Sussex columnist: Some of my niggles about being away from home

​By that I mean travel, go on holiday, take trips/mini breaks/getaways/whatever you might like to call them with my family.

I’ve got a lot of mileage out of my distaste for packing – and I mean a lot of mileage. But I’m not sure I’ve quite explored the downsides to travelling away from the comfort of your own home.

That’s not to say any of them would put me off going away. The fun of exploring a new or beloved place far outweighs any negatives, but given this column has become my diary, sounding board and place for pondering, I figure I may as well share them with you.

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Last weekend, we went away for two nights meaning the suitcases that never-quite-made-it-back-into-the-loft after our Easter getaway were back in business again.

The obligatory overpacking of all manner of ‘essentials’ was once again employed, but we’re going to pick up when we arrived for our mini-break.

The first thing to contend with is finding everything in your new ‘home’ (for the weekend). We quickly realised that we clearly should have brought hand soap, hand towels, washing up liquid, etc to this place as it didn’t have any of those essentials, so a quick trip to the shop was the first port of call!

And then there’s finding the other things that you take for granted in your own home. A bottle opener, for instance, is given little thought at home and is just grabbed from a drawer when you need it. But it’s suddenly something you covet more than anything when you’re away and can’t open your beer or find the implement necessary to do it!

Then you get to bedtime. We have a king-sized bed at home, but I appreciate most holiday homes aren’t going to have the space for one. So back into a double bed it was. The bed itself was comfortable enough, but there’s nothing quite like going from having your own space in your king-size memory foam bed at home to suddenly being acutely aware of the other person’s every movement on what feels like a child-sized mattress.

A night’s sleep in a different bed is never the best, but couple that with excitable children who don’t have a clock in their room and start chatting and playing at 5.40am, and we were left feeling just a bit tired.

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We had a really great and fun-packed weekend, but then it was back to reality again. And what I like even less than packing is unpacking. And the inevitable mound of washing that comes with it. Once that was done, there was the horrible realisation that it was 7pm on Sunday night, and no homework had been done. Eeek, it’s too late now, so that’s going to have to be added to next week’s already extensive to-do-list.

And while it’s brilliant to make the most of your weekend and be away from after school on Friday to Sunday evening, it means that all the things you might normally get done at the weekend – chores, washing, cleaning, errands, etc – don’t happen, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. This sounds awfully moany, but really it’s just a few niggles. We had such a fab weekend, and even though I was absolutely shattered come Sunday night, we will absolutely look forward to doing it all again soon, I hope!

n Would I even be British if I didn’t mention the weather? I read we may have recorded a record low for April overnight this week. This is completely unacceptable to me, and I’m really quite cross about it! My Google Photos app is also rubbing it in by showing me pictures from previous Aprils where we’ve been basking in warm sunshine. Instead, this year, I’m back in my winter duvet coat, sitting in a blanket while I work from home and am still having to use the tumble dryer long after it should be having a well-earned spring/summer break. Come on, warm weather, after this long, gloomy and wet winter we need a break!