beach vacation by plane

we've arrived home from two weeks of italian babymoon today. it was absolutely fabulous - the food, the sun, the roadtrip, the gelato - all of it - and despite 16 days of constant contact le boy and i never had a fight! pretty good eh?

despite living on an island we seem to take most of our beach vacations abroad (no the irony isn't lost on us either - but the unpredictable nature of UK weather and the quality of beaches in the UK make things a bit more challenging - many UK beaches are stone). so we fly to the beach - which of course brings with it a certain amount of planning. here are my tips:

- pack half the clothes - even if you're heading somewhere trendy - we mainly wore bathing suits everyday




- be prepared to rent beach chairs and an umbrella - your time will be so much more enjoyable! Factor this into your budget. Most places in Italy have been priced at €15-30 a day. We also rented chairs and an umbrella in Hilton Head two years ago.



- bring towels with you or be prepared to also rent those, even at high-end hotel pools! we brought small towels along this time - otherwise it would have been €3 a day / person! I'm going to watch out for deals on packable towels the next time the outdoors stores have a sale!


- bring a lightweight cooler - I brought my BUILT lunch bag - perfect for keeping drinks cool in the heat!



- a handbag/tote for the plane that doubles as a beach bag - I use a le sportsac that is easy to wash and looks good both in the airport and on the beach

- and finally - an e-reader is really useful on such vacations - I bring both my kindle and iPad - I'm much less precious about my kindle so if it gets sandy (or wet) i won't be devastated and the no-glare screen is really the best in sunlight

and finally: a babymoon belly shot. yup. it's getting bigger!