The big day has arrived. It's time for our baby blogger's first trip abroad as a family. Let battle with the sand dunes commence!

Right then, so we’ve packed the nappies, baby wipes, nappy bags, two tins of SMA, pop-up sun shield tent, travel steriliser, travel cot, toys, baby blankets, travel wash (come on, extra baby gros take up so much space), made up enough bottles for travelling, got the pram in the car, and somehow also need to take enough clothes for two adults for a week, bearing in mind that one of us will be pushing a pram through the airport and therefore slightly hindered on how much they can carry.

I had the cunning idea of wearing two cardigans and a jacket to take up less space, but cleverly forgot to wear any of it when we actually left. Dad decided to only take the pants he was wearing. He insists it was an oversight.

Arrive in Lanzarote. Go shopping. Buy pants and something warmer than a vest top as that’s all I seem to have packed.

Have to admit, the whole endeavour was slightly easier than I’d feared. Had a pang of ‘oh God what are we doing?’ when we picked up the rental car and the moulded plastic (mmm, comfy) baby car seat that was bigger than the front seat. Daughter slumped in and looked like a peanut. Never fear, her spine may have been jarring against the solid seat for the journey, but didn’t stop her having a kip.

Why Sand And Babies Don't Mix!
Word of advice. Never take a baby to a windsurfing beach. Wind + sand + baby + suncream = Baby-shaped sandpaper. “She’ll be fine,” says dad, as he trots off to have a swim in the raging torrents. Luckily the wind blew away my divorce-making riposte as I battled to keep the sun tent thingy on the ground, and sand out of it. I succeeded in the first part. By the time dad came back, baby had sand in parts she never even knew existed. Three days later we were still washing grains of it out of her. And there are bits of it welded into her scalp as I type, and we’ve been back three days.

Apart from the sand debacle, the holiday was a breeze. Baby was a dream, flirting outrageously with anyone who said ‘Hola’ to her (pretty much everyone), and kicking around in her tent during the day.

Blatant product placement – If you decide to go away with your baby, buy a Maclaren buggy. And make sure you put something noticeable on yours. Ours had a rather dashing pink ribbon round the handlebars. You will not believe how many there are on your flight. There were almost as many as there were Avent bottles.

Piece of cake. Mountain climbing next, anyone?

• Click here to go back to the Baby Blog homepage
• Click here for the next instalment of the Baby Blog
  
• Your baby's sleeping patterns
• Forums - click here to talk to other parents of 0-1 year olds