Holiday Holiday Holiday Holidayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Yippeeee.....................

11 months and 10 days

That's how long it will be since my last holiday. That was to celebrate our 4th anniversary and we chose Madrid. I'd booked our flights months ago, long before I knew I was pregnant. We got a fab deal on our hotel and it was a relaxed and chilled out break.

Now almost a year later we're off again... finally :). DD and I both love travelling. Our holidays are usually action packed and we rarely spend any time in the hotel. Both of us are ever so keen to explore, discover off the beaten track spots and just soak in the atmosphere. While we were in London we would average 1 long break (10 days to 2 weeks) and 2-3 short weekend breaks each year. This was in addition to our annual trips to India but those we never considered as holidays. We would often return back from India needing a holiday after the hectic family and friends meeting, food hogging home visit.

So the need to take a break, get away from the mundane has been gnawing at us. Somewhere at the back of our minds we've been waiting for Squiggles to grow up just a bit and for us to feel more comfortable in our role as parents before we venture out on a holiday with her. So, unlike any of our holidays before, this is purely about relaxing and getting used to holidaying with an infant.

Phuket................ here we come. White sandy beaches and clear blue water. Yummy, spicy Thai food. Heavenly and cheap thai massages. Nothing to do. No cooking, cleaning or whatever. No giving instructions to maid. No grocery shopping. No thinking what should be on the menu today that will meet DD's approval. No gym :). Only DD and me...... oh and Squiggles LOL.

I'm hoping she'll be half good because expecting her to be 100% good is tempting fate. If I can get a massage a day and one other treatment I shall be pleased and purring like a cat. Sigh... I am tempting fate!

It's been a rocky start to the holiday though. I found a travel agent in Chinatown (bad bad idea) and though I didn't have any references, they were affiliated to a major travel group which handles holiday packages on behalf of Singapore Airlines. So I thought they would be squeaky clean and easy to deal with. Boy was I wrong! I have spent several hours on 4 separate occasions trying to sort out what seemed on paper to be a simple plan.

Suffice to say, DD was yelling at her yesterday because she had so screwed things up. I'm not going to go into details but I finally picked everything up from her this afternoon and I hope eveything improves from here on.

Now the trickiest part of the holiday. What do I need to take for Squiggles to make sure she's comfortable and is happy because that is directly corelated to how much we can enjoy the break. So all of you who have gone holidaying with an infant, this is your time to give gyan (advice).

Here are the things I'm struggling with.

1. I give her a bottle of formula to supplement breastmilk. How can I sterilise her bottle and other stuff while we're holidaying without having to buy an expensive steriliser? We just boil her stuff at home at the moment.

2. Can we take her in the pool?

3. I was reading somewhere that infants under 6 months should not be exposed to the sun. Do we need to get her a cap/sun shade type thing?

4. We're planning to buy a baby monitor so that we can sit outside in the garden and use the pool if she's sleeping. Any suggestions on brands if you've already bought one?

5. How do I keep her calm on the flight? What was your experience? What should I be prepared for?

6. Anything else that I should keep in mind? I will be taking her medicines just in case.

Oooooh I can't wait. And even the fact that I don't have a swimming costume and don't deserve to wear one isn't dampening my enthusiasm. I soooo need this. I'm so excited :))))).