Night before holiday, family traditions

[lardyboy]

Wherever we are going on holiday, as a family - which is getting increasingly difficult now there are ten of us with all the grandchildren - the night before, we always do the same thing.

Christmas Eve, we always watch Elf. Easter we always do an egg hunt, supposedly for the grandchildren, but the kids seem to find as many as they do.

The night before holiday is a big Chinese takeaway, collected or delivered from our favourite take-away, once everyone is at our house. We all choose different things, mainly because our favourites change from year to year. We can't have a lot to drink as half of us will have to drive the following day and our kids have to travel home to get their kids to bed, so it's always a short visit, but since we have been a family on our first holiday back in 2007, we have done this.

Our kids do this with the grandkids now, developing their own personal additions to this tradition. The only exception to this so far was our honeymoon in 2009 when we flew out the day after the wedding (DW would not have Chinese take-away delivered to the posh hotel where we married )

Tell me your family traditions for the night before your holidays and not just Disney holidays.

Lardyboy

[Gryff]

DH and I rarely fly together after 39 years of marriage we know what works
Day before I fly it’s clean the house sort out the dogs food for the dog sitter ie label who gets what how much etc
Pack the last minute bits for the villa and expat friends I always seem to have the luggage and usually a curry made by my friends MIL best curry you will ever taste
If we are traveling together we have an overnight stay in a hotel and a meal
Trying not to allow the other to annoy it usually starts with DH did you pack ,where is
And rumbling through the cases which have absolutely nothing he would need for one night

[Tinks2014]

We live 40mins from the airport but we like to stay overnight. If a good price Raddison if not premier inn .Book a meal at the romper and have a couple of glasses of fizz to get in the holiday mood.
Usually have my hair and nails done the day before.
Children would say I’m getting house ready for the burglars as I change all the bedding, towels etc and clean house top to bottom .
All bins emptied, bleach down the loos and new plug ins air fresheners !

[snowbelle]

Always stay overnight before flying

The week before we travel up

Clean the oven and the fridge, try to empty the freezer

Two days before

Hoover the house clean all the toilets and bathrooms

Day before

Take cats to cattery
Empty the dishwasher and run a cleaning cycle through
Mop all the floors

Day of travel
Put a clean bed on
Drive up to hotel
Have a nice dinner
Check flight status
Have a drink
have anightmare getting to sleep

[sophiepop]

We always stay over the night before but before we leave there is a major house clean I love coming back to clean bedding!

This year is slightly different as we are all off on our pre-travel day, so I am sure that people will get in the way of my cleaning etc. They must stay away from pluffed cushions and straight bedding and they move the bed runner at their peril

Anyway, the Radisson awaits us this year and we have booked into executive rooms so we have access to the lounge which is lovely, nice snacky food and a few drinks, followed by a stroll around the airport and to get Soph a Greggs for the flight (she hates plane food).

After the stroll its back to the room to watch some TV and if it goes as usual, not get much sleep as I'm too excited . I'm 52 and I will be bouncing off the walls

[JessBlu]

Travel lodge and a weatherspoons ! Now that we can afford a bit of luxury we still choose this good old combo !

[disney332]

Airport Hotel concierge level, free bar & food... fill yr boots.

Disney332

[mickey house]

The night before our flight is the only time me and Mrs MH sleep in the same bedroom at a Gatwick hotel (we have seperate bedrooms at home), and I make the most of it by farting as much as I can.

[MarionG]

We always stay overnight at an airport hotel the day before, coming from Suffolk we can't risk the A12 or M25/23 the morning of our flight. My nerves couldn't stand it, plus the holiday starts the day before.
So our day before the day before is make sure the bedding and towels are clean. The house is hoovered and dusted (for the burglers says hubby). Less to concern ourselves with when we get home. All packing done, carry ons packed with our shedload of tablets (joys of getting old) doubly checked too don't want to get to the US missing tablets. Happened to our cousin one year she didn't pack enough blood pressure tablets. Cost them a fortune out there...
Fish and chips for dinner as not something we get in America.
The actual day before we go out for breakfast at a little cafe in town, come home do online check in, load the car, set the time switches and radio, make sure fridge is empty of perishables and off we go. Last time we stayed at the Premier Inn opposite North Terminal at Gatwick having previously stayed at the Hilton in South Terminal. Do twilight check (bag drop) in to get rid of our cases. Find somewhere to eat and back to the room for a glass of wine from a can... So wish we could do this again soon...sigh...

[2point]

Always stay over the night before. Finish work at 4pm, in the car and on the road.

Arrive at the hotel and have a 'room picnic'. Mainly cheese and biscuits, cured meats, olives etc. Something light enough and goes well with the bottle(s) of wine we take with us.

Never sleep properly, up early and into the airport as early as we can. Mooch about the shops for a bit, have breakfast, go over the last few plan type things we've spent at least a year talking about!

So can't wait for this again.