For me when I arrive at the Airport, I am always early I like to sit and have drink and watch the planes and/or people watch. So as soon as I get through Passport Control whooo hoooo for me

IT STARTS FOR ME WHEN OUR CASES HAVE BEEN CHECKED IN...... AND THEY ARE NOT OVERWEIGHT.....LOL...THEN THE HOLIDAY BEGINS..........

I start to chill once we're in the car to the airport, but I completely relax once we're on the plane.

We were once packed & ready to go on holiday the following morning with friends when late that night we had a call to say husband's father had been taken to hospital. Needless to say we couldn't go. Another time I wasn't well & we had to cancel, so needless to say I'm always a little anxious right up until take off time.

As soon as I get up the morning I leave, bags in the car and set off for the airport.

Not until I get to my destination. I dislike the hassle of travel, both flying and driving leave me cold, though it's a bit more bearable if travelling Business Class.

Like Judith, not until we get there. We drive over 700 miles to get to our usual summer holiday location so there's plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong. I relax a bit when we reach Portsmouth having driven 450 miles to catch a ferry.

Yes, I suppose if your driving to your destination then you can't 100% relax until your there.

For everyone else, as soon as they get in the car ... for me, like elaine80, probably not till we get there ... although I also relax a bit once I'm on the ferry at Poole

Driving down is harder than driving home bizarrely, as it gets quieter the further north you go, when heading south you are getting tired as it's getting busy!!

The holiday starts for me once I've arrived at the airport and checked in and am sitting peacefully in the lounge with a nice drink , it's at this point when the endless questions of have you got the passports , money , got all the cases , locked the back door, locked the front door , switched off the TV etc etc ceased to asked every 5 mins . The getting ready in terms of packing are quite easy for me , I just spend 10 min max picking from the wardrobe , then view my selections , discard about 20% as being not necessary , then pack , select nice shoes , trainers and flip flops ( 3 options is enough ) pack my " eyes " bag and shaving bag which are in complimentary toiletries bags from previous BA flights , and that's it , the wife packs all other toiletries ( suntan , shower gels , toothpaste etc ) I leave her to do her case as I know it will be taking a long time as it seems the entire contents of John Frieda , Nicky Clarke , Trevor Sorbie , Charles Worthington, Vidal Sassoon hair boutiques need to be carefully selected , and if in doubt just take them all !! This then leads to there being no room for the leads , quite ironic ? So they just all go in my hand luggage instead , and having iPads and iPhones and iPods we just need 1 apple lead to charge them up ? No .... Wrong !!! We apparently will need to charge them ALL up at the SAME time so need more leads !!! God , where's the lounge !!!

😂 Andy. My husband is similar to you with his packing, takes him 5 minutes. Couple pairs of shorts, a few tops, razor, done.

Speaking of checking stuff, my friends, husband & wife, do a religious mantra of PTM (passports, tickets, money) as they leave the house. Last year they arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport ready to set off for their weeks stay in Lanzarote. They got to the check in desk & happily handed over their boarding cards......only to be told by the clerk that they were at the wrong airport & should have been at Newcastle!

They were so used to flying from Leeds that they automatically headed there! As the one Leeds flight to Lanzarote was full they had no option than to return home & fly out 2 days later 😥

As wife had booked the flights & hubby booked the parking it was a shared hoo har & neither took the blame 👍

The good news is we've turned up at the right airport , but we had discussions today about where I was to be dropped off with the cases before parking , and she kept saying I will drop you off by the Sofitel and then park up , which is what we've done in the past . I thought about it for a while and asked , " so you want me to drag the cases across on the transit to the south terminal ? " She only forgot that BA are now in the south, ( and the Sofitel is connected to the north , ) and she bl***y works at the airport !!

These days it sort of happens mainly in two stages for me - Stage 1 is once safely through security etc and sat in departures - that's when I start to relax because only then does it feel as if I'm on my way. But I never really relax completely until Stage 2 - walking out of the airport terminal at the other end with my baggage, knowing that it and I have arrived!

But there is a Stage 3 when going to Cuba which is when I actually arrive at the Casa in Santiago. I'm lucky that I can sleep most of the flight away but I don't feel that I'm really on holiday and can relax until after the interminable queue for Immigration at Holguin, waited for ages for the cases (because I'll have used the twilight check-in and it always seems that the bags are probably amongst the first to be loaded on the plane and hence amongst the last off), queued at the Cadeca to make sure there's enough cash for the first couple of days, and then bumped our way through that up to 2 hr drive from Holguin to Santiago. It used to be a bit easier when the Cadeca was in the baggage collection hall - you could queue to change money whilst at the same time keeping an eye out for your baggage. I'm sometimes tempted to head straight to the Cadeca but then tell myself that that will be the time that the bags come off quickly and might be regarded as abandoned if I'm not there there to haul them off the belt immediately!

Once we have found the holiday cottage. I am going back to Ireland later this year and it's not easy to find it at times.
Ferry from Cairnryan to Larne, through NI, and over the border to Donegal where I stay.

Hi Tarry
Good to see you back again!
I can understand the worry in the background about finding the cottage. Relief once you there and the holiday starts.
I have never done a cottage holiday but I hear more and more friends choosing this and having a great time.

The directions are not easy to follow at times when you go to Ireland. I had something like go over old bridge, go past Farmyard, old house, new house etc. The trouble was there was MANY farmyards and bridges. Good job a local helped us the impossible directions (even they had to keep reading them!) and guided us there. This was last year. It didn't help that a wind storm was happening so a branch came down over the driveway.

I love staying ina holiday cottage. Been staying in holiday cottages really since 2010, and love the freedom of them. It works.

I booked really early for this year, last year, and made a good saving.

Love those instructions! I can just imagine the conversation in the car trying to find it.

My holiday starts for me once I have gone through security at the airport. My only worry is whether my luggage will follow me to my destination! Love your description andy66!!

I am going on holiday tomorrow, but only down the road, and I am in more of a state than I would be if I was taking a flight!

It took 2 hours...It didn't help that the lanes where like a maze...
Bit stressful.