Operation: Visit Oompa Grampa

It's no secret that I spent most of my childhood abroad, my Dad's work took us all around the world. Which was very exciting and moulded me into the fine example of a human being that I am today [I can hear you sniggering... the cheek of it!]. I grew up with expecting people to have taken children all around the world, for me it was a fact of life.

Now as I sit here and prepare to take DangerBaby over the channel into mainland Europe, my perspective has changed. I started preparing mentally about a week ago, writing a small plan in my head with tasks to be completed by certain days, all ready and waiting to be finally checked off on one big checklist. If you could see the inner workings of my brain you'd think we were going on an expedition to undiscovered lands, not a trip to Germany.

Insurance, health cards, passports, first aid kit for baby, first aid kit for adults, mosquito repellents, entertainment systems, travel cots, booster seat high chair thingy, the list is endless. We're going for a long weekend not for months. But these are the things I use day in and day out with the little one (OK not the travel cot but her cotbed instead). If I remember correctly, I'm sure my parents just used to bung us in the back of the car with a rucksack with our favourite toys? We had lots of crazy adventurous holidays where we ended up in strange places unable to speak the language or find somewhere to sleep. When did the world change so much that I now have to write a full project plan just to leave the house for a few days?

I wonder, as a modern Mother, do I worry to much? Am I over prepared for this trip? Is our little holiday going to be less of an adventure because I have everything planned and have planned for every eventuality? Well no, I know that the best thing about plans is that there's always that one little chaos particle that crops up and you have to fly by the seat of your pants until you are back on track. I'm sure we'll have a few 'adventures' due to wrong turnings, late ferry boats, strange languages and places. It's these parts of the holiday I'm really looking forward to, as long as we have each other and Bunny Bunny it'll turn in one of our crazy family stories.

This holiday may have been planned like a military operation, but you can bet that Major Cockup and General Disaster will have made their on plans as well. Let battle commence! Wish us luck...