Home comforts when away on holiday

As much as we all love a good holiday, there are some things from home you really wish you could pack up and take with you on your trip.

Our homes are set up for our enjoyment and we often take those home comforts for granted, the smell of your own bedding will never be the same as that elsewhere, you choose the fragrances you like the best and the fabric soften you enjoy – perhaps you are allergic to one particular brand so don’t use that one in your home. It’s the little things we often end up missing when we go away.

Of course, it’s impossible to take your own bedding away with you but I usually take the children’s pillowcases in our suitcases so they have that homely feeling wherever they are, they struggle to get to sleep in a new environment for a few days so this trick helps to settle them a lot faster.

Another thing I always ensure to take with us is a nightlight for the children’s room/s, while they no longer use one at home, the layout of hotels, caravans, apartments etc. while away is different and it means they don’t crash about in the dark when they get up to use the bathroom, get a drink or come to find me in my bed if they wake during the night.

We NEVER travel without their bedtime teddies, they wouldn’t sleep and all hell would break loose. They’ve slept with them every night since they were small and they don’t ever get left behind.  These are always the first thing the children unpack when away too – they happily stake claim to the bed they want by placing their teddies on them.

DVD’s are also packed if there is a DVD player available, they are used to watching Netflix or BBC iPlayer etc. when they want to watch TV as we don’t really watch live TV at home, the adverts are too much with the kids wanting all the toys they see and they lose interest with the sheer amount of adverts. This means they can watch a programme before bed to help them settle or even in the morning if they awake too early.  Of course, BBC iPlayer isn’t accessible abroad but you can bypass that with a VPN which works by concealing your location and giving you an IP address in the country of your choice, such as the UK. This article features the best VPNs.

We also ensure that we try to find family-friendly hotels when booking our holidays, they suit us as a family best and means we know that if the children make a little noise it’s not the end of the world – there’s nothing worse than being the only family in a hotel and being worried about the guests moaning about excited children, don’t get me wrong they don’t race around or scream the place down but they are young children who do make noise.

From personal experience we find that they also help to make the children feel at ease, colouring books upon arrival or a few biscuits and a drink go a very long way to making the children at home in a new setting.

I let the children pack a small bag each when we go away anywhere, this can contain toys, books or anything they want to bring from home to play with while away – Emmy usually packs some extra teddies or dolls, colouring, word searches and notepads and Harry opts for cars, dinosaurs, trains and the latest figures he has been playing with. I also pack some games to play in the room/apartment such as bingo, Yahtzee, cards etc. We have lots of fun playing as a family.

A separate set of toys etc are also packed into the car to help keep the children amused on long journeys, there are lots of ways to amuse children on longer journeys from iSpy to audio books, drawing to bingo games. Some of the ways we amuse the children can be found here.

A few home comforts us adults like to take away with us are: Teabags, my own shampoo and conditioner as I always prefer these to hotel ones, my slippers and a lavender spray for our pillows as it helps me to sleep.

What home comforts do you take with you on holidays?

**Collaborative post**