventurous holiday. It’s not about seeing new places or trying new things. It’s about going to a familiar hotel – which we really like – and relaxing. Chilling on the beach or by the pool, eating lots and the children being entertained. To be fair, this year we did have the novelty of an amazing upgrade to a Level 8 Terrace room – that’s definitely worth a few pictures but maybe not a whole blog post!

Our Level 8 Terrace – probably bigger than my house…

Some of the amazing views from our balcony

Breakfast delivered to our balcony on our last morning

We planned on a weekend visit to Bruges in December to see the Christmas markets but we left it too late – reasonably priced family rooms are few and far between on the continent, or so we’ve found, and there was nothing available that would accommodate all of us and still leave us enough money to actually eat. Needless to say, we didn’t go, and another blogging opportunity slipped through the net.

So here I am, heading towards the end of January, not having been on holiday for nearly three months. Okay, okay, I know that’s nothing for a lot of people but this time of year is the longest I ever go between holidays. And on one level I don’t mind, as Christmas is the one time of year I’d prefer to be at home with family than to be on holiday (Christmas (no) holidays…). But I do start to get itchy feet around now. Christmas is over, the weather is cold, the nights are long and the best way to cheer myself up is a holiday. We’d already booked Corfu for the summer and Tenerife (again!) for October, but they’re forever away. So we’ve now booked Center Parcs in the Netherlands for Easter and I feel a bit better. But that’s still three months away. And I’m getting serious holiday withdrawal symptoms…

Clearly, this is easily fixed: I need another holiday and I need it as soon as possible. So we’re currently looking at a couple of nights in London during February half-term. Money, weather and work limit how long we can go away for and how far we can go, but I’ll be happy just to get away for a bit. I wish I didn’t still have a month to go, but at least I can spend the next few weeks planning things to do. And I’ll finally have something new to blog about!

Earlier this year, I joined Twitter and discovered a whole community of travel bloggers. It’s great – they’re supportive of each other, they share tips, advice and photos, they have some great discussions and they inspire me to go and visit even more places than I wanted to before. But the thing is, I’m not sure I quite fit in. These are travellers – they go to far-flung places, off the beaten track, often for months at a time, and they stay in hostels with all their belongings carried round in a backpack. Even those with full-time jobs, who can’t practically spend six months exploring Asia, seem to disappear to places I’ve never heard of every other weekend. Before joining Twitter, I’d considered myself relatively well travelled. It’s a long-standing joke among those who know me that I’m always on holiday. But suddenly, in comparison to all these ‘proper’ travellers, I’ve realised I’m small fry. They have three months backpacking in Tanzania, and I’m getting excited for my week in a hotel in Tenerife.

So what sets me apart from the real travellers? Well, for starters, I’m struggling to think of any exotic or unusual destinations I’ve visited. I’ve never set foot in South America, and my North America experience consists of Florida and Jamaica – so far, so mainstream. My African experience so far is just an organised mini-cruise to Egypt from Cyprus. My visits to Asia consist of Turkey (geographically), Hong Kong and a few hours in Singapore airport (which, believe me, I counted as having visited Asia before I’d done the others!). Hong Kong was pretty adventurous for me – but, as anyone who’s been there knows, its British influence is still highly visible. I’ve been to Australia – far-flung but not unusual. As for Europe, I’ve been to a fair few countries, but none of the less obvious ones. Spain, Greece, Italy? Check. Albania, Latvia, Slovenia? Er, no.

The beach in Jamaica – not as deserted as it looks in the picture!

Up Victoria Peak in Hong Kong

I’ve also never stayed in a hostel in my life. I have no particular need for five star hotels (although I wouldn’t complain!) but the thought of sleeping in a room with strangers holds no appeal whatsoever. I also have no desire to share a bathroom with other people (although I don’t mind when camping – strange, eh?). We’re not exactly spontaneous either. We stayed for five weeks in Australia, in eleven different locations – and each hotel/apartment/motel/mobile home (I do at least manage variety) was booked in advance, and only after thorough research on Trip Advisor. My holidays are generally organised long in advance of when we actually go (over a year ahead is not unusual) – there’s no ‘Shall we go to XXX next weekend?’ or going to the airport and jumping on the first plane available (although I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do that!). Another thing that sets me apart from ‘travellers’ is the amount of time I spend away. Back when my husband was still teaching and I had less work, we’d spend almost the entire six-week summer holiday travelling around France (or, once, Australia). Now, we don’t manage more than a fortnight at a time, which isn’t really long enough to travel around or fully explore new places – and if you try, it’s exhausting.

View from our apartment in Scarborough near Perth

Balcony in our hotel room in Alice Springs

View from our motel in Townsville

Holiday park in Airlie Beach

The house where we stayed in Sydney

One of the Instagram accounts I follow recently posed the question ‘Are you a traveller or a tourist?’ I realised I wasn’t sure. Do I consider myself a traveller? No. Would I like to be? Maybe. So what’s stopping me?

Well, one major factor is my children. I love taking them on holiday and helping them to explore the world, but having them does affect the sort of holidays we choose. Safety and comfort are naturally more of a concern when you travel with children. I’m less keen to visit anywhere that could be considered unsafe or where poverty is a problem. I’m less keen to visit anywhere where the culture is vastly different, and I find myself choosing to visit Westernised destinations. I want to have the accommodation booked in advance – I don’t want to risk not having anywhere to stay for the night when I’m with the kids. The type of accommodation is also an issue – are there enough beds for the kids to sleep in our room? Are children welcome? Are there any kids’ facilities? These things need researching. Spontaneity isn’t easy with children – if I’m spending out on a holiday, I need to know it’s going to tick all the boxes, and I don’t want to leave anything to chance. Safety and practicalities aside, will there be enough at the destination to entertain and occupy the kids? I never let a holiday revolve around the children but it absolutely has to involve a compromise. They will happily (well, sometimes) follow us around a museum or castle, wander around a pretty village or go for a five-mile hike. But these more ‘adult’ activities need to be interspersed with things that are more family-orientated – is there a theme park? Can we go tree-trekking or play crazy golf? Can we at least stop for half an hour while they play in a playground? Happy kids equals happy parents!

Tree-trekking

More kids’ entertainment – note the inflatables in the background too…

Another issue, unsurprisingly – and not unconnected to children – is money. Holidays cost money. Travelling costs money. And however much you shop around for cheap accommodation and travel hacks, the further you travel, the more your flights cost. Much as I might like to visit Sri Lanka or Senegal, Spain is a lot closer and a lot cheaper. Travel also costs more with children – if you’re lucky, you can find hotels with family rooms, but they usually cost more, and it doesn’t exactly aid spontaneity. As for flights, it doesn’t matter how old the child is – if they take up a seat, they cost the full price. It’s fair enough, but it doesn’t make travel cheap. Taking two kids basically doubles the cost of your holiday. This is all not to mention school holiday prices either: if you keep your kids in school and only go away during school holidays, be prepared for a massive hike in prices – which, again, limits where you can go. Many a time we have gone away in October half term simply to wherever we can afford, rather than somewhere we’d specifically like to go – and this means that we’re more likely to end up in the ‘typical’ resorts like the Spanish costas. And still on the subject of money, to pay for holidays, you have to work – and having a job means you are limited to how much time you can take off (both altogether in a year and at any one time). I’m self-employed, so I have a little more flexibility – but then I don’t get paid for my holidays, so I too can’t afford to go away too often or for too long, as I’m losing the opportunity to actually pay for those holidays!

Of course, I could always solve money and work problems by becoming a digital nomad. What’s one of these, you ask. Well, as far as I can tell, it appears to be someone who travels around and works remotely. If you follow any travel accounts on Instagram, you’re likely to have been inundated with adverts and DMs about how you too could follow their example and become a digital nomad (just pay $10 for an exclusive guide on how to do so). You too could live The Life they do. You too could give it all up and live the dream – the dream being, as far as I can tell, living in a variety of hotels and spending your days blogging about how to fund the hotels (or charging $10 to tell other people how to live in a variety of hotels). Firstly, I suspect it’s not as easy as all that. Secondly, do you know what? I wouldn’t want to. Some people may be very happy spending their entire lives travelling, without a base, but I’m not one of them. Much as I like my holidays, I also like coming home. I like my house and I like where I live. I like my job (most of the time). I like meeting up with my friends and I like going to our weekly quiz night. I like seeing family and watching my children form that bond with them. I like curling up on the sofa watching telly and I like sleeping in my own bed. I like my routine and I like the familiarity. I also like the novelty of escaping it to go on holiday – I suspect much of the excitement of travel would start to fade if I was doing it all the time.

So I guess I’m not really a traveller. But am I just a typical tourist? I like to think not. For a start, I go on holiday every opportunity I get – every school holiday if possible, with the odd weekend break thrown in. Money and practicality dictates that it may be just a night in a London hotel or camping in the next county, but I do go away more than most people I know. I also love to see new places; if I go on holiday, I don’t want to spend the time trapped in the hotel – I want to get out and see what the area has to offer. I love going to all the obvious tourist sites, but I also love exploring and finding places that the average tourist doesn’t know about. Even on a package holiday, we hire a car and go and explore. Some of my favourite holiday moments have been exploring troglodyte caves in Menorca and ancient Greek ruins in Turkey without another soul around. I also like to integrate a little – I want to try the local food and attempt the local language, and I certainly don’t want to stay in a hotel where all the clientele are British.

Priene in Turkey all to ourselves

Priene

Exploring the necropolis at Calas Covas in Menorca

Calas Covas

I’m not reliant on a tour operator for holidays either – although we have done package deals, I usually prefer to organise my own holidays and book direct. I don’t mind where I stay – luxury hotel, tent, apartment, wherever (but not hostel!). I like all kinds of holidays too – past holidays have included a city break in a budget hotel; all-inclusive in the Caribbean; Butlins; a walking holiday in the Cotswolds, staying in B&Bs; a family hotel in Benidorm; and, of course, camping in France. This is one example of when we were spontaneous – when we had the time, we would drive around France (and Spain, Andorra, Luxembourg and Belgium on one holiday) with a tent, staying for a couple of nights before moving on. We didn’t book anything, we didn’t plan ahead very much and we saw beach, mountains, countryside and cities all in the one holiday. It was brilliant (but I was also quite glad to come home!).

Prague, many years ago!

Guess where!

Early morning view from our hotel room in Jamaica

Benidorm, of course

Our tent, somewhere in France

This all sounds like I’m saying it’s a bad thing to be a ‘tourist’ – and of course it’s not. There’s no right or wrong way to travel – and I’m no holiday snob. In five weeks’ time I’ll be in a family hotel in Tenerife, spending most of my time by the pool or on the beach. Some people prefer one type of holiday; others like to change it up. Some people like the safety net of a package deal; others prefer to organise things themselves. Some people like to plan in advance; others are more spur of the moment. Some people like luxury on holiday; others are happy to rough it. Me? I’m somewhere in between. And that’s okay. I don’t have to pigeonhole myself as any one thing. I don’t have to have visited 73 countries or trekked the length of the Great Wall of China to have something to offer. I have my own niche – I’m a 40-something, self-employed mother of two, who loves to go on all sorts of holidays whenever she gets the chance, and who blogs about it occasionally when she gets a break in work. I may have more in common with other family travellers or part-time workers, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share tips with the 20-something backpacker, the retired couple on a round-the-world cruise or the full-time travel blogger. I’m not a traveller and I’m not a tourist – I’m just a holiday obsessive and proud of it!

My view in a few weeks…

And if you fancy joining me and the rest of the travel community (if you haven’t already), give me a follow on Twitter or Instagram!

I have somewhat mixed feelings about animals in captivity. I am an animal lover so, while I love the opportunity to see animals up close, it goes without saying that I abhor seeing animals kept in cramped or cruel conditions. I am more torn in situations where they are kept in large enclosures with plenty of space and stimulation – a lot is said about how animals are better off in the wild, but who’s to say they wouldn’t prefer living somewhere safe, with plenty of food, shelter and medical attention if necessary, and without the threat of predators or poachers? Ethical dilemmas aside, Port Lympne Reserve in Kent, along with its sister park Howletts, is not your average ‘zoo’. While it offers plenty for the paying visitor, its purpose is not to provide entertainment – rather, it focuses on conservation, with the ultimate aim of releasing animals back into the wild. Working in conjunction with the animal conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation, their ‘mission is to halt the extinction of rare and endangered species and return them to the wild where possible’. You can read more on their website.

Although as a local girl I have visited both Port Lympne and Howletts many times over the years, this year we decided to splash out and go for one of the overnight packages that Port Lympne have started offering over recent years. The reason was for my mum’s 70th birthday – my sister and I decided to treat her as she’s mad about animals. I will preface this whole post by saying that, unless you have lots of money to spare, you really need a good reason or a special celebration to book one of the Port Lympne short breaks. I won’t detail prices, as my mum might read this, but suffice to say they are not cheap! They are, however, pretty special and make for a very unique night or few days away. Port Lympne offer a range of different types (and prices) of accommodation. We chose the Treehouse Hotel, but if you visit the website you can find more details on the other types of accommodation available.

What was the accommodation like?

We opted for the Treehouse Hotel because we figured it was the best option for our group of three (and couldn’t really imagine my mum glamping!), but it would also work particularly well for families. Although called a ‘hotel’, the Treehouse Hotel actually consists of several individual self-catering units, each accessed up a steep flight of stairs (although there is also an accessible option). The units comprise a twin bedroom, a double bedroom, a bathroom, an open-plan kitchen and lounge, and a large balcony, with views over a rhino and cheetah enclosure and the Hythe bay. The bedrooms were very comfortable, with robes and slippers included, and the swish bathroom – with bath and integral shower – included a selection of Bamford toiletries.

Double bedroom

Twin bedroom

Twin bedroom

Bathroom

The lounge had air conditioning, several comfy sofas and a huge TV, and the kitchen was well stocked with plenty of crockery and cutlery, a dishwasher, oven, toaster and Nespresso machine. There was milk in the fridge and a selection of hot drinks, all complimentary – there was also a basket of goodies you could pay for, although they were appropriately priced for their captive consumers, and you would be much better advised to bring your own snacks.

Lounge

Dining table

Kitchen

The balcony was huge, with a large table and chairs, plus a comfy sofa. The only downside was that we had a downpour shortly before checking into the hotel – and with no canopy over the furniture, the cushions on the sofa and the chairs were completely soaked, rendering them unusable.

Dining table on the balcony

View from the balcony

View from the balcony

Overall, the accommodation was very comfortable and felt luxurious – our only real complaint (apart from the rain) was that we didn’t have enough time in it to fully enjoy it!

What’s included?

It goes without saying that your park entrance, from opening time on the day you arrive until closing time on the day you leave, is included in the cost. Entrance to Howletts, around half an hour’s drive away, is also included – although if you are only staying for one night, like we were, you won’t be able to fit this in without missing out on some of Port Lympne. If you choose to book an animal enounter (more on this below), you get a discount on the cost equalling the price of the entry fee. If you are staying at the Treehouse Hotel, there is a clubhouse next to the rhino encounter, where you receive a free welcome drink and can toast marshmallows over the fire. It has a bar and I believe that it is open into the evening, if you want to relax there with a drink instead of in your treehouse, but I think this depends on the day and season (it seemed to close quite early when were there). One of the best things about staying is the use of a golf buggy – quite apart from being good fun to drive (if rather difficult to get used to – who knew it was easier to drive a car?!), it is also invaluable in getting around the park, which is huge and very hilly.

My mum and sister by our golf buggy

Another advantage to booking an overnight stay is that you get exclusive access to Port Lympne after the day visitors have gone home (and before they arrive the next day). Not only is it quite nice having the zoo to yourselves (well, apart from the other overnighters zipping around on their golf buggies), but you also get to see some of the animals who only tend to come out at night or at quieter/cooler times.

Where can you eat?

There are a number of eating places in Port Lympne, at varying prices. At lunchtime on the first day, we ate at a cafe that I can’t find a name for, near Base Camp (where you check in on arrival and where you queue for the safari truck – more below). It has a variety of pasties, ready-made sandwiches, cakes, snacks and drinks and is an easy lunch option. On the second day, we hoped to have lunch in the Pinewood Cafe near the entrance, where they also do a variety of hot lunches – something with pulled pork jumped out – but we were in the wrong part of the park. They had a small ‘kiosk’ near Babydoll’s (more later) also selling hot food, but sadly this was closed while we were there. We ended up grabbing a sandwich at the kiosk near the meerkats, which was disappointing if I’m honest, but it was late and it was literally the last one left. Luckily, the gelato from the ice cream van next door made up for it! The aforementioned Babydoll’s was our choice for dinner. Named after the last surviving original Howlett’s gorillas, it’s Italian themed and serves a mix of pasta and pizzas. There wasn’t a huge choice but everything we ate was delicious. You can eat outside if the weather’s good, although we chose to eat indoors – it was relatively quiet when we were there, although I’d imagine it’s a different story at peak times. There were plenty of children there and the prices were mid-range, so this would be a good choice for dinner if you were there on a family trip.

Outside Babydoll’s

The other dinner choices were the Pinewood Cafe – reasonably priced but I would suspect that it lacks the ambience you’d want for an evening meal – and the restaurant inside the Port Lympne Hotel itself, the original Grade 2 listed mansion house. The Port Lympne Hotel also serves up afternoon tea; unfortunately, the prices for both this and the evening meals were a little over our budget after paying for the stay in the first place!

What animals will you see?

There are a whole host of animals at Port Lympne, although that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see all of them! The nature of the park means that the enclosures are generally very large, with lots of places for animals to hide away – so if they don’t want to show themselves, they won’t! As I mentioned earlier, accessing the park in the evening or early morning can increase your chances of seeing some of the harder-to-spot animals – for example, there was no sign of the wolves during the day but in the evening they were out playing (and we heard them howling from our balcony later on!). There are plenty of primates – lemurs, langurs, gibbons, drills, howler monkeys and, my personal favourite, gorillas. These are usually the highlight of my trip to Port Lympne or Howletts but most of them sadly seemed to be hiding this time.

There are lots of cats – lions, tigers, cheetahs and smaller cats such as the fishing cat or the Scottish wildcat. You can also expect to see rhinos, meerkats, tapirs, red pandas and a whole host of other animals while you wander round the park (or scoot around in your golf buggy).

In addition to those animals you can see independently, all visitors to the park get to go on a safari truck to see some more animals in as natural a habitat as possible – and believe me, there were plenty of moments on the safari when you could quite believe you were on the plains of Africa. The safari ride takes around an hour, with the guide providing information as you go and stopping to get a better look at those animals that are nearby – or to wait for a rhino to get out of the way! As well as rhinos, you can expect to see giraffes (they have recently had several babies born), zebras, camels, water buffalo, ostriches and more species of deer and antelope than I have a hope of recalling. I think the procedure for booking onto the safari varies depending on the time of year – this time, we were able to book a convenient time and were given a ticket to get on, but on my previous visit (during the school holidays), we simply had to queue (for some time) for the next available truck.

What else is there to see?

Slightly incongruously, there is also a fairly newly opened Dinosaur Forest in Port Lympne – this is a (long) walk along a wooded track filled with life-sized models of dinosaurs, along with corresponding information. Along with the obvious T-Rex, stegosaurus, triceratops and so on, there are also plenty of lesser-known (and rather unusual looking) specimens. It’s great fun for children, but still interesting for adults.

It is also well worth a wander around the grounds of the mansion house (now the Port Lympne Hotel). Beautifully landscaped, expect to see ponds, a maze, statues, steps with a view and lots of colourful flowers. If there’s no wedding going on, you can also have a wander through the mansion house itself. From the amazing murals on the walls to the picturesque Moroccan courtyard, you can see why it’s a popular wedding venue.

Can I get up close to the animals?

As mentioned previously, the animals are free to come and go as they please within their enclosures, so how close you get depends on whether they want to show themselves! However, Port Lympne do offer a number of experiences to allow you to get a more ‘personal’ view of the animals. As well as smaller and one-to-one safaris, you can also book animal encounters with select animals (at a price similarly eye-watering to the hotel but, again, well worth it if you like animals). My mum chose to have a tapir encounter in the hope that it might be more ‘hands-on’ than some of the other encounters (I certainly had no desire to get up close and personal with the big cats!). The encounters are usually in small groups but we were lucky that it was just the three of us. We got to spend time with the keeper behind the scenes in the tapir house, learning all about tapirs and getting very close indeed. Turns out tapirs love having their tummies rubbed, and they also have quite a liking for sweat, given how much my mum was licked! (I should probably add here that it was a very hot day!) We got to meet Kingut, who, at 40, is the world’s oldest  Malayan tapir – apparently, he can get quite over-excited and nip sometimes, but we caught him in a lazy mood, where he wanted nothing more than to lie on his side while we rubbed his tummy. For anyone concerned that the encounter is intrusive for the tapirs, I will say that it was very evident that the animals also enjoyed and benefited from the human contact. The keeper was very knowledgeable and had clearly built up relationships with the tapirs, and I have no doubt that all encounters are handled very sensitively and put the needs of the animals as paramount. While I can only speak for the tapir experience, it really was an amazing opportunity to get face to face with an animal you would never expect to encounter!

You taste nice!

Kingut – the oldest Malayan tapir in the world!

Tapirs love a tummy rub!

Is there anything else I need to know?

Firstly, as mentioned above, the park is very large and full of steep hills. Wear comfy shoes because you’ll be doing a lot of walking!

Although there are plenty of places to eat, you’re quite welcome to bring your own food for a picnic. The Treehouse Hotel is set up for self-catering, so you can bring your own food to cook if you so wish. We brought croissants, bread, jam and cereal so that we could have breakfast on our balcony (and save ourselves the cost of breakfast in one of the restaurants!).

Breakfast with a view

Who needs a selfie stick when you have a reflection in a window?!

Although you can get to the park as soon as it opens (9.30 am), you can’t check in to the treehouse until 3.00 pm (this could be an issue if you have any food that needs refrigeration!). There is a centrally positioned car park reserved for hotel guests, so you can leave your stuff in the car until you check in. You’re taken to the clubhouse along with your luggage in a little truck (the treehouses aren’t accessible on foot), where you receive your golf buggy (along with instructions on how to drive it) and your key. You have to check out at 11.00 am the morning you leave, although you get to keep the golf buggy until 1.00 pm. You can either take your luggage back to the car in the golf buggy or the staff will transport it for you in a truck. You can still stay at the park until closing time – 6.30 pm in summer and 5.30 pm in winter.

One of my pet hates when travelling in any city is paying to use the toilet. I know – it’s very petty. But going to the toilet is a necessity rather than a luxury. I resent having to pay for taking care of a basic need. And principles aside, I don’t always have the money – or at least the change – to pay to use a toilet. And just think what that 50p could buy! (Okay, not much, but I’m thinking chocolate…)

It seems to be becoming more widespread now, but the first time I encountered having to pay for the toilet was in London, back when it only cost 20p. I was 16, I was at Victoria Station, I was desperate and I didn’t have any change. My friend had change but I refused to take it on principle and tried to duck under the barrier. Needless to say, I got caught, pleaded lack of money and had to take my friend’s 20p after all.

I don’t duck under barriers these days – I don’t think my back would let me. But I do try to avoid paying wherever possible, and am making it my mission to find as many free public toilets as I can. It goes without saying that using toilets in restaurants, pubs and cafes is one option, but that isn’t always practical or convenient (nor fair if you’re not actually a customer). But there are other options, and here are the ones I’ve found in London. I’m sure some of you have found other examples, and I’d love to hear about them. I’m hoping to keep updating this post, so if you know of any free public toilets in London that I’ve not mentioned, please comment at the bottom or let me know on Twitter @holidayobsessi1 (that’s a ‘one’ and not an ‘L’ at the end!) and I’ll add them to the list!

St Pancras International
These are my favourite. There may be others elsewhere in the station but there are free toilets behind the escalators going to the Southeastern trains (platforms 10-13 I think). Look for the Starbucks, Yo Sushi and M&S. I can’t speak for the mens’, but there are around 10 cubicles, all of which generally lock and have toilet paper. There is usually a toilet attendant about so they are pretty clean. Best of all, you feel smug, because you have to pay for the toilets in Kings Cross just across the road.

North Greenwich tube station
Sticking with stations, this is another option I use fairly regularly. On the Jubilee line, a few stops away from London Bridge, it’s not somewhere you’d go from central London, but it’s still handy if you’re heading to the O2, the Emirates or the Thames Clippers. We often park here if driving into London, as it’s reasonably cheap (especially on Sundays), so we always take the opportunity to use the toilets before heading into the city. There are plenty of cubicles, usually with locks and paper (though not quite as clean as St Pancras), and you don’t often have to queue for long.

Museums and art galleries
Obviously, you’d expect to have free use of toilets at any paying attraction you visit, but the beauty of museums in London is that they’re free – and they still have toilets! I won’t use this blog to write an exhaustive list of free museums in London but just a few I’ve been to include: the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the V&A, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the Museum of London, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. There are museums spread across all of London, so they can prove a convenient option when you need the toilet. Extra benefits include the fact that they’re usually very clean and pleasant (for toilets) with no queues, and you get to look at some interesting stuff while you’re in the building!

Little Venice
I discovered these recently. For those who don’t know, Little Venice is an area five minutes from Warwick Avenue and Maida Vale tube stations, where the Grand Union Canal and Regents Canal meet. It’s picturesque, with little gardens, lots of water (obviously) and copious amounts of pretty canal boats/barges. You can take a trip on a narrowboat from Little Venice to London Zoo or Camden Lock. There are some free toilets here in the little gardens – only a couple of cubicles, and not the nicest of toilets but hey, they’re free. I visited during a festival when the area was packed, so the queue was pretty awful, but I’d guess it isn’t too bad the rest of the time.

Hyde Park
I spotted these while wandering through Hyde Park last week – they’re south of the the Serpentine, just by the lido. I didn’t use these myself, so can’t make any further comment. It is vaguely possible that there was a pay point hidden inside, but they certainly looked like they were free. Maybe one of my readers can confirm!

Well, that’s it – a pretty short list currently. I’m not sure if this is representative of how few public toilets there are in London or just because I haven’t found many yet. So if you know of any free conveniences in London, let me know and I’ll add them to the list!

I’m just coming to the end of what has probably been the busiest spring of my life. Over a period of 12 weeks, I will only have been at home for four full weekends. This might not seem like a big deal to ‘proper’ travellers, but when you have two school-aged children and you are trying to keep on top of a job, the housework and other commitments in the meantime, it becomes pretty difficult. The sad thing is that I have discovered there really is such a thing as too many holidays. All but one of these weekends away have been for ‘leisure’ rather than ‘business’, yet I’ve found I haven’t been able to enjoy them as much as I should because I am too busy thinking about all the other things I need to be doing and haven’t had a chance to just sit back and breathe.

It started with a short break near Chichester with friends (see How to holiday for free). It was lovely – we walked, we ate lots and we generally chilled out. Even better, we didn’t have to worry about money. At this point, I was still relaxed. Even so, there was lots to sort out to enable us to go away in the first place. Because we went without the children, we had to sort out who was looking after them while we were away. Who would pick them up from school on Friday and take them on Monday? Would they do their homework? Did they need to take anything in on Monday? Who would make their packed lunches? Was their uniform clean and ironed? Being self-employed also makes things more difficult in many ways. I can’t walk out of the door and come back from my holiday just to pick up where I left off. There’s no one to cover me in my absence. I don’t get paid for my holidays, so I have to work stupid hours before I go and when I come back to make up for the time I’m away. I have to justify to clients why I’m not replying or why I can’t meet a perfectly reasonable deadline because I’m simply not there. All of this meant that going away and coming back were just slightly more stressful than they should have been.

The next two weekends were at home. They weren’t exactly relaxing, though – we had various activities planned, including a bridesmaid dress fitting and a day out at Dover Castle, plus I was working a lot at the weekends as well as during the week, having agreed to more work than I probably should have done (another downside of self-employment – you can’t often afford to turn down work!). Still, the exhaustion wasn’t kicking in quite yet.

The following two weekends were either end of our family holiday to the Isle of Wight. We had a great – if busy and rather cold – time. BUT it was the first holiday where I hadn’t really been able to relax and forget about the rest of life. Niggling in the back of my head was all the work and other stuff I had to do when I came back. I’d also been working pretty solidly right up until we went away. In fact, the day before we left, I’d had to stop work mid-afternoon to go to London for a concert. I got home at 1.00am, set the alarm for 6.30am and got up early to finish some work and meet a deadline before we left to catch the ferry. Okay, maybe the exhaustion was starting to kick in at this point. I was also well aware of what I was coming back to. Having told a client I’d be back working on the Sunday to pick up anything I’d not done during the last week, I realised it was my son’s birthday party that day. Add to that unpacking, washing and shopping, after getting back late the night before, and it didn’t leave a lot of time for work. Worse (well, not worse – it was lovely, just not in terms of timing), it was my mum’s 70th birthday the following day – a family day out followed by an evening meal – which meant working stupid hours on the Sunday (around party, unpacking, etc.) to try to get on top of everything. I knew all this was coming while we were on holiday. I also knew it would still be the Easter holidays when we got back, so I would have the kids at home while I was trying to work, and I knew that I would be going away again the following weekend. I tried really hard to relax and forget everything while we were away, but I just couldn’t stop worrying about how much I had to do when I got back and how I was going to fit everything in. I was also starting to realise just how few weekends I would have to recharge over the next couple of months.

The following weekend, I went to Champneys. Yes, I know, how awful – a spa break. Any ounce of sympathy you may have had has swiftly evaporated. I think this kind of made things worse – I was off for a lovely, relaxing pamper weekend and I didn’t feel like I had any right to be stressed about it. Of course, I was working right up until we went went, including all day Saturday (we went on a Sunday) and I was pretty tired. I also had to get everything ready for the kids on Monday as I wouldn’t be there for the school run. Still, I got up to date (as far as I could) with work, had a lovely long chat with my friend on the way and resolved to try to chill out and forget everything. I did a pretty good job. We swam, we ate, we exercised (yes, really), we had massages and we spent a lot of time doing very little. It was bliss. Even if my brain didn’t quite switch off, my body certainly needed the downtime. And actually, by the time we left, I was feeling fairly chilled mentally. Maybe the timing was better than I thought. Then I got home on the Monday night to find I had a whole pile of new work and everything had gone tits-up with an event I was supposed to be organising the following weekend (another reason behind my stress over the previous few weeks). I felt like all the good of the spa had been undone in one fell swoop.

The following weekend should have been the afore-mentioned event, but it was cancelled in the end. On the one hand, this took away a lot of my stress; on the other hand, cancelling brought a whole host of other things to do. Regardless, it was lovely to have a weekend sleeping in my own bed – I can’t really say ‘at home’, because I was at the hairdresser’s, a fun run (for the kids, not me!) and a St George’s Day parade (kids again) – plus working, of course. But at least I had a reasonable chance of getting some sleep.

The same couldn’t be said of the weekend afterwards, which was my sister’s hen do. It was a weekend of fun in Nottingham – fancy dress, quiz, soft play, laser quest and crazy golf. Basically, it was a chance to pretend to be a child for the weekend, and it was great. I had by now got used to not being home for the weekend. I duly did as much work as I could beforehand, left Lee a shopping list and made sure everything was ready and organised for Monday, as I’d be back late on the Sunday. Fully prepared, I resolved to forget about work and take some me-time on the train. The latter wasn’t quite as successful as it could have been, as I didn’t go more than an hour without having to change trains. Still, I was having so much fun (at the hen do and not on the train) that I did manage to put everything else to the back of my mind. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to sleep very much (if at all – hard to say!) on the Saturday night. I also left home early on the Saturday and got home late on the Sunday. And despite the fact that I spent a lot of time sitting down (on the train this time), I always find travelling really tiring. The end result was feeling absolutely shattered by the time I got home.

The following weekend, we had tickets for a show in London with the kids, so we’d booked a hotel to make a weekend of it. I can’t say it was entirely relaxing, as it was with the kids – cue constant sniping at each other and whinging about being hungry/thirsty/tired/hot. (On the plus side, we didn’t have to sort out childcare.) Still, I was finally managing to concentrate on the ‘here and now’ and enjoy myself, rather than worrying about all the things I should have been doing. Work was at a manageable level and I’d had a little time off the week before to begin to recharge. The weather was glorious (hottest early May bank holiday on record!), which really raised my spirits. And we didn’t have too many expectations of what we were going to do, which allowed us to wander at our own pace without rushing to fit everything in. Although part of me would probably have liked to stay at home, the rest of me really enjoyed being away without too many constraints on my time. Plus it also helped that I knew I was going to spend the following weekend at home.

Yup, the next weekend (last weekend, in fact) was spent at home. It was great. Other than a trip to the theatre on the Sunday night, we had nothing planned. We caught up with chores, did some shopping, visited family and watched a lot of TV. I lay in both days. I didn’t do any work. It was a much-needed weekend of normality, and never have I been so grateful not to be on holiday.

This weekend I will be back in London, and this time it’s not for a holiday. I’ll spend Friday night in a hotel and then all of Saturday will be spent training, before getting home on Saturday night. Sunday through to Thursday will be spent on heaps of post-training work on top of my usual work. I will be putting in extra hours to get as much done as humanly possible, because on Friday I will be going away again. This time it’s my sister’s wedding in Newcastle. The wedding is just one day, of course, but as it’s at the other end of the country we’ll be spending all day Friday travelling there. And seeing as how we’ll have travelled all that way, we feel it’s only right that we catch up with a few friends who live in the area, so we won’t be home until Tuesday night. Needless to say, the rest of the week (and no doubt the following weekend) will be spent catching up with work again. It’s also half-term. Plus point: I don’t have to have everything prepared for school when we get back. Downside: I’ll have the children at home while I’m trying to work. I’ve been here before…

But I’m going to try my hardest to put work and everything else out of my mind while we’re away. Although the rest of the year is pretty busy, I know things will start to calm down after that week, and I should have more time to keep on top of work and actually relax too. It’s the last of my 12-week marathon. More importantly, it’s my sister’s wedding – it’s a one-off, joyful, amazing event and one that I want to enjoy every moment of. I want to be there for it mentally as well as physically and not have the back of my mind filled with thoughts of all the things I should be doing. That has happened too many times this year; trips away have certainly not been spoilt – God, no, I’ll always love holidays! – but they have definitely been marred by taking too much on. I’ve learnt my lesson in that respect.

So what am I going to do to make sure I don’t burn myself out again? Mostly, I have to learn to say ‘no’ – no to work and no to fitting too much in. This spring has been unusual in that I’ve had no say in the timing of a lot of events, but I need to make an effort in the future not to plan too many things too close together. I need to make sure I have some weekends at home that aren’t spent working. I need to try not to work evenings and weekends unless I really have to. I need to not take on more work than I can comfortably manage. I need to switch my email to ‘out of office’ during weekends and holidays so that I don’t take work with me. And I need to enjoy what I’m doing and make the most of every moment – work and chores can wait. As I’ve read so many times, no one gets to the end of their life and wishes they’d spent more time at work.

Trouble is, if I don’t keep on agreeing to extra work, how can I afford the holidays? And is it wrong that after a few weekends at home, I know I’ll really be looking forward to going away in the summer? Yup, don’t worry, it’s only a temporary blip in the holiday obsession. Normal service will be resumed shortly…