Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What do you take on holiday

July is upon us and it’s nearly time to start packing for the car for your annual fortnight in the sun (I’m assuming you are coming to France!) so our friends at Buggs Car Hire suggested we think about what people should bring with them to be sure their trip isn’t a complete disaster.
If you are flying to France with Ryanair you don’t have much choice what to bring, since even a can opener and a jar of marmite will take you far over the allowed weight limit, but if you are travelling by car you have some tough decisions to make about what you should try and squeeze in.
I’d love to know what people do bring to France with them,  the little things that they think they can’t live without when they get here. Firstly so we could be better equipped in our own gites, and second because I’m very nosy and like to make fun of other people’s little foibles, as if I don’t have plenty of my own.
For example, when I go away myself and stay in ‘French-style’ accommodation I always end up buying a mug, since drinking five very small cups of tea just isn’t the same as one big mugful.
Everyone has their very own peculiarities and its hard to predict what these are, and I’m guessing it would be a bit rude of me to wait until people staying in our gites go to the market and then search their belongings for knife sharpeners, packs of cards, illuminated key-rings and other useful knick-knacks.
So I’ve been trying to come up with a list of things that you might like to either bring with you, or check whether your gite already has them. Here’s my top 5 so far:
1) converter plugs – if you arrive in rural France and Johnny can’t charge his ipod all week it might ruin his holiday. And yours shortly after.
2) plug-in mosquito killers
3) umbrellas – no one brings them on a summer holiday but if it rains they can be quite useful. Otherwise we suggest you dive into the pool and wait for it to stop.
4) ipod docking station
5) torches – the kind of thing that always goes missing if you supply them in a holiday rental but useful if you are walking home in the pitch black after a night at the evening market. City folk sometimes forget just how dark the countryside can be.
Are there other little things that you think are vital but nobody remembers? Let me know now and perhaps I can get them in the gites before high season…

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